UNIVERSITY OF SAINT LOUIS

Tuguegarao City

SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, ARTS and SCIENCES

Department of Philosophy and Religious Instructions
First Semester
A.Y. 2021-2022

CORRESPONDENCE LEARNING MODULE

CFED 1033- Catholic Foundation of Mission

Prepared by:

MAE IRENE BAUTISTA

NICHOLE MAE LOZADA
RAY OBISPO
SEVERO WASHINGTON

Reviewed by:

WILSON J, TEMPORAL, MARE

DPRI Department Head

Recommended by:

HERBERT CORPUZ, Ed. D.

Academic Dean

Approved by:

EMMANUEL JAMES PATTAGUAN, Ph.D.

Vice President for Academics
 This Week’s Time Table: (October 3, 2022 – October 8, 2022)

For this week, the following shall be your guide for the different lessons and tasks that you need
to accomplish. Oops! Be patient, read them carefully before proceeding to the tasks expected of
you.

HAVE A FRUITFUL LEARNING EXPERIENCE 😊

Date Topics Activities or Tasks

October 3-4 Scriptural Images of the Church Read and Internalize Lessons

October 5-7 The Four Marks/ “Name”/ “Titles of the Church Read and Internalize Lessons

School of Education, Arts and Sciences

Department of Philosophy and Religious Instructions
Curriculum 2021-2022

CORRESPONDENCE LEARNING MODULE

Christian Faith Education 1033 (Catholic Foundation of Mission)

Lesson 9: Scriptural Images of the Church and the Four Marks/“Titles”, Name of the
Church

Topics: 1. Scriptural Images of the Church

The Four Marks/ “Name”/ “Titles of the Church

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this module, you are expected to:

1. Elaborate the Scriptural Images of the Church; and

2.Explain the Deeper Implication of the Four Marks of the Church

LEARNING CONTENT

Introduction:

For this Midterm, our modules will focus on the nature and mission of the Catholic Church.
For this week, we will expound the two topics which are: the Scriptural/Biblical Images of the
Church and her Four Marks. Expounding on these topics will help us ground our knowledge and
convictions about her nature and mission. For a logical presentation of the topics, we will first
discuss the scriptural images of the Church before her four tenets.

Lesson Proper:

A. Scriptural/Biblical Images of the Church:

1. People of God

As we have stressed in our past discussions, the mission of God for the salvation of all
people started by electing His people, the Israelites. It was clear that God’s plan of salvation
was for all and not only for the Israelites when He said to Abraham “.All the families of the earth
shall find blessing in you” (Genesis 12:2-3). We also discussed in the past that due to the failure
of the Israelites to carry out this mission, God had to send His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to
continue His mission. For the continuity of the mission, Jesus had to renew the people of God
by calling His twelve disciples which became the ground of the Church. The Church as a
continuity of the people of God (Israelites) in the Old Testament was stressed by Peter when he
said to the members of the early Church, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a
holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called
you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9). The Israelites became people of God
through God’s covenant with their ancestor Abraham which was continuously renewed by the
prophets. This covenant was renewed by Jesus which paved the way for the renewal of God’s
people. Thus, as members of the Church, the people of God, we are challenge to continue
working for the salvation of all creation, especially from the cruelty of people who think that they
are the intelligent ones but their systems have contributed so much to the sufferings and
oppressions of many people and their inventions has contributed so much to the destruction of
our mother earth and consequently the destruction of all people especially the vulnerable ones.

2. Temple of the Holy Spirit

In the Old Testament, the Temple was a holy place. It is where the Israelites offer their
sacrificial lambs/offerings. They also believed that it is holy because God is dwelling there since
they put the ark of the covenant (container of the 10 Commandments) inside the holy of holies
in the temple. Because of the unfaithfulness of the Israelites, God allowed the destruction of the
temple (destroyed by the Babylonians around 586 B.C. and the second/reconstructed temple
was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D.) This was so since what is the use of the temple if the
people continue their sinful and ungodly lives or live by being hypocrites?
God allowed the destruction of the temple to show that the people are the ones whom He
or the Holy Spirit will dwell into or inspire to live a moral or godly lives for their well being as well
as for them to enter the Kingdom in the end. This was proven when the Holy Spirit came down
on the disciples during the feast of the Israelites called Pentecost. With His presence, the Holy
Spirit moved/inspired the disciples (early Church) to go and do their mission. (Acts 2:1-10) This
was also stressed by St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians and the Corinthians when he said,
“Through him the whole structure is held together and grows into a temple sacred in the Lord; in
him you also are being built together “ (Ephesians 2: 21), “For we are the temple of the living
God; as God said, “I will live in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people.” (2 Cor 6:16). So, God or the Holy Spirit dwells primarily in us and not so
much in buildings. (1 cor. 6:19)

3. Body of Christ

Father: ---------------------- Mission: ------------Salvation (O.T.)

Prophets
Priests
Kings

God Jesus ------------------- Mission: ------------Salvation / Kingdom (N.T. Gospels)

(Son)

Church ------Mission: -------------Salvation / Kingdom. (N.T. Acts of the Apostles

( Holy
Spirit) and the Letters/Epistles)
Apostles/Disciples

This illustration that we always put at the beginning of our CFED modules summarizes a
lot of things about our past discussions about the origin and the nature and mission of the
Church. It shows God doing His mission of salvation for all, then He sent Jesus, then Jesus sent
the Church but still being assisted by God in the person of the Holy Spirit. So, God in the form of
the Holy Trinity (Father, Son – Jesus, and the Holy Spirit) is doing the mission. Clearly, it also
shows the nature of the Church being the body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit. In
the illustration, it is clear that Jesus is the head and the Church is His body. The Church as the
body of Christ was stressed by Jesus Himself when He said to Saul, “Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting me?” This was in the midst of Saul persecuting the members of the early Church.
Later, Paul in His letter to the Ephesians and the Colossians will emphasized the Church as the
body of Christ when he said, “And he put all things beneath his feet and gave him as head over
all things to the church, which is his body (Ephesians 1:22-23), “Now I rejoice in my sufferings
for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking[a] in the afflictions of Christ on behalf
of his body, which is the church, (Col. 1:24). So, being the body of Christ, The Church is the one
who will act or do the mission, but of course with the presence of God through the Holy Spirit.
Since we are members of this Church, we are all commissioned to partake in this beautiful
mission.

Other Images of the Church: Mother, Bride of Christ “Husbands, love your wives just as Christ
loved the church and gave his life for it.” (Ephesians 5:25)

B. OFFICIAL TITLE OF THE CHURCH: ONE, HOLY, CATHOLIC AND APOSTOLIC

 Since the first “titles” of the Church (Followers of the Way (Acts 9:2, Christians (Acts 11:26)
are too limited to describe the nature and mission of the Church, members of the Church would
come out with the four official titles of the Church (One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic) which
would fit her life or nature.

"This is the sole Church of Christ, which in the Creed we profess to

be One, Holy, Catholic and
Apostolic." These four characteristics,
inseparably linked with each other, indicate
essential features of the Church and her
mission. The Church does not possess them
of herself; it is Christ who, through the Holy
Spirit, makes his Church one, holy, catholic
and apostolic, and it is He who calls her to
realize each of these qualities.

1. THE CHURCH IS ONE

"The sacred mystery of the Church's unity" (UR 2)

1. The Church is one because of her source: "the highest
exemplar and source of this mystery is the unity in the Trinity of
Persons, of one God, the Father and the Son in the Holy Spirit."
2. The Church is one because of her founder: for "the Word
made flesh, the prince of peace, reconciled all men to God by the cross, restoring the unity of
all-in-one people and one body."
3. The Church is one because of her "soul": "It is the Holy Spirit, dwelling in those who
believe and pervading and ruling over the entire Church, who brings about that wonderful
communion of the faithful and joins them together so intimately in Christ that he is the principle
of the Church's unity. Unity is of the essence of the Church:

In the beginning, God never intended His people to be divided but to stay united and to love
and care for one another. Jesus even prayed for this unity of the Church when He said, “I pray
not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that
they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us,
that the world may believe that you sent me.” (John 17:21-22). It is clear here that Jesus prayed
for the unity of His true followers and at the end we will be united with Him or with God our
source or origin. This clearly shows that those who are separating from the Church with their
own ungrounded arguments are never willed or intended by Jesus, the only founder of the true
Church.

2. THE CHURCH IS HOLY

 "The Church is held to be unfailingly holy because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father
and the Spirit is hailed as 'alone holy,' loved the Church as his Bride, giving himself up for her so
as to sanctify her; he joined her to himself as his body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy
Spirit for the glory of God." (Ephesians 5:25-27). The Church, then, is "the holy People of
God,". United with Christ, the Church is sanctified by him; through him and with him she
becomes sanctifying. "All the activities of the Church are directed, as toward their end, to the
sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God. It is in the Church that "the fullness of
the means of salvation" has been deposited. (These are God’s Word and the Sacraments) It is
in her that "by the grace of God we acquire holiness."

Being the people of God, the body of Christ, and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, we the
Church are all highly encouraged to live a holy life just like our founder Jesus. This was
reiterated by Paul when he said to the Ephesians, “He chose us in him, before the foundation of
the world, to be holy and without blemish before Him, (Eph.1:4). Peter also said the same to the
members of the early Church when he said, “you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people of his own, so that you may announce the praises” of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9). God separated us from the rest to be holy to
proclaim His praises and spread salvation to all.

3. THE CHURCH IS CATHOLIC

The word "Catholic" means "universal,”, inclusive, for all.

The Church is catholic in a double sense:

“First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. Where there is Christ Jesus,
there is the Catholic Church. In her subsists the fullness of Christ's body united with its head;
this implies that she receives from him "the fullness of the means of salvation.

Secondly, the Church is catholic because she has been sent out by Christ on a mission to
the whole of the human race: All men are called to belong to the new People of God.

Catholic deeply refers to the internal capacity of the Church to reconcile all people with
God. God’s offer of salvation is universal or for all as clearly implied in Jesus’ words, “Go,
therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And
behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Mt. 28:19-20) Before this event Jesus
also told His disciples, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Paul also reiterated this in his letter to Titus when he
said, "For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people." (Titus 2:11). These
would follow up God’s words to Abraham’s calling “All the families of the earth shall find blessing
in you” (Genesis 12:2-3). These all clearly shows that God’s offer of salvation is for all. For
those groups who are claiming to be the only ones who will be saved, it is obvious that
their theology or principle is contrary to the very plan of God for all people.
4. THE CHURCH IS APOSTOLIC

The Church is apostolic because she is founded on the apostles, in three ways:

She was and remains built on "the foundation of the Apostles," the witnesses
chosen and sent on mission by Christ himself,

With the help of the Spirit dwelling in her, the Church keeps and hands on the teaching,
the "good deposit," the salutary words she has heard from the apostles;

She continues to be taught, sanctified and guided by the apostles until Christ's return,
through their successors in pastoral office: the college of bishops, "assisted by priests,
in union with the successor of Peter, the Church's supreme pastor"

Jesus being the founder of the Church grounded the Church on the foundation of the
Apostles. This was clearly confirmed by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians when he said,” you
are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. (Ephesians
2:19-20) So, we the members of the Church are followers of Jesus through the apostles who
were the first disciples of Jesus.

Learning Task: As Louisian Students, being members of the Body of Christ, give some
specific ways (at least two) on how you can contribute to the Mission of the Church with
a very brief explanation. (10 points)

REFERENCES

Books:

Bible

Dumpayan, R. et al (2013). Growing as A Missionary Church.CICM Publishing House.

Online:

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.artnet.com%2FWebServices%2Fimages
%2Fll00192lld2e6FFgneECfDrCWvaHBOckeK%2Flambert-lombard

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fgoodnewsshared.files.wordpress.com
%2F2017%2F04%2Fascensc3a3o-de-jesus-cristo-

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fdailyverses.net%2Fimages%2Fen%2Fniv
%2Fxl%2Fmatthew-28-19-20.jpg&imgrefurl

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+20&version=NABRE

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+1&version=NRSV

https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=AOaemvI-zdVgTtpHMtXjhEXqfLlnnCr5cg:1630120224467&q

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+the+meaning+of+ecclesia+%28latin%29&biw=1362&bih

https://justmehomely.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/chapter-23-the-catholic-church-nature-and-mission