Making a

commitment
to Christ

Lesson 3
 Introduction
On the Christmas Eve, 1224,
St. Francis of Assisi gave his
friends at Greccio, a great
surprise. When villagers
arrived for midnight Mass,
outside they found the first
crèche (the belen or Nativity
scene).

St. Francis, the deacon,

chanted the gospel:
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 Introduction
“For today in the city of David a
Saviour has been born for you
who is Messiah and Lord. And
this will be a sign of you: you
will find an infant wrapped in
swaddling clothe and lying in a
manger”. (Lk 2:11-12)
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 Over the centuries the
crèche has become a
favoured centrepiece of
the Christmas celebration.
At Christmas time people
everywhere encounter the
crèche and cannot ignore
its plain, unambiguous
announcement:

• God himself come to us

as a helpless infant!
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Incarnation – the
Word becoming
flesh, is the core
truth of the
Catholic faith.

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God become man is the central
Christian mystery.

In other religions the believer must

pursue the divine; the believer is the
seeker and perhaps never the finder.

But for us: God is the Finder, and we

are the founded.
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Before God created time, matter, and space, we
were already twinkles in his eyes.

• He yearned to have us his own daughters and

sons.

• Ultimately, the Father accomplished his

marvellous plan by sending his Son to earth to
round us up and to arrange for our adoption into
the divine family.

• He really begets us as sons and daughters by

sending us the Holy Spirit.
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Baptism is the means God uses to
birth us into his family.
We Catholics we were baptized as
babies. Our parents and
godparents acted on our behalf by
renewing their own commitment to
live as faithful followers of Jesus
Christ and promising to raise us in
faith of the Church.
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They asked that we receive Baptism,
which we were freed from the power
of sin and welcomed into the
community of the Church.
They put faith in Christ for us so that
we could receive the Holy Spirit and be
incorporated into the Church.
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‘One baptized in
infancy still has to take
personal stand for or
against Christ when he
comes of age.’

- Fr. Edward O’Connor

(Theologian)

As adults, we must choose time and

again to remain faithful to all that
Baptism calls us to do and be.
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As adults, we must
choose time and again
to remain faithful to all
that Baptism calls us to
do and be.

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Presentation Title 12
Thus, the Incarnation is no
mere theological concept.

It is a personal reality! The

most important thing in our
lives!
The truth is this:

“God is coming for us,

hunting us down even if we
try to run and hide from Him,
covering our tracks as we
go.”
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9/3/20XX 14

MIND BOGGLING,
Presentation Title

ISN’T IT?
 Yet you have made
him a little lower than
the heavenly beings
and crowned him with
glory and honor.

Psalms 8:5

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 4 what are humans that you are mindful
of them, mortals that you care for
them?
5 Yet you have made them a little lower

than God and crowned them with glory

and honor.
6 You have given them dominion over

the works of your hands; you have put

all things under their feet,
7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts

of the field,
8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the

sea, whatever passes along the paths of

the seas.
9 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is

your name in all the earth!

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Psalms 8:4-9 17
T H E C R E AT O R O F T H E
U N I V E R S E WA N T S A N
I N T I M AT E , P E R S O N A L
R E L AT I O N S H I P W I T H Y O U A N D
ME.

He has already sent his Son

as a human being to chase
us down and brig us to him.
 But God does not force his
way into our conscious lives.

He wants us to respond his overtures…

He wants us to choose freely to live as his sons and daughters…

So, what’s involved in making an
adult faith commitment?

What must we do to receive the

personal familial relationship God
extends to us?
COMMON
ELEMENTS IN
PROCESS OF
COMMITMENT
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Faith
A common initial response to the
Lord’s patient advances is declaring
our faith.

We must profess our faith in Christ

and in the Church he founded.

We must declare in word and deed

– to the Lord, to ourselves, and to
others – that we believe in Jesus, in
everything he said about himself,
and in everything he did. 22
Conversion

Presentation Title
It means a “turning.”

For Christians it’s a dual turning –

turning our backs on
wrongdoings and turning our
face to the Lord.

‘Repent, then, and turn to God,

so that your sins may be wiped
out, that times of refreshing may
come from the Lord’
- Acts 3:19
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Sometimes we give ourselves
to God and learn that
obedience to the Lord means
recognizing a certain behaviour
as sin and stopping it. Or we
may break with an evil pattern
before we give ourselves
entirely to God.
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 Discipleship
Faith and conversion are
foundations for discipleship.

The word disciple comes from

a root that means “learner”.

Becoming a disciple of Jesus

means placing our lives under
his direction so that we can
learn his ways and serve him.
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As disciple we received
Christ’s teaching and apply it
so that we become more
like him every day. And we
work with him to bring the
Good News of salvation to
family, friends and
neighbours.
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Discipleship, like faith
and conversion, involves
freely making a choice.

‘if anyone wishes to

come after me,’
Jesus said, ‘he must
deny himself and
take up his cross
daily and follow
me.’ (Lk 9:23)

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As disciples we
received Christ
invitation to all who
believe in him. And
he wants us to say,

“Yes, Lord, I want to

bring the Good News
of salvation to family,
friends, and
neighbours.”

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Faith, conversion, and
discipleship are not
only decisions.

They are
continuing
activities…

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Occasionally, we must renew our
faith – in the midst of a family
crisis, disaster, for example or
during a time when God seems
more distant from us than the
start. Or we must continue our
conversion by turning back to God
after falling into some sin.
Discipleship is the lifelong process
of patterning our lives on Christ
and doing whatever he tells us.

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 Jesus became one of us
to show us how to live
as Christians. His
splendid example is
another practical
consequence of
Incarnation.

When He invited us to
link up with Him and go
His way, He assured us
that with his grace we
could do it.
Summary 31
Mt 11:29-30

“ TA K E M Y Y O K E U P O N
YOU AND LEARN FROM
ME, FOR I AM MEEK
A N D H U M B L E O F H E A R T;
AND YOU WILL FIND
R E S T F O R Y O U R S E LV E S .
F O R M Y Y O K E I S E A S Y,
AND MY BURDEN IS
L I G H T.” 32