CFE 103 Module 2, Lesson 3: Church Teaching PDF

COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014 Saint Louis University Revision No. 01 School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021...

COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014 Saint Louis University Revision No. 01 School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021 Page 1 of 3 CHURCH TEACHING Here are basic Church teachings on the kingdom of God based on the Scriptures. The following are quotations lifted from the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Read them, paying particular attention to the nature of the kingdom, the relationship between the Church and the kingdom, and the recipients of the kingdom (Lumen Gentium, 1964). 541 "Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying: 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe in the gospel.'" [Mk 1:14-15] "To carry out the will of the Father Christ inaugurated the kingdom of heaven on earth." [LG* 3] The Father's will is "to raise men to share in his divine life." [LG 2] He gathers men around his Son Jesus Christ. This gathering is the Church, "on earth the seed and beginning of that kingdom." 544 The kingdom belongs to the poor and lowly, which means those who have accepted it with humble hearts. Jesus is sent to "preach good news to the poor"; [Lk 4:18; cf. 7:22] he declares them blessed, for "theirs is the kingdom of heaven." [Mt 5:3] To them - the "little ones" the Father is pleased to reveal what remains hidden from the wise and the learned. [Confer Mt 11:25] Jesus shares the life of the poor, from the cradle to the cross; he experiences hunger, thirst, and deprivation. [Confer Mt 21:18; Mk 2:23-26; Jn 4:6 1; 19:28; Lk 9:58] Jesus identifies himself with the poor of every kind and makes active love toward them the condition for entering his kingdom. [Confer Mt 25:31-46] 546 Jesus' invitation to enter his kingdom comes from parables, a characteristic feature of his teaching. [Cf. Mk 4:33-34] Through his parables, he invites people to the feast of the kingdom, but he also asks for a radical choice: to gain the kingdom, one must give everything. [Cf. Mt 13:44-45; 22:1-14] Words are not enough; deeds are required. [Cf. Mt 21:28-32] The parables are like mirrors for man: will he be hard soil or good earth for the word? [Cf. Mt 13:3-9] What use has he made of the talents he has received? [Cf. Mt 25:14- 30] Jesus and the kingdom's presence in this world are secretly at the heart of the parables. In what follows, let us reflect on the significance for the Church of some points indicated in these texts from the Catechism. The Church tells us that what is crucial in the ministry of Jesus was his preaching about the inauguration and building up of the kingdom of God. Properly understood, the kingdom refers to God's reign (active presence) in people's lives. In other words, the kingdom is the reign of justice, truth, freedom, love, and peace in human society. It is our experience of total human well-being or salvation. By preaching about the kingdom and living according to its values, Jesus has brought salvation to people. We can describe the kingdom, as manifested in the ministry of Jesus, in the following ways:  COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014 Saint Louis University Revision No. 01 School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021 Page 2 of 3 1. The kingdom of God is good news because it is all about total human well-being from God. An alternative term for this total human well-being is “salvation.” But salvation does not only refer to the well-being of the soul. In understanding the Old and New Testaments, the human person is an undivided whole. So, when we speak about the kingdom as an experience of well-being, we refer to the good of the body, mind, and spirit. 2. As good news, the idea of the kingdom does not emphasize what we can do because the kingdom is ultimately a gift from God. It is God who makes the kingdom a reality through us. The Gospels and the letters of Paul stress this truth. Jesus criticized people’s reliance on their efforts forgetting that even the skill or ability to do something is God’s gift. It does not mean that the kingdom can become a reality with us doing nothing. We are agents of the kingdom; therefore, we have to use our talents, time, and treasure so that charity, justice, equality, and peace will reign in our communities. 3. The kingdom is good news because it ends power relationships. Power relationships imply taking advantage of others because of their situation. It is misusing power and privilege for ourselves at the expense of others resulting in inequality and oppression. This kind of relationship can exist in our communities, workplaces, and even inside our homes. The kingdom's message calls for the abolition of rules, regulations, structures, or systems that promote this kind of situation. 4. The kingdom of God as the good news is offered to all. The ministry of Jesus is full of examples of the inclusiveness of God’s offer of well-being. Jesus welcomed people rejected by the mainstream society of his time: the sinners, tax collectors, and all those at the margins of society. He saw the possibility of change in these people even though society had given up on them. He said the sick need the doctor; he came not for the righteous but the sinners. 5. The kingdom of God is both future and present. In our Christian tradition, there is the tendency to overemphasize the kingdom's future aspect, leading to the lack of social and political involvement among Christians. Behind this attitude is the thinking that if the kingdom of God concerns only our life after we die, then involvement in the present is not that important. But in the teachings and practice of Jesus, the kingdom also concerns well-being in the present life. Following the prophet Isaiah’s reflections, Jesus envisioned the kingdom concerned with feeding the hungry, freeing prisoners, healing sickness, and removing any form of oppression and slavery. Behind Jesus’ idea of the kingdom of God is an experience of God. Earlier in this module, we understood that Jesus had an intimate relationship with God, even calling Him Abba. His understanding of the kingdom flows right from this relationship. This brings out the question about how Jesus experienced God. The prophets of Israel saw God as one who saves. God was known to them as “He who brought Israel out of Egypt.” Their God was a God who acted on behalf of his suffering people. It was this idea that Jesus lived and preached.  COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014 Saint Louis University Revision No. 01 School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021 Page 3 of 3 The kingdom of God is a message about God relating graciously with his people. God is on the side of humans, especially the needy and the powerless. He accepts the broken, sinner, wicked, and outcasts to make them whole again. The Kingdom concept, being a symbol to express in some understandable manner God’s incredible graciousness, is very rich in meaning, as we can see. For Jesus, we can never imagine what God has in store for his people. God’s graciousness cannot be limited by the language used to express it. Like Jesus and the patriarchs and the prophets before him, we have to experience and live this graciousness to understand it better. The experience of God’s graciousness is an experience of salvation. The word “salvation” is a critical term in Christianity and most religions and is seen as the ultimate goal of human life. Nevertheless, like many critical religious concepts, many of us do not understand them quite well. As used in the Bible, salvation refers to God’s will, which seeks the highest possible good of the human being in God. Echoing the prophet Isaiah and the evangelist Luke again, salvation is the setting free from all kinds of needs of the individual and the community. But although the Biblical meaning of the kingdom is rooted in earthly realities, it cannot only be reduced to earthly well-being. It relates to the good of the whole human person in this life and life to come. Earlier, we discussed that salvation could be related to the Filipino concept of “ginhawa.” Ginhawa contains a range of meanings that express the Biblical understanding of salvation: ease of life; relief from pain, sickness, difficulties, or straits; consolation or blessing received; and freedom from want. To a certain extent, ginhawa expresses the sense of total human well-being. If the Biblical understanding includes the individual and the community's physical/ material, emotional, and spiritual well-being, so does ginhawa.