1. Path Through Catholicism
Word
Worship
Witness

2. Every faith journey begins with God reaching out to us and inviting us to journey together into the unknown.

3. Word: God reaches out to us (Revelation)
I said to the man
Who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely
Into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness
And put your hand in the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light
And safer than a known way.”
Minnie Louise Haskins
Chapters 1-8

4. Worship: We reach out to God. (Sacraments)
Athletes share “high fives” to celebrate a victory. Friends hug one another to share a special moment. They do this because in such situations, words alone can’t express their feelings. This helps us to understand Why Jesus anointed the eyes of the blind To heal them, Touched the tongue of the mute To restore their speech, And placed his hands on children To bless them. This also explains Why Jesus taught his disciples To use similar actions In similar situations
Chapters 9-16

5. Witness: We journey together. (Commandments)
One night, John Ruskin was seated by a window, staring into the distance, watching a lamplighter ignite street lamp after street lamp. Because it was dark, he couldn’t see the lamplighter- only the trail of the lights he lit. Turning to his friend, John said, “That’s my image of a Christian. You may not have seen him, but you know he passed by from the trail of light he left behind.”
Chapter 17-23

6. Beginning Reflections…
One important episode up to this point in my faith journey was… One difficulty I have experienced up to this point in my faith journey is…

7. Light of Faith
Chapter 1

8. Tommy’s Faith Journey “Tommy was Fr. Powell’s atheist in residence.”
Transitioning from childhood to adult faith
“God Positions”
Atheist Denies there is a God
Agnostic Doesn’t deny/affirm God
Theist Affirms a personal God
Deist Affirms an impersonal God
Monotheist Affirms only one God
Polytheist Affirms many gods

9. “I don’t think you’ll ever find God. But I am certain God will find you.”
“I really began banging against the bronze doors of heaven. But nothing Happened. So I quit.”
“I turned around and God was there. You were right. God found me.”

10. Our Faith Journey
Every faith journey begins with a “knock on the door of the heart”
Spiritual hunger
Call to love in the heart
Event that turns our works upside down
If we open the door, God takes us by the hand and leads us.

11. Three Faith Stages Childhood Stage: Cultural Faith
Adolescent Stage: Transitional Faith
It is the most critical because it involves making the transition from receiving the “seed” of faith in baptism to “confirming” it by personal conviction. CCC168
Adolescent Questioning
Constructive questioning: fosters faith clarity; widens faith horizons; deepens faith commitment
Adult Stage: Convictional Faith
This stage of faith is a very important one.

12. Father --- Who created us Son --- Who redeemed us
Our journey begins when we put our hand in the hand of God and allow ourselves to be led by both the light of reason and the light of faith. (CCC )
Our journey moves forward to that awesome faith encounter that brings us face to face with the mystery of the Holy Trinity. (CCC )
Father Who created us
Son Who redeemed us
Holy Spirit Who graces us

13. Three Faith Levels
The Holy Spirit graces and guides us every step of our faith journey:
Mind Level – Openness to Truth
Heart Level – Openness to Love
Soul Level – Openness to Grace
If our soul is open, the Holy Spirit will grace us abundantly, prepare us for faith, invite us to faith, and embrace us every step on the faith journey. (CCC )

14. Three Faith Realities Loving Trust – Risk Ongoing Trust – Recommitment
Examples: Abraham, Genesis 12:1; marriage
Ongoing Trust – Recommitment
Because we constantly evolve and change as persons, we must constantly recommit ourselves to God in harmony with our change and evolvement. This process of recommitment is how faith grows and matures. (CCC 162)
Suffering Darkness – Growth Times
This darkness is usually traceable to three sources:
Human Nature
Ourselves
God

15. Faith is a gift from God. It cannot be “merited” or “won
Faith is a gift from God. It cannot be “merited” or “won.” Jesus made this clear. Matthew 16:13-17

16. Chapter Test Fill in the Blanks 1 a. Human nature b. Ourselves c. God2
a. Mind
b. Truth
c. Heart
d. Love
e. Soul
f. Faith
Matching
1 – b
2 – a
3 – e
4 – d
5 – c
Tue/False
1 – T
2 – F
3 – T
4 – F
5 – F
6 – T
7 – T
8 – T
9 – F
10 – T
11 – F

17. Divine Revelation
God and God’s Word

18. Ways of Knowing God Experiencing God Reasoning to God
Believing Another
Experts say 90% of our knowledge comes from reading (believing the word of another.)

19. Faith in God
We are very limited in what we can know about God from experience and reason
Only Jesus can give us a clear and certain knowledge of God.
John 1:18

20. What about “private revelations,” like Fatima?
Divine Revelation
Refers to public revelation as opposed to private revelation.
Ended with last apostle’s death
We continue to uncover deeper meanings in it through study and prayer. (CCC 66-67)
What about “private revelations,” like Fatima?
After investigation, if the Church rules a specific “private revelation” in not in conflict with public revelation, it may be believed
The Church obliges no one to believe “private revelation”

21. Margaret Mehren
Did she experience God, reason to God and/or believe another?
Testing the truth of the experience:
Did she grow more faith-filled?
Did she grow more hopeful?
Did she grow more loving?
(Faith, hope and love are theological virtues because they come from and lead to God.)

22. Handing on Revelation Revelation
Public (Bible/Tradition)
Private (e.g. visions)
Immediate (deeds Ps 78:52, dreams Mt 1:20, visions Is 6:1-8)
To Prophets
To Apostles
Mediate (handing on immediate revelation)
To Future Generations
Under Holy Spirit’s Guidance

23. Teachings passed orally and unerringly from generation to generation
Sacred Tradition:
Teachings passed orally and unerringly from generation to generation
Example: Mary was a virgin all her life
Sacred Scripture
Gospels developed through three stages (CCC 126):
Life: what Jesus said and did
Oral: what apostles preached
Written: what evangelists wrote

24. Divine Inspiration Inerrancy of Scripture Interpretation of Scripture
Holy Spirit and human writer act as a team
Inerrancy of Scripture
“free from religious error in matters related to salvation”
Bible is not free from scientific or historical error
Interpretation of Scripture
The Church is the mother of the New Testament and thus the interpreter.
“You must go back, as it were, in spirit to those remote centuries of the East. With the aid of history, archaeology, ethnology, and other sciences, you must determine accurately what modes of writing the ancient writers would likely use, and in fact did use.” Pope Pius XII to biblical scholars.

25. Canon of Scripture
Testament comes from the Greek meaning of “sacred agreement” (covenant)
Old Testament: God’s covenant with Israel mediated by Moses.
New Testament: God’s covenant with all people mediated by Jesus
Dead Sea Scrolls importance:
~1000 yrs. older than oldest biblical manuscripts known to us
Non-biblical scrolls fill in gap of little-known Jewish history between 200 BC and 50 AD, and they help clarify biblical writings from this period

26. Chapter Test Fill in the Blanks 1 a. Experiencing b. Reasoning
c. Believing 2
a. Life
b. Oral
c. Written 3.
Dead Sea Scrolls
Matching
1 – f:
2 – h
3 – c
4 – d
5 – a
6 – e
7 – b
8 – g
Tue/False
1 – F
2 – T
3 – T
4 – T
5 – F
6 – T
7 – F
8 – T
9 – T
10 – F

27. Old Testament Act One: Creation – God Creates
Act Two: De-creation – Sin Destroys
Act Three: Re-creation – God Saves Us

28. Interpreting the Bible
Literalists
Interpret with the text alone – Adam lived 930 yrs.
Genealogies were never intended to be taken literally – they build a literary bridge between Adam (father of all people) and Abraham (father of all Hebrews)
Declining age spans symbolize the tragic impact that sin is having on the human family.
Contextualists
Interpret with text and context
Early chapters deal with pre-history

29. Bible At a Glance Old Testament (46 books) has 4 parts
Pentateuch (5 books + 3 special books)
Wisdom (7 books)
Historical (13 books)
Prophetic (18 books)
New Testament (27 books) has 4 parts
Gospels (4 books)
Acts (1 book)
Letters (21 books)
Revelation (1 book)

30. Creation
Creation story, like Jesus’ parables, convey religious truths and not historical facts
Four Religious Truths of the Creation Story:
God is One
God planned creation
God created everything good
God made the Sabbath holy
Second Creation Story
It is suggested the image of God “breathing” life in to clay was inspired by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which ancients were familiar with (e.g. 2 Kings 4:32-34)

31. De-Creation Sin: Misuse of environment Misuse of free will
Personal Sin: the free act of a single individual(CCC 1868)
Social Sin: involves the collective behavior of a group of people, like a nation (CCC 1869)
Two forms:
Commission – doing bad
Omission – not doing good

32. Origin of Sin First “sin story” is the snake tempting Adam and Eve
Symbolic Story - Symbolic Meaning
Three major tragic effects of the first sin
Introduces evil into world
Flawed human race
Doomed human race
God’s response explained “origin” of disturbing realities
The pain involved in childbirth
The pain involved in hard labor
The ongoing struggle between good and evil in the world
Ray of Hope
God’s remark to the snake (CCC ; 1 John 3:8)

33. “Her offspring (Jesus) Will crush your head (devil)
“Her offspring (Jesus) Will crush your head (devil). In the process, however, Jesus will suffer (snake will bite his heel.)”

34. Act 1: God creates us Act 2: Sin destroys us Act 3: God re-creates us

35. Re-creation Covenant with Abraham Covenant with Israel
New identity – God’s chosen person
New destiny – Father of nations
Covenant with Israel
New identity – Chosen people
New destiny – Priestly people
Covenant with David
New identity – Chosen king
New destiny – Ancestor of the Messiah
God’s covenant moved from Abraham to Israel to David (CCC )

36. After David… God’s people sin God’s people suffer
After Solomon’s death: kingdom divided
Beginning of personal and social sins against God
God raised prophets
Israel did not reform
Judah did not listen to prophets
God’s people suffer
People exiled to Babylon
Babylon conquered by Cyrus of Persia
Hebrew scriptures end “unfinished”
Faithful Jews await the Messiah (CCC 716)

37. Chapter Test Fill in the Blanks 1 a. Introduced evil into the world
b. Flawed the human race
c. Doomed the human race
Matching
1 – k
2 – a
3 – e
4 – g
5 – d
6 – h
7 – l
8 – c
9 – f
10 – b
11 – I
12 – j
Tue/False
1 – F
2 – T
3 – T
4 – T
5 – F
6 – T
7 – F
8 – T
9 – F
10 – T