Catechetical Institute: Christian Prayer and Spirituality

The next Catechetical Institute course, this time on Christian prayer and Spirituality, will begin soon at St. Thomas More Church, Chapel Hill, NC.

Participants will explore the basics of Christian prayer, particularly the Our Father and be introduced to some major Catholic spiritual traditions in the life of the Church. Integral to each session is prayer, course content, faith sharing, and large/small group discussion so that participants can apply the teachings to their life and ministry.

The course on Christian Prayer and Spirituality consists of six two hour sessions, on:

• Thursday evenings (7:00 PM to 9:00PM) in Room 110 or
• Saturday mornings (9:30 AM to 11:30 AM) in Room 110

	Thursday	Saturday	Topic
1.	Jan 19	Jan 21	Prayer in the Christian Life – Spirituality Focus: Benedictine Spirituality: Lectio Divina
2.	Feb   2	Feb   4	In the Fullness of Time – Spirituality Focus: Franciscan Spirituality: Creation, Crib, Cross
3.	Feb 16	Feb 18	In the Age of the Church – Ignatian Spirituality: Prayer of the Imagination, Consciousness Examen
4.	Mar   1	Mar   3	Expressions of Prayer – Spirituality Focus: Carmelite Spirituality: Contemplative Prayer
5.	Mar 15	Mar 17	The Lord’s Prayer – Salesian Spirituality: Practical Approach to Holiness, “the little virtues”
6.	Mar 29	Mar 24	More Forms of Prayer – Liturgical Prayers,  Devotional Prayers,  Living in God’s Presence Forever

Required materials include the US Catechism for Adults ($25) and We Pray: Living in God’s Presence by Oscar Lukefahr ($13), both available from the parish. The course is free to St. Thomas More Parish catechists, and $15 for anyone else.

Click here to register.

Catechetical Institute: Morality 6

Recorded on December 1st, 2011

This session considered the Seventh, Eighth and Tenth Commandments, grouped as follows:

• The Seventh and Tenth Commandments – Live Justly and Embrace Poverty of Spirit
• The Eighth Commandment – Speak and Live the Truth

As throughout our program, we see how the Church builds up positive commandments to live justly from the (in most cases) negative commandments in the Ten Commandments. So upon the Commandment “Do not steal” is built, “Act justly in regard to property and possessions”. This implies the whole of Catholic Social Teaching, which is a vast body of teaching, which we considered briefly earlier.

CI – Morality – 6A

One discussion question was about the Right to Strike, which is a right for workers which the Church defends, but with some restrictions.

CI – Morality – 6B

We then discussed the Eighth Commandment, “Do not bear false witness” or more positively, “Speak the truth and live the truth.” The US Catechism for Adults gives St. Thomas More, our parish patron, as a good example of someone who lived this way. We also discussed the influence of the mass media on the expression and dissemination of the truth.

CI – Morality – 6C

Finally, the Tenth Commandment says, “Do not covet your neighbor’s goods” or more positively “embrace poverty of spirit”. This also requires of us the practice of Christian Stewardship, expressed in discipleship and use of our gifts within the Church and for its mission of evangelization, but also wise and generous use of all our material goods, and stewardship of God’s Creation.

CI – Morality – 6C

CBS I.8 Luke 9:51-19:27

Recorded on November 29th 2011.

This section of Luke’s Gospel begins when Jesus “resolutely determined to journey to Jerusalem.” It is a literal turning-point in the Gospel where Jesus sets his face towards the place where his destiny will be fulfilled. Think of the hymn, “Jerusalem My Destiny”. We see again some of Luke’s dominant themes,  prayer, right use of wealth, forgiveness, reconciliation, and how these are often expressed in well-crafted stories, such as:

• The Parable of the Good Samaritan – Luke 10:29-37
• The Parable of the Rich Fool – Luke 12:16-21
• The Parable of the Great Feast – Luke 124:15-24
• The Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son – Luke 15:1-32
• The Parable of the Dishonest Steward – Luke 16:1-8
• The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus – Luke 16:19-31
• The Story of Zaccheus the Tax Collector – Luke 19:1-10
• We also looked at Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer (11:1-4) and compared it to the version in Matthew 6:9-15 which we know better.

CBS – Luke 9-19

CBS I.7 Luke 3:1-9:50

Recorded November 22nd 2011.

After having studied Mark’s Gospel a few weeks ago, we are now in a position to compare Luke with Mark, and so begin our first exercise in “Redaction Criticism”, to investigate how Luke edited Mark’s work and added other material (either from ‘Q’, the source of material common to Luke and Matthew, or from ‘L’, his own unique source), to give his own emphasis to the story of Jesus.

This calls to mind the three stages of formation of the Gospels outlined in n.19 of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation Dei Verbum from Vatican II:

1. the experience of Jesus’ words and deeds and death and resurrection of his immediate witnesses
2. the period of oral transmission and retelling of the traditions about Jesus
3. the process of selection and editing by the Gospel writers which resulted in the Four Gospels in the New Testament canon.

We discovered certain key values and themes characteristic of Luke’s Gospel: fulfillment of prophecy, salvation history, a concern for the poor, the sick, the outcast, women; the action of the Holy Spirit, prayer, table fellowship.

CBS – Luke 3-9

CBS I.6 – The Infancy Narratives: Luke 1-2; Matthew 1-2

Recorded November 15th 2011.

We had a lot of fun this evening reading the familiar Christmas stories in an unfamiliar way. People have a tendency to conflate the two stories into one, and to insert details from popular artistic portrayals back into the Biblical narratives. For example, we often think of the Wise Men arriving at the stable in Bethlehem while the shepherds were still present, and we think that there are “Three Wise Men” but in fact here are an unknown number of Wise men who brought three gifts!

The Infancy narratives are important preludes to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and they explore with great subtlety the perennial question, “Who is Jesus?” beginning with the genealogies, which connect Jesus with the great covenant-making  figures in the Old Testament, including King David, Abraham, Noah, Adam, and ultimately God.

CBS – Matthew 1-2 Luke 1-2