Catholic Faith Formation Resources

We will encounter suffering in our lives if we believe our "identity" of who we are is what we do, who or what we possess, our images we project, or the status we seek in the eyes of others. We become invested in this false identity, this false self, and our ego seeks to protect it. Therefore, we may erroneously believe that once we lose a job, a valued possession, or fail to live up to the images or expectations of others, we have lost a part of ourselves, our self-created identity, our "who we are" in our own eyes. We fail to recognize that we are not our possessions, our positions, our occupations, our titles, nor our created images. We become entrapped in our ego that causes us to look at our lives as what was, or what could or should have been, instead of what is. Reality is found in the present moment. God is in the now. We are an embodiment of God within us, who is the core of our being, seen and beloved by God as we truly are. What more could we desire to...

You may find it helpful to meditate on the following image attributed to Saint [Mother] Teresa of Calcutta: Often you can see power lines running alongside the street. Unless current is flowing through them, there is no light. The power line is you and I. The current is God! We have the power [freedom, responsibility, and the indwelling Spirit] to allow the current to flow through us and thus to generate the light of the world—or to refuse to be used and, thus, to allow darkness to spread. Are there any blockages within your heart or mind that hold up or hinder the light of God's love, joy, peace, justice, healing, and forgiveness from flowing through you to others?

OPENING PRAYER O Lord my God, teach my heart this day where and how to see you, where and how to find you. You have made me and remade me, and you have bestowed on me all the good things that I possess, and still I do not know you. I have not yet done that for which I was made. Teach me to seek you, for I cannot seek you unless you teach me, or find you unless you show yourself to me. Let me seek you in my desire, Let me desire you in my seeking. Let me find you by loving you, Let me love you when I find you. Saint Anselm "GOD COMES TO MEET US" — CCC , Nos. 50–67 The Lord's ways are different from our own. The Lord is gracious and good to all, and is equally generous in compassion and love to those who respond to the Lord's invitation. Allow the Lord Jesus into your life. How do you develop an intimate relationship with someone? Do you spend time with them, be present to them, give them your undivided attention, tell them of your desir...

Today we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday that was established by Pope John Paul II on April 30, 2000, the Second Sunday of Easter, at the Mass of the Canonization of Sr. Mary Faustina Kowalska, a Polish religious sister who died in 1938. A short explanation of the significance of Divine Mercy Sunday can be viewed  here . Instructions regarding how to recite the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, together with other information regarding St. Faustina and The Divine Mercy, can be viewed  here . Let us also call to mind the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy that we are called to provide to help our neighbors: Corporal Works of Mercy Charitable actions where we help our neighbors in their bodily needs Feed the hungry Give Drink to the thirsty Clothe the naked Shelter the homeless Visit the imprisoned Visit the sick Bury the dead Give Alms to the Poor Spiritual Works of Mercy Actions that help our neighbor in their spiritual needs Admonish sinners Instruct ...

God is uncreated Spirit and eternal. God is not, nor should God ever be limited or defined by any finite conception we, or anyone else, may have of God. God can only be mediated or revealed to us, generally through material creation, our lives and the lives of others, signs, symbols--including language, images, metaphors, similes, analogies, parables, and the like that may point us towards God's Presence, but are not in and of themselves God. Most of the descriptors about God have been offered to us by others, such as those we find in scripture, books, writings, religious rituals, teachings and beliefs, or conversations with others, or that we may have discerned or intuited from our own personal experiences or the experiences of others. We may choose to use any of these descriptors or experiences that we find meaningful, to help us to create, form, sustain, or transform the images of "God" we have in our minds. There are images of "God" that we individually h...

The Christian faith teaches that one of God's attributes is that God is omnipresent. This means that God is present everywhere. "For in [God] we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28; cf. Isaiah 57:15). As St. Augustine confessed to God, "You were more inward to me than my most inward part" ( Confessions III.6.11 ), or as Meister Eckhart proclaimed, "God is nearer to me than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and presence of God."  When have you experienced God's Presence in your life? How did it make you feel? When have you felt separated or distant from God? How did that make you feel? When did you last spend time in solitude, free of outside distractions, resting in God's Presence and Love?

OPENING PRAYER As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God. My being thirsts for God, the living God. When can I go and see the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night, as they ask daily, "Where is your God?" Those times I recall as I pour out my soul, When I went in procession with the crowd, I went with them to the house of God, Amid loud cries of thanksgiving, with the multitude keeping festival, Why are the downcast, my soul; why do you groan within me? Wait for God, whom I shall praise again, my savior and my God. --Psalm 42:2–6 "THE HUMAN QUEST FOR GOD" — CCC , Nos. 27–43 Have you ever asked: Who am I? Where did I come from? What is my purpose in life? Where am I going? Why do I need to struggle to achieve my goals? Why is it so hard to love and be loved? What is the meaning of sickness and suffering? What will happen after I die? These questions relate to the meaning of our human existence, but also move ...

Blessed Easter. Let us pray for the desire and grace to die to those thoughts and ways that keep us from allowing the Spirit of the Risen Christ to transform our hearts and minds to experience and live each moment in the presence and reality of God’s unconditional love, joy, peace, justice, freedom, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, healing, and salvation now and forever.

Why was Jesus of Nazareth crucified on a cross, a form of capital punishment used by empires or other domination systems before and after the time of Jesus? The most simple explanation is that the Romans, who were the prevalent domination system during and after Jesus's time, in association with the ruling elites of Jerusalem, felt it expedient to kill Jesus by crucifixion, just as the Romans had crucified thousands of people before him and after him. Death by crucifixion, following compulsory scourging and maiming, was used as a public demonstration for what happens to anyone who opposed or challenged Roman authority; what happens to someone who, like Jesus, was proclaimed or accused of being "King of the Jews." It was a very slow and painful death. Besides Jesus, the names of most of the other persons who were ever crucified are lost to history. Crucifixion was finally outlawed by the Roman Emperor Constantine in the fourth century C.E. Has much really changed sin...

OPENING PRAYER SEARCHING FOR GOD O Lord my God, teach my heart this day where and how to see you, where and how to find you. You have made me and remade me, and you have bestowed on me all the good things that I possess, and still I do not know you. I have not yet done that for which I was made. Teach me to seek you, for I cannot seek you unless you teach me, or find you unless you show yourself to me. Let me seek you in my desire, Let me desire you in my seeking. Let me find you by loving you, Let me love you when I find you. Saint Anselm We begin our journey with the U.S. Catholic Catechism for Adults ("USCCA") . Please read this week the “ "Introduction" (pages 17-26) to the USCCA , discussing the origin of the various Catechisms of the Catholic Church , and explaining the structure and various sections for each chapter of the USCCA .  We will also provide references to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (" CCC ") , and the ...

All your life you have been on a spiritual journey.  Sometimes you are very aware of your search for something more, for a deeper meaning to your life, for a closer relationship with God. Other times you are unaware of being on this journey, or of God's presence in your life. According to a study on the " Status of Global Christianity, 2021 " of the more than 7.8 billion people estimated to live on earth,  more than 2.4 billion identified themselves as "Christians," of which more than 1.25 billion of these Christians identified themselves as "Catholic."  The birth of Christianity is almost two thousand years old. The Catholic Christian faith tradition is at a unique crossroads. For the first time in its recorded history, Pope Francis initiated a two-year process, called the "Synod on Synodality," calling for the entire Church--the "People of God"-- and not just the Bishops, to be involved in the decision-making process of the U...