|
Truths of the Catholic
Church series
Adult Faith
Formation
extracted from various
writings of John Paul II
Adult Faith Formation is intrinsically linked with the whole of liturgical and
sacramental activity, for it is in the sacraments,
especially in the Eucharist, that Christ Jesus works in
fullness for the transformation of human beings. The
role of formation is precisely to educate people in the
faith in such a way as to lead each individual Christian
to live the sacraments as true sacraments of faith.
When we come together for
our time in our Adult Faith Formation sessions, we meet
at the parish. The parish is not principally a
structure, a territory or a building, but rather
‘the family of
God’ and the home of fellowship.
As such, formation is
never received alone, but with a lively sense of
fellowship, together rejoicing in an equal dignity and
common commitment to bring to fruition the immense
treasure that each of us has inherited and in gaining
strength and courage, from the Holy Spirit, as well as
from each other. The good of each one and the good of
the other becomes the good of all.
People are approached by God who calls everyone to grow. Formation aims
at developing an understanding of the mystery of Christ
in the light of the Gospel, so that the whole of a
person's humanity is impregnated by that word.
Changed
by the working of grace, the Christian sets himself to
follow Christ and learns more and more within the Church
to think like Him, to judge like Him, to act in
conformity with His commandments, and to hope as He
invites us to.
Our
Formation gives
new meaning to our natural life.
Our supernatural life, is not the negation of our
natural life, but is the purification and elevation of
our natural life.
In discovering and living
their proper vocation and mission, the lay faithful are
formed according to the union which exists from their
being members of the Church and citizens of
human society. There cannot be two parallel lives in
their existence. Formation would not be complete if it
did not take into account the unceasing interplay of the
Gospel and of man’s concrete life, both personal and
social.
While the Truth which is
Christ is never changing, the social doctrine of the
Church is dynamic, that is, adapted to
circumstances of time and place. This is why formation
involves an explicit message, adapted to the different
situations constantly being realized, about the rights
and duties of every human being, about family life
without which personal growth and development is hardly
possible, about life in society, about international
life, peace, justice and development.
|
