This Adult Catechesis Series was produced at St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic. All content produced by St. John Parish is copyrighted and may not be edited or sold, but may be freely used and distributed.
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Session I: The virtuous life is the happy life. Practicing the virtues is the path to happiness. What, then, are the virtues and how do they lead to happiness?
Session II: In our Catholic Christian faith, the virtues lead to ultimate and everlasting happiness. The truly virtuous Catholic is a holy Catholic, a saint. The saints are the happiness of all people. St. Peter wrote:
“Just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Pet 1:16). "For this very reason make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge" (2 Peter 1:5).
Session I: In this lecture we will look at theosis (sharing in Divine Nature) and the `formula of exchange’ which states that the Son of God became man so that we could become gods. In the words of St Irenaeus `For it was for this end that the Word of God was made man, and he who was the Son of God became the Son of man, that man, having been taken into the Word, and receiving adoption, might become the son of God.’ (Adv. Haer. 3. 19. 1). We will explore how Scripture and Tradition implies that theosis leads to our everlasting happiness, infinitely beyond the happiness one can achieve from finite, created goods.
Session II: Theosis is related to other important concepts which will be explored in the second session: sanctifying and actual grace, justification, predestination, and sin. We will see that the greatest gift God can bestow on us is sanctifying grace `a Divine quality inherent in the soul, and, as it were, a brilliant light that effaces all those stains which obscure the lustre of the soul, and invests it with increased brightness and beauty' (Council of Trent). This grace, which is received through baptism, can only be destroyed by grave sin. In theosis through grace is the realization of the supernatural, divine life that we, as children of God, should embrace.
Session I: Necessity of prayer and perseverance in prayer to receive grace, to live a virtuous life, to be happy in this life, and forever, in the next life, in transcendent happiness.
Session II: Essential definitions of prayer. "Prayer is the raising of one’s mind and heart to God or the requesting of good things from God" (St. John Damascene, De fide orth. 3, 24: PG 94, 1089C). Other Church Fathers on grace, virtue and prayer. Types of prayer. The gifts of prayer Mystical infused contemplation, The Liturgy as prayer
The rest of the series presentations are currently being edited and will be published as soon as possible.
Week V - Great Fast Moleben of Repentance with Confession Week VI - Lenten Presentation: The Four Last Things (Mar 28th) Week VII - Holy Pascha & Happiness (Apr 25th)