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It is Day 60, you guys!
WELL DONE!!
TWO COMPLETE MONTHS!!
Well, if there’s 31 days in one of these months that’s OK
Anyways, Two times 30
We’re reading Paragraphs 422 to 429
TODAY IS AWESOME!!
We just concluded CHAPTER ONE: I BELIEVE IN GOD THE FATHER
Now we are into CHAPTER TWO: I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST, HIS ONLY SON, OUR LORD
HERE’S WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS
One of the things you’re going to see in Paragraph 423 is HOW ROOTED IN HISTORY THE REALITY OF JESUS IS!!
CHRISTIANITY IS A HISTORICAL RELIGION!!
CHRISTIANITY IS DEEPLY ROOTED IN HISTORY
Paragraph 423 says, “We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus…”
It just reveals that we know that the claims Jesus made about himself, that He IS God are VERIFIABLE
The Resurrection demonstrates that Jesus was telling the TRUTH when he testified to his own being
IT IS SO INCREDIBLE!!
IT IS HISTORICAL!!
It’s not just one of those things that didn’t just drop out of the sky
It happened, HERE ON THIS EARTH and IN TIME
IT IS INCREDIBLE!!
But also moved by the grace of the Holy Spirit
And drawn by the Father
WE believe in Jesus and confess, “YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD”
THIS IS JUST REMARKABLE!!
These first couple paragraphs are just…
(SQUIRREL!! 😉)
Well, the subtitle of it is The Good News:God has Sent His Son
IT IS INCREDIBLE!!
And our response to that Good News
Then we’re going to hit Paragraphs 425-429 and it’s about catechesis
There are a couple of quotes that are coming from Catechesi Tradendae
Which is written by St John Paul II early on in his being Pope, or AKA, in his pontificate
Catechesi Tradendae essentially means Catechesis in Our Time or Catechesis in Our Day
It came in 1979
The Holy Father, John Paul II, wanted to highlight the fact that WE NEED to continue to pass on the Faith
HERE IS WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT JESUS…
HERE IS WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT THE TRINITY…
HERE IS WHAT WE BELIEVE ABOUT THE CHURCH AND TRUTH…
At the heart of what we need to do is PASS THAT ON
We need to be able to express this and communicate this to other people
Paragraph 426 says, “At the heart of catechis is Christ. We find, in essence, a person. The person of Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son from the Father…It is to seek to understand the meaning of Christ’s actions and words and of the signs worked by him…”
And it goes on
And the recognition is we want to seek to understand WHO GOD IS
And his eternal design reaching fulfillment in His Person
And also, TO PASS THAT ON
IT IS REMARKABLE!!
Paragraph 428 says, “Whoever is called to teach Christ must first seek the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus.”
It just makes sense, right?
John Paul II shows one of his many, many, many influences over this writing of the Catechism of the Catholic Church
A lot of these quotes are taken again
Catechesi Tradendae, “Whoever is called to teach Christ must first seek the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus; he must suffer the loss of all things in order to gain Christ and be found in him and to know him and the power of his Resurrection, and to share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible, he may attain the resurrection from the dead.”
THIS IS SO REMARKABLE!!
Typically you call a Catechist someone who teaches the Catechism
Someone who teaches the Faith
That could be anyone from a professor somewhere at a university
To your volunteer on your Wednesday night religious education classes
AT THE HEART OF CATECHESIS IS JESUS HIMSELF!!
AND…
THE HEART OF THE CATECHIST HAS TO BE SOMEONE WHO FIRST SEEKS THE SURPASSING WORTH OF KNOWING JESUS!!
AND…
BEING WILLING TO SUFFER THE LOSS OF ALL THINGS IN ORDER TO GAIN CHRIST AND BE FOUND IN HIM!!
THIS IS JUST SO REMARKABLE!!
THIS IS A HIGH CALL!!
THIS IS A MASSIVELY HIGH CALL!!
We end today with Paragraph 429
And in it, it notes that we’re going to go through a couple of different steps
Here we are starting today with here’s what we believe
GOOD NEWS
GOD SENT HIS SON
Remember we talked in the last couple of days about the BAD NEWS
ORIGINAL SIN
Here’s the GOOD NEWS
GOD SENT HIS SON!!
The next couple articles are going to highlight Jesus’ principal titles
CHRIST
SON OF GOD
LORD
That’s what we’re hitting on next
ALSO
The Creed confesses the CHIEF MYSTERIES of Christ’s life
HIS INCARNATION, that’s Article 3
PASCHAL MYSTERY, Articles 4 and 5
GLORIFICATION, Articles 6 and 7
Today, we’re taking this first step of the GOOD NEWS: GOD HAS SENT HIS SON
AND…
WE’RE CALLED TO PREACH AND TO TEACH THE UNSEARCHABLE RICHES OF CHRIST
So let’s get started
Let’s say a prayer today!!
Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. We thank you so much for sending us your Son. Thank you so much for revealing to us your heart by giving us your Son. Thank you for sending us your Holy Spirit that we can continue to walk as your Son walked. We continue to live as He lived. We continue to love as He loves with the power that comes from you. With the power that comes from the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of us. We ask you, please, help us. Not only to know you better, and to love you better. But help us also to represent you and communicate you, to pass you on better, this day and every day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen”
OK, there we are
THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!
OH MY GOSH!!
Paragraphs 422-424 are just the summary of the Gospel
It’s the summary of…
(SQUIRREL!! 😉)
Paragraph 422 quotes Galatians 4:4-5, “But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
And Mark 1:1, “This IS the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God”
But the next statement is remarkable
Paragraph 422 continues, “He acted far beyond all expectation. ”
GOD HAS ACTED FAR BEYOND ALL EXPECTATION!!
He has visited his people
He has fulfilled the promise he made to Abraham and his descendants
He has sent his own beloved Son (Fr. Mike is paraphrasing the Catechism Paragraph 422 here and jumbling it all up in his excitement 😀)
Maybe this is something you’ve experienced
GOD DIDN’T HAVE TO DO ANY OF THIS!!
We went over the beginning of Creation
God made this world good
He didn’t make this world because he NEEDED to make this world
He made this world because he WANTED to
AND THEN WE BROKE IT!!
WHEN HUMANITY BROKE THE WORLD…
He didn’t HAVE to come to us
He didn’t HAVE to love us
THIS IS REMARKABLE!!
AND YET…
HE STILL DOES!!
IT’S THE TRUTH!!
God doesn’t HAVE to forgive us
BUT…
HE CHOOSES TO!!
It’s in his heart to want to love us
To want to be in relationship with us
Paragraphs 422-424 just talk about HOW INCREDIBLE this is
GOD HAS ACTED FAR BEYOND EXPECTATION
It would have been foolish to expect that God would have done this
AND YET…
Paragraph 423 says, “We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born of a Jew, of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal Son of God made man.”
ALL THOSE THINGS!!
THIS IS JUST INCREDIBLE!!
Paragraph 423 continues, “And from his fullness, we have all received grace upon grace because the word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father…” (Wow, Fr. Mike is really jumbling the sentences in the paragraphs up today, eh? 😉)
That’s a quote from the very beginning of John’s Gospel
Paragraph 424 says, “Moved by grace and the Holy Spirit and drawn by the Father, we believe in Jesus and we confess: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Remember when St Peter said that in Matthew 16?
THIS IS REMARKABLE!!
THIS IS THE GREAT NEWS!!
THIS IS THE GOOD NEWS!!
Paragraph 425 says, “The transmission of the Christian faith consists primarily in proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to faith in him.”
Let’s listen to that again…
“The transmission of the Christian faith consists primarily in proclaiming Jesus Christ in order to lead others to faith in him.”
WE BELIEVE THIS TRUTH THAT GOD HAS REVEALED HIMSELF!!
THAT GOD HAS COME TO US!!
HE HAS REDEEMED US!!
HE HAS RECONCILED US TO THE FATHER!!
What we want to do is we want to let other people know about this
Paragraph 425 continues, “From the beginning, the first disciples burned with the desire to proclaim Christ: ‘We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.’ And they invite people of every era to enter into the joy of their communion with Christ…”
THIS IS THE HEART OF EVANGELIZATION!!
THIS IS THE HEART OF CATECHESIS!!
THIS IS SO IMPORTANT FOR EVERY ONE OF US TO UNDERSTAND THIS!!
AT THE HEART OF CATECHESIS THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST!!
And in OUR heart, we have to have HIM
He HAS to dwell in our hearts in this way
Paragraph 428 says, “Whoever is called to teach Christ must first seek the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus.”
We have a RELATIONSHIP with Him
If we’re called to teach HIM…
Then we already have a RELATIONSHIP with Him
We already KNOW Him
Not just knowing him in the sense of intellectually
Paragraph 428 continues, “...he must suffer ‘the loss of all things…’ in order to ‘gain Christ and be found in him,’ and ‘to know him and the power of his Resurrection and to share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible he may attain the resurrection from the dead.’”
That we’re called to conform our ENTIRE LIVES to His
What did Jesus’ life look like?
IT LOOKED LIKE AN ACT OF COMPLETE SELF-GIVING LOVE!!
THIS IS WHAT WE ARE CALLED TO!!
Isn’t it crazy that catechesis isn’t just, “I know some things about Jesus, and I’ll tell those things about Jesus to others.”
Yes it’s those things
BUT…
Paragraph 426 says, “Catechesis aims at putting ‘people in communion with Jesus Christ; because only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity.’”
To catechize is to revel in the person of Jesus, the person of Christ,
The whole of God’s eternal design
So we have the HIM in our hearts
Where we have to be WALKING LIKE HIM
It’s not just to be TALKING LIKE HIM
We have to be LIVING LIKE HIM
And this is maybe the HIGH CALL
This might be one of those, “Ok, I’m super intimidated now. I don’t think I could ever talk about Jesus to anyone else”
AND YET…
Paragraph 425 says, “From the beginning the first disciples burned with the desire to proclaim Christ.”
NOT because they knew him perfectly
NOT because they understood everything thoroughly
But because they LOVED HIM
And here we are just saying, “Ok, Lord. This is what I want. I want to love you even more. And if I love you even more, I will be unafraid to speak of you. If I love you even more, it will actually be the desire of my heart to speak to you, to share you. Not to beat people over the head with the truth of you. But to simply and clearly, gently and lovingly, boldly and powerfully share the message of who Jesus Christ is in Himself and what He has done for us, leading people, leading all of us to that intimate relationship with the Trinity.”
IT IS INCREDIBLE!!
SO INCREDIBLE!!
Paragraph 427 says, “In catechesis, ‘Christ, the Incarnate Word and Son of God… is taught-everything else is taught with reference to him-and it is Christ alone who teaches-anyone else teaches to the extent that he is Christ’s spokesman, enabling Christ to teach with his lips…”
We are not God’s EDITORS, we are God’s MAILMEN!!
We are not the ones who..
(SQUIRREL!! 😉)
We are here to deliver the MESSAGE OF JESUS CHRIST
NOT to say, “Well, my personal version of Jesus, here’s my personal version of who God is, or how he’s called us to live.”
It’s simply to say, “Ok, this is who God has revealed himself to be.”
If I’m going to reach, I teach to the extent that I’m MERELY Christ’s spokesman
I AM ENABLING JESUS TO USE MY LIPS TO SPEAK!!
THAT IS SO HUMBLING!!
AND…
IT IS HONEST!!
AND…
IT IS ALSO EFFECTIVE!!
Paragraph 429 sets up where we’re going from here
Because we want to be led to Say Yes to faith in Jesus
We want to help lead others to faith in Jesus
We’re going to follow the order of the Creed.
So tomorrow we’re going to be following Christ’s PRINCIPLE TITLES
There’s THREE of them
CHRIST
SON OF GOD
LORD
So we’re going to start there
That’s Article 2
And then
We go on from there to the CHIEF MYSTERIES of Jesus’s life
Specifically
HIS INCARNATION, Article 3
THE PASCHAL MYSTERY, his death and resurrection, Article 4 & 5
And GLORIFICATION, Articles 6 & 7
So that’s the layout for the rest of the time we’re going to spend here in the Catechism on Jesus
Hope that makes sense
Because that’s where we’re going from now on
You guys, Fr. Mike is so excited
Hewas actually going to use the word “stoked”
He is SO stoked because what a gift it is to be able to journey with you like this
Here we are, DAY 60
We’re plugging away.
I think this is the community, you guys
At this point, it says, they say it takes 30 days to make a habit
Actually, it takes something like 90 days to make a habit
Here we are in the mid, between 30 and 90
Day 60!!
Here we are with this habit
This community just praying and learning and praying for each other
Because, please, we definitely need that
Fr. Mike needs your prayers
Fr. Mike is praying FOR YOU!!
Please pray for Fr. Mike and for each other!!
I cannot WAIT to see you tomorrow
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