THY 1 U1 L4- The Encounter with Jesus Christ is a Call to Discipleship '23-'24.pdf

God of all life, Help us to bear witness to the dignity Help us to appreciate the great gift that is of all whom you have created, human life regardless of stage of life, formed in your image, a reflection of your or wealth, hol...

God of all life, Help us to bear witness to the dignity Help us to appreciate the great gift that is of all whom you have created, human life regardless of stage of life, formed in your image, a reflection of your or wealth, holiness. or ability, Help us to recognize you or color, or creed, in all whom you have created: for every person is fully equal in your children not yet born, loving eyes. families affected by poverty and war, Share with us your holy knowledge people of different abilities, that we are all your children, people from other lands, and each bestowed with inherent dignity. all who are victims of hatred and racism. May your justice reign forever! Amen. JESUS CHRIST AS THE GOOD TEACHER THY 1 UNIT 1 LESSON 2 1. JESUS OPENS UP THE FAITHFUL TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURE 2. JESUS REVEALS THE FATHER’S WILL 3. JESUS TEACHES ABOUT MORAL ACTION 4. JESUS SHEDS LIGHT ON MAN’S LOFTY VOCATION 5. CHRIST IS ALWAYS PRESENT TO HIS CHURCH 1. JESUS OPENS UP THE FAITHFUL TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURE a. Jesus brings the question about morally good action back to its religious foundation (VS, 9): THE DECALOGUE. b. Summarized the commandments: Love of God and love of neighbors c. Commandments are the minimum requirement of love. d. Christian moral vocation: i. to commit to Christ to overcome sin ii. to reach out in loving service to others iii. rather than simply avoiding sin or shrinking from evil. 2. JESUS REVEALS THE FATHER’S WILL a. three-fold yeses covering the three dimensions of human life: - the intra-personal - the inter-personal - societal - God. b. there must be a radical change of heart 3. JESUS TEACHES ABOUT MORAL ACTION - the encounter with the Rich Young Man - allowing ourselves to be guided by Christ. 4. JESUS SHEDS LIGHT ON MAN’S LOFTY VOCATION - The first and ultimate vocation of man is communion with God and there is only one way to respond to this calling: JESUS CHRIST. - The basic motivation for following Christ is the BLESSED TRINITY. - to love God is to love others 5. CHRIST IS ALWAYS PRESENT TO HIS CHURCH - Christ empowered the Church to proclaim, without fear of error, faith and morals. - The Church must always be deeply conscious of her duty in every age to examine the signs of the times and interpret them in the light of the Gospel. - The Church as the People of God among the nations, while attentive to the new challenges of history and to mankind’s efforts to discover the meaning of life, offers to everyone the answer which comes from the truth about Jesus and his Gospel. Jesus Sheds Light On The Mystery And Dignity Of The Human Person THY 1 UNIT 1 LESSON 3 1. Created in the Image and Likeness of God 2. Redeemed by the Blood of Christ 3. Made Holy by the Presence of the Spirit 4. Christ as the One who Sheds Light on the Dignity of the Human Person 1. Created in the Image and Likeness of God a. Able to know and love his Creator b. Willed by God for His own Sake (irreplaceable, not object, in charge of his own act according to his conscience, freedom, and knowledge) c. Called to be Stewards of Creation - for companionship and loving service - not destructive dominance d. Called to communion - to love God is to love others (in imitation of God’s self-giving love, and living out the image of God – gift and a task) 2. Redeemed by the Blood of Christ a. By sending his own Son in the form of a slave, in the form of a fallen humanity, on account of sin, God "made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. b. “For in Christ and through Christ, we have acquired full awareness of our dignity, of the heights to which we are raised, of the surpassing worth of our humanity and of the meaning of our existence.” CCC, 602. 3. Made Holy by the Presence of the Spirit a. …and yet, without God's grace, he cannot by his own free will move himself t toward justice in God's sight. CCC, 1993 b. The merit of good works is to be attributed in the first place to the grace of God, then to the faithful. Man's merit itself, moreover, is due to God, for his/her good actions proceed in Christ, from the predispositions and assistance given by the Holy Spirit. CCC, 2008 c. by the gift of his Spirit which we can obtain through prayer, though the impulse to pray is still permeated with the promptings of the Holy Spirit. 4. Christ as the One who Sheds Light on the Dignity of the Human Person a. To understand man as a person is to point out that man is created by God with inviolable dignity. b. Hence, we define human beings as individual substance of rational nature (Individua Substantia Naturae Rationalis). The Human Persons (CFC, 687-692). 1. Open and Relational 2. Conscious Beings 3. Embodied Spirits 4. Historical Realities 5. Unique and Fundamentally Equal THY 1 U1 L4: THE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST IS A CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP 1. Christian Discipleship is Counter- Cultural and Radical Alterity 2. The Church: Willed by God to Make Possible the Encounter with Christ Life is Like a Cup of Coffee A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups – porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite – telling them to help themselves to the coffee. When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: “If you noticed, all the nice-looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it is just more expensive and, in some cases, even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups… And then you began eyeing each other’s cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor the coffee, not the cups! The happiest people don’t have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly. Life is Like a Cup of Coffee. Accessed last 3 August 2019 from https://www.spiritual- short-stories.com/spiritual-short-story-106-life-is-like-a-cup-of-coffee/  QUESTION: What do we care about the most in this life? EMMANUEL LEVINAS: NOTION OF THE OTHER Egocentrism The struggle for life or the desire to persevere in being, heightens egoism, which is characterized by the desire for enjoyment or happiness. The primordial tendency of the ego is to live for itself and secure any means available and attainable in order to maintain a happy existence. The “I” in its inwardness becomes the origin of meaning and determines whether or not something is valuable, i.e., usable or consumable. Alterity The Other stands at the top of my hierarchy of values, I am beholden to it before anything else as “the other is characterized by height or highness.” The absoluteness with which the Other’s existence transcends the claims of my self-centered universe by more radical demands, is what Levinas calls infinity…we must be the servant of our neighbor. our existence is affirmed or validated not by the mere fact of persevering in being but by our liberation from our own constricting egotism. In other words, we are liberated by our ethical response when we encounter the Other who reveals its face to us. This Other deposes me and imposes itself upon me as my priority. Ethics, for Levinas, is the radical interpretation of the formula of etiquette: apres vous (after you, please!). Moreover, the Other, as it reveals its face to me, puts me under a basic obligation or command to be at its service before myself, which Levinas underscored using the phrase: me voici (Here I am!).  “We are all guilty of all and for men before all, and I more than the others.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky THY 1 U1 L4A: THE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST IS A CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP 1. Christian Discipleship is Counter-Cultural and Radical Alterity Tale of three trees. Three young trees each want to do something great: One tree wants to be a big boat that is fit for a king; another wants to hold a lot treasure; and the last one wants to be the tallest tree. When they are felled, it seems as if all their dreams are over. One tree is turned into a dinky little fishing boat that smells of rotten fish; another becomes feed box for animals; and the last was cut into beams and left in a lumberyard. But each is destined to play an important part in the life of Jesus, in this, their dreams are more than fulfilled. 1st Tree: To be a treasure chest 2nd Tree: to be a mighty ship OUR 3rd Tree: To be a tall tree PLANS 1st Tree: A feed box COST 2nd Tree: A fishing boat TEST OF 3rd Tree: A beam stored in a FAITH lumber yard OBEDIENCE 1st Tree: Became a manger for the baby GOD’S Jesus PLANS 2nd Tree: Witnessed the power of Jesus 3rd Tree: Symbol of God’s love for humanity  We go back to the questions: What must I do? How do I distinguish good from evil? We turn to Jesus Christ: We listen to his words. We follow his actions. Following Christ is the essential and primordial foundation of Christian morality. Jesus’ ways and words, his deeds and his precepts constitute the moral rule of Christian life. What does discipleship entail? ▪ Come follow me and I will send you out to fish for people. At once, they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 4:19 ▪ If you want to be perfect, go sell your possessions, come follow me. Matthew 19:21 ▪ If anyone should come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24 Who is a disciple? A disciple is a lover of Truth: Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life How does one become a disciple? A disciple imitates Jesus, who gives primacy to the will of the Father. What is expected of a disciple? A disciple lives in the loving service of others.  A set of precepts that utterly demonstrate the moral standards of our Lord and, at the same time, resonate with his call to follow him as his disciples. CHRIST CRUCIFIED: Brutal, Anguish, Terrible Wounds According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, Christ Crucified is the perfect exemplification of the Beatitudes. TO BE HAPPY: Despise what Jesus despised on the Cross. 4 things that make us happy: Wealth, pleasure, power and honor Love what Jesus loved on the Cross. ▪ Doing the will of the Father: ▪ The single-hearted one ▪ Hunger for righteousness ▪ Ultimate peacemaker and ▪ Ultimate bearer of God’s mercy. CHRIST CRUCIFIED IS: A picture of a happy man. Freedom and joy: when all our expectations are turned around. THY 1 U1 L4B: THE ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS CHRIST IS A CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP 2. The Church: Willed by God to Make Possible the Encounter with Christ Christ instituted the Church to perpetuate His presence on earth. She signifies in a visible, historical and tangible form the presence and redeeming activity of Christ offered to all persons of every age, race, and condition.  The Church has always wished to serve this single end: that each person may be able to find Christ so that Christ may walk the path of life with each person. RH, 13. She has to remain deeply conscious of her "duty in every age of examining the signs of the times and interpreting them in the light of the Gospel so that She can offer in a manner appropriate to each generation replies to the continual human questionings on the meaning of this life and the life to come and on how they are related.” GS,4 As the sacrament of salvation for all, not only of the explicit members but also those who share in the “theandric communion without explicit awareness of Christic foundation,” She is mindful of her task to make present every time, in every situation the encounter between the spirit and the flesh, God and mankind. Required Reading: Veritatis Splendor Nos. 1-34