Christian

Commitment
REED 4
Prelim Coverage

Laws of Moses and

God’s Plan: A Messages of the
01 Just 03 Prophets: A Guide
in Creating a Just
Community Community

Rejection of
God’s love: The
02 Cause of Man’s
Downfall

2 2
 God’s Plan:
A Just
Community
01

05
 Introduction
We are all dreaming of a world in which peace and
equality are all felt and experienced by everyone. We
are all longing for a society in which love and respect
reign– a society that does not experience corruption,
discrimination , crimes, and all other forms of injustices.
The good thing is this is also what God wants us to have.
In fact, His original plan is for all of His creation to live in
a perfect world and have a just community.
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 How God fulfills this plan?
1. Human beings are the highest form of God’s
creation.

Genesis 1:27 God created mankind in His

image; in the image of God He created
them; male and female He created them.

2. Human beings are called to live in loving

communion with one another.

Genesis 2:18 The Lord God said: It is not

good for the man to be alone, i will make a
helper suited to him.

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 How God fulfills this plan?
3. God made human beings the stewards of His
creation.

Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and God

said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the
earth and subdue it. Have dominion over
the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all
the living things that crawl on the earth.

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Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997) showed the world a great

example of how to see in every human being the image of God
by treating every person around her especially the poorest of
the poor, with love and respect. She was known for her
unparalleled compassion for marginalized people by serving
them unconditionally when the society seemed to be apathetic
toward them. She personally visited the less fortunate people in
slums, washed their sores, and cared for some dying people.
She became the symbol of hope for many people especially
those who are destitute, poor, and the suffering.
She found the Missionaries of Charity which aimed to help
and serve the impoverished around the world. For having shown
a great amount of service to humanity, she was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. On October 19, 2003, she was
beatified by Pope John Paul II.
St. John Baptist de La Salle
In 1950, Pope Pius XII named him patron of schoolteachers
for his efforts in upgrading the school instruction. At the age of 11,
he received the tonsure and started preparation for the
priesthood to which he was ordained at the age of 27. Though
he had everything going for him, he left everything including his
home and family to pursue what he believed is his
divinely-appointed mission and dedicated his life working with
the deprived youths. He was closely entwined with the
community of religious men which he founded– the Christian
Brothers or The De La Salle Brothers. This community grew
rapidly and was successful in educating boys from poor families
using methods designed by himself.
Despite the success, John still experienced many trials:
bitter oppositions from the secular schoolmasters who resented
his methods. He died on a Good Friday at the age og 68
because of asthma and rheumatism. He was canonized in 1900.
 Rejection of
God’s Love:
The Cause of
Man’s
02
Downfall
05
Man’s rejection of God’s love led to his
downfall.

Genesis 3:6-7 The woman saw that the tree was

good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the
tree was desirable to gaining wisdom. So she took
some of its fruits and ate it; and she also gave
some to her husband, who was with her,and he ate
it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and
they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig
leaves and made loincloths for themselves.

Original Holiness- the state of living in full communion with God as man
shares God’s divine life.

Original Justice- the state of living in perfect harmony with one another
and with all of creation while having God as the source of one’s life and
happiness.

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Humanity suffers the consequences of
original sin.

Genesis 3:23 The Lord therefore banished him

from the garden of Eden to till the ground from
which he had been taken. He expelled the man,
stationing the cherubim and the fiery revolving
sword east to the garden of Eden, to guard the
way to the tree of life.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) explains clearly the

consequences of the original sin not only to Adam and Eve but to the
entire humanity as well being their descendants.

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 CCC 399 “Scripture portrays the tragic
consequences of this first disobedience. Adam and
Eve immediately lose the grace of the original
holiness. They become afraid of the God of whom
they have conceived a distorted image– that of a
God jealous of his prerogatives.

CCC 400 The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to
original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul’s spiritual
faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman
becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust
and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has
become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject
to “its bondage to its decay”. Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold
for his disobedience will come true: “man will return to the ground” for
out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history.

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God promised man salvation from sin.

Genesis 3:9-15 “I will put enmity between you and

the woman, and between your offspring and hers;
they will strike at your head while you strike at their
heel.

CCC 410 After his fall, man was not abandoned by

God. On the contrary, God calls him and in a
mysterious way heralds the coming victory over evil
and his restoration from his fall.

Protoevangelium- “first gospel”; the first

announcement of the Messiah and Redeemer of a
battle between the serpent and the woman and of
the final victory of a descendant of hers.

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The Example of Mother Mary

Mother Mary’s obedience to God’s will made

possible the incarnation of Jesus Christ. She
cooperated with God’s plan of salvation when she
said yes to Angel Gabriel when the latter told her
about the Good News of the coming of the Savior.
When Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of
the Lord. May it be done to me according to your
word”. She gave humanity a huge favor by letting
God fulfill His promised redemption of human
beings from sin.

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St. Francis of Assisi
He really believed what Jesus said:”Announce
the kingdom! Possess no gold or silver or copper in
your purses, no travelling bag, no sandals, no staff”
(Luke 9:1-3)
During the last years of his relatively short life
(he died at 44), he was half-blind and seriously ill.
Two years before his death, he received the
stigmata, the real and painful wounds of Christ in
His hands, feet, and side. On his deathbed, he sang
the Psalm 141, and at the end asked his superior to
have his clothes removed when the last hour came
and for permission to expire lying naked on the
earth, an imitation of his Lord.
 Laws of Moses and
Messages of the
Prophets: A Guide
in Creating a Just
Community
01

05
God started to fulfill His promise
of salvation.

To help the people of Israel live a holy life and create a just community,
God, in many occasions, gave them laws through Moses. These laws now
known as the Laws of Moses, gave them clear ideas on how they could
love God above all things and live in harmony and justice with one
another.

Mt. Sinai- this is where the laws (10 commandments) were given to
Moses.

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The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:2-17)

1. I am the Lord, your God; you shall not have strange gods before me.
2. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
3. Remember to keep holy the Lord’s day.
4. Honor your father and mother.
5. You shall not kill.
6. You not commit adultery.
7. You shall not steal.
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
9. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
10. You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.

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Because of the original sin, it has become a struggle for every human
being to live in holiness. As stated, God gave the Israelites, through
Moses, specific laws to guide them as the try to live a holy life and build a
just community for themselves.

Pentateuch “The Five Books of Moses”- contains the laws God gave
to Moses. These are laws about worship of God, ritual, purity, sexual
morality, and just behavior in a society.

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Five Themes of the Laws of Moses
(According to Singer-Town’s Catholic Social Teaching)

1. Respect for Human Life

2. Respect for Private Properties
3. Honesty in Business
4. Just Distribution of Wealth
5. Special Concern for the Vulnerable

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Social Dimensions of the Teachings
of the Prophets

1. Protection and Concern for the

Needy and Powerless
2. Just Treatment of Laborers
3. Promotion of Peace and Justice

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