Man's Call To Salvation

We listen to the readings from the Bible. the readings remind us of God's saving love and of His promise to send a Messiah. They also remind us of all the good things God has done for us. We respond by singing psalms about God.
The Apostles must have been sad and frightened after the death of Jesus. To forget their sadness and fear, they must have exchanged stories about things Jesus told them in the past. They must have sung psalms, too; to keep their spirits up.

Pope John XXIII wrote a very important encyclical entitled Peace on Earth. In this encyclical, Pope John summarized Jesus' teachings about God's Kingdom to help us know that human beings have rights. When these rights are being violated, the Kingdom of God is failing.
Below are the human rights taught in the encyclical.
These rights are gifts from our loving Father.

1. The right to life and a decent standard of living.
2. The right to respect and to a good reputation.
3. The right to search for and express truth.
4. The right to pursue art and culture.
5. The right to be informed truthfully about events.
6. The right to education and training.
7. The right to worship according to one's conscience.
8. The right to choose freely a state of life.
9. The right to work and work without force.
10. The right to good working conditions.
11. The right to just wages for one's work.
12. The right to private property.
13. The right to associate with other people.
14. The right to move about freely.
15. The right to take active part in public affairs.
16. The right to legal protection for one's rights.

These rights belong to all of us. We can start putting them into action in our homes, in our classroom and in our communities. We can begin doing them through the way we treat our family, classmates, neighbors and even people we don't know.

• Weaves worship, doctrine, moral and liturgy in an integrated pattern, in language suited for children's age and experience - National Catechetical Directory for the Philippines (NCDP)
• Bridges perceived gap between Christian doctrine as taught and Christian morals as lived by the Filipino Catholic (NCDP)
• Presents catechesis with Christ as the uniting focus, a pastoral orientation, a Filipino spirit of evangelization and culture - Second Plenary Council of the Philippines (PCP II, Acts and Decrees)
• Promotes a revitalized and renewed Filipino Christian through Christ, with Christ and in Christ (Decree Convocation, PCP II)
• Uses true-to-life situations and experiences that are uniquely Filipino as the most effective means for achieving the objectives of catechesis (NCDP)
• Organizes catechism around the four traditional catechenical pillars of Creed, Sacraments, Commandments, and the Our Father as suggested in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC)
• Presents the essentials of the Catholic Faith in an up-to-date , inculturated, organized, systematic and Christ-centered exposition with Bible and Church teaching in an unceasing interplay with Filipino experience and culture, as envisioned in the Catholic Faith Catechism (CFC)

These are the Sundays when nothing else is scheduled. The season consists of two in-between periods. One is a short period between the Christmas season and the beginning of Lent. The other is the long period between the Eastern season and the first Sunday in Advent. The Sundays of the Year. During this season, the Holy Spirit helps us to remember that ordinary days are important, too.