SOUL WELFARE
- Catholic BIBLE STUDY ( 1st
session)
(Held on
06/04/2013) at the School Hall –Infant Jesus Church, EKM
_____________________________________________________________________________
REQUIRMENTS
1. Bring the Catholic
Bibles which have all the 73 books listed below
a)RSV-
CATHOLIC
(Revised Standard Version)- or NRSV(New
revised standard Version)
b)NAB(New
American Bible)
c)NEW
JERESULEM BIBLE
d)DOUAY
RHEIMS BIBLE
2. Note book and
pen/Pencil
3.Cathechisim of the
Catholic church(CCC)
4. Drink deeply from
the fountain of the sacred scriptures with the knowledge that there will be
so
much more to be enjoyed as the HOLY SPIRIT continues
to lead each of us to a deep
understanding through
prayer
Quotes
St. Jerome- “Ignorance of Scripture is Ignorance
of Christ”
St. Ephraim- “Lord ! who can grasp all the wealth
of one of your words. What we understand
is much less than we leave behind like thirsty people who drink from a fountain
(
we can only drink as much as we need from the fountain leaving behind the
rest). The lord has coloured
his word with many hues(colours) so that each person who studies it can see in it what he likes”
Jesus is present in the whole of
the bible, in the old testament as the spoken word and in the new testament as
the word become flesh
1.In
the old testament the word of God came to mankind spoken through the
prophets
and men of God
2.
In the new testament the same word becomes flesh – a person
1 John 1:1 “ In the beginning was the word
and the word was with God and the
word was God”/ 1 John 1:14 “ And the word
became flesh and dwelt among us, full
of grace and truth”
3. Rev.
19:13. “He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is
called
is the Word of God”
According
to John Jesus the word of God in person was full of Grace and truth
In
this class we focus on the scriptures related to grace and How it is necessary for salvation
SALVATION is the purpose of the
Bible and How we receive this is so important for every human being which
determines our eternal destiny.
Salvation
is mentioned as 1. Saved. ( Acts 4:12)
2.
Justified.(Rom.3:24)
3. Born
again. (John 3:3)
4. Eternal life (
John 5:24)
Paul
in Eph. 2/8 mentions “ For by grace you have been saved
through Faith and this is not from you . It is a gift of God . It is not from
works , so no one can boast.
We cannot be saved by good works, all
the same good works may be one of the results of being saved through faith. We are justified by grace given as a gift which is through faith
in the Word , Jesus
Rom.3/24 “ They are justified by his grace as a gift through the
redemption which is in Christ Jesus”
Gal 2/16 “ A person is not
justified by works of the Law but through faith in jesus Christ”
We are not saved by obeying the Law.
The law only makes us conscious of our sin.
Rom. 3/20 “ For no human being will
be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes
knowledge of sin.”
And that is why David prayed
Pslam 143:2 “ Do not enter into judgment with your
servant . Before you no living being can be just”
Ecclesiastes 7:20 “surely there is
not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins”
Grace as defined in the CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
a)1996 “ Our Justification comes
from the grace of
God. Grace is a favour, the free and
undeserved help that God gives us to respond to His call to become children of
God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal Life.”
b)1997 “ Grace is participation in the
life of God”
c)1998 “ This vocation to eternal
life is supernatural”
d)1999 “ The grace of Christ is the
gratuitous gift that god makes to us of His own life, infused by the Holy
spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it.It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received
in baptism. It is the source of work of sanctification.
2 Cor. 5/17 “Therefore, if any one is Christ, he is a
new creation; the old has
passed away, behold the new has come.”
e)2000 “Sanctifying grace is a habitual gift, a stable and
supernatural disposition that perfects the soul itself to live with God, to act
by His love. Habitual grace,
the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call.”
e)2003 “Grace is foremost the gift of
the spirit who justifies and sanctifies us. But grace also includes the gifts that the spirit grants us to associate with His work,
to enable us to collaborate in the salvation of others and in the growth of the
Body of Christ, the Church. There are sacramental graces, gifts proper to the different
sacraments. There are furthermore special graces,also called charisms after the Greek term used by st. Paul and
meaning FAVOUR-GRATUITOUS GIFT-BENEFIT
whatever their character.”
f)2004 “Among the special graces
ought to be mentioned, the graces of state that accompany the exercise of the
responsibilities of the Christian life and of the ministries within the church.
Paul
states Rom. 12:6-8 “Having gifts that differ
according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy , in
proportion to our faith, if service , in our serving; he who teaches , in his
teaching; he who exhorts , in his exhortation; he who contributes , in his
liberality; he who gives aid with zeal; he who acts of mercy, with
cheerfulness”
An
illustration in the CCC
Asked
as a trap to Joan of the Arc whether she
was in God’s grace by her ecclesiastical judges
replied “ If I am not, may God please me to put me in it; if I am may it
please God to keep me there”
CONCLUSIONS
To
participate in the Divine nature of God, we need to have a relationship with
the word, and Jesus being the word and the word that became flesh was to help
us establish a relationship with the person of Christ. That is why Jesus
stresses the need for us to eat His body and Drink his blood and unless we do
this we do not have eternal life.This is participation in the Holy Mass. That
is the reason participation in the Holy mass and having communion is essential
for salvation. Through this participation we receive the grace of Jesus in
Jesus.
John 6:33 “For the bread of God is
that which comes down from heaven”
John 6:50” This is the bread which
comes down from heaven that a man may eat of it and not die.
John 6:51 “I am the living bread
which came down from heaven, if any one eats of this bread , he will live for
ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh”
John 6:53 “He who eats my flesh and
drinks my blood has eternal life”
This has to be done as often as we can one
1 cor.11:24 “This is my body which is
for you. Do this in remembrance of me”
1 cor. 11:25 “This cup is the covenant
in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it in remembrance of me”
HOME EXCERSISE
- Try to learn most or all the scripture and
quotations by heart
- Try to locate new scripture in the Bible related to
Grace
- Try to practice giving a talk on Grace with added material
- Spend time in personal prayer(at least one hour in
the morning and at least half an hour in the evening
- Put to practice what is learned and judge your
progress
