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THE CHRISTIAN LIFE PROGRAM v 2.0

MODULE 2: AN AUTHENTIC AND SPIRIT-FILLED CHRISTIAN LIFE

OVERVIEW OF THE SESSION

Jesus summed up the whole law in these two greatest commandments: You
shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This
is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor
(Mt.
22:37-40)

GOAL: To explain the meaning of the Christian ideals of loving God and loving neighbor, and
inspire participants to practice it

CORE MESSAGE:

Loving God and loving neighbor form the inseparable core of the Christian life. These two go
together. Loving God with our all heart, mind, soul and strength is our highest ideal. This is the
first and greatest commandment. But we cannot love God without loving our neighbor. We
love our neighbor not only as we love ourselves, but as God does.

TENOR: Inspiring

DYNAMICS:
1. Group Activity: What would a Christian do?
- The Team Leader narrates a scenario (pictures/video) and asks what would a
Christian do in each scenario.
- The participants answer by either acting it out or drawing it.
2. Talk Proper
3. Sharer
4. Reflection (Characteristics of Christian Love)
5. Group discussion
6. Assignment:
i. Read and reflect on the Characteristics of Christian Love
ii. Random Act of Kindness (RAK) Activity with family
iii. Choose an act among 7 corporal works of mercy which you think is
most relevant in your place.

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iv. Prepare ahead of time, after you choose the activity make a checklist
of what to do.
v. In choosing the place, make sure that the place where you will
conduct your RAK activity is safe for your children.
vi. After the RAK activity, share with your family their experience during
the activity.
vii. Take a picture and post it in your group chat or social media accounts.
If you decide to post it on social media, please use the hashtags:
#ChristianLove #RandomActofKindness #ChristianLifeProgram(name
of Chapter), #Year and #CouplesforChrist
e.g. #ChristianLifeProgramChristTheKing #2020 #CouplesforChrist

7. Announcement: Participants must bring their family/family picture next session.

The speaker is a CFC brother or sister who can explain the Christian ideals of loving God and
neighbor without sounding preachy or boastful, but inspiring our participants to respond to

The sharer is a brother or sister who can testify to his/her faith journey in learning to love God
and neighbor

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THE EXPANDED TALK OUTLINE

FOR THE USE OF THE SPEAKER

INTRODUCTION

Loving God and loving neighbor form the inseparable core of the Christian life. These
two go together. Loving God is our highest ideal, the first and greatest commandment. But we
cannot love God without loving our neighbor. We love our neighbor not only as we love
ourselves, but as God does.

I. Loving God is our highest ideal.

a. Loving God with all our heart

English, it would
will, along with feeling or emotion. The heart is the symbol of the core of who a person
is: As one face differs from another, so does the human heart from another. (Prov.
27:19)

To love God with all our heart means to be totally committed to him. It is a commitment
to seek the Lord first and foremost. It is a decision to put God first, to be loyal to him, to
place his will and interest above our own.

How do we put the Lord first and foremost in our life? By deciding to obey him. If you
love me, you will keep my commandments. (Jn. 14:15)

We need to develop a personal relationship with Him, arising from our dynamic and life-
giving relationship with Him as His sons and daughters. We should also spend regular
time with God in prayer and Scripture reading.

b. Loving God with all our mind and soul

We love God with all our mind and soul by keeping our mind clean and holy, free from
evil and impure thoughts (Mt. 5:28), from uncharitable thoughts (Mt. 7:1-5), from
suspicions that estrange relationships, and from worries knowing that God will take care
of us. We should be very discerning in the use of media that can influence our minds.

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What we read, watch and listen to, we hope, can help us become better Christian
spouses, parents, co-workers and servants.

Word and not by the ways of the

world.

We can love God with all our soul by being at the disposal of God for His purpose and by
thinking of ways to serve God. A model for this is St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor of the
Church. He devoted his life reflecting, studying and writing about God, which led him to
greatest works, the Summa Theologica.

c. Loving God with all our strength

Loving God with all our strength means giving God all our resources: time, talent, and
treasure, his.

how we can spend it generously for his purposes like doing Christian service, visit the
sick, serve the parish, feed the hungry and many more.

In the Parable of the Talents, Jesus teaches us that if we do not use our God-given talent
for the kingdom of God, then whatever talent we have will be taken away and given to
those who use them rightfully. (Mt. 25:28-30) God asks for our treasure, wealth and
possessions not because he needs them, but to look into the disposition of our hearts.
God asks us to return to him what is his so that he might pour out even more blessings
upon us. He asks us to give to our tithes and alms. (Mt. 6:21, Mal. 3:10)

II. LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES

Our perfect models for loving God are Jesus and Mary. This love is made possible by the power
of the Holy Spirit. May we follow their example and be empowered by the Holy Spirit to love as
God loves.

a.
us to love others not only as we love ourselves but as he loves us: I give you a new
commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one
another. (Jn. 13:34) Love as Jesus loves.

b. The full depth of the meaning

the Parable of the Good Samaritan. The story begins with a lawyer among the crowd
wanting to test Jesus by asking: Jesus

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The lawyer answered by

quoting Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 18:18, respectively,
and,
revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen. You shall love your

The lawyer goes on, So, Jesus related the parable to them. Jesus
took pains describing in great detail the Samaritan help the victim
, , , ,
,

c.
perspective is not to a a
When we love our neighbor just as Jesus loves, we become a gift to others!

CONCLUSION

Loving God and loving neighbor have been likened to the vertical and the horizontal parts of the
cross. One directs us upward to God, while the other directs us horizontally toward our
fellowmen.

Loving God is not an easy task. In fact, it is impossible w

freely and generously if we sincerely ask for it.

Jesus said that we should love one another as he loves us. He loves us regardless of who we
are. He does not care if we are rich or poor, educated or not, Samaritan or Jew. He died for all

GUIDE QUESTIONS:

1. Do you understand the Biblical meaning of love in contrast with that of the worldly
meaning?
2. How have you failed to love in everyday life?

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HISTORICAL NOTE:

The Jews and the Samaritans hated and despised each other for many generations. It all started
after the death of Solomon in 922 BC. Israel was divided into two, the kingdom of Israel in the
north and the kingdom of Judea in the south. In 721 BC the Assyrians occupied the northern
kingdom. Then in 857 BC, the Babylonians conquered the southern kingdom of Judea. But in
529 BC, the Persian emperor Cyrus defeated the Babylonians and allowed the exiled Jews to
return to Judea.

In the meantime, the northern kingdom remained under Assyrian occupation. The Assyrians,
who were pagans, intermarried with the native population, including the Samaritans. And these
intermarriages went on for many generations. Thus in the eyes of the Jews who had returned

religious traditions, the Samaritans were half-breeds and half-pagans. As a result, the
Samaritans were prevented from worshiping in the Temple of Jerusalem. The Samaritans,
therefore, built their own temple on Mt. Gerisim. Then around 6-9 AD, a group of Samaritans
defiled the Temple court in Jerusalem by strewing it with human bones. This action led to
further division and even more bitter hostility between the Jews and the Samaritans. This
hostility and hatred between Jews and Samaritans were so intense that we read in the book of
Sirach 50:25-26: My whole being loathes two nations, the third is not even a people. Those
who live in Seir and Philistia, and the degenerate folk who dwell in Shechem. Mt. Seir is in the
territory of the Edomites. The Edomites and the Philistines were enemies of the Jews. Shechem
is a city in Samaria. As stated in the book of Sirach, the Jews did not even want to call the

Shechem). The Jews hated the Samaritans more intensely than the Edomites and the
Philistines, whom they had fought with regularly in their long history.

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