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Edward_H
Guest
There was another topic just closed on the problems with RCIA
This thread isn’t about RCIA and its plusses or minuses.
This topic is focused on the formation that must occur AFTER RCIA, BY EVERY CONFIRMED CATHOLIC until a few hours before we die (because we might be able to offer some insight or serve as a good example to one of our loved ones who is coming to us in our last hours…and we must do everything to help them until our heart stops beating).
So there are different types of formation.
There is doctrinal formation (what is grace, Who is the Trinity, The Real Presence, Scripture, CCC, etc.)
There is spiritual formation…how to pray in different ways…vocal prayers, mental prayer, aspirations, etc; how to do an examination of our motives, how to go to Confession well, how to make and follow resolutions, with God, how to fast well, etc.
There is human formation…how to root out defects in our character that make us hard to deal with by others, how to grow particular virtues, what the virtues are, what are vices, how to better ourselves in these topics.
There is apostolic formation…how to know the faith so well, and be able to explain it so attractively that we can have conversations with our friends, how to be a better friend, how to be a better conversationalist about not just the supernatural topics but about substantial matters…truth, beauty, goodness, science, art, histories, great ideas, etc.
We need to work in all these areas across our lifetime.
And the great news is that just about every parish has oodles of formation opportunities, and the web is full of others too.
See this web bage filled with faithful and helpful summaries of various Catholic topics.
http://opusdei.org/en/section/summaries-of-catholic-teaching/
This thread isn’t about RCIA and its plusses or minuses.
This topic is focused on the formation that must occur AFTER RCIA, BY EVERY CONFIRMED CATHOLIC until a few hours before we die (because we might be able to offer some insight or serve as a good example to one of our loved ones who is coming to us in our last hours…and we must do everything to help them until our heart stops beating).
So there are different types of formation.
There is doctrinal formation (what is grace, Who is the Trinity, The Real Presence, Scripture, CCC, etc.)
There is spiritual formation…how to pray in different ways…vocal prayers, mental prayer, aspirations, etc; how to do an examination of our motives, how to go to Confession well, how to make and follow resolutions, with God, how to fast well, etc.
There is human formation…how to root out defects in our character that make us hard to deal with by others, how to grow particular virtues, what the virtues are, what are vices, how to better ourselves in these topics.
There is apostolic formation…how to know the faith so well, and be able to explain it so attractively that we can have conversations with our friends, how to be a better friend, how to be a better conversationalist about not just the supernatural topics but about substantial matters…truth, beauty, goodness, science, art, histories, great ideas, etc.
We need to work in all these areas across our lifetime.
And the great news is that just about every parish has oodles of formation opportunities, and the web is full of others too.
See this web bage filled with faithful and helpful summaries of various Catholic topics.
http://opusdei.org/en/section/summaries-of-catholic-teaching/
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