Download - Rediscovering the Catholic Faith
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Rediscovering the
Catholic Faith
Through the
Scriptures
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Some Preliminaries
1) Re-discovering?
2) Faith vs. Religion
3) Catholicity
4) The Scriptures
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Context:AUF Responding to the
Challenge of the NewEvangelization in the Year
of Faith
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The New Evangelization
is a Call to a Rediscovery
of the Catholic Faithis an invitation to lead
people to that Rediscovery
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How we can
Carry out a more effectiveTransmission of the Catholic
FaithBy leading people to an
Encounter with JesusIn the ChurchThrough the Scriptures
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OUTLINEIntroduction: Objective
1) Jesus & the Samaritan Woman
2) New Evangelization
3) Personal Encounter with Jesus
Christ in the Church4) The Occasions of Encountering
Jesus & Listening to the Scriptures
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Objective of Synod on NE:
To sustain and direct
the preaching and
teaching of theGospel
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in the diverse
contexts in whichthe Church finds
herself today to give
witness
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3 verbs related to the
Gospel:Preaching
Teaching
To give witness
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Paul VI, 1975
Modern man listens
more willingly towitnesses than to
teachers
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and if he does
listen to teachers, itis because they are
witnesses.
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GREEK: marturia
Tagalog: Magpatotoo
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The Gospel remains the same.
It is the situations or
contexts for thewitnessing that
change.
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People find themselves in
different situations.
comparable to that of
the Samaritanwoman by the well.
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1) Jesus & the Samaritan Woman
John 4:5-42
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With an empty bucket
no man or
woman who, in
one's life, would
not find oneself
beside a well
with an empty
bucket,
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Umiigib ng maiinom upang
mapawi ang pagkauhawwith the hope of
finding the fulfillment ofthe heart's most
profound desire, thatwhich alone could givefull meaning to life.
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MEANING is
a universal issue
for whatever
race, color, orcreed
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It is as essential as WATER.
More precious
resource than
gold, silver,
diamonds,
copper, oriron.
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Today, many wells
offer
themselves toquench
humanity's
thirst
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but we
must discern
in order to
avoid
pollutedwaters.
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Same with meaning
What will give us
true happiness &
fulfillment in life?
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FM says,
We must orient the
search properly so asnot to fall prey to
disappointment, whichcan be damaging.
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Inspiration from THE LITTLE PRINCE?
The desert
is beautifulbecause it
is hiding awell
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TO EVANGELIZE is to be
like Jesus at the well of
SycharIt is to sit beside today's
men and women
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Highlights in the narrative:
a) Jesus asks
for a drinkhimself.
I THIRST!
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b) The woman
puts up a
barrier: You
are a Jew;
I am aSamaritan, a
woman
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Jesus twists the situation
If you only
knew youd
be the one
who would
ask for waterfrom me
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Womans reaction
You have
no bucket.The well
is deep.
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c) Jesus
offers afree-flowingwell (no
need for abucket)
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d) The woman
says,Give me
that water so
that I wouldnt
need to keepcoming back
to this well.
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Go, call your husband
Woman: I have
none.
Jesus: You areright
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e) His way of
saying, Youve
been living anempty life
Or: Youve
been drawing
from polluted
wells.
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The woman is surprised.
How did he know??
Later she would tell theother Samaritans:
He told me everything Ihave done. (i.e., He knows
me inside out.)
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When people see that we know or
understand
where theyre coming from,
they lay down their defenses.
You must be a prophet!
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A PROPHET (for the woman):
One who is able to allow God tospeak to peoples deepest
desires;One who is able to know what
is there that lies in their inmostthoughts (which they think aresecret)
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FM says:
Only Jesus can read
the depths of our heartand reveal the truth
about ourselves
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He told me everything I have
done
This word of proclamation
is united to the questionthat opens up to faith:
Could he possibly be theMessiah?
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Remember Zaccheus?
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Remember Nathanael?
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And Simon (Peter)?
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CONVERSION
To suddenly realize you are
before Gods Chosen OneTo be so overwhelmed by
the encounter, you go and
bring others to Him
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Otherswho are also
thirsting
like yourself.
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It begins with a wondering:
Could He bethe Messiah?
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Many people started following Jesus
because of this wondering.
John 6 (Bread ofLife)
Same sense asJohn 4 butdifferentmetaphor: Food
People followhim, hungering forbread.
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Jesus tells them:
Do not seek the bread thatperishes
Seek rather the LivingBread; I am the Living
Bread(parallel to Jn 4: Living Water)
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FM says (of the Samaritan
woman)whoeverreceives new
life from encounteringJesus
cannot but proclaim truthand hope to others.
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The sinner who was
converted becomesa messenger of
salvation and leads
the whole city toJesus.
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Like the fisherman who says
Leave me,
Lord, I am a
sinner!
Whom Jesus
now turns into a
fisher of men.
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The DISCIPLE
becomes an APOSTLE:
one who is chosenfrom the disciples and
becomes one who issent.
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The FM further says,
The people pass
from welcoming
her testimony topersonally
experiencing the
encounter
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(John 4:42) They say:
We no longer believe
because of your word; forwe have heard for
ourselves, and we know
that this is truly the saviorof the world.
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What being evangelized is about:
Recall the two questions
posed to the disciples (Mark8:27-30):
Who do people say
Who do you say
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The Growth into full maturity
of the community of
disciples into a communityof apostles is what we
desire for the Philippine
Church (PCP II: renewedintegral evangelization).
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We have heard and we know
that this truly is the SAVIOR OF THE
WORLD
That he alone can lead us to the
well, to the water weve been
looking for.CONVERSION = to declare, I have
found the well!
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1 John 1:1ffWe declare to you what was
from the beginning,
what we have heard,what we have seen with our eyes,
what we have looked at andtouched with our hands,
concerning the word of life
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2. A New Evangelization
Leading the men and
women of our time toJesus,to the encounter
with him
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is a necessity that
touches all the
regions of the world,those of the old and
those of the recentevangelization.
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Then and Now:
We address thecommon longing for the
encounter with theLiving Water (the free-
flowing well).
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The FM, further says:
Everywhere indeed
we feel the need torevive a faith that risks
eclipse in culturalcontexts that hinder
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(Note the shift in imagery.)
its taking root inpersons and
its presence insociety,
the clarity of itscontent and
the coherence of itsfruits.
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SHIFT
from thedrawer of
water andthe well
to the sowerand theseed.
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The faith has been sown
Has it taken
root?Is it
growing?
Is it bearing
fruit?
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Mark 4: Parable of the Sower
What is preventing
the seed from takingroot, growing, and
bearing fruit?
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The sowing presupposes the earlier
tasks
of plowing,
weeding,
irrigating,
fertilizing to
make sure theseed falls on
good soil.
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What is the good soil
on which the seed of theGospel must fall?
The seed of faith grows only
on the good soil of hope andcharity/ love. (1 Cor 13)
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The seed of the Gospel can grow
wherever we find
people who arehopeful and are
disposed to loveunconditionally.
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Recall VDs definition of FAITH:
The human response
to the God who speaksto usthe God who
loved us first
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If the good soil does not yet exist
then evangelization
requires soil preparation:the plowing, the weeding,
the irrigating, the
fertilizing
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FM:
NE is not a matter of starting
again, but of entering into the long
path of proclaiming the Gospel withthe apostolic courage of Paul who
would go so far as to say:
Woe to me if I do not preach the
Gospel! (1 Corinthians 9:16).
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It includes accepting
that there are no shortcuts:
We need to be patient.NB. The parable of the
seed that grows slowly.
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REVIEW HISTORY:
Throughout history, from
the first centuries of theChristian era to the present,
the Gospel has edified
communities of believers in
all parts of the world.
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Whether small or great,these are the fruit of the
dedication of generationsof witnesses to Jesusmissionaries andmartyrs whom weremember with gratitude.
Th h d i l lt l i
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The changedsocial, cultural, economic,
civil and religious scenarios
call us to something new:
to live our communitarian experience
of faith in a renewed way and to proclaim it through an
evangelization that is new
in its ardor,
in its methods,
in its expressions as John Paul II said.
P B di t XVI (i hi h il t
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Pope Benedict XVI (in his homily at
the Synods Inauguration) said,
The New evangelization isdirectedprincipally at those
who, though baptized,have drifted away from the
Church and
live without reference to theChristian life...
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to help these people encounter theLord,
who alone fills our existence with deep
meaning and peace; and
to favor the rediscovery of the faith,
that source of grace which brings
joy and hope to
personal, family and social life
3 P l t ith J
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3. Personal encounter with Jesus
Christ in the Church:
Before saying anything about the formsthat this new evangelization mustassume,
we feel the need to tell you withprofound conviction that
the faith determines everything in the
relationship that we build with the person ofJesus who takes the initiative toencounter us.
The ork of the ne e angeli ation
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The work of the new evangelization
consists in
presenting once more the beauty
and perennial newness of the
encounter with Christto the often distracted and
confused heart and mind of the
men and women of our time,
above all to ourselves.
We invite you all to contemplate the
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We invite you allto contemplate the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ,
to enter the mystery of his life
given for us on the cross,
reconfirmed in his resurrection
from the dead as the Father's gift
and imparted to us through the Spirit.
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In the person of Jesus,
the mystery of God the Father's love
for the entire human family is
revealed.He did not want us to remain in a false
autonomy. Rather
he reconciled us to himself in a renewedpact of love.
The Church is the space offered by
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The Church is the space offered by
Christ in history
where we can encounter him, because heentrusted to her his Word,
the Baptism that makes us God's children, his Body and his Blood,
the grace offorgiveness of sins above all in thesacrament of Reconciliation,
the experience ofcommunion that reflects the
very mystery of the Holy Trinity and the strength of the Spirit that generates charity
towards all.
We m st form elcoming comm nities in
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We must form welcoming communities in
which all outcasts find
a home,
concrete experiences of communion
which attract the disenchanted glance ofcontemporary humanity with the ardent
force of love
See how they love one another!
(Tertullian, Apology, 39, 7).
The beauty of faith must
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The beauty of faith must
particularly shine
in the actions of the sacred Liturgy,
above all in the Sunday Eucharist.
It is precisely in liturgical celebrationsthat
the Church reveals herself as God's
work andmakes the meaning of the Gospel
visible in word and gesture.
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It is up to us today
to render experiences of theChurch concretely accessible,
to multiply the wellswhere thirsting men and women
are invited to encounter Jesus,
to offer oases in the deserts oflife.
Christian communities (and, in them,
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(
every disciple of the Lord) are
responsible for this:an irreplaceable testimony has
been entrusted to each one,
so that the Gospel can enter
the lives of all.
This requires of us holiness oflife.
4 Th i f
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4. The occasions of
encountering Jesus
andlistening to the
Scriptures
Someone will ask how to do
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Someone will askhow to do
all this
We need not invent new strategies as if
the Gospel were a product to be placed
in the market of religions.We need to rediscover the ways in
which Jesus approached persons and
called them, in order to put these approaches into
practice in today's circumstances.
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We recall, for example,
how Jesus engaged
Peter, Andrew, Jamesand John in the
context of their work,
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how Zaccheus was able
to pass from simplecuriosity to the warmth of
sharing a meal with the
Master,
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how the Roman
centurion asked him toheal a person dear to
him,
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how the man born
blind invoked him asliberator from his own
marginalization,
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how Martha and Mary
saw the hospitality of theirhouse and of their heart
rewarded by his
presence.
B i h h
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By going through
the pages of the Gospels as well as
the apostles' missionary
experiences in the early Church,we can discover
the various ways and
circumstances in which persons'
lives were opened to Christ's
presence.
The frequent reading of the Sacred
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The frequent reading of the Sacred
Scriptures is
not only necessary for
knowing the very content of
the Gospel,
which is the person of Jesus
in the context of salvationhistory,
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It also helps us to discover
opportunities to encounter Jesus,
truly evangelical approaches rooted in
the fundamental dimensions of humanlife:
the family, work, friendship,
various forms of poverty and the trials of life, etc.