Santa Maria Addolorata/RCIA

I can’t believe that we are halfway to the end of RCIA/Adult Religious Ed program. Counting this session, we have completed eleven sessions together and we have covered a lot. Here is a breakdown of what we’ve covered thus far: 1.      Intro to RCIA : We discussed “ remembering” or reflecting on the past or any situation as well as making good & honest choices . 2.      CREED/The Trinity: God’s desire for us & our desire for God. It is God who calls us , draws us nearer to him and our response to God. 3.      CREED/ Holy Trinity: Three beautiful & very distinct persons in ONE God…Father, Son & Holy Spirit. 4.      CREED/ Mary and the Saints : God had called Mary to be the mother of our Lord and with complete trust in God, she responded with a yes. We look to her as our mother and role model of faith. 5.      CREED/ The Four Marks of the Church : one, holy, catholic & apostolic. CREED/Resurrection of the Body & Life Everlasting: Just like

Liturgy: Sessions IX & X We have just wrapped up the on the topic of Liturgy in the Adult First Communion class. The RCIA & Adult Religious Ed group that meets on Wednesdays will continue on this topic & finish this week. Here are some key points that I would like to stress: Liturgy is an act of worship. It has been an act of worship long before Christianity began. The rituals we use today has its roots from the New Testament. Also, in Matthew 18: 20 , Jesus says “.. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Here is more historical & biblical information to an online source Catholic Encyclopedia on the topic of Liturgy and Lessons on the Liturgy. In a Christian Liturgy, the center of our focus will always be on the Trinity; Father, Son & Holy Spirit. On page 177 in our books “Doctrinal Statements” it reads: a) In liturgy, we praise and adore the Father as the source of all the blessi

This week’s session was on the New Testament. Just as we finished learning about the Old Testament which God promises to send a Messiah to deliver his people from slavery of sin, the promise is fulfilled in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Here are my notes from the PowerPoint slides: Click here for the PowerPoint . The basic theme of the New Testament is Jesus Christ. Each book reveals a different side of his mystery. The four gospels record the words and deeds of Jesus as they were remembered and handed down in the early generations. --- Handbook for Today’s Catholic- page 43 Timeline: Remember these are approximate dates NOT EXACT dates.  Key Figures in the New Testament among many others: Jesus, Mary, John the Baptist, the 12 Apostles, Gospel Writers, St. Paul, etc. The New Testament is grouped into 3 different classes: The Historical books (Gospels & Acts), the Didactic books or Teachings (Letters) & the Prophetic book (Revelations) Gospels: Only two of th

This week’s session is not about our approach to the Bible as “history” but how the “Oral Sacred Tradition” turned into “Written Sacred Tradition” to form many writings into one book: the Bible . In fact, the word bible comes from the Greek word biblio meaning a collection of books or library. Plus, in the Latin languages (Italian, Spanish, Portuguese & Romanian) they all share the word for Library which is Biblioteca. In French it is slightly different bibliothèque . I’ve just realized by using Google Translate some Slavic and German languages share a similar translation; which I find interesting and good to know! Okay enough about where the word derives from, LOL. I do believe that it is important to understand the word “Bible.”   This ONE book is a collection of writings which took many centuries to write, preserve and pass down through many generations. However, this one book is not just about God’s relationship to the people of the past, but also about how God is ve

This week’s session is on the 4 Marks of the Church as well as the Resurrection of the Body / Life Everlasting. In the past sessions, we spoke of our Desires to know God, our Faith in one God and how we look to our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints as a model to increase our faith and live as Christians should. They too were ordinary people living extraordinary lives. What was so extraordinary about them? They did not live in fear when faced with persecution, mockery, insults and yes even martyrdom. These extraordinary people also believed in and professed it proudly, a faith in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church; as we continue to do at each celebration of the Mass or during a prayer service such as at the beginning a of Rosary. We should note that the Resurrection of the Body and life everlasting was nothing new to the Twelve Apostles, as well as St. Paul. As once practicing Jews, they were taught and believed in that one day our bodies would be resurrected

In the previous weeks, we’ve discussed the Trinity. We’ve touched on the following statements.    1. The Dogma of the Church (Dogma means a truth revealed by God)   2. It is the core belief of all Christians   3. There are three unique Divine Persons in One God   Father   Son    Holy Spirit   This week’s session was on the topic of “Mary & Saints” which can be found in the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults, chapter 12.   I’ve included the PowerPoint presentation in this blog including some of my notes.    Click Here .    Next week’s reading assignment will be on the F our Marks of the Church  (chapter 11) and the Resurrection of the body (chapter 13).  Please read chapter 11 ONLY.    I’ve  already touch  on a few points on the resurrection of the body during this week’s session and I will continue next week.    Also, here is a copy of the  Updated Calendar.  There will be a couple of Wednesdays during December where we will start at

Good Afternoon. As we bring the last two weeks' topic on the Holy Trinity to a close, I would like to share some related articles, class notes and additional resources on the Most Holy Trinity. Just click on the underlined links in this article for the resources....    The Trinity is a  mystery.  So, it is impossible to explain who is God in his fullness. All we know and understand is only in part or a hint. Just like St. Paul calls it in  1 Corinthians 13:12 , a "reflection in a mirror"...some scripture translations say a " dim mirror ." I personally like this translation. Imagine this if you will; if we hold up a dim or dirty mirror to ourselves, we would only see an obscure or blurry image of our true self. We can see a hint of that reflection and trust that the image we see is truly us, just a bit fuzzy.    In the same way, this is how we see God now. We know He is there, but our perception of Him is not clear enough to see. This is where faith com

Although we have already started our classes, I would like to use this blog to welcome you to the RCIA/Adult Religious Ed program and share some about the program. We are currently using the US Catholic Catechism for Adults and have already read Chapter 1 & soon to read Chapter 5.