Holy Trinity College

Augustinian Recollect Sisters

Alangalang, Leyte
Tel. & Fax No.: (053) 331-5572

Theology 3 – Ecclesiology
QUARTER 2 Grade 12-ABM November 3-
Module 1 Wednesday 2:00-5:00 pm
12, 2021
Week 1 & 2 Ms. Joenabeth V. Morbos
09702931696/09306410987

Name of the Learner: ___________________________________________

Signature of Parents/ Guardians: _____________

Title of the Topic: Eschatology 1: The last things

PCSS/ Learning Standards: S8- An excellent Catholic School ensures the integral formation of the human person
through a relevant, robust, rigorous curriculum inspired by Gospel values.
Specific Objectives:
1. Assess the Catholic belief on the understanding of the end of human life and what follows human death.
2. Explain Eschatology and its stages.
3. Reflect on the concept of death and design a template on how to prepare a person before the hour of death.
Values Integration:
Relationship, Responsibility, Hope, Faith and Love.

Prayer:

Our Father

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day, our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who
trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. Amen.

Our
Directions: Read the contents and follow theMother of Consolation,
instructions Praythe
as you answer forgiven
us! activities.
Presentation of the Lesson
 Catholic Christians believe that all men and women will experience the end of this human life.
The Word of God teaches us that each person will be judged immediately after death.
Catholics believe that the souls of the saved who are in need of further purification before
facing God will be purged in Purgatory.
Heaven awaits those souls found to be in the state of grace or perfection. Hell or eternal
damnation awaits those souls who die without repentance for their sins. At the end of the world, Jesus
will come again in power and glory – the Parousia.

Directions: Read carefully the selection and answer the following questions.
Etymology:

All professed Christians look to the Bible for their acceptance and understanding of the
end of human life and what follows human death. The study of the last things is called
Eschatology from the Greek word eschatos meaning “the last or extreme.”

The stages of Eschatology

Include individual human death, particular judgment, the choices of heaven, purgatory or
hell, the end of the world, the living being “taken up”, the resurrection of the body, the Second
Coming of Jesus, general judgment, and the New Creation.

Christians accept that the first of the “last things of human life is physical death”. Natural
death is the separation of the immortal soul from the physical body. Divine Revelation tells us the
origin of human death - the sin of Adam and Eve.

1. PAROUSIA

The centrality of Christ is essential. It is recognized in greater detail when the

affirmation of the Parousia turns our minds towards the future. Parousia means the coming.
Jesus has already announced his coming as the great event with which his presence would
have in a mysterious manner procured mankind.

Many have thought of a visible return to earth by Jesus. We know that in the
primitive Church this expectation, which was very strong, resulted in

disappointment. The fact that Jesus gave another meaning to the announcement of his coming is
yet another signal.
The coming on clouds, inaugurated at Pentecost, is the coming enacted by the Holy Spirit so
as to allow Christ to be present during the entire future development of the Church. This coming
is the Parousia announced by Jesus, a Parousia that lasts for the entire period of evangelization
throughout the centuries and the millenniums, until the end of the world: “This Gospel of the
Kingdom will be preached all over the world, so that all nations may hear; only after that will the
end come” (Mt. 24:14)
When the spiritual coming of Jesus Christ into the world will have reached its historical
fullness with the accomplishment of universal evangelization, the Parousia will be complete and
the earthly world will vanish before the universe of the afterlife.
2. DEATH
Death is a necessity inherent to human nature; mankind is mortal, because the flesh has a
necessary limited life. A necessity of a superior order, founded on the divine design of salvation,
also makes a mystery of death. Since the death of Christ, our death has received a higher meaning.
This meaning is linked to the drama of sin. In death one acknowledges a consequence of sin; in
fact death would have been the fundamental punishment for sin if the Son of God had not
personally chosen death as the way for redemption. An innocent, Christ transformed death and
turned it into an offering of love for the salvation of mankind. Therefore death is given to us as a
divine gift that unites us in the offering of Christ and that, with its painful, distressing
characteristics, allows us to participate in the redeeming work. This is the last source of
fruitfulness at the end of human existence.
Jesus himself recommended continuous vigilance in the course of life on this earth, while
awaiting His coming, often unexpected, at the hour of death. “When the master returns and
knocks, blessed are those servants whom their master will find watching when he comes.”
3. JUDGEMENT
Immediately after death comes judgment. Jesus often presented himself as the Supreme
Judge. In the ancient alliance, God was recognized as the only judge. In sending his Son on earth,
the Father entrusted Him with this power in view of the fact that he was the “Son of man”(Jn 5,
27). The Son Incarnate personally lived a human life, he knows, thanks to His personal
experience, its difficulties and appreciates in real terms the merits of each person. His decisive
role in the work of salvation allows Him to judge distinguishing with generous love between
those who are worthy of being saved.
Christ, who came to help the immense misery of humanity, also proved to be very sensitive
to compassion, compassion He received from the Father and in real terms practiced in a touching
environment with numerous wounds. With Jesus as a judge, the judgment assumes a reassuring
benevolent aspect. It always involves sovereign authority and concern for the recognition of the
truth, but it is always guided by eyes filled with sympathy and understanding.
Judgment is universal: all men will be judged but not all at the same time, because the
judgment that allows one to enter heaven or condemns to hell takes place at the moment of death.
On the other hand this judgment is also particular, because each will be judged according to his
personal behavior, receiving rewards or punishment. Universal and individual judgment coincide.
This judgment is unique and definite. It is the Last Judgment for each, but it is not
postponed to the end of time. It cannot be forgotten that the essential intention of this judgment is
salvation. “God did not send His son to reject the world, but so that the world might find salvation
through Him” (Jn. 3:17).
4. THE DESTINY OF THE IMMORTAL SOUL
 What is man’s destiny following judgment? In recent times, a trend has developed
concentrated on the resurrection of mankind, leaving aside the assertion concerning the
immortality of the soul.

As stated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, “resurrection is referred to man in
his entireness”, but there is also survival and existence, after death, of a spiritual element endowed
with conscience and freedom, “a human being” that survives without the complementation of the
body; and so as to describe this element the Church uses the word “soul.” The existence of this
“rational and intellective” soul had been defined by the Council of Vienna.

The soul separated from the body receives, with the beatific vision, the benefit of the life of
the risen Christ.
ACTIVITY:

Directions: Answer the following questions.

1. Why is the understanding of the human life necessary for the believers?

2. How would you like to explain the stages of Eschatology?

3. In what ways can you help prepare a dying person meet his creator?

General Instruction: Write your answers on a sheet of paper.

Thank you and God bless!