Material for Jesus’ Hidden Life Activity

Hello Gents,

For now, I’m uploading the lesson’s resources here in my page. Kindly refer to the CCC document below.

CCC on the HIDDEN LIFE of JESUS (531-534)

 

The mysteries of Jesus’ hidden life

531 During the greater part of his life Jesus shared the condition of the vast majority of human beings: a daily life spent without evident greatness, a life of manual labor. His religious life was that of a Jew obedient to the law of God,²²¹ a life in the community. From this whole period it is revealed to us that Jesus was “obedient” to his parents and that he “increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man.”²²²

 

532 Jesus’ obedience to his mother and legal father fulfills the fourth commandment perfectly and was the temporal image of his filial obedience to his Father in heaven. The everyday obedience of Jesus to Joseph and Mary both announced and anticipated the obedience of Holy Thursday: “Not my will. . .”²²³ The obedience of Christ in the daily routine of his hidden life was already inaugurating his work of restoring what the disobedience of Adam had destroyed.²²⁴

 

533 The hidden life at Nazareth allows everyone to enter into fellowship with Jesus by the most ordinary events of daily life:

The home of Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand the life of Jesus – the school of the Gospel. First, then, a lesson of silence. May esteem for silence, that admirable and indispensable condition of mind, revive in us. . . A lesson on family life. May Nazareth teach us what family life is, its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty, and its sacred and inviolable character. . . A lesson of work. Nazareth, home of the “Carpenter’s Son”, in you I would choose to understand and proclaim the severe and redeeming law of human work. . . To conclude, I want to greet all the workers of the world, holding up to them their great pattern their brother who is God.²²⁵

 

534 The finding of Jesus in the temple is the only event that breaks the silence of the Gospels about the hidden years of Jesus.²²⁶ Here Jesus lets us catch a glimpse of the mystery of his total consecration to a mission that flows from his divine sonship: “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s work?”²²⁷ Mary and Joseph did not understand these words, but they accepted them in faith. Mary “kept all these things in her heart” during the years Jesus remained hidden in the silence of an ordinary life.

Supplementary Reading: Isaiah-Gospel Connections

Good day Gents,

For those of you who would like to enrich their knowledge, you may refer to this website for a brief explanation of Jesus fulfilling the Messianic prophecies of the people in the old testament.

I hope to post more supplementary readings for your benefit. I want you gents to succeed and, for now, I feel that you need an extra push to get you started. However, don’t expect that I’ll be doing this regularly. If you feel that the materials I upload are few and wanting, you are free to look for other sources. I’ll be more than happy if you plan to share them to me and the rest of your classmates as well.

Have a pleasant day, Gents!

Regards,

Mr. Mercado

HOMEWORK: REGISTRATION TO SOCRATIVE

Good day Gents,

In order to maximize your ipads, starting next week (July 2, 2012) I we will be conducting our check-up quizzes on SOCRATIVE. This is a web-based assessment medium which will give us real-time updates of your answers. This is also a good opportunity for me to give you immediate feedback and corrections in terms of your answers.

Lastly, this is a fun application which is intuitive and concise. Hopefully all of you will cooperate and register into the app. You will need to download the app so that you need not access it through a web browser.

I want us all to succeed. But just like any REAL relationship: it takes two to tango.

Have a pleasant day!

Supplementary Readings: Old Testament Characters and Jesus

Good day Gents,

I have below some supplementary information in order to add color to your knowledge about the relationship between Jesus and the Old Testament Characters.

This reading was lifted from this website: http://icucourses.com/pages/037-01-christ-prefigured-in-the-old-testament.

Lesson 1: Christ Prefigured in the Old Testament

There are many levels of Christ’s prefigurement in the Old Testament. It is not simply a matter of specific prophetic texts, although these are important. Rather, the entire historical narrative of the Old Testament depicts the Messiah who is to bring about the restoration of Israel. (Note that the term “messiah” is the Hebrew word for the “anointed one”, rendered as “Christ” in Greek.) In this lesson, we will examine central types of Christ. The language of “types” here refers to the typological meaning of the Bible. Types are persons, events, or things from the narrative of Scripture that point to Christ.

The Kingdom of God

At the heart of the Old Testament narrative is God’s sustained plan to bring about his holy kingdom. As all kingdoms require land and people, so God’s holy kingdom requires a holy land and a holy people. What does this mean? Holy people describes a people without stain or impurity, full of righteousness and justice (the Greek work dikaiosune can be translated as both), who can stand before God without shame. Holy land refers to the place made holy because God himself dwells there. Thus, as we will see later, the concept of holy land is not merely geographical. This can be seen in the first chapters of Genesis in which Adam and Eve were originally holy people in a holy land, a land in which God himself dwelt. As a result of the fall, the human race lost both its own righteousness (holy people) and the indwelling of God (holy land). Through the succeeding covenants with Abraham, Moses, and David, God begins the process of restoring the holiness that was lost through sin. It is only in Christ, however, that the kingdom of God is fully proclaimed and initially realized, and its final realization awaits the second coming of Christ.

Types of Christ

Isaac and the Lamb of God

The Old Testament has countless types of Christ. This lesson only highlights a few that depict this central theme of holy people, holy land.

In Genesis 22, there is the famous story of Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac. Isaac is the faithful son who carries the wood for his own sacrifice to the top of Mount Moriah. Isaac asks his father, Abraham, “Behold, the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Gen 22:7). Abraham answers, “God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering” (22:8). God sends his angel to stop Abraham after seeing Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son (see 22:16) and thus the only possible realization of God’s promise of countless descendants to the already old Abraham. Abraham then offered the ram in place of his son, and also in place of the lamb. He named the place “The Lord will provide” or YHWH jireh, the latter half of which is the root jeru for what will later be called Jerusalem. God then pronounces a universal (in Greek, catholic) blessing upon Abraham, “by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed my voice” (Gen 22:18).

Abraham’s descendants continue to await the time when God will himself provide the lamb for sacrifice. The first time this appears to be fulfilled is at the defining event of Israel’s exodus from slavery in Egypt. Before embarking on the exodus, all the families of Israel must celebrate the Passover and sacrifice the Passover lamb. The blood of the lamb, spread on the doorposts, protects them as the angel of death slays the first-born of Egypt. Then Israel escapes from Egypt and celebrates the Passover annually as its highest feast. Israel was saved through the blood of a lamb, but Israel had to provide the lamb. God himself had not yet done so.

In the Second Book of Chronicles, we are told that “Solomon began to build the house of the Lord [the Temple] in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah” (2 Chr 3:1). The Temple and all its sacrifices were constructed on the very place where Abraham has said that God would provide the lamb for the sacrifice. The sacrifice of the lambs, especially the Passover lambs, sustained Israel in God’s covenant, yet these lambs were not yet provided by God himself. Israel awaited the time that God would send forth his lamb. Isaiah’s great prophecy of the Suffering Servant (Is 52-53) employs the image of the lamb being led to slaughter.

In the Gospel of John, John the Baptist summarizes the hopes of Israel and proclaims that God is now fulfilling them when he sees Jesus and announces, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29). God himself has finally provided the lamb that will take away all sins and bring about the universal blessing upon all nations, embracing Jews and Gentiles, as he had sworn to Abraham in Genesis 22.

Jacob’s Ladder

As Jacob fled from his brother Esau, he spent the night out in the open and slept with his head upon a stone. “He dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!” (Gen 28:12). Jacob’s vision tells of the meeting between heaven and earth. Through him, who is soon renamed Israel and thus personifies the people and vocation of Israel, heaven will dwell on earth and earth will dwell in heaven. When he awoke, he said, “Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it. . . . How awesome is this place! It is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” He renames the place Bethel, which means the “house of God”. Here we see the promise of the holy land begun to be fulfilled, a land in which God himself dwells. The Temple will later be called the house of God. The land in Palestine is called holy because God’s name dwells in the Temple (cf. Deut. 12).

In the beginning of the Gospel of John, Jesus encounters a faithful Israelite named Nathanael who recognizes Jesus as the Son of God, the King of Israel. Claiming the image of Jacob’s ladder for himself, Jesus replies, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man” (Jn 1:51). Jesus is now the new Bethel, the new house of God, the new Temple. He himself is the holy land, the indwelling of God.

God’s Presence through the King

God did not originally desire to have a human king in Israel and says that Israel’s demand for a human king like the other nations is a rejection of himself as King of Israel (see 1 Sam 8). Yet, in the wonder of God’s mercy and wisdom, he reclaimed the human king and made the king, his anointed one, a visible sign of his presence among men. God establishes a covenant with David, promising that the Son of David will build the Temple, “a house for my name,” and receive a perpetual throne. Moreover, the Son of David will enjoy a father-son relationship with God: “I will be his father, and he shall be my son” (2 Sam 7:13-16). Psalm 2, a coronation Psalm, declares the king to be God’s son, “You are my son, today I have begotten you” (2:7). As God’s son and his anointed, the king mediates God’s presence. The king stands with the Lord against those in rebellion against God’s rule. In Psalm 2:2, “the Lord and his anointed” stand together in contrast to the kings and rulers of the earth.

In addition to mediating God’s presence (holy land), the king is to establish righteousness and justice within his kingdom (holy people).

Psalm 23 depicts the Lord as the shepherd of Israel. The Davidic kings were also called shepherds of God’s people. King David is said to have been an actual sheepherder (like Moses) before becoming shepherd, or king, over the United Kingdom of Israel. The kings, however, often did not shepherd in accord with the true interests of the sheep. The prophet Ezekiel denounces the kings of Israel: “Thus says the Lord God: Ho, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not the shepherds feed the sheep?” (Ezek 34:2). This infidelity cuts at the heart of the covenant. The anointed kings were meant to be a sign of God’s presence among men, but instead they became obstacles and even enemies of God. Ezekiel continues, “Thus says the Lord God, Behold, I am against the shepherds” (Ezek 34:10). God then promises, “I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed” (Ezek 34:15-16).

It is in this context of the Old Testament that we must understand Jesus words, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11). Jesus simultaneously claims the role of the Old Testament kings and the role of the Lord who had promised one day to shepherd the people himself. The sinfulness of the Old Testament kings prevented them from acting in accord with God, rendering them unable to fulfill their role as the Lord’s anointed. The Word of God solves this problem by taking on a human nature. As the Word of God, the Son of God, he was intimately united with God the Father: “I and the Father are one” (Jn 10:30). As a human being, he could stand among human beings fulfilling the role of the lord’s anointed to mediate God’s presence. Only God could shepherd us well; yet we could only see a human shepherd. Jesus Christ in his divine and human natures fulfills both needs. As the Book of Revelation echoing Psalm 2:2 says, “there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of our world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ'” (Rev 11:15). Or as St. John and St. Paul put it: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14), and “In [Christ] the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily” (Col 2:9).

If the Incarnation of the Word accomplishes what was necessary, what happens after Jesus’ Ascension when his human nature is no longer visibly present on earth? Christ does not leave his Church alone, but sends her the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, to guide her. The Church, as the mystical body of Christ, acts as the ongoing incarnation of our lord Jesus Christ. This becomes more apparent when we return to the shepherd theme in the Gospel of John. Jesus does not stop after he claims to be the good shepherd. After his resurrection, Jesus established Simon Peter as the shepherd of his flock. Three times Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me more than these?” Three times Peter says, “Yes, Lord.” Three times, Jesus says to Peter, “Feed my sheep” (cf. Jn 21:15-17). Just as Jesus mediates the presence of the Father, so Peter, and the Petrine office as it develops, mediate the presence of Jesus.

Suggested Reading

Scott Hahn, A Father Who Keeps His Promises. Ann Arbor, MI: Servant Press, 1998.

SUBMISSION OF 1×1 PICTURE ON FRIDAY

Good day Gents,

In order for me to quickly associate your names with your faces, please give me a copy of your 1×1 pictures. Also, please FOLLOW the instructions below:

a.) Details should be written at the back of the picture*:

i.) Nick Name

ii.) Surname

iii.) Section

*Kindly refer to the image below for your guidance.

b.) Class officer/s will collect these of their respective classes.

c.) Class officer/s shall give the COMPLETE set on or before June 29, 2012 (Friday). Late submissions will call for a demerit in your EFFORT Marks.

P.S. Don’t take the effort mark for granted. In fact, in life, effort is one of the keys to success. I shall explain further in one of our upcoming lessons.

Good day, Gents! And I hope everything will be in order.

Opening Prayer Format for CLE High 2

Hello Gentlemen,

Below is the prescribed CLE Prayer format for your guidance:

1. Sign of the Cross
2. Gospel Reading of the Day or the Previous Sunday
   1. The prayer leader should write the Gospel passage on the board before the prayer begins. The rest of the class should already look for the assigned passages.
   2. The prayer leader should follow the proper way of reading the Gospels. The leader should begin with: “A Reading from the Gospel according to…” then everyone will say: “Glory to you, Lord.” (Making the proper gesture) Then, at the end of the Gospel the leader will say: “The Gospel of the Lord.” Everyone will respond: “Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ.”
   3. Refer to http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings or http://www.catholic.org/bible/daily_reading for the readings of the day.
3. Short Moment of Silence
4. Short Prayer-Reflection
   1. This is in the form of a personally-composed reflection and 1-3 reflection questions.
   2. A short reflection related to the passage is recommended. It is also recommended that the leader is able to connect the passage to the lesson at hand or to the general theme of H2, which is to encounter Jesus in our lives.
   3. Also, it would be nice that at the end of the prayer-reflection is a form of “begging for God’s grace”.

5. The Xaverian’s Prayer

1. Jesus, light of the world… Let our light shine!
2. Jesu, lux mundi… Luceat lux nostra!
3. Invocation to the Saints (St. Francis Xavier, St. Ignatius of Loyola & Class Saint/Patron)
4. Sign of the Cross

** The prayer leader should submit a copy of the prayer, with the sources properly labeled, to the teacher at the end of the class.

** Assignment of the prayer leaders will be done right away and will be coordinated with the Class Officers for proper monitoring. The officers should remind the prayer leader when they are assigned to lead the class to prayer.

I expect that as the school year progresses, you will need less prompting from me in executing this procedure.