At-Home Lesson#8

The Church

Topic 4: You Can’t Give What You Don’t Have [1]

Behind YOUCAT

Advertisers are always making promises, but can they really deliver? Buy the car, and you’ll get the girl. Eat at this fast-food place, and you’ll be surrounded by smiling, laughing friends, never alone again. Happiness, satisfaction, love, an end to loneliness—there is nothing on earth that can give you these things, except the Church. And the reason the Church can give you these is because the Church exists to give you Jesus, the fulfillment of all our desires.

“Even today the Church gives me Jesus. That says it all”, said Jesuit Henri Cardinal de Lubac. The Church, by God’s grace, bridges all that threatens to separate us from really knowing Jesus. Time and space are no obstacle. Trials and sorrows cannot keep us away. Even sin and death are overcome. In the Church, we hear Jesus speak, receive his forgiveness, are fed by him in the Eucharist. We are freely given a share in the life of Christ so that we, in turn, can go out and give freely what we have received.

Read YOUCAT

Read the content under YOUCAT# 343, 344, and 347 (numbers in yellow circle) from YOUCAT p.190~p.191. [2]

What Does YOUCAT Say?

1. What does the Church do for us (YOUCAT# 343, 344)?

2. What is hypocrisy, and what’s the cure for it (YOUCAT# 347)?

Answer the above questions [Click Here]

YOU Reflect

Henri Cardinal de Lubac asks, “What would I know about [Jesus], what connection would there be between him and me without the Church?”1 It is only the Church that can give us Jesus. We, in turn, as faithful members of the Church, are privileged to give Jesus to everyone we meet.

1. Identify some ways in which the Church makes Jesus present to you.

2. Name some ways in which you make Jesus present to others.

Answer the above questions [Click Here]

What Does the Bible Say?

1. Read 1 Corinthians 12:27.  In 1 Corinthians 12:27, St. Paul tells us why we must be members of the Church if we are to belong to Christ. What reason does St. Paul give?

2. Read Luke 10:16.   In Luke 10:16, we hear Christ giving his own authority to whom? Why did he do that? Is Christ’s authority still operative in our world today?

        Answer the above questions [Click Here]

YOU Chat

1. Blaise Pascal (YOUCAT p. 190, margin) advises those who want to come to believe to “do everything that the faith requires, as though you were already a believer.” Do you think that strategy will work?

2. What does a hypocritical person do? How can we avoid hypocrisy in our lives? Should we be quick to accuse others of hypocrisy? Why, or why not?

3. Do you think someone will continue to be a believing Catholic if he seldom participates in Sunday Mass? Why, or why not?

Answer the above questions [Click Here]

YOU Challenge

Memorize:

Learn and live the Five Precepts of the Church.

Pray:

Intercede this week for Catholics who have stopped living their faith; pray they come home to the family of God.

References / Citations

[1] Brumley, Mark, Kersting, Jack, and George, Paul . YOUCAT Study Guide. San Francisco, Calif: Ignatius Press, 2013, pp. 55-56.

[2] Miller, Michael J, and Benedict. Youcat English: Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church. San Francisco, Calif: Ignatius Press, 2011.

[3] BibleGateway (online bible). https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/Good-News-Translation-GNT-Bible/