Symbolon: Part 2: Session 4: PENANCE & ANOINTING OF THE SICK: God's Mercy Revealed
Please note: use the document enclosed in the Questions and Comments from the Two Symbolon Participant's Guides field to more effectively prepare for our discussions and to develop your own questions, comments, and observations!!!
Additional Documents:
Reconciliation,
Confession to a Human Being,
Examination of Conscience (Before the Sacrament of Reconciliation),
Daily Examination of Conscience,
Helps in Using the Sacrament of Reconciliation,
Continual Conversion and Penance,
The Touch of Jesus,
The Christian Meaning of Suffering, and
Viaticum.
Please note: Use the Additional Documents field, of this webpage, to find referenced material Please print these articles, review them (include all questions, comments, and/or observations upon reading these excellent articles) and bring them with you to the next OCIA gathering (class).
Lives of the Saints and Conversion Stories:
St. Alphonsus Marie Liguori,
St. Paul the Apostle,
St. Francis de Sales,
Have Mercy of Me, Lord, and
My Friend is Jesus.
Please note: Use the Lives of the Saints and Conversion Stories field, of this webpage, to find referenced material. Please print these articles, review them (include all -- hey! that sounds like ?????, questions, comments, and/or observations upon reading these excellent life stories) and bring them with you to the next OCIA gathering (class).
Psalms and Canticles
Psalm 31 and
Psalm 32.
Please note: Use the Psalms and Canticles field, of this webpage, to find referenced material. Please print these articles, review them (include all -- questions, comments, and/observations upon reading these excellent scripture passages) and bring them with you to the next OCIA gathering (class).
Litanies and Prayers
The Chaplet of the Diving Mercy
Please note: Use the Litanies and Prayers field, of this webpage, to find referenced material. Please print these articles, review them (include all -- questions, comments, and/observations upon reading these excellent prayers) and bring them with you to the next OCIA gathering (class).
Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) Assignment:
1450-1460
1464-1467
1520-1521
Please note: Use the CCC articles references above to help build your understanding of this gathering. Please review them (include all -- questions, comments, and/observations upon reading these excellent CCC statements) and bring them with you to the next OCIA gathering (class).
Small Group Questions
Anointing of the Sick and Redemptive Suffering — Suggested Questions for Discussion: 1. How does the Christian view of suffering differ from that of our culture? 2. How does Christ’s suffering and death take our sin and illness and use it as a means of our own redemption? 3. Jesus healed the body and the soul. How is this healing manifested in the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick? 4. How does Christ make sense of suffering? How can suffering help us in our calling to holiness?
Reconciliation — Suggested Questions for Discussion: 1. Why did Christ institute the sacrament of Reconciliation when our sins are forgiven at Baptism? 2. Why do we need to be reconciled with the Church? 3. Why do Catholics confess their sins to a priest instead of speaking directly to God? 4. How does the confession of our daily faults (venial sins) help us to grow in the spiritual life? 5. How can prayer, fasting, and almsgiving help us ward off sin and grow in holiness? 6. How can the sacrament of Reconciliation be an encounter with Jesus? 7. How does our penance express an interior conversion?
Mercy and Justice — Suggested Questions for Discussion: 1. Why does God allow drastically unjust things to happen to people? 2. What is the connection between justice and the dignity of the human person? 3. How are works of mercy both temporal and eternal? 4. What is the link between charity and mercy? 5. Do I like God’s mercy but not his justice? What is the difference between mercy and leniency? 6. How can we know that God is merciful? 7. How can Christians contribute to a just society?
Please note: Use the Small Group Questions listed above for this gathering. Please review them (include all -- questions, comments, and/observations upon reading these excellent discussion topics!) and bring them with you to the next OCIA gathering (class).