Prepared by: Jestony B. Amtar, Wilmar B. Cachin, Ronnie B.

Viray
 Prepared by: Jestony B. Amtar, Wilmar B. Cachin, Ronnie B. Viray

PRELIMINARY
(Weeks 1 & 2)

Introduction

This module starts by providing you the Story of Our Lady of La Salette’s Apparition, ULS Vision-
Mission, Core Values and Philosophy of Educations, then continues to the discussion on Religion
as a Universal Phenomenon, Divine Revelation, God’s Revelation Through the Sacred Text. It is
divided into tree units, Units 1-3, and each unit discusses the major topics mentioned above. Each
unit also has activities and reflections with guide question taken from the respective topics.

As a salettinian, these are the things that you need to know so that you will not only grow
intellectually but more so, you grow more in your relationship with yourself, others and God.

Motivation

Why did you choose to study at La Salette? Who motivated you? Prior to your enrollment, have
you heard the beautiful story and history of La Salette? Are you fascinated by it? Well, every
institution has its unique and beautiful story. Each institution also has its own charism and own
way of making itself known to its constituents. As we go on, you may indulge yourself to the topics
being discussed in this module.
 Prepared by: Jestony B. Amtar, Wilmar B. Cachin, Ronnie B. Viray

TOPIC 1
APPARITION OF OUR LADY OF LA SALETTE

Learning Outcomes
At the end of this module, you are expected to:
1. Share the relevance of the Story of the Apparition of Our Lady of La Salette , Vision, Mission,
Core Values and Philosophy of Education to the present time.
2. Reflect on the statement “so that they may have life and have it to the full.”

The Apparition
The beautiful lady now stood up while the children remained
transfixed where they were. She said to them in french: “come
near, my children, be not afraid. I am here to tell you great
news” .

Source:http://www.miraclehunter.com/ma
rian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/las
alette/index.html.
 Prepared by: Jestony B. Amtar, Wilmar B. Cachin, Ronnie B. Viray
Fully reassured by these words the children hurried to meet her. Her voice, they said, was like
music. They approached so near her that, as they later expressed
it, another person could not have passed between them and her.
The lady also took a few steps towards them.

They looked at her and noticed that she did not cease weeping all
the time she spoke to them. As Maximin put it, “She was like a
mama whom her own children had beaten and who had escaped
to the mountain to weep.”

The beautiful Lady was tall and seemed to be made of light. She
was dressed like women of the region with a long dress, an apron
nearly as long as the dress, a shawl that crossed over her breast
and was knotted in the back, and a cap or bonnet similar to the
ones worn by peasant women. Roses crowned her head while
another wreath of roses adorned the edges of her white shawl and
a third garland surrounded her shoes. Source:https://www.lasalette.org/about-
la-salette/apparition/the-story/705-the-
message-of-la-salette.html

Over her brow shone a light in the form of a diadem. On her shoulders shone a heavy chain and
from a smaller golden chain hung a resplendent crucifix with a hammer and pincers placed on each
side of the Cross, a little beyond the nailed hands.

The Message

The unknown Lady now spoke to the children. “We were drinking her words”, they would say
later, adding, “she wept all the time she spoke to us”.

“Come near, my children, be not afraid; I am here to tell you great news.
“If my people will not submit, I shall be forced to let fall the arm of my Son. It is so strong, so
heavy, that I can no longer withhold it.
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“For how long a time do I suffer for you! If I would not have my Son abandon you, I am compelled
to pray to him without ceasing; and as to you, you take not heed of it.

“However much you pray, however much you do, you will never recompense the pains I have
taken for you.

“Six days I have given you to labor, the seventh I have kept for myself; and they will not give it to
me. It is this which makes the arm of my Son so heavy.

“Those who drive the carts cannot swear without introducing the name of my Son. These are the
two things which make the arm of my Son so heavy.

“If the harvest is spoilt, it is all on your account. I gave you warning last year with the potatoes
(‘pommes de terre’) but you did not heed it. On the contrary, when you found the potatoes spoilt,
you swore, you took the name of my Son in vain. They will continue to decay, so that by Christmas
there will be none left.”

The French expression “pommes de terre” intrigued Melanie. In the local dialect the word for
potatoes was “las truffas”, whereas “pommes” for Melanie meant the fruit of the apple tree. Hence
she instinctively turned towards Maximin to ask for an explanation, but the Beautiful Lady
forestalled her.

“Ah, my children, you do not understand? Well, wait, I shall say it otherwise”.

And she continued her discourse in the local dialect of their region.

“If you have wheat, it is no good to sow it; all you sow the insects will eat, and what comes up will
fall into dust when you thresh it.”
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“There will come a great famine. Before the famine comes, the children under seven years of age
will be seized with trembling and will die in the hands of those who hold them; the others will do
penance by the famine. The walnuts will become bad, and the grapes will rot.”

Here the Beautiful Lady addressed the children separately, confiding to each a secret. She spoke
first to Maximin, and though the little shepherd did not perceive that her tone of voice had changed,
Melanie at his side could not hear a word, though she still saw the Beautiful Lady's lips moving.
Then came Melanie's turn to receive her secret under like conditions. Both secrets were given in
French. Again addressing the two children in the idiom familiar to them, the Lady continued: “If
they are converted, the stones and rocks will change into mounds of wheat, and the potatoes will
be self-sown in the land.

“Do you say your prayers well, my children?”, she asked the shepherds. Both answered with
complete frankness: “Not very well, Madam”. “Ah, my children”, she exhorted them, “you must
be sure to say them well morning and evening. When you cannot do better, say at least an Our
Father and a Hail Mary; but when you have time, say more.”

“There are none who go to Mass except a few aged women. The rest work on Sunday all summer;
then in the winter, when they know not what to do, they go to Mass only to mock at religion.
During Lent, they go to the meat-market like dogs.”

“Have you never seen wheat that is spoilt, my children?”, the Beautiful Lady then asked them.
“No, Madam”, they replied.

“But you, my child”, she insisted, addressing the little boy in particular, “you must surely have
seen some once when you were at the farm of Coin with your father. (Coin was a hamlet near the
town of Corps). The owner of the field told your father to go and see his ruined wheat. You went
together. You took two or three ears of wheat into your hands and rubbed them, and they fell into
dust. Then you continued home. When you were still half an hour's distance from Corps, your
father gave you a piece of bread and said to you: ‘Here, my child, eat some bread this year at least;
I don't know who will eat any next year, if the wheat goes on like that’”.
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Confronted with such precise details, Maximin eagerly replied: “Oh yes, Madam, I remember now;
just at this moment I did not remember”.

Then the Lady, again speaking French as at the beginning of her discourse and when giving the
secrets, said to them: “Well, my children, you will make this known to all my people.” Now she
turned slightly to her left, passed in front of the children, crossed the brook Sezia, stepping on
stones emerging from it, and when she was about ten feet from the opposite bank repeated her final
request, without turning around or stopping: “Well, my children, you will make this well known
to all my people.” These were her last words.

Source:https://www.grenoble-tourisme.com/en/catalog/activity/sanctuaire-de-notre-dame-de-la-salette-
106706/
Our Lady of La Salette Shrine, Corps Alps, La Salette. The exact location of Mary’s apparition at La
Salette, France.
 Prepared by: Jestony B. Amtar, Wilmar B. Cachin, Ronnie B. Viray
Meanwhile the two witnesses were still standing motionless at the spot where the conversation had
taken place, when suddenly they realized that the heavenly Visitor was already some steps away
from them. In their eagerness to join her again, they ran across the brook and were with her in a
moment. Thus, in the company of Maximin and Melanie, the Lady moved along, gliding over the
tips of the grass without touching it, until she reached the top of the hillock where the children,
after their sleep, had gone to look after their cows. Melanie preceded her by a few steps, and
Maximin was at her right.

On reaching the summit the Lady paused for a few seconds, then slowly rose up to a height of a
meter and a half. She remained suspended in the air for a moment, raised her eyes to Heaven, then
glanced in the direction of the southeast. At that moment, Melanie, who had been standing at the
left of the Lady, came in front in order to see her better. Only then did she notice that the celestial
Visitor had ceased weeping, although her features remained very sad.

The radiant vision now began to disappear. “We saw her head no more, then the rest of the body
no more; she seemed to melt away. There remained a great light”, related Maximin, “as well as
the roses at her feet which I tried to catch with my hands; but there was nothing more”. “We looked
for a long time”, added Melanie, “to see if we could not have another glimpse of her”, but the
Beautiful Lady had disappeared forever. The little shepherdess then remarked to her companion:
“Perhaps it was a great Saint”. “If we had known it was a great Saint”, said Maximin, “we would
have asked her to take us with her”.
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TOPIC 2
VISION, MISSION, PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

La Salette education is a transformative process towards the fullness of being, inspired by the
message of reconciliation, as lived and experienced by the community through the integration of
Filipino cultural and university core values rooted in Jesus Christ.

Vision:
The University of La Salette, Inc. a Catholic institution founded by the Missionaries of Our Lay
of La Salette, forms reconcilers “ so that they may have life and have it to the full “( John 10:10 )

Mission:
The University of La Salette, Inc. is a premier institution of choice, providing accessible,
quality, and transformative education for integral human development particularly the poor.
Core Values:
 Faith – The total submission to God’s call to Holiness and commitment to His will.
 Reconciliation – The constantly renewing our relationship with God, others and all creation
through life of prayer, penance and zeal.
 Integrity – The courage and determination to live and die for Salettinian ideals.
 Excellence – Upholding the highest standard of quality assured education and professionalism
in the areas of instruction, research, and extension.
 Solidarity - Commitment to building a community anchored on mutual trust, confidence,
teamwork, unity and respect for the dignity of the humen person and creation.
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Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this module you are expected to:
1. Share the importance of religion in the promotion of peace and unity.
2. Identify the significant role of religion in promoting peace and unity.

TOPIC 1
RELIGION AS A UNIVERSAL PHENOMENON
Religion means. The belief in and worship of a supernatural controlling power, especially a
personal god or gods.. A particular system of faith and worship.. The way of life committed to by
monks and nuns.. religion, synonyms: faith, mythology.

Religious Phenomenon?
During a religious experience, a human being can be accompanied by various religious
phenomena, which some researchers describe as “incidental” religious phenomena. They are
characterized by varied intensity, complexity and changeable frequency [1,2]. They can be visions,
ecstasies, mystical raptures, and stigmata.
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Why is religion universal in human society?
Religion is a social institution because it includes beliefs and
practices that serve the needs of society. Religion is also an example
of a cultural universal because it is found in all societies in one form
or another.

The Universal Call To Prayer

Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2566

Man is in search of God. In the act of creation, God calls every being from nothingness into
existence. "Crowned with glory and honor," man is, after the angels, capable of acknowledging
"how majestic is the name of the Lord in all the earth."1 Even after losing through his sin his
likeness to God, man remains an image of his Creator, and retains the desire for the one who calls
him into existence. All religions bear witness to men's essential search for God.

Acts 17:27
“that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far
from each one of us “

Seven Dimensions of Religion

The Ritual Dimension

This is the way in which the community re-enacts its myths and confirms and expresses its beliefs
through action. Worship, Praying, Regular Gatherings, Rites of Passage.

The Experiential Dimension

This is one of the most attractive dimensions of religion - the capacity of ritual, prayer, worship
to evoke feelings of security and comfort or on the other hand feelings of awe, inexplicable
 Prepared by: Jestony B. Amtar, Wilmar B. Cachin, Ronnie B. Viray
presence, mystery, ecstasy. People react when they have encountered something which they
believe is very profound

The Mythical Dimension

Myths are the sacred stories that pass from generation to generation - they are sacred because
they reveal and explain what that tradition believes to be the ultimate nature of gods, humans and
the universe – One such story is the Hopi tradition of how peaches became sweet and the bees got
wings. – The stories in the 3 case studies of the Australian Aboriginals, the Tingling, and the
Polynesians we studied

The Doctrinal Dimension ( philosophical )

Many religions have a system of doctrines - beliefs about the nature of Divinity or ultimate reality
and the relationship of humans to that ultimate, real, divinity. Provides rational for many of the
practices and ideas of the religion.
 Trinity
 Bodhisattva

The Ethical Dimension ( legal )

In every tradition you will find sets of rules, behavioral precepts or guidelines for conduct
according to which the community judges a person good or evil depending on the level of
conformity to those precepts. Ideas and laws that shape behavior.

Laws of Man
 Beatitudes
 5 Precepts
 Ten Commandment

The Social Dimension ( institutional )

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A religious tradition implies some sort of social organization through which it perpetuates itself.
There can be individuals who exemplify the religious tradition, and who live outside of society,
but the teachings and the tradition itself is preserved and passed on through the social organization
of churches, temples, mosques or monasteries.
 Masjid
 Church
 Synagogue
 Sangha

The Material Dimension

The physical buildings, implements, paintings, statues, books, etc. associated with a tradition, as
well as geographical places and features that are mythically associated with the tradition.

An outgrowth of religious experience/encounter.

 Music
 Art
 Symbol
 Architecture
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TOPIC 1
DIVINE REVELATION

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Make a reflection paper on how you encounter God in your life for the first time.
2. Explain why there is a need for God to give His Law to His people.
3. Identify some factors on how you keep God’s Law.
4. Choose your favorite Biblical passage on keeping God’s Law and make a reflection paper on
how it affects your daily actions.

God Reveals Himself To His Creations And Makes Known The Mystery Of His Will
Through Historical Men And Women.

It “pleased God to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of His will through which men
and women could have access to the Father, through Christ, in the Holy Spirit and thus become
sharers in the divine nature (Eph 1:9; 2:18; 2 Pt 1:4).
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Judeo-Christianity: as Revealed Religion (Religion of the Book)
"God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word,
provides men with constant evidence of himself in created
realities. And furthermore, wishing to open up the way to
heavenly salvation - he manifested himself to our first
parents from the very beginning” (CCC 54 DV 3;
cf. Jn 1:3; Rom 1:19-20). He invited them to intimate
communion with himself and clothed them with resplendent
grace and justice.

This revelation was not broken off by our first parents' sin. "After the fall, [God] buoyed them up
with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption; and he has never ceased to show his
solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by
patience in well-doing” (DV 3; cf. Gen 3:15; Rom 2:6-7).

Revelation to Chosen Ones (Israel and later the Gentiles)

God chose the people of Israel to be a special treasure whom he would deliver from slavery and
establish a covenant with them. This covenant established laws that would allow the people to
proclaim that God is the only living and true God.

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is

you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth
to be his people, his treasured possession.” (NRSV)

“Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my

covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of
all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, but
you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy
nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the
Israelites.” (NRSV) Ex. 19: 5-6
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Revelation by Love
By love, God has revealed Himself and given Himself for all men and women in order that we
might know Him and realize the meaning and purpose of our lives.

Gradual Revelation
In revelation God speaks so that men may respond to him, know him, and love him far beyond
their own natural capacity. God reveals himself gradually, in deeds and words. CCC 64, CCC 53,
68

God promised to remain with his adopted sons and daughters of Israel forever. He did not just
reveal Himself to them one time but continues to do so, especially through the prophet.

No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of
many nations. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from
you. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your
descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants
after you. The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an
everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.” (NRSV)
Gen. 5-8

God’s Revelation
God Reveals His "Plan Of Loving Goodness"
511 "It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery
of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made
flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature."2 2
52 God, who "dwells in unapproachable light", wants to communicate his own divine life to the
men he freely created, in order to adopt them as his sons in his only-begotten Son.3 By revealing

1
This numeric before the paragraph signify the paragraph’s number in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
2
This numeric after the sentence/s signifies the verse in the Bible where a particular passage is taken.
 Prepared by: Jestony B. Amtar, Wilmar B. Cachin, Ronnie B. Viray
himself God wishes to make them capable of responding to him, and of knowing him and of loving
him far beyond their own natural capacity.

53 The divine plan of Revelation is realized simultaneously "by deeds and words which are
intrinsically bound up with each other"4 and shed light on each another. It involves a specific
divine pedagogy: God communicates himself to man gradually. He prepares him to welcome by
stages the supernatural Revelation that is to culminate in the person and mission of the incarnate
Word, Jesus Christ.
St. Irenaeus of Lyons repeatedly speaks of this divine pedagogy using the image of God and man
becoming accustomed to one another: The Word of God dwelt in man and became the Son of man
in order to accustom man to perceive God and to accustom God to dwell in man, according to the
Father's pleasure.5

The Stages Of Revelation

1. In The Beginning God Makes Himself Known

54"God, who creates and conserves all things by his
Word, provides men with constant evidence of himself in
created realities. And furthermore, wishing to open up the
way to heavenly salvation - he manifested himself to our
first parents from the very beginning."6 He invited them
to intimate communion with himself and clothed them
with resplendent grace and justice.

55 This revelation was not broken off by our first parents'

sin. "After the fall, [God] buoyed them up with the hope of salvation, by promising redemption;
and he has never ceased to show his solicitude for the human race. For he wishes to give eternal
life to all those who seek salvation by patience in well-doing."7 Even when he disobeyed you and
lost your friendship you did not abandon him to the power of death. . . Again and again you offered
a covenant to man.8
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2. The Covenant with Noah
56 After the unity of the human race was shattered by sin God at once sought to save humanity
part by part. The covenant with Noah after the flood gives expression to the principle of the divine
economy toward the "nations", in other words, towards men grouped "in their lands, each with
[its] own language, by their families, in their nations".9

57 This state of division into many nations is at once cosmic, social and religious. It is intended to
limit the pride of fallen humanity10 united only in its perverse ambition to forge its own unity as
at Babel.11 But, because of sin, both polytheism and the idolatry of the nation and of its rulers
constantly threaten this provisional economy with the perversion of paganism.12

58 The covenant with Noah remains in force during the times of the
Gentiles, until the universal proclamation of the Gospel.13 The Bible
venerates several great figures among the Gentiles: Abel the just, the
king-priest Melchisedek - a figure of Christ - and the upright "Noah,
Daniel, and Job".14 Scripture thus expresses the heights of sanctity
that can be reached by those who live according to the covenant of
Noah, waiting for Christ to "gather into one the children of God who
are scattered abroad".

3. God chooses Abraham

59 In order to gather together scattered humanity God calls
Abram from his country, his kindred and his father's
house,16 and makes him Abraham, that is, "the father of a
multitude of nations". "In you all the nations of the earth shall
be blessed."17

60 The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee

of the promise made to the patriarchs, the chosen people,
called to prepare for that day when God would gather all his
children into the unity of the Church.18 They would be the
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root on to which the Gentiles would be grafted, once they came to believe.19
61 The patriarchs, prophets and certain other Old Testament figures have been and always will be
honored as saints in all the Church's liturgical traditions.

4. God forms his people Israel

62 After the patriarchs, God formed Israel as his people by
freeing them from slavery in Egypt. He established with
them the covenant of Mount Sinai and, through Moses,
gave them his law so that they would recognize him and
serve him as the one living and true God, the provident
Father and just judge, and so that they would look for the
promised Savior.

63 Israel is the priestly people of God, "called by the name

of the LORD", and "the first to hear the word of God",21 the people The Call of Moses of
"elder brethren" in the faith of Abraham.

64 Through the prophets, God forms his people in the hope of salvation, in the expectation of a
new and everlasting Covenant intended for all, to be written on their hearts.22 The prophets
proclaim a radical redemption of the People of God, purification from all their infidelities, a
salvation which will include all the nations.23 Above all, the poor and humble of the Lord will
bear this hope. Such holy women as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Judith
and Esther kept alive the hope of Israel's salvation. The purest figure among them is Mary.24

5. Christ Jesus -- "Mediator And Fullness Of All Revelation"25

God has said everything in his Word

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65 "In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by
the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a
Son."26 Christ, the Son of God made man, is the Father's one,
perfect and unsurpassable Word. In him he has said everything;
there will be no other word than this one. St. John of the Cross,
among others, commented strikingly on Hebrews 1:1-2:

In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he possesses no other), he

spoke everything to us at once in this sole Word - and he has no
more to say. . . because what he spoke before to the prophets in
parts, he has now spoken all at once by giving us the All Who is His
The Risen Christ Son. Any person questioning God or desiring some vision or
revelation would be guilty not only of foolish behavior but also of
offending him, by not fixing his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with the desire for some
other novelty.

There will be no further Revelation

66 "The Christian economy, therefore, since it is the new and definitive Covenant, will never pass
away; and no new public revelation is to be expected before the glorious manifestation of our Lord
Jesus Christ."28 Yet even if Revelation is already complete, it has not been made completely
explicit; it remains for Christian faith gradually to grasp its full significance over the course of the
centuries.

67 Throughout the ages, there have been so-called "private" revelations, some of which have been
recognized by the authority of the Church. They do not belong, however, to the deposit of faith. It
is not their role to improve or complete Christ's definitive Revelation, but to help live more fully
by it in a certain period of history. Guided by the Magisterium of the Church, the sensus
fidelium knows how to discern and welcome in these revelations whatever constitutes an authentic
call of Christ or his saints to the Church.

Christian faith cannot accept "revelations" that claim to surpass or correct the Revelation of which
Christ is the fulfillment, as is the case in certain non-Christian religions and also in certain recent
sects which base themselves on such "revelations".
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In Christ, God has revealed everything.

“Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last
days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also
created the worlds. He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being,
and he sustains all things by his powerful word.” (NRSV) Heb. 1: 1-3

 Faith is Man’s Response to Revelation

 Man’s response to revelation is called Faith. CCC 52, 142-144
 Faith is a surrendering of our intellect and will to God. CCC 150-55
 Faith is also a human act to trust in God and this act can only be made by man by grace. Grace
is a gift from God.
 Faith builds upon reason to heal it, perfect and elevate it. CCC 156-58
 No one can force man to have faith in God. Man has free will to choose God. CCC 160-65
 Faith is necessary for salvation; it is the beginning of eternal life.
 To live, grow, and persevere in faith, man must pray, nourish his faith with the Word of God,
and do acts of charity.

IN BRIEF
68 By love, God has revealed himself and given himself to man. He has thus provided the
definitive, superabundant answer to the questions that man asks himself about the meaning and
purpose of his life.

69 God has revealed himself to man by gradually communicating his own mystery in deeds and in
words.
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70 Beyond the witness to himself that God gives in created things, he manifested himself to our
first parents, spoke to them and, after the fall, promised them salvation (cf. Gen 3:15) and offered
them his covenant.

71 God made an everlasting covenant with Noah and with all living beings (cf. Gen 9:16). It will
remain in force as long as the world lasts.

72 God chose Abraham and made a covenant with him and his descendants. By the covenant God
formed his people and revealed his law to them through Moses. Through the prophets, he prepared
them to accept the salvation destined for all humanity.

73 God has revealed himself fully by sending his own Son, in whom he has established his
covenant for ever. The Son is his Father's definitive Word; so there will be no further Revelation
after him.

Revelation Can Be Found In Several Contexts

Revelation can be found in several contexts.

 God, who creates and conserves all things by his Word provided men with constant evidence of
himself in created realities.
 Jesus Christ, sent as a man among men, spoke the words of God and accomplished the saving
work which the Father gave him to do.
 Christ the Lord, in whom the entire Revelation of the Most High God is summed up, commanded
the apostles to preach the Gospel. In preaching the Gospel they communicated the gifts of God
to all men.
 The apostles and other men associated with them, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
committed the message of salvation to writing.
 The full deposit of what was revealed is guarded and expounded faithfully through the Church’s
Magisterium
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TOPIC 2
GOD’S REVELATION THROUGH SACRED TEXTS

God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and
presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit” (DeiVerbum 11).

What is the Bible?

Christians believe that the Bible is inspired by God, is without error, and does not misrepresent the
facts. It is entirely trustworthy and is the final authority on everything it teaches. The Bible records
the drama of redemption in the history of Israel and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
As Christians we acknowledge both Jesus (John 1:1) and Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16) as the
“Word of God.” Christians should not focus solely on Jesus Christ and treat Scripture just like any
other “classic text.” Nor should we focus primarily on the Bible as God’s divine inerrant Word
and treat Jesus as simply a character in a small part of the texts.

Bible – Etymology “ Biblia “ meaning book

 It is a collection of Ancient writing about God
 Words of God in words of men, Sacred book of God.
 Written by persons from the people of God, for the people of God, about the God experience of
the people of God.
 Collection of sacred scriptures are the inspired record of how God deal his people, and how they
responded to, remembered and interpreted that experience.

Nature Of The Bible:

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 The Bible is a book of shared memories. It is a record of a people’s experiences woven into a
life history.
 The Bible is a Word of God. It is a divine revelation in human expression. It is the work of God
and the work of human hands written in faith and can be understood by faith.
 The Bible is a means of Divine Revelation. It reveals and conceals God’s self-gift. It invites us
to an ever deeper encounter self- gift.
 The Bible is the Library of Books. It contains books of different literary genres, written at
different times and written at different places and from varied reasons.

Divisions Of The Bible

Old Testament
These are stories about an old agreement between God ( YHWH ) and man ( Hebrews ) when the
Hebrews came out from Egypt and how it worked out.It is a lesson on faithfulness, expressed
variedly through laws, stories, prophecies and wisdom literature. It highlights the ever faithful God
who always keeps on gathering his people despite their constantly being scattered.

New Testament
These are stories and teaching about a new agreement between God and man based on the teaching
and life of Jesus who opened up the relationship between God and all men who believed in Him.

Religions of the Book: Judaism, Christianity, Islam

For Judaism: God revealed himself in/through the O.T. (36 books – Hebrew Classification of
Books in O.T)
For Catholics: God revealed himself in/through the O.T and N.T (46 books in the O.T & 27 books
(book, gospels & letters) in the N.T.
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For Protestant (following the Hebrew Classification)
For Islam: God revealed in/through Kor’an

*The Catholic Church Only Recognizes 73 Books in the Holy Bible

The Church accepts and venerates as inspired the 46 books of the Old Testament and the 27 books
of the New.

It was by the apostolic Tradition that the Church discerned which writings are to be included in
the list of the sacred books (Cf. DV 8 § 3). This complete list is called the canon of Scripture. It
includes 46 books for the Old Testament (45 if we count Jeremiah and Lamentations as one) and
27 for the New (DS 179; 1334-1336; 1501-1504).

The Hebrew Bible: TaNaK

The Hebrew Bible has been traditionally divided into three parts: Law, or Tora,
Prophets, or Nevi’im
Writings, or Ketuvim

The acronym “Tanak” refers to this tripartite division (i.e., Torah [T], Nevi’im [N], Ketuvim [K]).

Translations of the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew: the Original Language:

Hebrew Text in Extant today in distinct forms
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The Masoretic Text:
The official version of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament, for Judaism and Christianity since the
early Middle Ages. Masoretic Text, which derives its name from the Masoretes, the scribes who
preserved, edited, and pointed the text (i.e., added vowel signs, accents, and punctuation of a sort).
The Masoretic tradition probably originated in the late first or early second century.

Samaritan Pentateuch:
As a distinct recension the Samaritan Pentateuch probably owes its origin to the schism in the
second century BCE.
There are 150 manuscripts of the Samaritan Pentateuch, many nothing more than fragments, and
most in Hebrew, though some are in Aramaic and Arabic.

Old Greek (Septuagenta)

The Greek Translation of the Old Testament (including the Old Testament Apocrypha).
The name “seventy” comes from the legend found in the pseudepigraphal Letter of Aristeas, in
which it is claimed that King Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–247 BCE) commissioned seventytwo
Palestinian scribes to translate the Hebrew Pentateuch into Greek for the royal library.

Old Latin (Vulgata)

The Old Latin survives in fragmentary manuscripts,
liturgical books, and quotations of early Latin fathers (e.g., Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose).
A few books survive in complete form as part of the Vulgate (Baruch, Epistle of Jeremiah,
Wisdom, Sirach, 1 and 2 Maccabees).

Vulgate.
In 382 Pope Damasus I commissioned Jerome to prepare a reliable Latin translation of the Bible.
Based the Old Testament translation on the Hebrew text.
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Targums
Produced over generations in the homiletical and liturgical setting of the synagogue, the targums
constitute an Aramaic translation/paraphrase/interpretation of the Hebrew Bible. The word targum,
from the Aramaic word trgm, “to translate,” basically means a paraphrase or interpretive
translation.

Versions of English Translated Holy Bible

Some versions:
 English Standard Version (ESV)
 Good News Bible (Catholic edition in Septuagint order) (GNBDK)
 Good News Bible (GNB)
 King James Version (KJV)
 King James Version, American Edition (KJVA)
 New American Bible, revised edition (NABRE)
 New American Bible, revised edition (NABRE)
 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
 New King James Version (NKJV)
 New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)
 World English Bible (WEB)
AND MANY MORE…

From English Translations to Vernacular

 Ilokano
 Cebuano
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 Tagalog
 Kapangpangan
 Bicolano
 Hiligaynon

Several Directives Regarding Scripture In The Life Of The Church

Dei Verbum ( word of God )

- provided several directives regarding scripture in the life of the Church:
The Church must see to it that suitable and correct translations are made into various languages
especially from the original texts of the sacred books.

Under the watchful eye of the Magisterium3, the Church should set about examining and
explaining the sacred texts in such a way that as many as possible of those who are ministers of
the divine Word may be able to distribute fruitfully the nourishment of the Scriptures to the People
of God.

All clerics, particularly priests of Christ and others who, as deacons or catechists, are officially
engaged in the ministry of the Word, should immerse themselves in the Scriptures by constant
sacred reading and diligent study.

Bishops in particular must instruct the faithful in the correct use of the divine books, especially of
the New Testament, and in particular of the Gospels. The need for translations equipped with
necessary and really adequate explanations was noted in this directive.

3
Magisterium refers to the Teaching Authority of the Church.
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Editions of sacred Scripture, provided with suitable notes, should be prepared for the use of even
non-Christians, and adapted to their circumstances

God is the Primary Author

God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely
revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the
text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit” (Dei Verbum 11).

God is the author of Sacred Scripture because he inspired

its human authors; he acts in them and by means of them.
He thus gives assurance that their writings teach without
error his saving truth (cf. DV 11)

God is the primary author:

 Bible was written by men under divine inspiration
 People who wrote the Bible (authors: from O.T. to N.T)
 Written in different places
 Written at different period
 Written in different social, cultural, political and economic milieu
The Canon of the Bible (that is, the law which books of the bible have been officially declared by
Catholic Church)

Interpretation of Text (Hermeneutics)

God’s message needs the science of hermeneutics.
God’s revelation/message has been filtered by different cultures and experiences.