Initiation course for catechists CATEQUESIS.

NET

Why catechists?

If we are taking this course, it is because we are catechists or want to be one. There is a first
a question that we all must ask ourselves, because being a catechist is not a hobby, nor a
volunteering; being a catechist is something more; the question is...

What motivates you to be a catechist?

At this point, you should reflect personally on what drives you to be a catechist.
Ask yourself: What drives you to be a catechist?, how did you start in this?, what attracts you to it?
catechesis to undertake this task?, etc.

The normal thing is that if you have made the previous reflection, it has become clear what drives you to be
catechist

The experience of faith and

Pastoral or circumstantial reasons.

1st MY EXPERIENCE OF FAITH:

I cannot keep my faith silent. I have to share it and proclaim it. What I believe makes me happy and
I believe it is good for man.

That’s why I share my faith out of my own need, and not just to help the parish.

It is a vocation. Catechists feel that God calls them because He needs them to fulfill
a part of the evangelizing process, which is the mission of the Church: to bring the plan to everyone
salvation that Jesus teaches us.

2nd PASTORAL REASONS:

The Church and your Parish need you. There are many baptized and few believers.
called practitioners; this means that something is wrong.

Because we make Church, which is an obligation of Christians, when we communicate Faith. There is
what to keep in mind that we know and believe in Jesus because, in generations
In the past, others have done the task that now falls to us.

To help people choose whether or not to live as Christians. To transform the world according to
the schemes of Jesus, which we believe are the ones that can best help man to develop
as such.

Why is catechesis important?

What are catechists for?

Catechists are of vital importance to the Church as instruments to fulfill its
reason for being, that is to say, evangelize; since without catechesis there is no evangelization; as we will see
in the following topic.

To form a stronger Christian community, since the catechists are evangelized.

when they are evangelizing. The key to the Christian life is to live it and celebrate it in
community. Catechesis starts from the community that sends some of its members to the task,
it is done in the community where the catechumen and the catechist grow and develop, and it is done
also for the community since once we have been catechized we feel the need to live with others
our brothers in faith.

Catechists serve, although it may sound more prosaic, primarily for the laity,
let's participate in one of the most important tasks of the universal Church.

- And lastly, as many of you have commented in the forum, the catechists and the catechesis
they serve to lay the foundations of the Church of the future, which is in our hands. And we must
do it right because...

The Church of tomorrow is

in today's catechesis.
Bibliography
"Catechists on the move" Initiation course by Amador Menudo Sivianes Ed. Verbo Divino.
Basic course for the training of the catechist - Catechesis Secretariat of the Diocese of Seville.

The copying and free distribution of this document is permitted as long as the author and source are referenced.
origin indicated below. We kindly ask you to inform the author beforehand:

Abraham Velázquez
[email protected]
Information fromhttp://catequesis.net
 Initiation course for catechists CATEQUESIS.NET

Theme 2: What is catechesis?

OBJECTIVES:
Clarify the concept of evangelization and its stages.
Approaching the concept of catechesis.

INTRODUCTION:

We are starting a new topic. Now we are clear about why we are or want to be catechists.
and that catechesis is a task of vital importance for our communities and, of course,
for the entire Church; even asserting that the Church of the future, the one we do not
we'll see, it largely depends on the catechesis we do today.

Now that we have assimilated these concepts, we are going to delve a little deeper, entering into a
more theoretical theme:

Catechesis cannot be defined in a concrete, specific, and isolated way, but rather within the context of
the universality of the mission of the Church. And of course taking into account that it encompasses from
techniques to feelings. The first thing is to know what evangelization is.

DEVELOPMENT:

What is evangelizing?

As catechists, we have to say that catechesis cannot be defined in a concrete way,

punctual and isolated, but within the totality of the mission of the Church. And of course having
consider that it encompasses from techniques to feelings. To be able to understand what catechesis is,
First, we must be very clear about what evangelization is, what it is for, and why it is done.
who makes it and how it is made.

Briefly discuss the following issues, whether the course is done in a group, if not before.
to get into the matter we must answer these three questions. The three questions, although
similar ones must be answered separately, they are:

Do you feel evangelized?

Who has evangelized you?

What does the word evangelize mean?

Note the answers and affirm or deny them in the following development:

To evangelize is the last thing Jesus commanded his disciples: 'Go into all the world and preach the
Good News to all men. Many people have done it throughout history and because of them.
we believe in Jesus Christ. If I believe today, it is because others who believed before me and have
feeling the need to convey their experience of faith, their religious experience, even their rituals
and symbols.

The above implies that God has wanted men to be the instruments that
effectively contribute to the salvation of other men. God needs us (because the
wants, does not like magic) for the salvation of ALL men.

We have highlighted the word 'everyone' because that is one of the innovations that Jesus introduced: 'Go
Throughout the world and preach the Good News to all men; this is one of the keys
from evangelization: the salvation that Jesus offers to man is for everyone, without exception, not
for some chosen ones. And from here the following derives:

What is the purpose of the Church?

The reason for the existence of the Church, the only reason for the existence of the Church is: TO BE A SACRAMENT OF
SALVATION FOR ALL MEN. This mission that Jesus entrusts involves the
the right of every man to be evangelized. As Evangelii Nuntiandi tells us, 'The
evangelization is the reason for the existence of the Church. As a consequence, without evangelization the Church
it cannot exist, nor would it have existed. No one would know the utensils of Jesus of Nazareth in our
days.

We can say that evangelizing is bringing salvation to all men. The

incorporation into the Kingdom of God.

In the document 'The Catechesis of the Community' by the Spanish Episcopal Conference,
we found a definition of evangelization, which although not the only possible one, seems to us
quite complete and it says like this:

Evangelization is 'the total process by which the Church, and the people of God,
moved by the Spirit, announces to the world the Gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom of God,
gives testimony among men of the new way of being and living that is established with that
Kingdom. Educate, in a community, those who convert, celebrate (through the
sacraments) the presence of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit, impregnate and transform with their
force all temporal order” (that is, the totality of the world).

From the previous definition, we start to say that evangelization has the following
elements:

1st Renewal and transformation of humanity as a general objective: We need to change it

that goes against the Kingdom of God.

2nd Testimony of the values of the Kingdom: All of us who are part of the Church must show
with our life what the Kingdom is.

3rd Explicitly announce the Gospel, as faithfully as possible to Jesus.

4th The heartfelt commitment: To become part of that New World.

Create Christian communities, because faith grows in groups and is nourished by sharing it.
6th Celebrate the sacraments. Celebrate the presence of a living God in that community.

7th Develop an active apostolate (commitment). Christian commitment around the world,
every day.

The Church fulfilling these requirements is a sign of the Kingdom of God on earth; for this reason
they are useful for reviewing our Christian community.

Evangelization process:

We already know that the mission of the Church is to evangelize, which includes all the actions of the
Church and that evangelizing is a task that Jesus assigns to each one of us. Also
we have come to the conclusion that God places His project of salvation in our hands for
all men; therefore the responsibility is not small...

We have also said in the definition that evangelization is a process. And it is logical, because
a person is not evangelized in a day:

- To assimilate and believe the saving plan that God has for mankind, one must not learn a
theory, some dogmas or an ideology; one must experiment in each person's life as that plan
God saves me. That experimentation takes time, some more and others less. In this
the key point is to accept that each person has their own pace, and even though we work with
groups, we must respect and work with each one at their level.

For this reason, we also say that evangelization is a process, because the Christian faith is
dynamic: It matures until we reach the state of perfect men, to the maturity of the
fullness of Christ." ("Ad gentes" no. 6 Vatican II). That is to say, evangelization is a
a process that lasts us throughout our lives; but... what if I already believe in God, I try to follow Jesus,
Do I still have to continue being evangelized? The answer is yes, because the experience of faith
Individual and collective change over time; it is a continuous journey.

Due to this dynamic and progressive experimentation of faith, we can divide the process
evangelizer in three stages:

1st Missionary Action: For non-believers. (Awakener).

2nd CATECHETICAL ACTION: For the newly converted who want to mature in faith. (Tree)
with deep roots).

3rd PASTORAL ACTION: For the faithful Christians of the Christian community, to mature their
faith and evangelize in turn. (The fruits of the tree).
 PROCESS EVANGELIZER

MISSION Catechesis PASTORAL

The missionary action:

It is everything the Church does, lives, and announces to establish the Kingdom of God for and that the
people begin to be interested in Jesus Christ and his Gospel.

It is the first announcement that a person receives about Jesus. That first moment when a
a person feels attracted to Jesus and feels the need to learn more about his message.

Real believers, the committed, are becoming fewer because we do not show how happy we are.
that makes us feel free and saved by God. Faith is seen as a slavery instead of
like a liberation. We have to change so that it is evident in our lives that the Kingdom of
God is growing. (This is the best way to be missionaries in our environment).

The recipients are:

Atheists and agnostics.

The baptized (by tradition) without any religious basis.
Those who received religious training, but are now indifferent.
The poor (the privileged of Jesus) who, in addition to being unaware of the Good News of Jesus,
they endure the injustices of a world that is not as God wants it.

Duration:

Variable, but usually short.

Purpose:

To choose an option for Jesus, to want to know his message.

The catechetical action:

It is the second stage of evangelization. And it aims to guide those to adulthood in faith who...
they have opted for the Gospel. It is the bridge between missionary action and pastoral work. It is to help
those who have taken a first step to know Jesus understand His Message of Salvation, and
to experience it together with the community.
Recipients:

Fundamentally the adults:

Those removed from the faith but who have an interest in the true Christian meaning of life.
Those who are connected to the Christian community, but who have not been initiated into the faith. They have not
matured and have a childlike faith.
Children and especially young people. Without adult catechesis, that of children and young people
it is seriously compromised. If the family is not catechized as a community of faith,
Children and young people will hardly be able to experience, live, and grow as Christians at their level.
An authentically Christian family is the best catechesis.

Duration:

It has a defined time according to the person to be catechized, what cannot happen is to be
permanently in catechesis, as we will see later.

Purpose:

The ultimate goal of catechesis is the confession of faith, which implies an integration into the
Christian community to live out that faith that they have made their own. Therefore, without catechesis, there is no
Christian community.

The pastoral action:

Evidently, a catechesis is useless if it does not culminate in a living community that embraces.
to the newly catechized to continue supporting and forming them in the faith.

Pastoral action is everything a community does and lives to work towards construction.
of the Kingdom of God. It is everything that adult Christians do to live and grow their faith.

Recipients:

All the catechized individuals who are immersed in a Christian community.

Duration:

It has a beginning and lasts a lifetime.

NOTE.- The evangelizing process of a person lasts a lifetime, we are evangelized and
We evangelize at the same time. Our faith evolves as we do.
we evolve.

The foundations have been laid to ask ourselves the following question and continue with the
learning
What is catechesis?

Brainstorm ideas about this question. (Maximum 2 minutes).

As we have already said, catechesis is a part of the evangelizing process, and we can define it,
according to the document (no. 34) 'The catechesis of the community' from the Episcopal Conference
Spanish, such as:

The stage (or intensive period) of the evangelizing process in which

it is basically trained to be Christians; to understand, celebrate
and live the Gospel of the Kingdom, to which they have given their adherence, and to
actively participate in the formation of the ecclesial community and
in the announcement and dissemination of the Gospel.
This Christian training - integral and fundamental - has as its goal
the confession of the faith.

We break down the definition into parts to extract all its content:

It's...
It is a stage, that is to say, it has a beginning and an end. And to be part of the evangelizing process.
What is the mission of the Church.

Where one is basically trained to be Christians. Catechesis is the 'training' for

to be Christians. According to 'Catechesis Tradende' no. 33 'Catechesis does not consist in teaching the
doctrine but in initiating the whole Christian life”; in catechesis is where one begins to be
Christian, every Christian must have gone through that stage. What needs to be taken into account is
that in catechesis only the foundations are laid, the development as Christians and the maturation is
achieve in the pastoral stage within a Christian community.

It works...
To understand, celebrate, and live the Gospel of the Kingdom. UNDERSTAND: to know what Jesus
CELEBRATE: Share with other believers, experience the Message of Jesus;
catechesis cannot function isolated from the community. LIVE: Bring the known Message to the
practice, because it is not a theory but a new way of understanding life.
The Good News of the Kingdom must be understood, celebrated, and lived.

- For those who have given their support: For those who have received the first announcement, in the stage
missionary, and they have an interest in Jesus.

To actively participate in the Community: Catechesis must encourage action,

Meeting Jesus cannot leave us indifferent (if it does, something is wrong in the catechesis we do).
Christians also do not act alone (not even Jesus), but in groups, in community. The catechesis
part of the community and has an impact on the community; without it, catechesis is not possible.
to participate in the announcement and dissemination of the Gospel: It is the missionary task to which every Christian is called.
it is called, since that Message that fills me cannot be saved. (You can read C.C. no.
91 and 92.

To participate in the announcement and dissemination of the Gospel: It is the missionary task to which everyone
Cristiano is called, as that message that fills me cannot be kept.
C.C. No. 91 and 92.

Purpose...
The goal is the confession of faith: This implies:

To justify what I believe: To be clear about what I believe and why I believe it.
Celebrate that I live in community.
To commit: I must bring my faith into daily practice, which is nothing other than believing in myself.
that the Kingdom of God is liberation for man, so that he may be happy.

Bibliography
“Catechists on the Move” Beginner Course by Amador Menudo Sivianes Ed. Divine Verb.
Basic course for catechist training" Catechesis Secretariat of the Diocese of
Seville.

The copying and free distribution of this document is allowed as long as the author and source are referenced.
origin indicated below. Please inform us beforehand to the author:

Abraham Velázquez
[email protected]
Information ofhttp://catequesis.net
 Initiation course for catechists CATEQUESIS.NET

Theme 3: How to do catechesis today?

OBJECTIVES:

Collect the most important aspects of topics 1 and 2. Strengthen ideas.

Highlight the importance of experience in catechesis: human, religious, and Christian.
Contact the catechetical pedagogy of Jesus. (Text from Emmaus).

INTRODUCTION:

We read the notes from the two previous topics and make sure everything is clear.

DEVELOPMENT:

So far we have seen important theoretical concepts. From now on we will see how
we have to do catechesis to be faithful to what the Church is asking of us today.

How do we have to conduct catechesis to be faithful to what the Church asks of us today?

We saw that every man has the "right" to be evangelized, and therefore we have the
"obligation" to carry out this task. Evangelizing every man has a double meaning, not only to
everyone, but also to the man of every age; the contemporary men of Jesus and the
men today. This leads us to the need to evangelize in our reality,
We have to do our homework directed towards today's man. How do we do this?

Faith is not imposed, but arises from the depths of the man who has known Jesus Christ.
Faith is not learned, it is lived. Faith cannot be measured, it is felt. Only from conviction
the depth of man, only from his life can he come to live the Christian faith. That is why it is so
important what we are going to comment on next: The experience. Only from an experience
From deep faith, we will be evangelized men.

Experience...
SHARE AN EXPERIENCE:
Some group member shares any experience they have had. We will try to ensure that it
dive deeper into it. Then the following question is posed:
What is experience?
Let everyone define the word. The teacher will not say anything.

The experience is...

To begin with, we need to know that experience is not the time lived by each person, nor the
set of situations lived or seen. That is, just because one is older does not necessarily mean one has,
more experience. Although if there is any relation to all of this.

Experience is the immediate reality we have lived, which we reflect upon to move forward.
delving into it, to assess it and draw our own conclusions. These will affect
one way or another to our way of acting and living, that is, they will lead us to some changes, to be
in a determined way. The experiences we have are what change us.

Religious experience is...

When delving deep into all of reality, man arrives at the key questions.
of your life: who am I? What is the meaning of my life? and the why of so many things and situations.

At this point, man opens himself to the transcendent, to that which goes beyond his
cognitive possibilities. For this reason, it is said that man is a religious being by nature,
because one begins to question the meaning of everything, because one opens up to the transcendental. Thus one arrives
at the level of deepening that we call religious.

As the man finds answers at this level, he objectifies them and tries to make them
understandable. But what has been experienced is so profound that to express it, it resorts to symbols.
that are capable of reflecting that depth and do not fall short like languages do
conventional. Due to this, the religious experience of any person or group of
We can only appreciate, on the surface, a part: these are the religious objectifications.

The experience of Christian faith is...

The experience of listening to the Word of God and how it is lived is the Christian experience.
God reveals Himself to us in the Word and, fully, in Jesus Christ; if this changes our lives, it is
because we are having experiences of Christian faith.

It is the religious experience that opens to the transcendent and finds the answer in God;
that is present in the history of man (History of Israel), in Jesus (who shows us God)
as it is) and in which they act according to these experiences (the Church).

All previous experience is condensed in the Bible, hence its importance.

Biblical experience plays a foundational role with respect to any other experience.
who wishes to be called Christian. ("Catechesis in the Church" by Emilio Alberich)

Catechesis is authentic when it respects the previous structure of the communication of faith.

Catechesis is given when the deepening of one's own experience and its ...
confrontation with the basic experiences of the Christian reality: History of Israel, Jesus Christ and the
Church.

Ask yourself: Do you think it is possible to catechize from theory or rather from the
experiences of the group members?

Steps of the catechetical process:

We already know that both human, religious, and Christian experience is what makes
Each man makes the journey of his life in a certain way. The experiences,
understood as a deepening of what happens to us, is what changes man.
From here, we consider it very important that the catechetical process starts from experience.
of each catechumen, of the catechist, of their parish, of the Church, of Jesus Christ,
the Bible.

To initiate the catechumens in the faith, it is necessary for them to experience it. For this reason, we will have to
take the following steps:

1st Deepen in your experiences. We have to start from our own reality. If not
If we delve into our own lives, we will not even have experiences.
In that deepening, one must reach the openness to the transcendent.

We confront those experiences with biblical experiences (History of Israel, Jesus and the
first Church) and with current Christian experiences. This will help us in reading and
interpretation of life, of our experienced reality. Catechesis is thus an exchange
of experiences.

3rd Act and live according to what we have been experiencing throughout the process.
the experience of the Christian faith leads you, like any experience, to be and live in a certain way; in this
case in the Christian lifestyle.

THE CATECHESIS: DEPTH-IDENTIFICATION OF THE SELF

EXPERIENCE WITH THE FUNDAMENTAL EXPERIENCES OF CHRIST AND THE
CHURCH.

We have already said that catechesis is authentic when it involves deepening the
own experience and its confrontation with the basic experiences of the Christian reality.
(Israel, Christ and the Church)

SHARING:

How is the catechesis that we do?

Which of these is forgotten most often when we do catechesis?

CATECHESIS IS...
Become aware of what is happening to us
Illuminated by the Gospel
to follow Jesus Christ together
transforming everything.
PRACTICE:

STEPS OF A CATECHESIS BY THE CATECHIST JESUS WITH A SMALL GROUP

FROM THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY.

On that same day, there were two disciples who were on their way to a village.
called Emmaus, located about two leagues from Jerusalem, and
they commented on what happened.
While they were conversing and discussing, Jesus himself came near and
he made them walk with him. But they were blinded and could not
recognize it.
Jesus said to them:
What conversation are you having on the way?
They stopped, troubled, and one of them, named Cleopas,
he replied to him:
-You are the only one passing through Jerusalem who hasn't heard about it.
happened these days in the city!
He asked them:
What about?
They answered:
From what is said about Jesus of Nazareth, who turned out to be a powerful prophet in
works and words before God and before all the people; of how it
the high priests and our leaders delivered him to be
they will be sentenced to death, and they crucified him.
When we were hoping that he would be the liberator of Israel.
But, in addition to all that, today marks three days since it happened.
It's true that some women in our group have given us a scare:
they went very early in the morning to the tomb and did not find his body,
they returned telling even that they had seen an apparition of angels,
that they had been told he was alive. Some of ours were
also to the tomb, and they found it as he had said
women; but they did not see him.
Then Jesus said to them:
How clumsy you are and how slow to believe what was announced by the
Prophets! Didn't the Messiah have to suffer these things to enter into the
glory?
And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them...
which referred to him throughout the writing. Near the village where
He made a gesture to go on; but they insisted.
saying:
Stay with us, it's getting dark and the day is already coming to an end.
fall.
He came in to stay. Leaning on the table with them, he took the bread,
He pronounced the blessing, broke it, and offered it to them. Their eyes were opened.
eyes and they recognized him, but he disappeared. Then they commented:
Weren't we on tenterhooks while he spoke to us on the way?
explaining the Scriptures?
And, getting up at that moment, they returned to Jerusalem, where
they found the eleven gathered with their companions, who were saying:
It is true: the Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.
 They told what had happened to them on the way and how it
they had recognized him in the breaking of the bread.
Luke 24:13-35.
Work:
Locate in the text the different steps of the catechetical process.
Do you do catechesis of the experience or not? Why?

1.- Locate in the text the steps of the catechetical process (deepening in their experiences,
confront those experiences with biblical experiences, act and live according to what has been experienced

2.- Does Jesus give this catechesis from experience so that the disciples discover through
themselves the message, or are they directly told what they have to do to follow him? Why
What do you think makes it that way? Justify your answer.

Bibliography
"Catechists on the Move" Initiation Course by Amador Menudo Sivianes Ed. Divine Word.
Basic course for the training of catechists" Catechesis Secretariat of the Diocese of
Seville.

The copying and free dissemination of this document is permitted as long as the author and source are referenced.
origin indicated below. We ask you to communicate this to the author in advance:

Abraham Velázquez
[email protected]
Information abouthttp://catequesis.net
 Initiation Course for Catechists CATEQUESIS.NET

Theme 4: The catechetical act.

OBJECTIVES:

Study the way to face catechesis.

Concretize how to carry out catechesis of the experience, according to what was seen in topic 3.
Analyze the process of the catechetical act.
invent a catechesis theme for a level.

INTRODUCTION:

After having assumed all of the above, we begin the fourth topic to discuss how to make a
catechesis session. What steps should we follow according to what we have studied so far, specifying
how to conduct a catechesis based on experience and making each one a practical case.

What is done to ensure a message reaches someone?

COMMUNICATE IT.

God does the same.

God's revelation to man occurs in a total atmosphere of communication.

Therefore, if catechesis must help in the encounter between God and man, it becomes necessary the
communication of faith in that God who has revealed Himself to us. Thus, we can never forget that the
Catechesis is to communicate.

Communication process schema:

EMITTER MESSAGE CODE CHANNEL RECEPTOR

R U I D O
SENDER: where communication flows from.

MESSAGE: it is what is communicated. Not only what is said, but what we want to reach the
another.

CODE: it is how it communicates. The signs. The language.

CHANNEL: it is where communication takes place. It is the means of transporting the message.

RECEIVER: it is the recipient of the message.

NOISE AND INTERFERENCES: disturbances of communication.

FEEDBACK: the receiver indicates to the sender that the message has been received. Feedback.

GOD FEEDBACK The man

God communicates with us The man's response The catechist or the group the
group. It does not have the Word, it
has been given.

NOISES Misinterpretations
Bad means
Lack of training, etc.
MESSAGE REVEALED WORD, Given to the Church:
The messenger must not give his
message, but "The Message"
CANAL The catechist is the means of transmission
CODE-LANGUAGE Four catechetical languages:
Biblical
Liturgical
Tradition
Testimonial

What do you think of this analogy? In a telephone conversation, for example, the catechist...
Who is it?

It is not the one who speaks, nor the one who listens, nor is it the message, nor the messenger (who is
Jesus). The catechists are the wires or the waves of telephone communication. We are the
tools of God so that His Message reaches man. We catechists are the
instrument in the transmission of faith in the catechetical stage.
DEVELOPMENT:

STEPS OF THE CATECHETICAL ACT:

In the catechesis of any kind (adults, youth, or children), it cannot be absent in any way.
these three elements:

The human experience,

the word of God (Christian enlightenment) and

the expression of faith (Christian experience) that is committed and celebrated.

a) The human experience.

We defined it in the previous topic as the immediate reality we live in, subjected to reflection and
deepening, to draw conclusions that are changing our lives.

We also showed how the catechumens can only be truly guided towards
Jesus Christ, if they come to hear the word of catechesis from their concrete situation. If not
we are close to them, we will never be able to communicate anything to them.

This human experience is the raw material that, illuminated and transformed by the Word of
God is becoming a Christian experience. For this, in this first phase we must work.
with the following itinerary:

1st PROVOKE: Evoke the events we want to rely on.

2nd DEEPEN: What is behind these events?

3rd UNIVERSALIZATION: Generalize, verify that it happens to all of us more or less the same.
same.

b) Christian illumination - the Word of God.

If we had many and very good human experiences to work with and the Word of God did not
neither announced nor welcomed, there would be no catechesis, it would be something else; certainly not catechesis.

This Word of God appears when we universalize our experiences in the previous phase.
For Jesus or his disciples something similar also happened, or to other believers, etc.

God has always revealed Himself in our history; this experience of salvation of man...
we have in the Bible (remember that about the experience of Israel, of Christ or of the Church).
Now it is our turn to discover that God continues to save us, and that He reveals Himself to us in our
own story. God is interested in our life.

It is not proposed, and this is very important, to the catechumens the acceptance of a doctrine or of
some norms of life, but the Christian experience as it is lived by the Church, like the
those already initiated in the faith live.
In our itinerary through the Word of God, it must be given:

1st MEETING: With the Word of God as the Good News that gives meaning to our
experiences. How did Jesus and other believers experience those experiences?

2nd CONVERSION: It is worth living the experience like they do.

3rd INTERIORIZATION: Interpretation of the Word for my concrete life. Open my heart.
to the Word of God.

c) Christian experience.

The catechumens will discover in Jesus Christ the key that allows them to understand themselves better.
themselves; to decipher the riddle of their existence, to respond to their vocation in this life and to be
happy.

They are beginning to contemplate the Gospel (Good News) that God is realizing in the
history.

This discovery. This growth of faith in God, of faith in His saving plan, of faith in the
The Kingdom of God brings them closer to the creed of the Church, which is to believe in that plan of God.
Let them interiorize, express, celebrate those things that make them happy. And it makes them
to surrender to that plan, to the establishment of the Kingdom of God.

When this reaches its fullness in a person, we can say that they have completed their process.
of catechesis, as we saw in topic 2. This does not mean that it will stop needing, like everyone else
Christians, a permanent formation and growth in faith.

In this part of the catechetical act, the catechized will have to pass through where they have already passed.
other Christians, to live the same experiences: the Christian experience. Here
we have the steps to take in this final phase:

1st SIGNIFIER: Now things are seen differently. Our life, our experiences
they mean something new (Christian vision). We approach the faith of the Church.

2nd COMMITMENT: After the entire process (respecting the pace of each individual), what
How to make it happen? How to translate the faith that I am acquiring into my practical and daily life?

3rd CELEBRATION - LITURGY: I share my experience, my faith, my life. I externalize what

I live as a Christian. Here, personal and communal prayer arise as a necessity.

For your personal or group reflection:

Which of the steps of the catechetical act commented on earlier do you think you have the most?
abandoned and which one do you think you should delve deeper into?

Bibliography:
"Catechists on the Move" Initiation Course by Amador Menudo Sivianes Ed. Verbo Divino.
"Basic Course for Catechist Training" Secretariat of Catechesis of the Diocese of
Seville.

Copying and free dissemination of this document is permitted as long as the author and source are referenced.
origin indicated below. Please communicate this to the author in advance:

Abraham Velázquez
[email protected]
Information abouthttp://catequesis.net

All this material is at your disposal inhttp://www.catequesis.net/and many more

resources for catechists.