Perspective Setting

God gave us a yearning for happiness that constantly haunt us and preoccupies our hearts.  This yearning for happiness in our hearts seems to serve as our spiritual navigational instrument to lead us to our destiny:  God himself who is the very author of our desire for happiness.

God as our Father takes a sincere and active interest in our lives and has sent His only Son to teach us  how to satisfy this  yearning we have for happiness.  The teaching of Jesus is the ultimate way and path to human happiness.  It is not just a way to be happy but the WAY of life for happiness.   The way of Jesus to happiness is however opposed to popular notion of the world which we have reflected on two past household topics.  The attitude of Christ never asked, “What is in it for me?” but rather is motivated by a spirit of service.   The attitude of Jesus embraces the cross as a way to abundance of life as against the glorification of pleasure and reckless living.

We may have experienced glimpses of happiness outside the values and principles of the Gospel in our misguided adventures but they are simply stolen moments that do not last.  They may have appeared to be real but only to be shadows of something infinitely greater.

We come to the third subtle influence of the world but nevertheless so strong.  It is the way of thinking that always asks, “What is the least I can do?”.  Such way of thinking seeks a way to exert the minimum effort and receive the maximum reward.  Either consciously or subconsciously people may be asking, “what is the least I can do to and keep my marriage alive? What is the least I can do to stay physically fit? What is the least I can do to go to heaven?”  It produces a disease in men and women to be mediocre – no passion, no drive for excellence.  It is eating away our Church and communities.

Our Response

You may have heard the story of a frog placed in a pot of cold water.  Each day the temperature was raised.  The frog stayed in the pot without any reaction even to its death because of hot water.  That is how mediocrity eats away our life.

Scripture says in Revelation 3: 16 – “So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”  Jesus also teaches – “Anyone who is not for me is against me.”  There is no middle ground.

1. How does mediocrity show its face in the life of a disciple?  Compromise? Rationalization? Double life or standard?
2. How do you see mediocrity operating in community and our Church? Being simply silent? Not taking a stand? Not making a choice when faced with issues in the defence of life and family?
3. What is God’s invitation to you?

Points of conclusion after the discussion:

1. No middle ground – we are either for Jesus or not at all.
2. The example of Jesus – he gave his life, his all.

Reference:  Rediscover Catholicism, Matthew Kelly

Perspective Setting

The challenge of the New Evangelization is “Letting our life speak”.  It is about allowing the values, principles, and spirit of the Gospel to transform our lives.   The only way living authentic Christian lives is possible is by following the promptings and action of the Holy Spirit.

The Catholic Church today is experiencing tremendous problems and difficulties.  Our time is no different as in earlier ages.  The solution to problems that plague our lives and the Church has never changed.  The problems are varied and many yet the solution is one – PERSONAL HOLINESS.  How is this?

If we allow the values and principles of the Gospel to guide us in all situations of our life, in all problems and difficulty, it will turn out for the best.  This means that we will turn out to be better persons for having lived the Gospel in that situation.  They may not turn out as we wish though.  But because of this, the result will always be richer.  This leads us to one fundamental challenge:  Do I really believe that living the Gospel is life-giving and that it will lead to a better life? This is the challenge of the New Evangelization – to embrace and celebrate the teachings of Christ in each moment of our lives.

Our Response

Holiness is simply the application of the values, principles and spirit of the Gospel to every situation of our lives, one moment at a time.  It is not complicated but rather disarmingly simple . Though simple, it is not easy.

Another strong but very subtle attack of the world on people is the way of thinking that “if it feels good, do it!”  This thinking flows from individualism – “What’s in it for me?”.  Men and women governed by such thinking will make decision based on pursuing pleasure as the ultimate goal in life.  This produces men and women who are lazy, lustful and gluttonous.  It is a ticket to enslavement  by the many cravings and addiction and in the long run the destruction of culture as what happened to the mighty Roman Empire.  This influence at the end produces not pleasure but despair.  Many walk this path in their search of happiness, confusing happiness with pleasure.

1. At the very center of Christianity is the cross. In our daily life, how have we been making short cuts to avoid the painful experience of going through the cross?
2. Following Jesus is based on discipline.  How have we been warding off the spirit of the world to embrace the Spirit of God in a life of discipline?  In our use of time, how much have we been spending to be with God or to study His word? In the use of our money? In our relationships?
3. How am I being distracted by instant gratification to the discipline of the Lord?
4. What do you resolve to do to be a witness to the gospel value of discipline as a follower of Jesus?

Points of conclusion after the discussion:

1. Discipline of Jesus is a faithful friend who will introduce us to our true self.
2. Discipline of Jesus is our worthy protector who will defend us from our lesser self.
3. Discipline of Jesus is our mentor who will challenge us to become the best of ourselves and all that God created us to be.

Reference:  Rediscover Catholicism, Matthew Kelly

2^nd Quarter

Topic 4:  Call of the New Evangelization to Live Authentic Lives: On Individualism

Perspective Setting

The New Evangelization is first about understanding why good, intelligent, decent and contributing Catholics, at the least, do not practice their faith enough or leave the Church altogether.  This is even before we can talk about programs.  Their actions and behaviour we discovered is a cry for help saying: “Don’t tell me. Show me!”  They simply want to witness someone and anyone for that matter whose words are supported by the authority of their actions. Someone humbly with all his frailties but heroically striving to live an authentic life based on the principles and values of the Gospel of Jesus.

A certain G.K. Chresterton wrote:  “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.”  Maybe this is particularly true to many who have rejected Catholicism or who are critical about it.  Maybe, they are just in need of a courageous example of the authentic life.  Seeing the conflicts and contradictions we live, they most of the time silently cry “Hypocrite!” in their frustration, pain and anger.  In their disillusionment and search, they never cease to call out to us like sheep without a shepherd, needing to be fed and be led to greener pastures of kindness, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, acceptance and love.

The call of the New Evangelization is a time for us to humbly look into our minds, hearts and soul if we have truly explored and embraced our Catholic lifestyle in keeping with the principles and values of the Jesus. Maybe we have given ourselves subtly over to a thousand different whims, cravings, and fantasies of the world and made our lives a distortion of the truth we know and profess.

This will be the orientation of the household topics for this 2^nd quarter.

Our Response

One of the strong but subtle influences of the world in our way of thinking and behaving is ‘individualism’.  When faced with a decision, the question that seems to dominate the internal dialogue in our head is – “What’s in it for me?”  The prevailing trend governing our decision-making process is concern for self.

1. How is individualism showing its ugly face in marital relationship, our family relationships and our community?
2. What is Jesus’ teaching and invitation? How are you being challenged to be a servant to your spouse, children or family and community?
3. What do you resolve to do to witness the gospel value of being the servant of all or being the last?

Points of conclusion after the discussion:

1. Jesus’ life is that of self-donation expressed in service.  His self-sacrifice is without measure to the point of giving His whole life.

Reference:  Rediscover Catholicism, Matthew Kelly

Perspective Setting

Last discussion, we were made to understand of the loud cry for help people are conveying.  They are tired of listening and watching people pointing to a path they themselves never travelled.  They cry loudly – “Don’t tell me – show me!”

Our culture is hungry for authentic lives. There is a great shortage of courageous men and women who walk their talk.  The challenge and call of the time is to let our life speak.  Now is time to celebrate our faith by living it in such a way that will capture the intrigue and envy of people of this time.

There are many great challenges that face our church today:  Parishes are emptying (don’t be deceived with the over flowing church attendance on Sundays because when make up only a small percentage of the total population of the faithful), the youth are not seen in Church as we fail to connect to them, separation by employment migration and divorce (permanent separation) are destroying families,  faith communities are dividing due to conflicts, vocations to the priesthood and religious life are scarce and Churches particularly the Catholic Church are facing growing marginalization with the wave of secularism sweeping society.  In every age in the history of the Catholic Church and today is no exception, only one and unchanging solution appears as the answer to every problem – Personal holiness.   History is rich with stories that if we allow the values and principles of the Gospel to guide us, things will turn out for the best.  If our world is the way it is right now it is because many have turned against the Gospel.   The Gospel will make people live for the better in situations and because of this, the future will be brighter.

Our Response

1. One of fundamental questions that confront us: Do we actually believe that living the Gospel is life-giving, that it will lead us to a better life, and that is the best way of live?
2. Do you believe that the only one and unchanging solution to address very problem society and the Church is facing right now is “personal holiness?”  Could you explain further how is this?
3. What is God inviting you to commit and do in the context of the New Evangelization?

Points of conclusion after the discussion:

1. New Evangelization is about letting our life speak.  It is about living our faith to such an extent that it will intrigue and be the cause envy of other people.
2. New Evangelization is about personal holiness.

Perspective Setting

In the last discussion/sharing,  we reflected on the Parable of the Lost Sheep in today’s setting.  In what is happening in the world right now, the estimation in number of the lost sheep against those who were in the flock is reversed to ninety-nine lost and one left in the flock. We also mentioned that prevalent culture of appearance is creating a hunger in people for authenticity and truth and this is what Catholicism is about.  We ended with a question: Why is Christianity being rejected?

As we continue, people’s desire for authenticity against the background of the culture of appearance and deception has not diminished.  The harsh truth that needs to be faced is that we Christians and perhaps we Catholics are as much a part of this culture as anyone else.   They do not want to see another television evangelist, nor do they want to read another book or hear another CD about Christianity or to hear our amazing story of conversion.  With the unprecedented proliferation of words, symbols, images and every mode/medium of communication lately, people are tired, worn out, overloaded with information.

More than ever, our non-Christian and non-practicing brothers and sisters of the faith are maybe sending us and all of Christianity a message though maybe are not aware of it.   Our siblings, parents, children, relatives, friends and co-workers are sending us a message whispering, saying and even crying out: “Don’t tell me – show me!”

Their message is clear, unmistakably and disarmingly simple.  They want the real thing.  They want to witness, touch and hold someone, anyone – just one will do – live an authentic Christian life.  They want to be face to face with someone striving humbly but heroically living what is good, true and noble in our times.  They want to be with someone whose words are supported by the authority of his or her actions. Within this message is a challenge for us all to embrace a life deeply rooted and more fully in the life and teaching of Jesus Christ.

Seeing the conflicts and contradictions of our life, they are angry because of the disappointment and it robs of them of their own hope to live an authentic life themselves.  They are disillusioned and searching, and they will never cease calling to us like sheep without a shepherd, wanting to be fed, wanting to be led to the green pastures of kindness, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, acceptance and love.  Theirs is a natural cry for help, saying to us, “Don’t tell me – show me!”  They are so hungry for courageous example of the authentic life.

Our Response

1. Are you hearing the cry for help to “show them and not simply tell them” about Christianity?
2. Where is this cry coming from? Your spouse? Your children? Your blood brothers and sisters? Your relatives? Your friends? Your co-workers?
3. What does this tell you about the New Evangelization with the immediate circle of relationships that you have?

Points of conclusion after the discussion:

1. New Evangelization is not about other people in the first place. It is about us.
2. The call for the New Evangelization opens with the Year of Faith and the Year of Faith calls all Catholics to a re-conversion.

Perspective setting:

Lk 15: 3-7:  “So to them, Jesus addressed this parable:  ‘What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?  And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbours and says to them , ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’  I tell you, in just the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.”  

Most of us would know good, intelligent, decent people and contributing members of some organization, our circle of friends, family and relatives who would not have anything to do with Christianity or the least do the minimum.   Many of them were raised as Christians in one form or another somewhere and sometime in their lives.  We are also beginning to discover this as an increasing phenomenon. In this context of what is happening, the scene in the parable we have read wherein one sheep was lost and the ninety-nine remain may prove to be on the reverse, that is, the ninety-nine are lost and only one is not.  This is the world’s reality of Christianity.

Watching TV of events and people, hearing many things on radio, and reading newspapers and magazines, there seems to be a hunger in the people. An event on the internet can go viral in a matter of minutes.  Their restlessness cannot be hidden. There is a longing for more. There is a profound discontent with life and culture. They seem to say that something is missing that no worldly pleasure can satisfy nor money can buy.

This hunger is for substance, a hunger for truth.  In our age today where our whole culture seems to be based on appearance built upon illusion and deception; and everything looks good but below the surface, there is very little substance, there seems to be a great poverty of honesty, loyalty and integrity.   People today are starving for the authentic and aching for the tiniest experience of sincerity.  The hunger for truth and goodness is enormous and yet Christianity and particularly Catholicism have been largely rejected.

Those of us who call ourselves Christians believe that the life and teachings of Jesus Christ are the personification of truth, sincerity and authenticity.  It simply the best way to live and if we are correct in this belief, and if the people of our time really are hungering for authenticity and the best way to live, then we are to ask ourselves this probing and uncomfortable questions: Why are more people not enthusiastic about embracing Christianity? Why, in fact, are so many people so hostile toward Christ and His Church?

Our Response

1. Do you agree with the reversed estimation in the Parable of the Lost Sheep in today’s context, that the ninety-nine are lost and only one is left in the flock of Christ?
2. Can you make a listing of people – well- meaning people, good and decent people who do not find the need for God? What are they making more important than Christianity/Catholicism?
3. What is the emerging question in your heart and mind about the New Evangelization with your discovery that those who are close to you are saying – “Why are they drifting away from Christianity or Catholicism?

Points of conclusion after the discussion:

1. New Evangelization is about people and not about programs.
2. New Evangelization is first of all a disposition of our hearts to listen and observe people and what their behaviour is saying.  In this regard, this may necessitate journeying people and accepting where they are which is what Jesus did.  The way to begin is our family, relatives and those close to us.
3. New Evangelization is about the children of our children – will they still be Catholics? Maybe our children will still be but however their children – our grandsons and granddaughters?  It is about the immediate future.

Rationale:

We are at the dawn of the “Era of the New Evangelization” .  For the Philippine Church this is the 1^st of the nine years of spiritual preparation towards the 500^th year of Christianity.  For the universal Church this is also the 1^st of the four years  before the next Synod of the Bishops which calls for the New Evangelization for the Transmission of Faith.  For CFC-FFL,  this is a great moment with great opportunities for what we believe firmly God has set us apart and formed for more than 30 years.

The New Evangelization presents a challenge:  “New wine in new wine skins”.   The New Evangelization calls for an ever deepening appreciation of the new stirring of the Spirit.  It is in this disposition that CFC-FFL is specially called to have.  We therefore may need to leave old ways of doing things if only to give new expressions and ways of evangelizing a chance to work within the context of the New Evangelization.

The way we do things and behave flow from the way we think and believe.  This year’s household topics in this Year of Faith and the dawn of the Era of the New Evangelization is oriented to challenge our understanding of our mission and ways of doing evangelization in the context of the stirrings and call of the New Evangelization.

General Objectives:    To capture the spirit of the New Evangelization as a way to move us to respond into the new stirrings of the Spirit for the renewal of families and the Church.

Specific Objectives:     At the end of the 12 household discussions and sharing, the participants will be able to:

1. Understand the essential hunger of people as a starting point to defining programs and actions as a response within the context of the New Evangelization;
2. Ground people into the subtle ways of the world in spiritual warfare as a way to be challenged and commit that New Evangelization starts with ourselves;
3. Capture and define God’s invitation for the New Evangelization  and start to live out ways of being  witnesses of the New Evangelization;
4. Be empowered by the Spirit with a fresh desire to live the charismatic spirituality necessary for the task of the New Evangelization

Methodology:

It will use the regular household meeting format of worship, topic introduction, discussion, and fellowship. However, it is necessary for the Household Servants to make a follow-up of the previous topic to check on the progression of the household members.

Household topic Framework

Q4:  A Call to Arms In Defense of Life and Family

TOPIC:  ADVOCACY

SESSION 1  THE URGENCY OF PREACHING LIFE TODAY

1. The Urgency of NOW

• We are an evangelistic and missionary community committed to become families empowered by the Holy Spirit to renew the face of the earth.  (CFC-FFL vision)
• The vision remains the same, but the kind of battle has changed.  It has become more violent, more intense, more blatantly evil.
• As a Church, we “had thought that threats against life would grow weaker but they have actually grown to vast proportions.”  (Evangelium Vitae #17)  It is getting worse.  The Enemy is working double time.
• “For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truths and will be diverted to myths.” (2 Timothy 4, 3-4)

The time when people won’t accept the sound doctrine, the logical truth is NOW.  They will make their own version of the “truth,” accept what they want to accept and reject what they want to reject.  They will believe in the myths, the lies.  They will make their own religions.  They will be the Godless society that we are warned against.

• There are more attacks on life and family than ever before.  The family is attacked from every side, being broken and pulverized by forces in government, society and culture.  Life is being snuffed out physically, but also emotionally, psychologically and socially.

2. The Call to Life

• Am I my brother’s keeper?  (as in Gen. 4,9)  The answer is a resounding YES!  I AM responsible for whatever happens to every single human person.
• WHO is my brother? WHO is my neighbor?  Every single person but especially those in need, and most especially the marginalized.  The problem today is the lack of solidarity with society’s weakest members – the elderly, sick, immigrants, children, etc.  We HAVE to care.  If not, who will?  It is the mandate for all followers of Christ.  It is the call for everyone who is truly human.
• We need to begin with the renewal of a culture of life with Christian communities themselves.  (EV#95)
  • How clear are we as Christians, as members of the Church about the need to push for a culture of life in the world?
• To all members of the Church – people of life and for life:  a call to give new signs of hope that the new culture of human life be affirmed, for the building of an authentic civilization of truth and love.  (EV#6)
  • We as a Christian community are called to be people OF life (being life-giving; it’s who we ARE) and people FOR life (fighting for this cause, rallying against occasions when life is being snuffed out in the world).
• We need to bring the gospel of life to the heart of every person and make it penetrate every part of society.  (EV#80)
  • We need to tell the world about it.  We need to “tell the world of His love.”  Until every last person has become aware and has been comforted by the hope that God has come to save them.
• Preach the Word, be urgent in season and out of season, convince, rebuke and exhort, be unfailing in patience and in preaching.  (2 Tim. 4,2)
  • We need to constantly preach the Word.  The world, our neighbor, they all need to hear it.
  • We must convince people of the splendor (the magnificence, great brightness, glory) of the Truth.
  • We must rebuke those who bring people to death and darkness, and those Christians who are not living up to the gospel of life.
  • We must patiently endure in preaching the Word.  We must never tire, and we will not, if we draw strength from our Life Source who is God.
  • We must persevere in the preaching until the day we die.  And then the Lord will say, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Mt. 25,23)
• We have been sent into the world as a “people of life.”  We must celebrate the gospel of life!  (EV#83)
  • We have a clear call to go into the world and not just be content with our community who is brimming with life.  There are so many people in and out of the Christian Faith who need to hear the Good News.
  • Our lives must be living testaments of the gospel of life – leading to love, joy, peace and harmony, a beacon of hope for ALL who encounter us, a passion for life that is infectious.
• To celebrate the gospel of life means to celebrate the God of Life, the God who gives life.  (EV#84) It shows our wonder and gratitude for the gift of life!
  • When we are life-giving, and preach LIFE, we are really worshipping the God of Life.  We are honoring Him and pleasing Him.
  • We need to reflect more deeply in our prayer time, in our Bible study, how we are blessed with so much life, and therefore so much of God, that we may all the more stand in awe and gratitude for this gift of life.

3. Where Do We Start?

• We start by doubling our prayers and getting into the mind and heart of God by spending more time with Him in prayer, that the God of Life may speak to us His will and His ways.
• We must form our mind and conscience to be life-giving.
  • “Do not conform yourself to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.” (Rom 12, 2)
  • We need to consciously and constantly form ourselves, that we do not  get brainwashed or confused by the lies and myths that the world is telling us through media and other groups in society.  Society, especially today in its secularist ways, is anti-God, anti-Church and anti-life.  It is also anti-marriage (as we know it) and anti-Church.  In being such, it becomes anti-human or anti-person.
• Get to know the current LIFE issues that are destroying the world.  There are available pro-life resources on this in the community.
• We must be Life-Givers, edifying others with our thoughts, words and deeds.  Words can either build up or tear down people.  Build-ups reflect love.  Tear downs reflect insecurity, that you need to tear others down.  May your words build people up.
• Be a true PRO-LIFER by being a true Christian in word and witness.
  • This term has come to mean one who vocally fights against anti-life forces and acts.  But its roots come from the reality that we are all followers of Christ.  And as followers of Christ, who is the Way, Truth and the LIFE, we must advocate life in every way and in every form.
  • One cannot be a true Christian without being a pro-Lifer, one who speaks out against any violation of the life and dignity of persons.
• Ask for the intercession of the spiritual advocates of life:  Mary, the Mother of Life and the saints.
• Encounter Jesus the Bread of Life in the Eucharist and draw strength from Him.
  • Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

So Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave the bread from heaven; my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  So they said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”  Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.  (John 6,31-35)

• It is in Jesus, the Bread of Life, that we gain spiritual nourishment to be good, life-giving and holy.
• Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, when asked where she gets the energy to serve and minister to the poorest of the poor, said her sisters and her wake up at 4 am, and do not do ministry until after receiving Christ in daily Eucharist.

Reference:  Evangelium Vitae, PJPII, 1995, “On The Value and Inviolability of Human Life”

Discussion Starter:

Would you consider yourself pro-life or not?  Why/why not?

Why is there an urgency to proclaim the gospel now more than ever before?

SESSION 2 SETTING UP AN ADVOCACY FOR LIFE

1. Advocacy means to plead for, support, recommend, and argue in favor of.  As we end the year, we must bear in mind that we are all urgently called to embrace this advocacy for life, in both a communal and personal way.
2. CFC-FFL is clearly making a strong stand in the defense of family and life.

• With the split, God allowed our community to re-assess where we are and discern where God wants us to go.
• The community, through our leaders, read the signs of the times and sought out what the global moral issues were.  It was the attack on family and life spawned by a culture of death.
• Yes, there is a Pro-Life Ministry.  But this doesn’t mean they will be the only ones involved in the fight.  It means they will lead it and spearhead it but everyone must get involved.
• We all need to get into the thick of the culture war between death and life.
• This is not the time or lukewarm Christianity. (“So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.” Rev. 3,16)

3. As members of CFC-FFL, we cannot sit by idly and watch other members of the community fight against forces of death while we choose not to.

4. These are some myths about pro-lifers.

• Pro-life is all about abortion.
  • No it’s not.  There are other issues that come in.  Pro-life defends all forms of life and speaks out against attacks on then life and dignity of human persons.
  • You can be a Christian and not be pro-life.
    • False.  If you are true Christian, you must stand for the sacredness of all human life.
    • Only Christians are pro-life.
      • Wrong again.  Moslems, other Christian denominations and all people who recognize the truth that life is sacred, rally together to defend life.
      • Pro-Choicers aren’t for abortion.  They just believe in a woman’s right over her body.
        • Pro-Choicers are really pro-abortion, whether they know it or not.  If you respect a woman’s right over her body, then you consider that whatever choice that is, including killing the life in the womb, is morally acceptable.  If you uphold the rights of a woman over her body, who will uphold the rights of the child who is human from the moment of conception.  All human life is sacred, not just those of the strong, but especially of the weak.  We don’t own life.  God is its author to say when life begins and when it ends.
        • Pro-lifers will use all means even violence to counter the attack of anti-life forces.
          • Those “pro-lifers” aren’t genuine if they will use violence to harm other lives for the sake of the cause to uphold life.  This is a contradiction of terms.  Pro-lifers respect ALL life, even of those who have caused harm to society.  God is the Author of ALL life.
          • Pro-lifers are ultra-conservative, narrowminded people who aren’t in-touch with the signs of the times and the postmodern world.
            • No.  Pro-lifers are all sorts of people from all walks of life who recognize the respect for all human life.  There is a diversity of pro-lifers, all desiring to conserve the truth and help the global community seek to hold on to the truth.
            • Pro-lifers aren’t “lost in the past.”  Rather, they recognize time-weathered truths that tell us life that is sacred.  No amount of postmodernity, fighting for rights of this group or that, can change the truth.

5. Choosing To Be An Advocate for Life

• We need to fight for life because it’s the right thing to do.  It’s not just a Christian choice, although that’s true, but it’s basically a human choice.  So, whether you are a Christian or not, you are called to be an advocate for life. (The anti-life movement tells us that the issues have nothing to do with God.  The culture of death is really a culture without God.  But our very existence has everything to do with the living God!)
• We need to understand that conversion begins by recognizing that there is a problem.  There are more and more people falling away to the “dark side,” and buying the lie of the culture of death.
• To be an advocate for life, we should be JOYFUL.  There is something about the celebration of the sacredness of life that cannot make us sit in despair.  PRO-LIFE is pro the mystery of life, pro the joy and the wonder of life.
• We must pray for the end of abortion in every country.  That the Philippines, the only country where abortion illegal, may not bend to the pressure of the global community.  But more than these, we must pray for the radical change of hearts and the transformation of souls, and the redemption of those involved in taking life (anywhere from womb to tomb) especially those who lead many astray into the claws of the culture of death.
• We must look at life, never as a problem, but as a gift and a mystery.  In spite of a life of suffering, even that suffering can be meaningful and redemptive (saving).
• We could start by getting more involved in the pro-life ministry of the community.  You do not have to re-invent the wheel!  There are existing structures on this advocacy.
• We ought to simplify your life.
  • “Live simply so that others may simply live.” Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi)
  • How can we say we are pro-life if our brothers and sisters in our country are suffering poverty, unable to meet basic human needs, and are living in subhuman conditions?
  • We need to sincerely commit to the pro-life advocacy.
    • It’s really a commitment to Christ.
    • It’s a lifelong commitment to life.
    • It’s a daily choice that we must constantly renew.
    • We need to make a clear plan of action done with great prayer and discernment before the Lord.

6. Ending The Year with CHOOSE LIFE Conclusions

• If we reject the value and dignity of human life, we build our culture on a lie, and its structures will eventually perish.
• Building a culture of life in this third millennium will not simply happen.  We have to live out the commitment to do so.  The culture of life is a culture of love and solidarity that aims for the true good of the whole human society.
• When will we see the culture of life in this world?  Not soon enough.  But at CFC-FFL, we are moving in the right direction.  We hope you will join us.
• As we reflect on the mystery of Incarnation and the joy of Christmas, let us remember how Christ celebrated the sacredness of life, by emptying Himself and becoming one of us.  For in every breath of His earthly existence, He saw, lived, breathed the sacredness of life and calls us to do the same.

See before you is set blessings and life, disaster and death.

Choose.  The decision is yours. CHOOSE LIFE

So that you and your children may live

Live in the love of Yahweh your God

(Deuteronomy 30,19 )

References:

In God’s Image: Building a Culture of Life by John J. O’Connor

Moving Toward A Culture of Life by Cathleen A. Cleaver

Choose Life: Toward a Culture of Life in the New Millennium by Charles J. Chaput

Discussion Starter:  Where do I start?  What do I do to commit to the pro-life advocacy?

TOPIC 4:  LIFE-GIVING COMMUNITIES

SESSION 2 Proclaiming the Gospel of Life In This Postmodern Culture

1.  Choosing Life in a Postmodern Culture

• What is the postmodern culture?
  • It is the way of life of today’s generation.
  • It is a culture that is eclectic, fragmented, preoccupied with image (Powell)
  • people “connected” to each other 24/7 but feeling deeply isolated and alone
  • a culture constantly moving, flowing in every direction at once, without ever forming a coherent pattern (Nathan Mitchell)
  • multiple connections and no clear-cut hierarchy
  • a climate of questioning what has been previously practiced
  • Key elements:  information and communication technology as well as the rise of greater consumerism
  • A hermeneutic suspicion, where since all interpretations are equally valid, they are then equally meaningless

• What are we up again in this “new” culture of death?
  • A culture whose thinking style is not logical and systematic but eclectic and fragmented.
  •  A shallowness that only focuses on image
  • Deep feelings of loneliness and isolation
  • A mindset that doesn’t hold hierarchy with the same esteem as generations past
  • Questioning, critical and even rejecting of how things have been done before
  • “plugged in” to information and communication technology
  • Highly influenced by consumerism (amassing wealth and goods)

2. Learning from the Past

• Based on the history of CFC-FFL in its 30 years of existence, including the split/transition to CFC-FFL, there are some lessons we can learn:
  • Be humble.  We are humbled from thinking we have grown so fast, so wide and that we are so good.  All our efforts are nothing without the power of God working through us.
  • Be faithful.  We have not been that faithful to God.  We have sinned.  We have gotten distracted.  We have relied on ourselves too much and relied on God too little.
  • Don’t overfocus on one area/ministry.  We need to strike a balance about the need of different ministries.  If we focus too much on one ministry over another, we lose sight of the holistic nature of the community that needs different ministries. (The Body has many parts!)
  • Don’t compete.  The temptation and even pride may lead us to compare how we are doing versus the “other side.”  We may compete with CFC Global.  But this is not a race about who is better.  It’s a journey where we cooperate and work with other groups.  It’s a time to see that what matters is doing the work of God.  Let us not get distracted.
  • Discern and be open to where God may now be leading us.  He is calling us towards defense of life and family.  We must not limit God but wait on Him for our marching orders.
  • Know the enemy.  We have to know what we are up against.  Are we trying to see the tactics of the enemy?  Today, it’s a postmodern culture. 

Also, are we prepared to go into spiritual battle?  Are we equipped with God’s Word, with salvation, with peace, faith, truth and righteousness?  (“Put on the whole armor of God.”  Eph. 6,11)

3. Strategies to Bring Life to the Postmodern World

• We simply cannot do things the same way we have before.  We are challenged to think of new ways, new strategies, new ways of evangelization and bringing LIFE and Christ’s light to the world.
• Logical, top-down strategies won’t work.  We need to approach them with multiple connections pointing to one reality, one Truth, like different signs converging to point to the reality.
• We can bring them from shallowness to depth, but this will take time and it must be done slowly, gently and lovingly.
• Even as they “feel” connected, there is that basic and deep human longing for human interaction.   We can address their virtual connectivity by providing face-to-face encounters with real people who they can see, hug, hear, etc. in REAL time.
• At the same time, we must use information technology and be where they are at in cyberspace (Twitter, Facebook, etc.)
• Don’t impose hierarchies and structures, because their minds don’t process things that way.  They respond better to varied and even eclectic interconnections.
• Since they are critical of everything and how things have been done before, allow them that venue to question and be critical.  If we remain constant in love and compassion, they will see our sincerity and know that we are true.
• Moral relativism makes them think that there are no real absolutes and that one interpretation of the truth is just as good as another.  Jesus is just as good as any other prophet, but not more so.  Therefore, there’s no ONE true way, truth and life.  We can challenge them by our witness, by Christ’s life and then pray hard for them.  Then allow God to move.  For we can plant the seed, but only God can make it grow.
• With the obsession to amass wealth and become greedy, we can challenge this insatiable desire for the unattainable by giving them the alternative – bringing them to Jesus who gives us water that will never make us thirsty again, for He is the living Water!  (Jn. 4,13-14)

Reference:

Postmodernism for Beginners by Jim Powell

Discussion Starter:

How different is today’s world from the one you grew up with as a kid and teen?

What new ways of evangelization do we need to adopt as a community to bring others to Christ?

TOPIC 4:  LIFE-GIVING COMMUNITIES

SESSION 1  It’s WE Who Build Community

1. If we say societies are only as good as the families that they are made of, the community is only as good as its members, including its “weakest link.”
2. Assessing Where Our Community Is At

Ask these questions to get you started in assessing your community (household, unit, chapter, all of CFC-FFL)

• How’s the membership?  How many and is it increasing monthly, quarterly, yearly?
• What is the profile of your members?
• How are the relationships of your members with each other?
• How’s the attendance in gatherings?
• How many of actual members are active in activities and service?
• How involved are members in the work of evangelization?
• How many of them are active in the parish?  As CFC-FFL or as parishioners?
• Do your members know the mission, vision, charism and core values of CFC-FFL?
• Do your members live out the mission, vision, charism and core values?
• How is the witness of your members?  Are they good Christian witnesses growing in holiness and love?
• What keeps your members staying in the community?
• Do you get regular feedback from them?
• How is the prayer life of your members?
• Do you have a strong, active and regular intercessory group who pray for the community and its members, as well as for the Church and the world?
• How convinced and convicted are your members about the defense for family and life?
• What are the major problems, concerns, issues of your community?
• What are the expressed needs of your members?
• Is there a balance of the 5 tools of growing in the Spirit prayer, study, service, fellowship and sacraments) in your community?
•  (study, prayer, service, witness

and sacraments)?

3. The Ideal Christian Community:  Acts 2

“Peter (said) to them, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.”

He testified with many other arguments, and was exhorting them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand persons were added that day.  They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.  Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.  All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need.

Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people.  And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.  (Acts 38-47)

• What were the qualities of the early Christian community in Acts 2?
• They devoted themselves to:
  • Teaching (They were eager to be mentally nourished with the teachings of Christ through the apostles.)
  • Communal life (They came together united by Christ, with the same spirit of love that Christ lived and died for.)
  • Breaking of the Bread (They came together to celebrate the Eucharist and be spiritually nourished by Christ.)
  • Prayers (They prayed together.)
• They were in awe because of the many wonders and signs through the apostles.  (Because they had so much of the Holy Spirit in their leaders, the community witnessed many wonders and signs.  Miracles occurred and people were amazed!)
• They held things in common, divided them and shared them, each according to their need.  (There was such an amazing unity and love that they just wanted to share with everyone.  What belonged to one person belonged to everyone.  They gave according to need, not right.)
• They met together and broke bread in each others’ homes. (They assembled/congregated because they felt they had so much to say and share about their love for Christ and the love that bound them.  They had a wonderful relationship of friendship that made them eat together and share their stories with one another as friends and brothers and sisters.)
• They ate meals with exultation and sincerity of heart.  (They ate with great rejoicing.  Their joy must have been so infectious.  And they were sincere in what they thought, said and did.)
• They praised God and enjoyed the favor with all people.  (They had hearts of gratitude, clearly telling God how wonderful and awesome He is.  And because of the joy, sincerity and gratitude, they drew others to themselves.  People wanted to be like them.  They attracted others by their witness to want to join the community.)
• Every day God added to their number those who were being saved.  (They just kept growing in membership because of their great sense of community that others witnessed.  People wanted what they had.)
• When we look at what the early Christian community did, how much of our community is like them or unlike them?  Do we see the same things in our community today or not?

4. Practical Tips To Making Our Community More Like the Early Christian Communities, and Thus, Life-Giving and Spirit-Filled

• SHARE – time, talent, treasure.  Be generous.
• MEET regularly.  The more you assemble in the name of the Lord, the more He can bless you as a community.
• BUILD relationships.  Build the love, get to know each other’s stories.
• BE a people of JOY and HOPE.  Sincerity, too.  It’s infectious.  People will want to have what you have.  They also can tell if you really care or not.
• BE forever GRATEFUL.  A grateful heart feels no sense of entitlement but counts his/her blessings and sees God working in his/her life all the time.
• Other tips:
  • Person-to-Person is the only way to go.  You build the community one person at a time.  Every soul, every person counts.
  • Genuine Love must be your driving force as you interact with members of the community.
  • Witnessing of elders and leaders is important.  Members are always looking to you for inspiration, guidance, etc.
  • There has to be a balance between teaching, service and socials.
  • Intercede for your members/fellow members and the community.  We need protection from the Evil One.
  • Train even the new members.  Give them responsibilities.
  • We need teachings for nourishment, as well as spiritual nourishment from the Eucharist, other sacraments and prayers.
  • Strengthen the outreach dimension but don’t let it overpower everything else.
  • Encourage occasional intergenerational activities so the WHOLE community can come together and bond.

Discussion Starter:

What  of the early Christian community kept them filled with the Spirit?

What can you bring to our community to make it more life-giving (either based on the talk or according to your own ideas)?