Session Content
Session Content
Links to the Symbolon series are included for each class below.
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Note that the A Biblical Walk Through the Mass series is on DVD only. You will not need to preview those videos.
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DISCUSSION QUESTION #1 What is inconsistent with this line of reasoning: “There is a God, God is love, but we can’t know with confidence who God is and what his will is for us”?
DISCUSSION QUESTION #2 Why do you think the Church, from earliest times, chose to use the word revelation, or unveiling, to describe how God has communicated to us? (God, who is All Holy, unveils himself to us for one purpose: covenant love. He wants to enter into an eternal loving relationship with each one of us. So God allows us to see into the mystery of his inner life and communicates his will for our lives. In other words, he wants us to know him and his expectations for a loving relationship with him.)
DISCUSSION QUESTION #3 In the video, the presenter used the imagery of a three-legged stool to describe how Divine Revelation is handed on. What are the three “legs” of the stool? (The three legs of the stool in this analogy are Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church. If one or more of these legs is removed, God’s revelation will not be known and understood, and the entire stool will collapse.)
DISCUSSION QUESTION #1 Why is it true that “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ”? (The Bible is God’s revelation to mankind—it is a compilation of God’s interaction with mankind throughout history. God has been trying to teach us about himself throughout human history. If we don’t understand the Scriptures, we don’t understand the truths about God that he has been trying to teach us.)
DISCUSSION QUESTION #2 According to the video, what does it mean that Catholics don’t interpret the Bible in a literalistic way, but they do read the Bible literarily? What examples does the presenter give? (The Catholic approach to Scripture is different from the fundamentalist view, which reads Scripture in a literalistic way. To discern the truth God put in Scripture, we must interpret the Bible literarily, remembering that God speaks to us in a human way, through the human writers of Scripture. That means that we examine the context and intent of the author for any given passage. For example, when the author of the Song of Solomon stated, “You are beautiful; your eyes are doves,” he did not intend for the reader to think his beloved literally had doves in her eyes, but that her eyes were as captivating as doves (Song of Solomon 1:15). However, when the writer intended to convey historical truth, such as reporting that Jesus’s tomb was empty, indicating the reality of the Resurrection, we interpret those passages as literal fact. As the Catechism explains, to interpret the Bible correctly, one must consider the historical context, the culture, the literary genres, and the modes of expression and narratives common to the biblical writers’ time (CCC 109-110). When we interpret the Bible correctly, considering the human writer’s intention and what the Holy Spirit wishes to reveal through the human writer, we will come to know the truth God reveals in Scripture.)
DISCUSSION QUESTION #3 Let’s say a friend of yours, while speaking about a passage she was reading in the Bible, states, “It was like God was speaking directly to me—directly into a situation in my life—when I read the passage.” How is this possible? (The Bible is a compilation of testimonies and records of God speaking throughout history. God is without time; his words are not in the past, but rather they speak through time. Reading the stories of God’s revelation to mankind is a great way to allow God to use his words to speak into our lives.)
DISCUSSION QUESTION #1 Dr. Sri talks about the story of salvation and how this story plays a role in each of our lives. What does it mean that “our modern world has lost its story,” and why does that matter? (Secularization is the process in which religion loses social and cultural significance. It creates an environment where God is no longer welcome, whether in politics, education, or even the arts. We are living in an increasingly secularized world, and this is the reason the world has lost its story. It would appear that many people no longer take Christianity seriously and therefore Christianity no longer provides a meaningful narrative for their lives. This is tragic because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Only in Jesus do our lives make sense and have purpose. In Jesus we know where we have been—dead in our sin; where we are—loved and redeemed; and where we are going—everlasting glory.)
DISCUSSION QUESTION #2 Dr. Sri speaks of a timeline that demonstrates how salvation history is the growth of God’s family as he draws mankind back to himself. Here is the process by which God’s family grows:
One Couple - One Family - One Tribe - One Nation - One Kingdom - One Church
(Adam & Eve) - (Noah) - (Abraham) - (Moses) - (David) - (Jesus and the Apostles)
Consistent throughout salvation history are covenants. How does entering into a covenant “define the relationship” between God and his people? (God established a covenant with each one of these people in the Bible. Covenant comes from the Latin word convenire, which means “to come together.” Covenants make families. They are more than an exchange of property [contracts]; they are an exchange of persons. For example, in the marriage covenant, the spouses are saying to one another, “I am yours and you are mine until death do us part.” Covenants are more than just a promise because they involve oaths. In a covenant, you are swearing to God that you will fulfill your promises. Violating a covenant oath triggers curses because an oath has no power if there are not consequences for violating that oath. Jesus established the new covenant. He made it possible, through his paschal mystery, for us to no longer be creatures but sons and daughters of our heavenly Father. Even though we broke our covenant with God, he demonstrated his faithfulness to his covenant by sending his Son to take upon himself the covenant curses that rightfully belonged to us.)
DISCUSSION QUESTION #3 In the video we were reminded that we all have an inclination toward sin. As St. Paul says in Romans 7:15, “For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.” Recall sometime in the last week when you didn’t do something that you knew you should or did something that you knew you shouldn’t. Ask God to help you make a better choice the next time a similar circumstance arises. (Original Sin is the first sin of the human family, contracted by our first parents, who disobeyed God. Their sin resulted in humanity’s inclination toward evil and wrongdoing, called concupiscence. Concupiscence is something every human experiences. This pull toward sin and evil persists throughout our lives and becomes one of humanity’s ongoing struggles (CCC 2520). You may want to give a few examples from your own life, such as not getting up on time or eating an extra piece of cake, to show that this inclination toward sin, while it doesn’t always result in actual sin, is something we have to battle all our lives.)
DISCUSSION QUESTION #1 According to the video, what are the three things Jesus did during his public ministry that point to his being truly God? (We can know that Jesus is truly God because: he does what only God can do, such as rebuke and calm the storm [Mark 4:39]. Most importantly, Jesus was raised from the dead. He knows what only God can know. He reads people’s hearts and minds and recounts their life stories [John 4:17–19]. He tells us he is God by using the phrase “I AM” [John 8:58; see also: John 6:51, John 11:25, and John 14:6], which, in the original biblical language, is God’s own name [Exodus 3:14].)
DISCUSSION QUESTION #2 What do you think it means for Jesus, the divine Son of God, to be truly and fully human? Can you imagine Jesus being tired, hungry, or angry? How does seeing Jesus as having all the same feelings and experiences you have (except for sin) change the way you tell him your needs and desires in prayer? (It is sometimes easier to think of Jesus in his divine nature, and not his human. It can be hard to imagine the divine Son of God being tired (even though he took a nap—Matthew 8:24), or hungry (even though he looked for ripe figs—Mark 11:12), or angry (even though he tossed the money changers out of the Temple—Matthew 21:12–13). Realizing that Jesus had similar feelings and experiences as the rest of us should give us the courage and confidence to approach him in prayer, knowing that he really will understand what we are going through. You may want to share Philippians 2:5–11, which describes how Jesus, though he was equal with God the Father, “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” and “humbled himself” to experience “even death on a cross.”)
DISCUSSION QUESTION #3 Dr. Sri explained to us the meaning of the painting of Jesus in the Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian in Rome. How does that painting confront us with a decision we all have to make? (The toga Jesus is wearing, and his raised arm, signify that he is a teacher. However, the light emanating from Jesus’s robe signifies that he is not just any teacher but a divine teacher. Secondly, Jesus standing on the fiery clouds signifies his second coming to judge the living and the dead. The painting asserts who Jesus claimed to be—the Lord God who will judge us all. He has not given us the option of believing that he was anyone else, like a good moral teacher, for example. So we are confronted with the decision to accept him as Savior, Lord and God or to reject him.)