Work
One of the problems BEC leaders in urban areas have is that the members of their cell groups are professionals, college graduates and individuals who are daily in contact with representatives of other religions. To get ahead of them and be able to present a gospel reading for reflection would seem to require a broader biblical and liturgical culture. That is true of course; it is for this reason that formation programs for the laity are offered by dioceses (e.g. the GAWARASAL). It is also for this reason that during the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, it was decided that Lay Ministers of the Word should also be installed alongside the Lay Ministers of the Eucharist. Parishes have also been sending chosen members to pastoral programs where these are existent. I together with three other parishioners have attended the Scripture Ventures program in Tagaytay. But training programs are not enough.
The Bible Workshop is now open!
I have announced this new section of Res Biblica in an earlier blog. It currently contains materials based on the Sunday Gospels until the 20th Sunday of OT A (in English and Filipino) plus additional pages on the methods we are using in the our Bible Study sessions. Below are the new pages, more will be added before the end of the month of August.
- Our Principles of Study
- A description of the three-fold adherence that guides our bible sessions: adherence to the Word of God, adherence to the Complete Canon of the Christian Scriptures and adherence to the Scriptural text. These three-fold adherence is required by the Word of God Himself who is proclaimed in, through and by the Church.
- Why Word of God Cannot Be Scriptures Alone
- An article that explains why the Sola Scriptura idea cannot be Christian. It is the same article that I have posted on the web since January 2000. It has a second part which is more known and which has somehow become a classic description of how “Word of God” means, not Scriptures alone, but Christ first and foremost, the Tradition of the Apostles, and Scriptures. The first part of the article deconstructs the myth of Sola Scriptura through the use of three bible passages.
- Our Study of the Scriptural Text
- A description of the steps we follow in our communal study of the Sacred Scriptures. First, we observe the text, then we create a sentence flow. Based on the sentence flow, we do our word study (analysis), and afterwards, after “untying” the scriptural text, we ask ourselves: What does this all mean to us today?
The Filipino pages are all based on the Sunday Gospel readings and somehow extend the functionality of the text attachment I post with the Sunday Thoughts articles at Res Biblica. The articles follow the same pattern: after a brief introduction of the Sunday Gospel, the text from the TPV is presented, after which I provide guides for the observation of the text (Pansinin ang Teksto). The text is provided for those who have English bibles so that it can become the basis for work on the sentence flow of the text. Then I provide guidelines for further study. This section of Bible Workshop is intended for those who are working with cell groups whose members are more at home with the Filipino Mass. Below are the available pages.
- Ang Babaeng Cananea (Mt. 15:21-28)
- Ang Paglalakad Ni Hesus Sa Tubig (Mt. 14:22-33)
- Ang Pagpapakain ng Limanglibo (Mt. 14:13-21)
- Mga Talinghaga ng Kaharian (Mt. 13:44-46)
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