Santa Maria Addolorata/RCIA

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 o...

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 i...

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...