21st Apr Per 3 XII Catechism "Called into life" Lesson 1

April 21, 2020

Good morning!

How's it going for you? Managing the lockdown? getting into a pattern of study - great opportunity! Taking care of yourself and those around - listening to yourself and others?

Reminder - if you haven't done so already - please enter your name in the "Comment" space - kindly do this each time you log into the blog post for the class - Thank you 🙏.
Once again, a reminder that when you are on social media (and this interaction is the use of social media for education), we are reminded that this is a public space and that we are called on to be our best selves - so kindly communicate appropriately at all times - in doing so you are respecting yourself and all of us. Thank you!

PART A
As part of our Catechism, it's important that we know the stories of the resurrection experiences of the disciples of Jesus as given in the Bible

Why?

Because the Resurrection of Jesus is why we are Christian! as St Paul says in 1 Cor 15:

vs 14 Ïf Christ has not been raised, our preaching is empty and our belief comes to nothing"
vs 17 "If Christ has not been raised your faith gives you nothing, and you are still in sin"
vs 19 "If it is only for this life that we hope in Christ, we are the most unfortunate of all people."

The resurrection of Jesus makes his life, suffering and death meaningful and the way for us to follow :

In the letter to the Hebrews Ch 12 vs 2, the author tells us "For the sake of the joy reserved for him. Jesus endured the cross, scorning its shame"
But the best quotation which explains it is St Paul's quotation of an early Christian hymn in his letter to the Philippians Ch 2 vs 6 to9

"Though he was in the form of God
Jesus did not count equality with God something to be grasped
but emptied himself - taking on the nature of a servant, being born in the likeness of men
and being found in human form he was humbler yet by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross
Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name"

So, if we are Christian, we need to understand this - it's more than saying that "that I believe that Jesus died and on the third day rose again" - what difference does that make to the way I live my life?
So, that's why you need to read and think about each of the resurrection stories - know them - so that you will remember them - then these stories will come to your mind when you need to be enlightened by them!

So, let's read one such story - the Gospel of St John Ch 20: 19 - 31 - open to that in your family bible of google it using the device you're using for this lesson. You may also see this incident on video by clicking on the following link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPBTIRkf1cY&t=87s

What do we hear/see

Jesus appears - not as a ghost but as a real person - but he suddenly appears - but he could be touched and he is the same Jesus who was crucified
and this is the importance of the doubt Thomas raises - we are asked to believe in the resurrection of experience of Jesus and for ourselves - even though, unlike Thomas we have not seen and felt the risen Jesus.
The risen Jesus keeps telling us "Do not be afraid" and he blesses us with his "Peace" - he reassures us in all the ups and downs on our lives - because He is risen - He is with us - that is the meaning of his name "Emmanuel - God with us" Jesus, risen is proof to all living beings that God is with us - not a distant God! Am I willing to believe and the proof that I believe is - am I willing to let God be with me - will I let God walk with me in my life ? will I lean on him? (remember the song ---- we'll listen to it after this reflection.
Jesus gives us His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is more than God with us. God is with us - this is a reality that Jesus helped us realise - this was the purpose of Jesus being born a human like us. The Holy Spirit blesses us and enables us to grow to be like Jesus was when he was on earth - that is why Jesus breaths the Holy Spirit onto the apostles. We pray that we will always be open to the continuous pouring of the Holy Spirit into our lives - The Holy Spirit wants to come to us - we need to give the Holy Spirit the "okay" to do so - we pray that we be continually one to the Holy Spirit - more on the Holy Spirit in the next few weeks!

PART B

In this section, we continue to take forward our drawing as we look into our futures.......

I hope that the experience of drawing was a good one - the project is never completed - as events take place in your life - plot them! As new dreams replace old dreams - replace them!

For example :

suddenly this year - we have the lockdown when we should have been continuing with our classes and lives as usual - how is this event going to affect my life? e.g.

if I am a sportsman and I was hoping to get a few certificates to help me with my admissions - that's going to be challenging!
if I was looking forward to participating in certain inter-school activities those schedules are going to be significantly reduced ... at the best!
if I was hoping to build up my profile by being a member of various societies etc. - how can I utilise the opportunities which have come up because of the lockdown to organize events in a different way?
how might this year's events affect what plans I had for my future - could I change the type of career I might want - given what we can now see about the future?

What has all this got to do with catechism?

Ps.139 vs 16 says "all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be" - let's think about this - what does it mean?

please read the whole of Psalm 139 - it's a wonderful and special psalm - it's about God's personal love for each of us.

None of us is a mistake!
That does not take away the mystery of life
but we can be assured (and this is true Faith) that God knows what God is doing! What God is allowing into our lives.
Of course, we can and often do - work against ourselves - and work against others - and unfortunately work against God's hopes dreams and plans for us - that is sin.
But even when we do that we can depend on God to help us out - God allowed for us to choose mistakenly and God commits to helping us if we want to
the if we want to is important - God does not force the Godself on us and we can choose not to work with God
remember when Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Mt 23: 37-39) he cried "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings - and you were not willing !"

We end today's lesson with a remarkable song "Lean on Me" - think of Jesus singing this to you! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jrlhn1H1EWw

Kindly read the following passages on the life of the early Christians - how the Resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit affected their lives - only 1 reading to be done on the 21st - Acts of the Apostles Ch 3

🙏🙏🙏