Recovering Catechesis: grappling with the Faith.

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CREDO IN UNUM DEUM

Catholics have need of orthodox theological objects to which they can conform their minds in order to best dispose themselves to God's grace, the grace which God gives to enlighten the mind and to purify the heart so that one may become more open to receive God on His terms.

An effective and whole-person catechesis provides the necessary scaffolding by which people can grapple with the realities presented. The Baltimore Catechism makes use of a basic and effective technique to allow people to configure themselves to the Truth. Disciples memorize and thus internalize the data of the Catholic Faith: a question is asked; the correct answer is provided.

In order to learn the Truth, one must be offered the Truth. Clarity of content and presentation is essential to the learning process, the apprehension of reality, and to the refinement of purpose. The answers (listed in the Baltimore Catechism) provoke people to invest their minds. They are a starting point; the beginning of discipline. Both questions and answers constitute a treadmill upon which the mind exercises its capacity for truth. Both the questions and answers function like a compass pointing the seeker to God.

For those who refuse the obligation to utilize their God-given capacity for Truth and who continue to bind themselves to ignorance, even after encountering Truth, God is gracious and continues to offer opportunities to encounter Him. God may use a crisis to distract someone from enjoying the trap of ignorance and/or sin. It's not that God is cruel and enjoys our suffering. He waits for us and with us during those moments in which we become trapped, those defeating circumstances of our own making. God is merciful, full of compassion. He lingers so very near us, always ready to welcome us with the feast of His forgiveness, just as He celebrated the return of the Prodigal Son in the well known parable (St. Luke 15:11-32).


The Baltimore Catechism

LESSON FIRST: ON THE END OF MAN

1.
Q. Who made the world?
A. God made the world.

2.
Q. Who is God?
A. God is the Creator of heaven and earth, and of all things.

3.
Q. What is man?
A. Man is a creature composed of body and soul, and made to the image and likeness of God.

6.
Q. Why did God make you?
A. God made me to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world, and to be happy with Him for ever in heaven.

9.
Q. What must we do to save our souls?
A. To save our souls, we must worship God by faith, hope, and charity; that is, we must believe in Him, hope in Him, and love Him with all our heart.

10.
Q. How shall we know the things which we are to believe?
A. We shall know the things which we are to believe from the Catholic Church, through which God speaks to us.

11.
Q. Where shall we find the chief truths which the Church teaches?
A. We shall find the chief truths which the Church teaches in the Apostles' Creed. 

12.
Say the Apostles' Creed.
I BELIEVE in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth: and in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell; the third day he rose again from the dead; he ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty; from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit; the holy Catholic Church; the Communion of Saints; the Forgiveness of sins; the Resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

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