SAN ISIDRO COLLEGE

City of Malaybalay
Tel No. 088-813-5541
Website: sic.edu.ph
Webmail: info@sic.edu.ph

Theo 101 Anthropology and Spirituality Mr. Christian B. Jurolan

(Course Code) (Course Tittle) (Name of Instructor)

I. Learning Module 1 Mercy and Sin week 1

(Module Number) (Topic) (Dates)

II. Introduction
In this lesson, we will dwell into Sin and God’s Mercy. The lesson is divided into tree parts.
We will begin by establishing the relationship between the God’s mercy and sin. As St. Paul
exhorts that God’s grace abounds all the more where sin abounds. This emphasizes God’s
mercy－His mercy is God’s way of showing the immensity of his sovereignty over the power
of sin. However, in order to attain forgiveness of sins, it is essential that the sinner seeks and
aims for conversion and repentance. God’s mercy and man’s conversion through the grace
of the Holy Spirit. Etymologically, we will also broaden our prior knowledge to the nature of
Sin. Lastly, the lesson will end through seeing sin in the optic of the context of the covenant
－ God had entered into “covenant” or relationship with His people Israel. However, this
covenant was broken by the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel as they have worship other
gods through their worship of Baals and Idols. Thus, towards the lesson activity, you will be
asked to relate the effects of sin towards one’s relationship with others, the self, and with
God though writing a poem.

III.Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

1. Recognize the effects of sins towards their relationship towards God, with others and
the society as a whole.
2. Relate the effects of sin to the relationships in the society and the society as a whole
through formulating a poem.
3. Express their ideas on the effects of sin to the society through their poem.

IV. Stimulating Recall

1. What are your expectations in this course?
2. What are your hopes and goals in this course?
3. How will you reach your goals in this course?
V. Presentation of the topic/learning material
I. MERCY AND SIN (CCC#1846-1851)
The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God's mercy to sinners. The angel announced
to Joseph: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." The same
is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: "This is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."

"God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us." To receive his mercy,
we must admit our faults. "If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness."
As St. Paul affirms, "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more." But to do its work
grace must uncover sin so as to convert our hearts and bestow on us "righteousness to
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Like a physician who probes the wound before
treating it, God, by his Word and by his Spirit, casts a living light on sin:
 Conversion requires convincing of sin; it includes the interior judgment of conscience,
and this, being a proof of the action of the Spirit of truth in man's inmost being,
becomes at the same time the start of a new grant of grace and love: "Receive the
Holy Spirit." Thus in this "convincing concerning sin" we discover a double gift: the gift of
the truth of conscience and the gift of the certainty of redemption. The Spirit of truth is
the Consoler.
II. THE DEFINITION OF SIN

Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for
God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature
of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as "an utterance, a deed, or a
desire contrary to the eternal law."
Sin is an offense against God: "Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is
evil in your sight." Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like
the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become "like gods,"
knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus "love of oneself even to contempt of
God." In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus,
which achieves our salvation.
It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most
clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and
mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate's cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers,
Judas' betrayal - so bitter to Jesus, Peter's denial and the disciples' flight. However, at the
very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world, the sacrifice of Christ secretly
becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly.

SIN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Hebrew:
Hatta – means “missing the mark”; stresses the idea that sin is falling short of our vocation
to love God and neighbor.
Pesha – means “rebellion”; shows how, in sinning, the human person rejects God and his
love.
Sin is best understood in the context of the covenant.
In the OT, God made a covenant with his people Israel that “You shall be my people and
I will be your God.” People have broken the covenant by worshiping other gods and
goddesses through their worship of baals and idols. The people sinned, not so much because
they broke one of the laws of the covenant, but because they broke the personal bond of
love of which the law was an external expression.
Moreover, sin harms the sinner, not God. While sin is an offense against God, it does not
injure God in his inner being. Rather, sin harms human beings and alienates them from God,
from themselves, and from one another. Sin is not about violating a law but breaking a
relationship with others, to/with yourself, and most of all with God.