Here are the back issues of handouts.
There was no handout from Life Night #3, but there were rosaries and prayer cards. Here are some resources for you to look at in case you want more info about Mary.
- Check out the Catechism (1995) -829, 773, 973, 965, 963, 964
Other sites and books that might be helpful for quick reference
-Catholicism for Dummies, Rome Sweet Home, Surprized by Truth, The Secret of the Rosary, True Devotion to Mary, The Truth Will Set You Free, Hail Holy Queen, and The Essential Catholic Survival Guide
I’ve got all of these books except True Devotion to Mary, just let me know if you’d like to see them.
http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/marymenu.htm
Life Night #2 – A People Set Apart a.k.a. “Why isn’t Chuck Norris Catholic?”
Scripture: Matthew 16:18-19
We’re talking about the best parts of being Catholic. Our question of the night is “Why isn’t Chuck Norris Catholic?” if he’s so awesome, he should be Catholic right? So why is being Catholic awesome?
Being Catholic is soooo awesome because of the Eucharist, and because of our Church.
What does our church look like? 1 billion members in the world, 265 popes and 2000 years. There’s got to be something to this.
The Catholic Church we belong to has 4 marks. We recite them every single Sunday.
One: Unity of liturgy, doctrine, and authority.
One head, Christ. His vicar (representative), the Pope.
One deposit of faith – universal catechism that we all believe.
One set of laws – canon law which governs the whole Church
One set of rites – 7 sacraments
One way of worship.
One, all over the world, for the rest of time…ONE.
(Really cool to see when you go traveling).
Holy (sanctity): Belonging to, derived from, or associated with a divine power; sacred.
The Church as a whole, CANNOT SIN. It is made up of individuals who can, but since she is the Bride of Christ and He died for her, she is Holy. He founded the Church, so it is Holy. You can experience this holiness through the grace that the sacraments provide. As members of the church we are saints …part of the communion of saints because we belong to the holy church and the mystical body of Christ. Through the grace dispensed by the Church we are made holy. We are called to perfect holiness.
Catholic (universality): the Church is Catholic for 2 reasons –
a) CHRIST IS PRESENT IN HER “where there is Jesus, there is the Catholic Church”
b) The Church is Catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to the whole of the human race.
The Catholic faith is for everyone. We are all called to share in the universal priesthood (not ordained priesthood). Everyone in the world can share in this Church. Every individual has the potential to be Catholic. The Church maintains unity within diversity.
Apostolic (continuity): Greek - apostello “to send forth”
Every ordained priest, bishop, or deacon can trace his roots back to the 12 apostles. We have continuity within the Church for the last 2000 years so that we can trace its roots all the way back to the teachings of Christ.
-“she was and remains built on the ‘foundation of the apostles,’ the witnesses chosen and sent on mission by Christ himself;” CCC #857
The church is continually taught by the apostles until Christ’s return through their successors.
So this truth that the Church holds…where does it come from? It’s called THE DEPOSIT OF FAITH. The Deposit of Faith is everything that has been revealed to us as truth from scripture and sacred tradition, we are to live by it. We get the deposit of faith from the Magisterium. This Magisterium is made up of the Pope and the Bishops.
So how do we tap into this awesomeness of truth? (Faith)
What is faith? “Faith is first of all a personal adherence of man to God…. Faith is a personal act – the free response of the human person to the initiative of God who reveals himself.” CCC #150,166
Faith is a gift from God. He offers it to everyone, but it must be freely received as well.
“For those who believe, no explanation is necessary and for those who do not believe, no explanation is possible.”
Have you ever had struggles with your faith?
Do you remember a specific time where you experienced your faith?
The act of believing goes like this
a) listen
b) consider
c) assent
d) obey
Which part do you struggle with the most?
Has anyone ever challenged your faith?
Have you ever had an experience where you really appreciated being a Catholic?
Have you ever been to a service of another faith? How was it different?
Acts 2:42
This Church, is our home. We have a mother, a father, food, shelter, brothers and sisters, a place of rest, a place to encounter the one our hearts should love. In this building and institution we find our way to the truth, and as we learn to believe in it, our way to holiness and heaven.
Life Night 1: Who am I? Who is Jesus? Where do we go from here?
Who am I?
You are a child of God. You were made in His image. He has unconditional love for you no matter what you look like, what you do, who your friends are, or what team you play on.
You are made in his image: “Christ is the image of the invisible God” God lets us know that we are made in his image through Christ. You have dignity. You are capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of freely giving yourself and entering into communion with other persons.
Christ restores our image. He loved with great sacrifice. We need to find this image of God in seeking and loving what is true and good. It’s time to start dusting off our image and making ourselves more like Christ.
So who is Christ? Who is Jesus?
-historical Christ (Man) - fully human
-Divine Christ (God) – fully divine
We can prove his existence physically as a person in history. That’s the easy part. What about his Divinity? We have three options….
Lord, Liar, or Lunatic?
Lord = he said it. It was his primary mission. He had disciples proclaim it.
Either he was or he wasn’t.
We believe he was the Lord.
Liar = what are the qualities of a liar? If so, he wasn’t just a liar, he was a hypocrite. If he was a liar then he was evil because he told people to trust in him for the salvation of their souls. Also a fool because his lies got him crucified.
Things to consider about the Liar argument:
- he made the largest impact on the world than anyone in history
- “how in the name of logic, common sense, and experience, could an imposter – that is deceitful, selfish, depraved man – have invented, and consistently maintained, from beginning to end, the purest and noblest character known in history with the most perfect air of truth and reality?”
He could not have been a liar.
Lunatic = he was completely crazy and made the entire world believe the crazy claims he made of himself.
Things to consider about the Lunatic argument:
- if he thought he was God his measure of insanity would be really, really high. He would be incredibly crazy.
-Peter Kreeft says “Jesus had in abundance, those three qualities that liars and lunatics most conspicuously lack: (1) his practical wisdom, his ability to read human hearts; (2) his deep and winning love, his passionate compassion, his ability to attract people and make them feel at home and forgiven, his authority, ‘not as the scribes’; (3) his ability to astonish, his unpredictability, his creativity. Liars and lunatics are so dull and predictable!”
-was it a hoax by the apostles? They didn’t get very much out of this hoax. All martyred in terribly painful ways.
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