Unit I:

CALLED TO SALVATION IN CHRIST

INTRODUCTION
What is my
PURPOSE in life?
What am I
WORTH?
Our DIGNITY is
revealed in the very
mystery of the person
of JESUS CHRIST who is
the image of the
invisible God, and the
Good Teacher.
Who is Jesus Christ?
A. The Ultimate
Revelation of the
Father
B. The Good Teacher
C. SHEDS LIGHT ON THE
MYSTERY AND
DIGNITY OF THE
HUMAN PERSON
D. CALLS US TO
DISCIPLESHIP
LESSON A:
CHRIST AS THE IMAGE OF THE INVISIBLE GOD
 My Bucket List
Benjamin, together with the rest of the class were asked by their professor to list down
the ten things that they would do before they die. This was an exciting activity for Benjamin
because he had already figured this out long ago, surfing the net for fun and incredible
things to do and beautiful places to go to around the world. The only challenge was to list
down only ten. So, after carefully weighing all his options, Benjamin happily wrote the
following to complete his list: climb Africa’s Mount Kilimanjaro, make a wish in the Trevi
Fountain in Italy, hear the Pope speak at the Vatican, dive the Great Barrier Reef, run with the
bulls in Pamplona in Spain, be a part of a flash mob, Kayak through Icebergs in Greenland,
Ride in a Gondola in Venice, let go of a floating lantern in Taiwan, and float in the Dead Sea.
However, part of the activity was to one by one delete an item which is considered the least
important until you are left with only one goal. To conclude the activity, Benjamin, and the
rest of class were asked by their professor to ponder the reason why they chose that one item
and how that item speaks of them as a person.
 What is our core?

In Latin, COR means

heart. And so, we ask
the question:

“What is in our hearts?”

 “You’ve got to figure out
what you love…
and its going to bring you
great joy.”
Jeff Bezos
Founder CEO of Amazon
Richest man in the world.
ABRAHAM MASLOW’S
HIERARCHY OF VALUES

Ranks or orders human

needs according to
importance, immediacy,
and level of difficulty in
terms of acquisition: at the
bottom stands the
physiological needs, while
perched at the pinnacle is
self-actualization.
 In the Netflix
documentary series,
titled: the “The Last
Dance,” Michael Jordan
was shown as the man
who obsessed himself
with winning
championship.
Why is that some people,
even if they seemed to
have reached the top of the
world, remain unhappy?
 WHAT IS THE MEANING AND PURPOSE
OF OUR LIFE?

It is natural for human beings

to desire to be happy.

Human beings, embark on a lifelong

search for that absolute good, which will
lead them to the happiness that never
ends.
Domine,
Non Nisi Te.
How do we attain God?
Takeaways:

• By claiming that we are

redeemed.

• The road that leads to God

is described as:
ü “narrow”
ü “passing through the
eye of a needle.”
 1. Jesus Christ, the
Ultimate Revelation of
the Father

It is only through Christ,

the only true mediator
between God and man,
that human beings can
reach God.
 “No mission is
activated and
no identity is
clarified apart
from Christ.”

PCP II
We look up to Christ as the ultimate revelation of the Father, who calls us to
communion, and as the good teacher who leads us to the Father
 a. God as
our Personal
Absolute

Explain Dtv. “The Life of Saint Augustine Explained.” January 26, 2014. From
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMaSjAlWZ00
 “ God is a personal absolute
in whom is found the reason
for our existence, and
therefore, He is a being who
gives absolute meaning to our
lives.”
Schillebeeckx, Edward. Christ the
Sacrament of the Encounter with God.
London: Sheed and Ward, 1963.
“God, infinitely perfect and blessed in Himself, in a plan
of sheer goodness freely created man to make him share
in his own blessed life. For this reason, at every time and
in every place, God draws close to man. He calls man to
seek Him, to know Him, to love Him with all his strength.”
Catechism of the Catholic Church
 “To be a
human being
means to
come from
God and to go
to God.”
YOUCAT
God, as our personal
absolute, gave Himself
to us through the
incarnation of Christ,
His only Son our Lord.
b. Christ is God in a Human Way

God did more for human beings than for any

other creature that He has created:

He shared His life with them, which happened

perfectly through the incarnation of Christ.

“In His Son and through Him, He invites men

to become, in Holy Spirit, His adopted children
and heirs of his blessed life.” CCC, 13.
 Matthew 14: 13-21
Through the mystery of
Christ’s incarnation
people actually live with
God, have a special bond
or relationship with Him,
and most importantly they
feel or experience His love
everyday of their lives.

Matthew 5: 3-12

Mark 2:13-17
Luke 18:15-17
c. Christ is Human in
a Divine Way

God’s coming down to

meet His people also
means raising them up
and liberating from
their sinful condition.
By becoming human...

• Christ became an example for all people to

follow because He manifested those
characteristics that make man perfect.

• Jesus Christ, through His life, words, and works,

revealed how people should live their lives.

• Jesus corrected the false belief that people are

bad or helplessly sinful.

• Jesus revealed what is true and good about

human beings: that they are all invited by God
to be perfect like Him
When asked how many times we
should forgive, his response was:
always! (Matthew 18:21). Christ
demonstrated that goodness is
not give and take. Doing good
does not expect something in
return but is the habitual
response of someone who is
created in the image and likeness
of God.
When the woman caught in the
act of adultery was brought to
Him (John 8:1-11), Jesus did not
show condemnation but only
mercy and compassion. When He
lovingly told the woman to sin no
more, Jesus showed that people,
by the grace of God, can change
for the better.
In his encounter with Zacchaeus
the tax collector (Luke 19:1-10),
he exemplified before the crowd
that an act of compassion can
move even the most hardened
sinner. When He asked to eat
dinner with the tax collector, He
demonstrated that we are capable
of seeing the good in others.
To be truly human is to be
like God.

That man can love,

forgive, show compassion,
and set aside prejudices
toward others, shows that
the divine is truly shared
with the human.
2. Images of Jesus in the Gospels:
The Way, The Truth, The Life

What is the meaning of life?

Who am I?

What must I do?

It is only in the mystery of
the incarnation of Christ
that people can
understand who they are
and what their purpose in
this world is.

Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

Before performing his mission
or public ministry, Jesus was
led by the Spirit to the desert
where he was tempted by the
devil (Mark 1:12,13; Matthew
4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13).
The devil wanted Christ to follow or surrender to His selfish
desires. In other words, the temptation was for Christ to use
His powers for his personal benefit, and consequently,
disobey or contradict the reason why the Father sent Him,
which is total surrender to the Father’s will.
The very name of Jesus,
which means “the one
who is to save people
from their sins” also
means that Jesus is the
greatest sign of God’s
love for his people.
Our Goal: Sequela Christi

We rise from the temporary setbacks of our lives and we redirect ourselves back to Christ, “once we
give up our own wealth and very self.”

In the responses of the Disciples
whom Jesus invited to follow Him as
fishers of men (Matthew 4:19);
Mary Magdalene, from whom
Jesus cast out seven demons In Saint Paul who became
(Luke 8:2) and who later became
the apostle to the Gentiles.
the apostle to the apostles.
Following Christ entails radical conversion: forgetting oneself and committing everything to Christ.

• Stripping the old self of that sinful life to take on the new white garment of Christ.
• It is dying to oneself but rising again as a new person configured to Christ, no longer living one’s life
for one’s own but for Christ.
• Being immersed in the waters of baptism all over again and time and time again
As we praise God for the gift of discipleship, we
recall in thanksgiving those inspired moments
when we triumphed over sin. Let us proclaim in
loving praise that we belong to Christ by
composing a short essay or a poem, with the
theme: “Surviving Mount Temptation: That One
Time when I said Yes to Christ and No to Sin.”