LITURGY (lesson 10)

 It is the public and official prayer of the church, the mystical Body of Christ.
 CHRISTUSTOTUS – Action of the whole Christ.
 FAITHFUL – Members of the church.
 It is the outstanding means whereby the priest together with the faithful express in
their lives and manifest to others, the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the
true Church. “from this it follows that every liturgical celebration-because it is an
action of Christ the priest and of His body the Church- is a sacred action surpassing
all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and
to the same decree.”(SC.7)

Liturgy should always be done well, performing all the actions and reciting the prayers with
care. By decorum and reverence when we are in a church or chapel we show in concrete
detail our faith in the real presence of our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

The Church is a sacred place.

3 Sacred Parts of the Church

Lectern – venue for declaring/hearing the word of God.

The tabernacle is its heart and in there our Lord is really present.

The altar is very important too for there the Sacrifice of the Mass takes place. It is the center
of the Church.

How is the Liturgical Year Divided?

1. Season of Advent

2. Christmas Season

3. Season of Lent

4. Easter Triduum

5. Easter Season

6. Ordinary Time

Advent is the season which celebrates the coming of God’s kingdom in Christ. It is the
necessary gate to enter before celebrating Christmas.

Divided into two distinct parts. The weeks between the first Sunday of advent and
December 16 form a whole, and are given to the contemplation of Christ Second coming.
From December 17-24, the liturgical text of advent are more directly concerned with the
immediate preparation for the Christmas feast.
1st Part – Waiting for the second coming of Christ(death) – PAROUSIA

2nd Part – Immediate preparation of the Christmas feast – 9 days novena (simbang gabi)

Christmas Season - It commemorates the mysteries of Christ birth, infancy and hidden life.
The spirit of Christmas Season is one joy that Christ was in born of the Virgin Mary at
Bethlehem, of peace for He came to reconcile a sinful world and of love in response to God’s
great love for us in becoming man.

Lent - It is the season that commemorate the 40 days that Christ spent fasting and praying
in the desert before He began His public life.

Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent. It is the liturgical season of penance during which
the faithful are to give themselves to a more than ordinary life of mortifications.

Easter Season - This is the period of 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost, to celebrate
and rejoice at Christ victory over sin and death, and at His promises of our final resurrection
and everlasting life in heaven.

Ordinary Time - It is the period from Epiphany to Lent, Beginning after the feast of the
Lord’s Baptism (which ends the Christmas season) up to Tuesday before Ash Wednesday
and resume on Monday after Pentecost to be prolonged until the first Sunday of Advent. It
focuses on God’s continued providence towards His chosen people from Abraham to Jesus
Christ.

THEOLOGY OF SLEEP (lesson 9)

In the garden of Eden and the creation of the First couple.

Gen.2:18 The Lord God said “ It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper for
him.”

Gen. 2:21 The Lord God made the man sleep and while he was sleep, he took out of his ribs
and replacing it with flesh he close up.

Gen. 2:22 Then the Lord God fashioned the woman from the rib he took from the man. He
brought it to the man.

What is the first ever anesthesia that God gave to Adam so that he would not feel the pain?

• The Lord God made the man sleeps.

Other Information:

• Deeper meaning of why God created sleep is in order for us to experience death.

• Life is uncertain, unpredictable, but death is certain.

Lacking of sleep may cause negative effects.

1. Passivity

2. Irritability in moods

3. Easily get upset and angry

4. Becomes not “blooming” on part of a woman

5. Sleepy during activity hours

6. Insomnia - abnormal inability to get enough sleep

7. Destroys the immune system

8. Triggers heart complications

9. Lacking of Energy

10. walking like zombie

Good sleep may cause Positive Effects:

1. Blooming

2. In focus

3. Active in life

4. Alive with vigor

5. Strong immune system

6. In love

7. Happy-enthusiastic

8. Energized and revitalized

Communion of Saints in the Apostles Creed (lesson 11)

By the Communion of Saints is meant the union of the faithful on earth, the Blessed in
Heaven, and the Souls in purgatory, with Christ as their head.

DEATH 3 Places

1. HEAVEN – Permanent
2. HELL – Permanent
3. PURGATORY – Temporary
PURGATORY

A state in which those who die guilty of sin(venial) or without having satisfied for the
punishment due to their sins will suffer for a time.

• Souls in Purgatory are united with the saints in heaven and with us here on earth by
the bond of charity. They are related through the communion of saints. Hence the
saints in heaven and we ourselves can help them.

It comes from the Latin word “Purga” which means to cleanse and purify.

• Will end in the Judgement Day

Three Kinds of the Church in the Communion of Saints

1. PILGRIM CHURCH(militant church) – Members of the church on Earth

2. PENITENT CHURCH(suffering church) - Souls in Purgatory(purification) nov. 02
3. MEMBERS IN HEAVEN(triumphant church) – Saints nov. 01

The members of the mystical Body are said to be saints because, in the words of St Paul
“What God want is for you all to be holy.”(1 Thessalonians 4:3) Our sanctification has been
initiated in Baptism and with the help of God’s grace we strive to grow in holiness.

Those in Purgatory are in God’s friendship and the souls in heaven have reached their
destination.

2 Major Steps in Becoming a Saint

1. Beatification- is the church declaration that a person who practice heroic virtue maybe
venerated locally or by limited number of people.

2. Canonization-The solemn declaration by the Pope that the faithful may universally invoke
a person as a saint.

These honors are granted by the Church to her Children who during their lives on earth
attained a super eminent degree of sanctity or perfection in the love of God, and the love of
neighbors for love of God.

The First Two Filipino Saints

1. Saint Lorenzo Ruiz - martyr, belongs to the laity, married.

- Before his martyrdom Lorenzo said:” I am a devout Christian, and I am ready to die for
Christ, and If I have a thousand lives, I would give all of them to Him.”

2. Saint Pedro Calungsod - martyr, catechist, 17 years old when martyred, patron of young
missionaries and catechist.
The saints in heaven help the soul in purgatory. The Blessed Virgin Mary is especially
concerned about the rescue of the poor souls in purgatory. The saints who see God face to
face, continuously intercede for the faithful on earth before God. He hears their prayers for
us because they are His friends. If the Prayers of a just man on earth are pleasing in the sight
of God, how much more precious would be the prayers of the saints in heaven.

• Souls in Purgatory cannot help themselves, they depend on us to help them. We

should pray not only our departed relatives but for the poor souls in Purgatory. We
make a special commemoration of the soul in Purgatory on ALL SOUL’S DAY on
November 2, every year.

Cemetery

• Comes from the Latin word coemeterium which means burial place or sleeping
chamber.

• A sacred place second to the Church.

• Burial ground

• Columbarium-A sacred place also for cremated corpse.

Peace in the Old Testament(lesson 12)

“Ignorance of the Bible is Ignorance of Christ”

Christ is the source of salvation

Ignorance – word of God who is alive

You can find Christ in the church(will give you salvation)

Dove – Leaves(carrying leaves)

Dove is only the bird who has a red feet. Dove symbolises PEACE found in Noah’s Arc.

Books in the Old Testament(4 Books)

1. Pentateuch - the first five books in the old testament

2. Historical Books
3. Wisdom Books
4. Prophetic Books

-Practice of Justice
-Woship for God
-Fatsing
Justice, Love and Peace

In Old Testament there’s a promise that the world will be Incarnated(1st Christmas)

Peace in the New Testament (4 Evangelists Gospel)

• Matthew, Mark, Luke, John: 4 Gospels

Jesus was baptized at the age of 30. He died at 33

The baptism of Christ is a signal that Christmas is over.

It is the part of his public ministry

34th Sunday is Christ the King.

Acts of the Apostles, Romans, Corinthians 1, 2, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians,

Thessalonians 1, 2, Timothy 1, 2, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James, Peter 1, 2, John 1, 2, 3,
Jude, Revelations

• The teachings of the ancient law are taken up and brought to perfection by Jesus.
The beginning of His preaching the Lord teaches that with His coming the prophecy
of Isaiah is fulfilled.

• Jesus as the prince of Peace.

- Fulfillment of the promise of salvation in the Old Testament.

• Luke 4: 16-21 The Gospel of Mercy

- Beginning of preaching

Mercy is the name of God in the Bible

Peace – Absence of chaos

 Scope of Church’s Social Teachings(Lesson 13)
Human Work, Human Dignity,

& Human Rights

Human Work

Biblical Aspects: The duty to cultivate and care for the earth.

The Old Testament presents God as the Omnipotent Creator who fashions
man in his image and invites him to work the soil ( Gen.2:5-6 ) and cultivate and care for the
Garden of Eden in which He has placed Him ( Gen.2:15 ) The first human couple God entrust
the task of subduing the earth and exercising dominion over every living creature.

In the creator’s plan created realities, which are good in themselves, exist for man’s
sake.

Work Its Meaning in the Bible

1. Work is part of the original state of man and precedes his fall, it is therefore not a
punishment or curse. It becomes toil and pain because of the sin of Adam and Eve.

2. Work has a place of honor because it is a source of riches, or at least of the conditions for
a decent life and is in principle, an effective instrument against poverty.

3. Work is essential, but it is God – and not work – who is the origin of life and final goal of
man.

4. The apex of Biblical teaching on work is the commandment of Sabbath rest.

• The memory and the experience of the Sabbath constitute a barrier against
becoming slaves to work whether voluntary or by force.

5. Work represents a fundamental dimension of human existence as participation not only

in the act of creation but also in that of redemption.

Duty to work:

• The awareness that “ the form of this world is passing away” ( 1 Cor. 7:31) is not an
exoneration from being involved in the world, and even less from work which is an
integral part of human condition, although not the only purpose of life.

• By his work and industriousness, man – who has a share in the Divine art and
wisdom – makes creation, the cosmos already ordered by the Father, more beautiful
human work directed charity as its final goal.
Human Dignity, Man: The image of God

1. It’s in Christ, “ the image of the invisible God.” that man has been created in the image
and likeness of the creator. It is Christ, redeemer and Savior, that the Divine image,
disfigured in man by the first sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by
the grace of God.

• Divine image is present in every man. It shines forth in the communion of

persons, in the likeness of the unity of the Divine Person among themselves.

• Endowed with spiritual and immortal soul the human person is the only creature on
earth that God has willed fir its own sake. From His conception He is destined for
eternal beatitude.

• Human person participates in the light and power of the Divine Spirit. By His reason
he is capable of understanding the order of things establish by the creator. By
freewill he is capable of directing himself toward his true good. He finds his
perfections in seeking and loving what is true and good.

• By virtue of his soul and his spiritual powers of intellect and will man is endowed
with freedom an outstanding manifestation of the Divine Image.

• By his reason, man recognizes the voice of God which urges him “ to do what is
good and avoid what is evil. Everyone is obliged to follow this law, which makes itself
heard in conscience and is fulfilled in the love of God and neighbor. Living a moral
life bears witness to dignity of the person.

• Man and woman have the same dignity and are of equal value, not only because
they are both, in their differences created in the image of God, but even more
profoundly because the dynamic of reciprocity that gives life to the “ we “ in the
human couple is an image of God.

• The movements towards the identification and proclamation of human rights is one
of the most significant attempts to respond effectively to the in escapable demands
of human dignity.

• The roots of human rights are to be found in the dignity that belongs to each human
being.

• The ultimate source of human rights is not found in the mere will of human rights, in
the reality of the state, public powers, but in man himself and in God his creator.
These rights are universal, inviolable inalienable. Universal because they are present
in all human beings. Inviolable insofar as they are inherent in the human person and
in human dignity. And because it would be vain to proclaim rights, if at the same
time everything were not done to ensure the duty of respecting them by all people
everywhere and for all people.

• Inalienable insofar as no one can legitimately deprive another person, whoever they
may, be, of these rights since this would do violence to their nature.
 • Human rights are to be defended not only individually but also as a whole:
protecting them only partially would imply a kind of failure to recognize them.

Specification of Rights from Vatican Council

The teaching of Pope John XXIII have given abundant indication of the concept of human
rights as articulated by the Magisterium, Pope John Paul II has drawn up a list of them in the
Encyclical Centesimus Annus:

1. The right to life, and integral part of which is the right of the child in the mother’s womb
from the moment of conception.

2. The right to live in a united family and a moral environment conducive to the growth of
the child’s personality.

3.the right to develop one’s intelligence and freedom in seeking and knowing the truth.

• The right to share in the work which makes wise use of the earth’s material
resources, and to derive from that work the means to support oneself and one’s
dependents.

• The right freely to establish a family to have and to rear children through
responsible exercise of one’s sexuality. In a certain sense the source and synthesis of
these rights is religious freedom.

• The right to live in the truth of one’s faith and in conformity with one’s transcendent
dignity as a person.