• A long string of Bible quotes do not

make our catechesis biblical nor the

use of a biblical passage or text as
clincher – the biblical text ‘comes
from the outside’
• Biblical catechesis should convey what
the Bible wants to say, or what God is
saying through the sacred writers

• Biblical catechesis should reflect

God’s way of unfolding His message
to His people
• A biblical catechesis should…
1. Carry the essential message of the bible
2. Reflect God’s way of unfolding and
developing God’s message to His
people

Q. What is the message of God

expressed for us in the bible? What is
God communicating to us through the
sacred writers?
• Biblical catechesis should be centered on
the essential message of the bible which
is the plan of God for man which He set
forth in Christ
• This is the point of reference of whatever
we treat in our lessons.
• Our lessons should revolve around this
central theme
.
• The presence of this plan of God is what
must be felt in our catechesis if our
catechesis is to be biblical.

• Biblical catechesis must allow the Father

to meet and speak to His children with
great love and should allow Christ to
bring them the good news.
• The use of images and symbols make the
message known and relevant and
contemporary.

• A biblical catechesis must convey the plan of

God and must discern this message in the
medium which God was pleased to use.

• The bible’s way is to make God’s message

understood and understandable by people of
all ages.
• A biblical catechesis should…

2. Reflect God’s way of unfolding and

developing God’s message to His
people

• The language of God in the bible is the

language of deeds and words having
an inner unity (DV 2.
• The biblical way of unfolding God’s
message is from the concrete to the
abstract.
• How do we make the Bible contemporary to
us and how do we use them in our catechesis?
• It involves a 3 step process:
1. We have to understand the meaning of the
biblical events and expressions then
assimilate their very experience.

Q. In that event what needs and longings are they

expressing? How does God answer their needs
and desires? To what value does He lead them?
What was God’s message to them on this
occasion?
2. Having looked into the event, we look into our
life’s situation.

Q. In our life we have the same longings and

desires, we react and feel in a similar manner.
Now, what is God in Christ thru the Holy Spirit
telling us in this situation? What message is He
giving? Is He correcting us, healing us or
leading us to His ideas, values and ways?

3. We see the similiarity of their experience with

ours.
Three important concerns:

1. Why catechesis should be Christocentric?

2. What is Christocentric catechesis for myself and

for the catechist?

3. How is catechesis rendered as Christocentric?

1. We are Christians and followers of JESUS.
Christianity is not a philosophy of life:
Christianity is CHRIST! Every Christian is a
catechist!
2. It is the person of Christ , His ideas, values
and lifestyle, on which people have faith will
transform the world. Faith in the person of
Christ hopefully will transform people
3. Dominant persons have influenced the
history of catechetics itself. Catechesis is not
merely understanding but leading people to
communion and intimacy with Christ.
1. Stress that at the heart of our catechesis we find, in
essence, the Person of Jesus , the only Son from
the Father
2. The primary and essential object is the mystery of
Christ.
3. It is to reveal in the Person of Christ the whole
God’s eternal design reaching its fulfillment in
that person.
4. It is to seek to understand the meaning of Christ’s
actions and words
5. The definitive aim is not only to put people in
touch but in communion and intimacy with Christ.
6. In catechesis, it is Christ who is taught –
everything else is taught in reference to Him
7. It is the communion of the living mystery of
God
8. His words, His parables and His arguments are
never separable from His life and His being.
The whole of Christ’s life was a continual
teaching.

Source: CT nos. 5-9

“The mystery of Christ is what
catechesis is all about”
1. Through/by way of symbols: a symbols has 3
elements:
• The things
• Its conceptual meaning
• The relationship which the thing make
mysteriously present

2. When we speak and teach like Christ. “Only

one is your teacher, Christ” (Mt.23:8). The
catechist must allow Christ to speak through
Him.
3. Render Jesus contemporary to us today.
Jesus must be made a living Person with
us.
4. In Christocentric catechesis, the liturgical
acts of the Church must be seen as
presence of Christ acting.
5. Christocentric catechesis enables the
catechized to see the authentic signs of
God’s presence in their lives.
“An integrated catechesis rooted in the Word
of God, Christocentric and truly
Filipino”

Filipino Catechesis – inculturation

• We desire that God’s message is handed

down to us Filipinos
• That catechists speak in a language we can
understand
• Christ spoke to His disciples according to
the happenings in their lives, mindful of
their hopes and desires and aware of their
efforts to make their dreams come true.
• Christ spoke to His disciples in the culture
they were reared.
• Filipino Catechesis: “Give us what God is
saying to us in our own culture. Interpret
for us in the light of Christ the life we
live”.
• Christ spoke to His disciples according to
the happenings in their lives, mindful of
their hopes and desires and aware of their
efforts to make their dreams come true.
• Christ spoke to His disciples in the culture
they were reared.
• Filipino Catechesis: “Give us what God is
saying to us in our own culture. Interpret
for us in the light of Christ the life we
live”.
How can you make your catechesis:

• Biblical
• Christocentric
• Filipino
• How do we do ‘inculturation’- “the message is
embodied in cultures (CT 53)?

1. Catechesis should know these cultures and

their essential components
2. Learn the most significant expressions
3. Respect their particular values and riches
4. Bring the power of the Gospel into the very
heart of culture and cultures
5. Help them bring forth from their own living
traditions original expression of Christian life,
celebration and thought
• PROCESS:
1. Awareness of the situation in which one is
involved
2. Reflect and discover the values sought or
expressed therein
3. Interpret or see the values on the light of
faith
4. Express God’s message in one’s life situation
*For inculturation, there must be an
acceptance in faith that God is present to all
peoples”
 -end-
SALAMAT PO!!!