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Parish Academy Class -
Christian Theology Taught by Fr. Reid September 8 -
December 1, 2010 Wednesday nights - 7:00 -
8:30
Text: Know the Truth: A Handbook of Christian
Belief by Bruce Milne, 3rd Edition, 2009.
September 8
The Authority of Scripture September 15 The
Doctrine of God I September 22 The Doctrine of
God II September 29 Humanity and Sin October
6
The Person of Christ October 13
The Work of Christ October 20
The Promise of the Holy Spirit October 27
The Work of the Holy Spirit November 3
Christian Growth November 10 The
Life of the Church November 17 The
Sacraments of the Church November 24
NO CLASS - Thanksgiving December 1
The Last Things
KEY SCRIPTURES:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no
longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I
now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
I do not nullify the grace of God, for if
justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose
(Galatians 5:21).
He who is forgiven little, loves little (Luke
7:47).
If you love me, you will keep
my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give
you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of
truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him
nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will
be in you (John 14:15-17).
When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all
together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a
sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house
where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire
appeared to them and rested on each on of them. And they were
all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues
as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:1-4).
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your
advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will
not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you (John
16:7).
Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not
yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell
them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and
your God'" (John 20:17).
Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me,
you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have
believed" (John 20:29).
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God (II Corinthians
5:21).
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust
do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matthew
6:19-20).
Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all
your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. rend your
heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for
he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in
live, and he relents from sending calamity (Joel 2:12-13).
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to
Galilee, and a report abut him went out through all the surrounding
country. And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by
all (Luke 4:14-15).
Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes
all things, endures all things (I Corinthians 13:7).
The angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I
bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is
Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a
baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger" (Luke 2:10-12).
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior
appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of
rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us
generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been
justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of
eternal life (Titus 3:4-7).
He will be great and will be called the Son of the
Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father
David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his
kingdom will never end (Luke 1:32-33).
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose
trust is the Lord (Jeremiah 17:7).
SPIRITUAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
The following are favorite quotations that highlight the
Christian faith and hopefully lead us to reflection and
contemplation and perhaps change and transformation. Enjoy!
Renovation of the Heart by Dallas
Willard:
Spiritual transformation of my thought life is
achieved by the ministry of the Spirit in the midst of my necessary
and well-directed efforts.
For nothing enters the mind without having an
effect for good or evil.
The transformation of our thought life by taking
on the mind of Christ - his ideas, images, information, and patterns
of thinking - opens the way to deliverance of every dimension of the
human self from the oppressive powers of darkness.
Worship is the single most powerful force in
completing and sustaining restoration in the whole person.
Worship is at once the overall character of the renovated thought
life and the only safe place for a human being to stand.
To serve God well we must think straight; and
crooked thinking, unintentional or not, always favors evil.
My conscience is captive to the Word of God.
His grace will accompany us every step of the way,
but it will never permit us to be merely passive i our spiritual
formation in Christ.
Spiritual formation in Christ moves toward a total
interchange of our ideas and images for his.
The person and gospel of Jesus Christ is the only
complete answer to the false and destructive images and ideas that
control the life of those away from God. The process of
spiritual formation in Christ is one of progressively replacing
those destructive images and ideas with the images and ideas that
filled the mind of Jesus himself.
The single most important thing in our mind is our
idea about God and the associated images. A right conception
of God is basic not only to systematic theology but to practical
Christian living as well.
The cross presents the lostness of man as well as
the sacrifice of God and the abandonment to God that brings
redemption. No doubt it is the all-time most powerful image
and symbol of human history.
The ultimate freedom we have as human beings is
the power to select what we will allow or require our minds to dwell
upon.
To grow in grace means to utilize more and more
grace to live by, until everything we do is assisted by grace.
The
Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis:
Let this be your only desire, that God may always
be glorified in you, whether by life or by death.
You alone are my hope and my crown, my happiness
and my honor. Everything is Yours!
Nothing happens on earth without Your wisdom and
providence, and nothing ever happens without good reason.
A man is only as great as he is in Your eyes and
no greater.
Look upon the whole world as nothing and prefer
serving God to everything else. It is impossible for you to
serve Me and at the same time take delight in ephemeral things.
If you view things in their proper light you will
prefer to follow My commands rather than your desires.
I am where my thoughts are, and my thoughts are
usually with the things I love. What quickly enters my
thoughts is what is naturally delightful, or what has become
pleasurable by constant use. If I love heaven, I gladly think
of heavenly things. If I love the world, I rejoice in worldly
pleasures and am saddened by its woes.
Everything that passes with time is short-lived
and of little consequence.
The reward I offer you is beyond measure and
without limit.
Lord, whom shall I trust? No one but You!
You are the Truth; and You can neither deceive nor be deceived.
Take a good and thorough look at yourself and you
will find that the world still resides in you and that you still
foolishly desire to please men.
How People Grow by Henry Cloud and John
Townsend
It is a very human trait to try to avoid the
suffering of discipline and growth. We all do it. but
the wiser we become, the more we value the pain of growth and
despise the avoidance patterns in our lives.
Bad pain comes from repeating old patterns and
avoiding the suffering it would take to change them, because many
times people suffer because of their own character faults. Bad
pain is basically wasted pain. It is the pain we go through to
avoid the good pain of growth that comes from pushing through.
Not facing the growth that we have to face always
leads to further suffering - and the further suffering is usually
progressively worse. If a person is not facing things, the
dynamics and symptoms and relationships get worse as time goes on.
We all have coping mechanisms that cover up pain,
help us deal with fear, cope with relational inabilities, and help
us hold it all together. Trials and suffering push those
mechanisms past the breaking point so we find out where we need to
grow. Then true spiritual growth begins at deeper levels, and
we are healed. Righteousness and character take the place of
coping.
Pain can bring health.
The Bible teaches everything that people need to
grow. Biblical illiteracy is a problem because the Bible is so
central to God's process of growth.
The Bible stands alone as God's only perfect guide
to life and growth.
Our conscience makes us aware of right and wrong,
and when we violate a standard, it corrects us.
All growth is a gift from God and that as we are
accepted at deeper and deeper levels, we are driven to accept others
in our lives even more fully.
Grace should precede truth.
Truly healthy people know they have good parts,
but they also know their bad parts. However, they have the
acceptance and grace to deal with them in God's process of growth.
Don't be afraid of truth; it hurts but heals.
When we finally understand that God isn't mad at
us anymore, we become free to concentrate on love and growth instead
of trying to appease him.
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
The gospel is too readily heard and taken for
granted, as though it contained no unsettling news and no unwelcome
threat. What began as news in the gospel is easily assumed,
slotted, and conveniently dismissed. We depart having heard,
but without noticing the urge to transformation that is not readily
compatible with our comfortable believing that asks little and
receives less. Walter Brueggemann
May Christ be the magnifying glass through which I
see the ordinary today, so that I may have strength to rise above
winter moods. Leighton Ford
Each day we must seek a forgiving heart, for
without the cultivation of an attitude of forgiveness we will never
be at peace. John McQuiston II
God of light, you sent your star to show the magi
the way. Guide us when we seek your truth. When shadows
cover the earth, help us wait for your glory to rise upon us... Give
us courage always to arise and let our light shine for your glory.
In the name of Jesus. Amen. Blair Gilmer Meeks
The spiritually poor - like the economically poor
- experience genuine gratitude and appreciate the slightest gift.
Ironically, the more we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the
poorer we become. The more we realize that everything is gift,
the more the tenor of our life becomes one of humble, joyful
thanksgiving. Brennan Manning
Our fear, when healed, becomes intuitive,
empathetic compassion and sensitivity toward others. Our
destructive anger, when healed, becomes a passion, a hunger and
thirst for justice and righteousness. Our perfectionism,...
when healed, becomes released, joyous power to build and create.
Flora Slosson Wuellner
Your creation sings praise to you so that we may
love you, and we love you so that praise may be offered to you by
your creation. St. Augustine
Indeed, powers of darkness rule the world.
We should not be surprised when we see human suffering and pain all
around us. But we should be surprised by joy every time we see
that God, not the Evil One, has the last word. Henri Nouwen
We must not be afraid of the future. We must
not be afraid of man. It is no accident that we are here.
Each and every person has been created in the image and likeness of
the One who is the origin of all that is. We have within us
the capacity for wisdom and virtue. With these gifts and the
help of God's grace, we can build..., in the next millennium, a
civilization worthy of the human person, a true culture of freedom.
We can and must do so. John Paul II
My director, Jesus, does not teach me to count my
acts, but to do everything for love, to refuse Him nothing, to be
pleased when He gives me a chance to prove to Him that I love Him -
but all this in peace, in abandonment; Jesus does everything, I
nothing. Saint Therese of Lisieux
In the deep stillness of prayer my soul fasts.
Fasting, at its heart, is turning away from what keeps me from God.
Two things I must leave: the walls I build around the space that was
made to be God's dwelling; the absurdities I keep in that space, so
jealously hoarded... The fast is silence, ocean-deep and prolonged.
Shard by shard, the wall begins to fall. Inch by inch, the
space clears, and Love light the shadows... This is not denial, but
freedom. Fast is feast. Jo Ann Staebler
Keep praying when life doesn't make sense.
Keep praying in the face of insufficient evidence that prayer works.
I appeal to you to base your beliefs about prayer on revelation, not
speculation; on the long haul, not the short run; on heaven and
earth combined, not earth alone. If you continue to talk in
the dark and pray when life doesn't make sense, you will be no
farther behind in the life of prayer than the greatest saint.
Those women and men who prayed before us left footprints that go
through the deepest valleys as well as the mountaintops.
Steve Harper
Prayer brings about a turning of the heart to God,
who is ever ready to give, if we will but take what God has given.
And in the very act of turning, there is effected a cleansing of the
inner eye. The things of a temporal kind that were desired are
excluded, so that the vision of the pure heart may be able to bear
the pure light, divinely shining, without any setting or change -
and not only to bear it, but also remain in it, not merely without
annoyance, but also with indescribable joy, in which a life truly
and sincerely blessed is perfected. Saint Augustine
It is good to renew ourselves from time to time by
closely examining the state of our souls, as if we had never done it
before. For nothing tends more to the full assurance of faith
than to keep ourselves by this means in humility and the exercise of
all good works. John Wesley
It is the startling question, "Do you want to
recover?" that we need to consider as we make our confession.
Do we really want to give up our illusions about life, our deceits
about the kind of people we are, all those false images about the
past and fantasies concerning the future? Elizabeth O'Connor
BOOK OF THE MONTH - Devotional Classics
Be on your guard, and arm yourself with weapons of
the Spirit. Become acquainted with the devil's plans that you
may keep from getting caught in his traps, and instead, expose him.
Learn and avoid the devil's stratagems, so that after obtaining
victory over him, we may, whether in this present life or in that
which is to come, be proclaimed conquerors and obtain those
unalloyed blessings.
The Lord's chief desire is to reveal himself to
you and, in order for him to do that, he gives you abundant grace.
The Lord gives you the experience of enjoying his presence. He
touches you, and his touch is so delightful that, more than ever,
you are drawn inwardly to him.
The mind has a very strong tendency to stray away
from the Lord. Make us of the Scripture to quiet your mind.
If you read quickly, it will benefit you little.
Be careful as you read. Take in fully, gently, and carefully
what you are reading. Taste it and digest it as you read.
Plunge into the very depths of the words you read until revelation,
like a sweet aroma, breaks out upon you.
Examine the course of your life. Be open to
the call and ready to make a change if necessary.
The inner life can't be freed by changing the
place or by killing the body, but only by putting off the old person
and putting on the new person, thus passing from death to life.
Those who go astray, instead of satisfying their inner craving in
the Creator, try to satisfy it in their own crooked ways. The
result is that, instead of being happy and satisfied, they become
miserable.
We ought to make the best possible use of
God-given opportunities and should not waste our precious time by
neglect or carelessness. Many people say: there is plenty of
time to do this or that; don't worry. But they do not realize
that if they do not make good use of this short time , the habit
formed now will be so ingrained that when more time is given to us,
this habit will become our second nature and we shall waste that
time also.
Real joy and peace do not depend on power, kingly
wealthy, or other material possessions.

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