Crysvenne P.

Bislig

Theology 1 A: Introduction to Christian Theology

Catholic Inclusivity: Breaking the barriers of Faith

Learning Catholic perspective helped me understand the belief system of the catholic faith
which encompasses the boundaries of being a Christian. The most significant topics I had in
each of the four modules in the subject is the topic involving the revelation of God. It gives
me a better perspective as to how God is being revealed through creation and how the
heavens declare the glory of God and his works (Ps. 19:1). We sometimes forget God’s
glorious acts because of negativity of this world and this part of the topic helped me a lot in
appreciating His glory even more all through the ages. The natural signs of the Creator have
become clouded by pollution, exploitation, injustice, oppression, and suffering but by
scripture, through salvation, God revealed Himself to us to enter a special covenant
relationship with Him as His chosen people. As what the scripture says, “I will dwell in the
midst of the Israelites and will be their God” (Ex. 29:45). Religious experiences also amplify
our faith in God though this kind of revelation by which only we can comprehend. As much
as our belief is fathomable, we know that God’s glory is the greatest that His existence is
beyond our own understanding and must understand that God exist no matter what our
experiences are. Understanding the gospels also give us insights to the life, works and
ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. To understand Jesus even more through the eyes of those
who have witnessed Him personally and how these people understand the Jesus Christ is
the Messiah. I also learned about how those scriptures according to the gospels tells us the
miraculous works of our Lord when He revealed Himself unto us to save us from our sins.
The lessons from each gospel may differ from one another but it points out to a single
proclamation, that the messiah we are waiting for has come. Learning also from each
perspective of the gospel tells us the story of a savior who humbly came from the beginning
as the word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God himself (John 1:1).

I developed a sense of openness as to how the catholic faith emphasize the importance of
the church as the fist great living works of the Holy Spirit. Ecclesia which means the people
of God called together, shows us another perspective of what the church really is, how we
should learn to worship the Lord as a community of faith and to understand that we as the
body of Christ, should be united in giving praises to God for His glory. To be able to serve the
people of God also means to serve the Lord with gladness. The Christian faith are the
mysteries or divine truths proposed to our belief and is a reality imbued with the hidden
presence of God. That the church is also related to the Blessed Trinity. I have now a deeper
understanding of the triune God that we serve, that first is related to the eternal Father who
resolved to assemble all those who believed in Christ, that in second, we believe that it is to
the Incarnate Son, Jesus Christ who is God “became flesh” to save us from our sin, we
gather in the church to remember and understand the meaning of his sacrifice to the cross
through the holy eucharist, and to the third that is related to the holy Spirit who dwells in
the Church and in the hearts of the faithful as its temple of the Lord. The church is mystery
because its origin in the Father’s plan of salvation, to the ongoing life in the Risen Christ and
the Spirit, and to its ultimate goal in the fully achieved Kingdom of our Lord.

The challenges that confront me as I am baptized who professed that I believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ is that when we live out a Christ-likeness lifestyle, we tend to sway ourselves
away from what the bible has taught us and what the sacraments are being celebrated loses
its meaning unto me. It is hard to follow a Christ-like life but because of the assurance of
God’s eternal mercy, I am inspired to once again start anew in Christ and to live up to God’s
faithfulness unto His creation. I still go back to the promises of God that if we believe in Him,
we shall not perish but have eternal life in His presence. The celebration of the sacraments
are the reminders of how we should remember Jesus’ legacy unto His people. All of these
lessons we had in this subject taught us to renew our faith in Jesus. It is important to
understand that when God came into this world, He did it not to be served but to serve and
save us all from our sin by sacrificing himself as the unblemished lamb who was slain and to
fulfill the prophecy which our prophets told us from the very beginning.

My personal take for each lesson is that I am reminded that the catholic faith is not limited
only to the celebrations and traditions of the church but also to the deepest meaning of why
Catholics celebrate it in the first place. One thing that I should note also that although I am
not a catholic, I must be tolerable with all of their traditions of the church for it is a symbolic
representation as to what Christian faith is all about in their own perspective. Nevertheless,
I am very happy to learn also the knowledge of the worship the catholic emphasizes on each
of the sacraments. Like how their holy eucharist is no different from us, when we consecrate
the bread and the wine, we remember that Jesus died for our sins and to forgive us from all
our sins. That baptism marks us that we are believers of Christ, and we belong to the
household of God and His kingdom.

In conclusion, the introduction to Christian theology taught us many things which may not
be know even to most of the members of the catholic faith. A subject worth taking to open
up to the perspective of the religious people.