GROWTH 3y4

CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL IN THE HOLY SPIRIT
Growing in the
spirit Steps 3
and 4
FOR NEWLY BAPTIZED IN THE SPIRIT
Digitization: Gabriel Rendón email: greccco@gmail.com

04/10/2009
Electronically digitized document report syntax and spelling errors to greccco@gmail.com
"BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD"
Taking into account the needs of our Community of San Juan Bautista, we
present this new Manual "GROWING IN THE SPIRIT", for Growth
Courses 3 and 4, which we have already experienced in the formation of
people who are growing in knowledge of the Lord.
In these Courses we present several topics, in accordance in everything
with the Holy Scripture and with the sound doctrine of the Church, which
we hope will be sufficient material to fulfill its mission of helping in
teaching for the Renewal in the Holy Spirit groups. May God bless the
work of all the collaborators in this work, which we place in the hands of
Mary, mother of God and our mother, so that she may present it to her
Father, Son and Husband and the fruit that we expect, not only in this
Community, which has been blessed superabundantly for which I thank
the Lord, but also in all those groups that have the opportunity to read and
use it, meditate on it and put it into practice.
Fray Salvador García, OFM

Parish of San Juan Bautista, Coyoacan, Mexico.

INTRODUCTION
After seeing the favorable reception that the Manual for Growths 1 and 2
called "First Steps" had among the Spanish-speaking communities, we
have decided to publish the continuation of it, that is, the Manual for
Growths 3 and 4 to which we have called "GROWING IN THE SPIRIT", in
which we have tried to follow the style that we used in the previous
Manuals, including after each class the corresponding Questionnaire,
which helps the attendees to review the classes and the leaders to realize
the degree of interest to each person.
As in the case of "First Steps", this manual "Growing in the Spirit", we

have experienced it in our Community for a year and we think that it has
been of true help for the growth of people baptized in the Holy Spirit, in
their constant search for the Lord. These growths have also been useful
in leading people to a firmer commitment to the Lord through our
Community.
As in the previous case, we consider this work as a test that we put at the
service of the other Communities, hoping it will be useful to them, while
the Holy Spirit inspires. The publication of better things.
We ask the Lord to bless in a special way each of the people who use this
Manual so that their path "Growing in the Spirit" becomes a reality in his
Kingdom of Love.
Mexico, D. F., December 8, 1975, day of the Immaculate

Conception.
THE TEAM OF. TEACHING OF THE COMMUNITY OF SAN JUAN

BAPTISTA

GROWING IN THE SPIRIT
GROWTH III and IV
A. PURPOSE
The basic purpose of these two Courses is to affirm the knowledge
obtained in the Growth Courses I and II, delving into them and applying
them in life, acquiring some new knowledge, and above all, walking with
firmer steps on the path of own sanctification, through love and union with
God, being part, in this way, of the People of God.
B. - CONTENT
Each Course is scheduled for 8 Classes, 2 Convivialities and a
Thanksgiving Mass, as follows:
1a. Week ..................... the. Class.
2a. Week .................. 2a. Class.
3a. Week .................. 3a. Class.
4a. Week .................. 4a. Class.
5a. Week ..................... COEXISTENCE TO SHARE
6a. Week .................. 5a. Class.
7a. Week .................. 6a. Class.
8a. Week .................. 7a, Class.
9a. Week .................. 8a. Class.
10a. Week ................... COEXISTENCE TO SHARE
11a. Week ..................... MASS THANKSGIVING
The following week there will be a spiritual retreat for leaders, in which
they will think in the light of the Lord about the deficiencies that have
occurred in the Course and will intensely ask that He be the one to direct
the next Course).
C. - DURATION.
As noted in the previous section, that is, in CONTENT, each of the
Courses is scheduled for 11 weeks, which gives us, if we plan to start
Courses every 3 months, one or two weeks free, to prepare cards, make
registrations or other necessary things. However, we must be very docile
to the Holy Spirit and be attentive to realize if the group can follow the
rhythm of the classes mentioned above, and if not, these can be divided
into two, or repeated, or intersperse some class with motivations to fully
live the liturgical season in which one is present (I warn, Christmas,
Easter, etc.).
The reasons for prolonging the course may be:
1) Let some parties be interspersed on the day the class is due, or

vacations.

2) That the class presentation has not been clear (because the subject
has not been properly assimilated, either by the group, either by the topic
itself, or due to a deficiency in the Teacher's presentation, or other
causes).
3) That there is some issue of special importance that should be

addressed instead of some class, such as: Summary of a Congress,
explaining the commitment to the Community, etc.).
What should be ensured, in order not to leave people without classes for a
long time, is that the Course takes either the 3 months scheduled, or 6
months, because this way the order of the Community will not be
interrupted.
D. THE TEAM THAT WILL WORK

If the Community is already old, each Course will be headed by a
responsible Leader and Teacher, one or two secondary leaders, also
Teachers, and a group of pastors who can each serve 5 to 10 people.
If the Community is still new, the same people who take the Course can
be used as pastors, choosing them from those who in Growths I and II
have shown greater enthusiasm, fidelity, capacity and dedication to the
Lord.
There must also be an Assistant or Course Administrator, who will have

the following obligations:
a) Take control of the shepherds, making sure that they take control of
the sheep. (Attendance, completion of tasks, delivery of completed
questionnaires).
b) See that there are Class Quizzes.
c) Call the pastors to the Team Meeting.
d) Make sure the classroom is available and clean, that there is a
blackboard and everything necessary.
e) Give timely notices, especially when there is a change in the planned
program.
The obligations of the pastors will be the same as in Growths I and II.
E. TEAM MEETINGS
At a previously agreed time, which will generally be one hour before the
Course, the team meeting must be held, which will be attended by the
leaders, the assistant and the pastors, and which will have the following
objectives:
a) Pray deeply so that the Class gets to the bottom of the
hearts of the attendees.

b) Make comments about the last class, saying with all
clarity, out of love, if there were flaws, poor clarity or similar defects, so
that, if necessary, the class can be repeated or clarified.
c) As everyone present must have studied the class that will be given
that day, comment if there is something they did not understand, review
the questions on the Questionnaire that will be distributed to see if it is
clear in agreement with the Class, review their own answered
Questionnaires from the last Class, with which they will be able to correct
that of the sheep.
d) Comment, without giving names, on any problem that has arisen
among those attending the Course, as long as the problem itself does not
reveal the person in question.
e) Pray for the Class Teacher(s) of the day.
F. - COMMITMENT
After completing the Growth Course III, either in extra time or when
beginning Growth IV, it may be taken into account that the participants
have already been in the Community for a year (the Initiation Course and
the 3 Growth courses), talk to them about the Convenience of making a
serious Commitment (in writing) to the Lord, to serve Him within the
Community. This Commitment will be made by each Community as the
Lord inspires it, but the Growth IV classes can be very useful for each
person to better understand what a Commitment is and whether or not
they want to belong to the Community in which they are taking the steps.
Courses. It is assumed that at the end of Growth IV, all the people will
have already made the decision whether or not to continue in the
Community, and the leaders will also know if they can count on them to
work in any Ministry that the Lord indicates to them.
G. LABORATORY
Once Growth IV is completed, people may be asked to interrupt their
Courses and dedicate themselves to serving their brothers, as we believe
that this will help them in their Growth in the Lord as much or more than
studying (Acts 20:35). During these two Courses, Growth III and Growth
IV, the leader will be able, after praying a lot, to give the pastors and even
the participating Semas, small pieces of the classes for them to teach,
with which it will be possible to discover if there are new people who have
the Charisma of Teachers, and who can therefore be leaders in some
other Course later.

In this laboratory period, we will realize the dedication and love of each
person for the brothers, their aptitudes and charisma, and thus we will be
able to indicate the line in which the Community thinks they should serve.
THE CLASSES AND THEIR GOAL. GROWTH 3
CLASSES GOALS
1. THE LORD OF JESUS Do a review so that you realize if
Jesus is really Lord of your entire
life or if there are portions of it
that have not been given to you.
Knowing that we come from God

2. OUR ORIGIN AND OUR
and He goes and how everything
DESTINATION
that does not lead us to Him is
useless.
3. THE BOOK OF THE LORD Give them a broad explanation of
the Bible, the books it consists of,
the sacred writers.
4. THE WORD OF GOD OUR IN As the Word of the Lord must

LIFE influence our entire existence, it
has a lesson for all cases and
situations.
5. FAITH What is the faith. Give them some

norms but and examples to live
by faith, trusting in the promises
and power of the Lord.
Know, by half of
6. LOVE OF GOD
the
Word of the Lord, which is loving
God with all your being.
7. PRAYER To return to treat this matter
vital trying to convince them of its
importance to be able to grow in
their spiritual life.
Make them understand that they
8. LET YOURSELF BE
cannot let's give us do
GUIDED BY THE HOLY
nothing
SPIRIT
in our spiritual life, without the
help and guidance of the Spirit of
God.

THE CLASSES AND THEIR GOAL.
GROWTH 4
CLASSES GOALS
1. GOD IS CALLING HIS Let them see how the Lord is
PEOPLE making increasingly intimate
alliances with us, if we allow and
desire it, for greater mutual
dedication.
2. HE WHO HAS EARS, LET HE Teach them how the Lord speaks
LISTEN to us through very different means,
and the attention we must pay to it.
3. ALWAYS PRAY, SEPARATE TO The need for a prayer with
PRAY continuous and to have times of
intimacy with the Lord.
4. FULFILL THE WILL OF THE Show that holiness consists of
FATHER doing that Will, as Jesus teaches
us.
5. DO NOT GUESS THE HOLY What are the things that deprive us
SPIRIT of receiving the inspirations of the
Spirit of the Lord.
6. THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY Show them a general picture of
SPIRIT these gifts, the virtues, the
(First part) beatitudes.
7. THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY Explain how each of the gifts acts,
SPIRIT the virtues that help develop it, the
(Second part) vices that are assigned to it.
they oppose.
8. - THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT What they consist of, how they are
achieved- HOLY they sing The main fruit.
The duration of each class will be 45 minutes maximum, and will begin
with a prayer and community songs, which can last up to 10 minutes. At
the end of the class, there will be an hour of small groups, in which doubts
can be clarified, share experiences regarding the previous class, and
make resolutions for the week.
H. - COEXISTENCES
These coexistences to share are as important as the classes. They must
be directed by the leader, who can follow any system or dynamic that the
Lord inspires, but taking into account that their main objective is to stop to
review, in the middle and at the end of the Course, if it is fulfilling its
objective in each person, and that each one, whether as a whole or in a
small group, is enriched by the contributions of the others.

Although we believe that it is easier to achieve an exchange of
experiences in small groups, there have been times when the entire group
has received great benefits in these days of spiritual exchange. We
include the questions for the final coexistence.
I. QUALITIES OF PASTORS
They are basically the same as for Growth Courses I and II, but taking into
account that they will deal with people who are already more mature in the
Spirit, so they themselves must have spiritual maturity and certain
experience, to be able to resolve the doubts of the people in their small
groups. They must be very punctual to classes and team meetings,
always addressing in these the doctrinal or spiritual difficulties that have
arisen for them or their groups, to be sure to advise the correct thing. If
you are not certain of the answer in the Team Meeting, you must go to the
responsible Priest.
J. THE LEADERS
They must have the qualities of pastors, and also have the charisma of a
Teacher, that is, be a person that the Lord uses to transmit his teachings,
which will have been proven by giving small portions of class in previous
courses.
The leader's life must be transparent, without anything that could lend
itself to scandal or lack of edification, so he must not be a divorced and
remarried person, who has any vice, etc. (I Tim. 3:1-7).
Above all, the leader must be seeking the Lord with his entire being,
recognizing his limitations and his inability to transmit the life of the Lord to
others if he does not work freely in his own life, and must search in his
classes, above all. of all, the glory of God. Therefore, he must be able to
bear criticism and disappointment with joy, with his gaze always fixed on
God. He will be interested in the instruction of the entire Community, being
part of a whole, without individualism.
He will be attentive to all the details of the Course, the participants, the
pastors, the assistant, always with love. He must enforce the order of the
Community, but without rigidity or harshness. Above all, you must be
attentive to the motions of the Holy Spirit, who must always be the true
director of the Course.
Let each one put the grace he has received at the service of others, as
good administrators of the various graces of God. (I Pet. 4:10).

GROWTH No. 3

GROWTH No. 3 CLASS No. 1
THE LORD OF JESUS
I am a person whose life is under the lordship of Christ. What does this
mean specifically? There is a way to look at it, which we were taught from
life in the Spirit:
I CHRIST
Some of us have just met the Lord Jesus, but most of us have grown up in
the Church and Christ has been in our lives.
The circle represents the totality of life. There is a throne in the center of
each circle. What does a throne mean?
It is the center of control, power, authority. All your life, you or your things
were on the throne. Jesus Christ was in your life, but not in control of it.
Your life focused on you; It may have been a beautiful life, a happy life;
but you directed it, you were the authority. One day, you asked Him to
take possession of the throne and you removed yourself from it. Now your
entire life centers around Jesus. So who are you? Someone whose life is
under the lordship of Jesus Christ.
By having received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, you have removed
yourself from the throne of your life and placed Christ on it.
Here's another way to look at it:
Imagine that you are the owner of a house with many rooms. One day you
invited Jesus Christ to your living room and you are happy to have Him as
a guest in your house, but He does not remain in the living room. Walk
through the house, entering all the rooms.
You are surprised, disturbed, uneasy; then comes the crisis. He puts his
hand on a doorknob, a locked closet door, that doesn't open. He turns to
you so you can open the closet that is locked.
That house is your life. That locked closet is a secret area of your life that
you have determined to keep under your own control. As long as you
maintain possession of that closet, You are the master of your life. When
you open this door to Jesus Christ, He will become the Lord of your life.

Each of us has a different kind of closet; but each of us has that closed
area, which we do not want to open to anyone, much less hand over the
Key.
Jesus Christ is our Lord totally or he is not. Therefore we need to be

honest with ourselves, and ask ourselves: What is our real situation? Is
Jesus Christ Lord? Have we really, strongly asked Him to take direction in
all parts of our lives?
Only then can He fill us with his true life. So everything we do has this
basis:
JESUS IS THE LORD

Have you ever sung in the shower? Yeah? Then, there he begins to sing
praises to God. Let's make a song.
Thank you, Lord, for my body, Thank you for my mind. .. Why this little
song? Because we are practicing: "Jesus is Lord." And what about driving
your car? Pray and praise while driving: "Jesus is Lord" Every minute of
every day from now on, we must repeat the same thing, because this is
the truth: Jesus is Lord. Now is no longer the time to remove the dirt, it is
time to praise Him.
Can you see what we mean? That we must have a life of prayer without
ceasing, of constant prayer.
Every moment and every energy will be lived constantly proclaiming the
Lordship of Christ.
We will have a very active life, full of joys. Asking him to take the throne...
Opening to Jesus that door that was closed.
And this will be "just the beginning of our life with Him...
Many times it happens that after having actually placed Jesus on the

throne of life, after giving him the key to that secret room or rooms,
months after this, we discover another hidden room that we did not know
existed. And we are sad, sometimes discouraged and depressed.
That I didn't give Jesus control of everything? we say; maybe I didn't do it.
Here's another room I didn't know anything about. So that time, it was not
a complete surrender, really total. And we feel that we must once again
invite Jesus to be the Lord of our lives in their entirety.
But that is not necessary. You really invited Him to be Lord of your entire
life. Remember that one of the functions of the Holy Spirit is to be Light.
Because you belong to Him totally and because He most asked you to be
completely filled with His own spirit (the Baptism in the Holy Spirit was this
kind of fullness), His own light has been passing softly over you. You're
seeing things you've never seen or couldn't see before. Do not fear, you
truly gave yourself to Him, you gave Him everything you knew existed in
you. Now simply, its soft light is showing you that hidden room that you did
not know and your response may be: "I praise you, Lord." "You are also
the Lord of this area"; Before, I didn't even know it existed. "Thank you,
Lord, for what you want to do in this newfound room in my life." And later,
when you discover another room, pray in the same way.
We are going to look forward to what we will experience this week through
this instruction of growth in the Spirit. The real work will be during the
week, in the middle of our ordinary lives.
Each of us, in our small group, will share" the work that God is doing in
their lives day after day.
In this same week, we must begin to spend time with the Lord, daily.
When you wake up in the morning, start praising the Lord, and this before
your feet set foot on the ground. Get dressed and groomed knowing that
you are going to meet a Person: Christ. You will determine the time of this
meeting according to the Lord and your occupations. Then sit quietly in
one place and praise the Lord, intensely, in your own language and in
your new language. Five minutes is not enough. How about 15, 20, 30
minutes? You can increase the time gradually, something will explode

inside you if you continue praising the Lord. So, open your Bible to a
familiar and meaningful passage. A verse or two from the psalms will
suffice. This is not a time to study, it is a time to chew, to digest the Word
of God. We must be open to listen to Him, and through each teaching,
each dialogue with Him, each moment of love, we will learn to live more
deeply the new truth that we have known:
JESUS IS THE LORD
The Lord will point out in you little by little people for whom He wants you
to pray regularly. This is a good time to offer them one by one and place
them in His hands.
Offer him the whole world continually, Continent after Continent, and tell
him to teach you how to pray. He likes to do it.
Right now we are going to make a NEW song, to sing next time in the
shower. (Each person makes a Line, creating their own melody, it can be
a repeated note, and their own words. Then the rest of the group joins in.
Continue until everyone who wishes has contributed their inspiration.)
Ex. "Thank you Lord, for the arms that move and work", "Bless all the
arms and all the work of the entire world."
This fun time is an exercise in how you can practically, joyfully, make
Jesus Lord of your life during the day. As we said before, such a song
really confesses it as SEROR.
"SO THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE MAY BEND IN

HEAVENIES, IN THE EARTH AND IN THE ABYSS, AND EVERY
TONGUE CONFESS THAT CHRIST JESUS IS LORD TO THE GLORY
OF GOD THE FATHER" (Phil 2:10-11)

GROWTH 3 QUESTIONNAIRE No. 1
1. —Is my life really under the lordship of Jesus? (Rom. 10:9-10)
2. —What area of my life have I not given to the Lord? (Gal. 5:19-21)
3. —Am I honest with myself? (I Jn. 1:8-9)…………………………………….
4. —If I am, what things in my life have I not wanted to confess to myself?
5. —How am I putting into practice what I have learned so far? With God? .
With myself? .....................................................................................................
With the rest. ……………………………………………………………………
6. —In what parts of my life has Jesus taken total direction?
7. — Is it Jesus who is filling my life or is it still my selfishness?
8. —Where is my life leading me as I am currently leading it?
9. —What is it that after this class I am going to give especially to the Lord so
that He may direct and change it?
10. —Am I aware of the presence of God, inside and outside of me?
a) When do I feel most alive your inner presence?.....................................
................................. b) And the exterior? ..............................................
11. —What was the central idea of this class? ...................................................
This Questionnaire is not to be read by anyone; It is made for each

person to review their life, alone with God.

(21)
OUR ORIGIN AND OUR DESTINATION

Praise Yahweh from the heavens, praise him in the
highest. Praise him, all his angels, all his hosts, praise
him. Praise him, sun and moon, praise him all the stars
of light, praise him heavens of heavens, and waters
that are above heavens. Let them praise the name of
Yahweh; for He commanded and they were created;
He fixed them forever, for centuries, he gave a law that
it would not pass away. (Psalm 148)
OUR ORIGIN
In the last class we saw that Jesus must be the LORD of our entire lives. In
this we will see what is our origin and what is our destiny.
The world we live in comes from God. He is the creator and Lord. He has
given birth to the Universe, plants, animals and men, and He makes it
develop according to His eternal plan. God has created the world and
everything that exists in it, and is constantly working on it; Creation is not
finished yet. God does not create, but is creating in every moment.
Natural science and true religion are in no way in contradiction, but rather
complete each other.
Albert Einstein, founder of the theory of relativity and Nobel Prize winner,
says: Science without religion is lame; Religion without science is blind.
We find the story of creation in the book of Genesis: the six days of the
creation of the world, and the story of the creation of man are images that
do not scientifically describe the course of the creation of the world, but
rather announce, even for the man of today, the glory and uniqueness of
the Creator and the greatness, variety and goodness of his work.
The expression "in the beginning" does not suggest that the world as we
see it today came entirely from God at any given moment.
There is no hesitation in admitting a slow evolution of beings in their

appearance and constant progress towards increasingly perfect forms.
What is affirmed is that the beginning of everything, the initial start, is

in God. God said: Let us make man in our image and likeness.
God created man in his image; In the image of God he created him, male
and female he created them and God blessed them, and said to them: Be
fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. (Gen. 1:26-28).
After having created the stars, plants and animals, God finally created
man, who is God's creature. The first thing that emerges from the biblical
story is that there was a moment when man began to exist thanks to a
special intervention from God. It is true that it is Dust of the earth (Gen.
2:7), it is true that he is Adam, that is, a man of the earth, but he also has
a spiritual soul. It is the image of God. In Psalm 8:6, it is said of 61: "You
have placed him only a little below God."
The evolution of species, or any other explanation of the formation of the
human race, can be accepted, as long as the special action of God in the
spiritual origin of man is respected.
What does this special action of God consist of? Let's distinguish body
and soul. In relation to the soul, God's action was true creation and since
the soul is what is specific to man, it can well be said that man was
created by God.
The words of Professor Juan Pablo Tamayo fit here: "The objective of the
Bible is not to teach science, but spiritual life; not to tell us how man was
created, but rather what man is." Man, says the Bible, is the image and
likeness of GOD, and was created by God for the glory of Himself."
True humanity is born every day in Christ. "Everyone who believes that
Jesus is the Christ has been born of God" (I Jn. 5:1).
A central idea can be derived from the teaching of Genesis: the

VOCATION of man; From this vocation it follows that:
1) Man comes from God. (1:1).
2) Man is the summit of Creation. (1:26),
3) Man is a mediator, situated between the material world and God
(Gen. 2:19-20).
4) Man is called to work. (3:17).

5) Man is called to a community life; hence the importance of marriage
and family. (1:28).
6) Finally, man is called to intimacy with God.
OUR DESTINY
Vatican II has reminded today's man "that he has been created by God for
a happy destiny located beyond the borders of earthly misery" (Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in Today's World No. 18). And he explains it
like this: "The highest reason for human dignity consists of man's vocation
to union with God. From his very birth, man is invited to dialogue with
God. It exists purely and simply for the love of God, who created it, and for
the love of God who preserves it.
And it can only be said that he lives in the fullness of truth, when he freely
recognizes that love and entrusts himself entirely to his Creator" (Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in today's world No. 19).
Where are we going? In the same Constitution No. 38, Vatican II guides
us by telling us: "We do not know the time in which the consummation of
the earth and of humanity will take place. Nor do we know how the
Universe will be transformed. The figure of this world, disfigured by sin,
passes away, but God teaches us that he is preparing for us a new home
and a land where justice dwells" (2 Cor. 5:2) "and whose blessedness is
able to satisfy and overflow all the longings for peace that arise in the
human heart.
Then, having conquered death, the children of God will be resurrected in

Christ, and what was sown under the sign of weakness and corruption will
be clothed with incorruptibility and, charity and its works remaining, they
will be free from the servitude of vanity, all the creatures that God created
with man in mind".
We have to understand the wisdom of the evangelical maxim, which
warns us that it is of no use to a man to gain the whole world if he loses
(Matt. 16:26), since our final destination is God. Every day brings us
closer to Him.
Therefore, the object of this class is to put ourselves in our place; realize
that we are in the center of a path; that we come from God and we go to
Him, and that everything that takes us away from that route is harmful to
us. We have to thank the Lord at all times for having created us, who
constantly continues his creative action on us and who prepares us to go
to Him. And if we realize that we are moving away from His light and His
love, remember the words of Saint Augustine: "You made me, Lord, for
You, and my heart will be restless until I rest in You."

FROM GOD WE COME AND HE GOES

1. —What does it mean to you to have been created in the image and likeness of
God?
2. —What should we understand regarding the creation of man in the Genesis

story?
3. —Can the evolution of species or any other explanation of the formation of

man be accepted? Under what condition?
4.............—In Joshua, Chapter 1:5, the Lord tells us not to...............................

...............children................................................................................................
during the pilgrimage of our life.
5. —Psalm 139 in verses 7 and 8 confirms what important idea from the class?
6. —God intervenes in all things for the Good of those who Love Him. What
practical application do you give to these words of Saint Paul in II Cor. 8,21?
7. —According to the Vat Council. II, in the Const. Pastoral on the Church in
Today's World No. 19, When can it be said that man lives in the fullness of truth?
8. —What do you deduce from the maxim of Matthew 16:26 for your life? ......
9. —After reflecting on this class, think about whether you should change
anything in: Your service to the Lord..............................................................
Your spiritual improvement: ......
Your family:....................................................................................................
Your work and social environment: ...............................................................
10. —What is the central idea of this class?


THE BOOK OF THE LORD
The word Bible comes from the Greek "byblos", which means written
page, book. Bible, is the set of books.
According to Church doctrine, revealed truths are contained in sacred

writings and oral tradition. Not all of the doctrine was written, but part of it,
and part was preserved by oral tradition. (Jn. 21:25).
For 14 centuries, the doctrine was generally given orally. (2 Thess. 2:14)
(2 Tim. 2:2).
The set of sacred books or writings constitute the Bible or Holy Scriptures.
What distinguishes the Bible from all other writings and gives it its sanctity
and authority is, above all, divine inspiration. God is the main author of the
Bible, since He gave his inspiration to the different writers of it. He
illuminates the understanding and moves the will of the hagiographer, so
that he writes what He wants to communicate to us in order to our
Salvation, but leaves the hagiographer free to adapt the form of
expression of the inspired truth. Therefore, the human authors or
hagiographers were under the influence of the Holy Spirit in their work;
His personal work and also the work of God.
God's action on the world, on his people, as well as the knowledge that
some chosen men possessed of this situation of God, constitutes the
content of the Bible. The Bible is not so much a set of truths, but rather the
manifestation of divine activity. That is, it presents us with the history of
salvation that God promises and projects in advance, whose realization
He initiates and whose complete development He allows us to glimpse.
This salvation, which consists of nothing else but Christ, is promised and
"prefigured" in the Old Testament, which describes to us the election of
the people of God, their political prosperity and their decline, their

successive purification, their prophets, saints. and heroes, their cult and
their institutions and manifests the initial realization of salvation, and at the
same time points towards that Salvation that is Christ and that He will
bring. The most loving God, seeking and preparing the salvation of the
entire human race, chose a people to whom he entrusted his promises.
He made a covenant with Abraham (Gen 15:18) and with the people of
Israel through Moses (Ex. 24:8) and revealed himself by works to his
chosen people as the only true and living God.
Israel experienced what God's plans were for man. Speaking through the
prophets, he defended them among the nations.
The Old Testament was to prepare and prophetically announce the

coming of Christ the Universal Redeemer. (I Pet. 1:10, 11), (Lk. 24:44),
Jn. 5:39).
The books of the Old Testament manifest to everyone the knowledge

between God and man and the way of acting of God, just and merciful,
with men. God is the inspirer and author of both testaments: The New
Testament is latent in the Old, and the Old in the New.
The New Testament is, first of all, the history of this salvation manifested
in the person, mission, preaching, death, resurrection and glorification of
Christ; the foundation of his Church (Gospels and Acts), and is also the
expression of the knowledge that grows progressively due to the influence
of the Holy Spirit (Letters) and the total salvation reserved for the Church,
in recent times. (Rom. 15:4).
The Bible consists of 73 books: 46 from the Old Testament, and 27 from
the New Testament. Each book is divided into Chapters. This division is
the work of the Bishop of Canterbury, F. Langdon at the beginning of the
13th century.
The division of chapters into verses dates back to 1551 and was adopted
by the printer Roberto Estrenne. Most of the Old Testament is written in
Hebrew and the originals of the New Testament are entirely in Greek. The
autographs have disappeared. The copies have come down to us in
papyrus or parchment.
Three main methods can be suggested for Bible reading:

a) Follow in order the stages of salvation history: from the Old to the New
Testament.
b) Read the New Testament first and then move on to the Old.
c) Combined reading.
The writing of the Holy Scripture took place from the year 1,250 BC which
was when Moses, who is credited with writing a large part of the
Pentateuch, lived until the year 98 after Christ, when Saint John wrote the

Apocalypse, that is, it took him about 1,300 years to write.
At least 50 writers were involved in the writing of the Holy Scripture, the
main ones in the Old Testament being Moses, David, Ezra and in the New
Testament Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke, Saint John and Saint
Paul. Let us finally consider the document emanating from the Second
Vatican Council, which after establishing the convenience of the faithful
having broad access to Sacred Scripture, strongly recommends the
reading of the sacred book:
"Likewise, the Holy Synod insistently and ardently exhorts all the faithful,
especially the religious, to learn the eminent science of Jesus Christ (Phil.
3:8), through frequent reading of the divine Scriptures.
Remember, quoting Saint Ambrose, that reading the Bible must be
accompanied by prayer.
"Remember that prayer must accompany the reading of the Holy
Scripture, so that a conversation is established between God and man;
because when we pray, we speak to Him, and we listen to Him when we
read the divine oracles." (Const., Dogmatics on Divine Revelation, Cap. v.
25).
We do not want to end without recommending that you read the Holy
Scripture daily, that you have a time dedicated to this reading each day in
your life plan. We also want to recommend, as a combined method of
biblical reading and prayer, the daily reading of the Monthly Missal, that is,
the biblical readings that the Church brings each day for Mass.
If we take time every day to read the epistle and the Gospel of the day,
and if we do not fully understand the meaning of any of those readings,
read the entire chapter in the Bible, and that reading helps us to begin to
pray, Thinking first about what God wants to tell us in it and then starting a
conversation with Him about the same point, we will see that our prayer
progresses every day and that the entire ecclesial and liturgical
environment helps us focus on spiritual unity. We also recommend that
you read the entire Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, from the
Second Vatican Council.

1. —What are the books of the Pentateuch?
a) How many? ....................................

b) Of them, which ones have you read? .................................................
2. — Do you believe that the Bible is a book inspired by God? .........................
3. — Do you read the Bible daily? .....................................

a) The Old Testament? ............................................
b) The new Testament? ...........................................
c) Both? ...........................................
d) How long do you read the Bible daily? .............................................
4. —What and how many are the books of the prophets? ................................
5. —How many Psalms does the Bible have? ...................................................
6. —What are the names of the four Evangelists of the New Testament?
7. —What are the Epistles of Saint Paul?
8. —Do you know why they are called Epistles? ...............................................
9. —Who wrote the Apocalypse? ......................................................................
10. —What practical conclusion did you reach in this class? ............................

THE WORD OF GOD IN OUR LIFE
In the previous class we saw what the Bible is, how it is formed, its
content, its divisions, how many books it consists of, methods for reading
it, and how the Church recommends its reading. In this class, we are
going to see how the Bible, that is, the Word of God, influences our lives.
In order to achieve this, we are going to ensure that the Word of God itself
tells us how it acts in us, how, if we are docile, if we allow that Word to
penetrate us, it can increase our faith, our confidence, our dedication to
God. Lord, in a word, change our lives.
If we read John 1, from 1 to 5, we notice that the Word of the Lord has
always existed, that everything in the world was made through it, that life
was in it and that life was the light that shines in the darkness without
They can defeat it. That is, we understand that through the word we exist,
through it we are created, through it we know and have light. This word of
God is JESUS.
We continue reading from 9 to 12: that true light was in the world and the
world was made by it; those who received it did not receive it, but to those
who received it, it gave the power to become children of God.
With this we would have reason and material to meditate for a long time;
Each phrase is a whole class that we will understand more and more,
alone with the Lord. She, the Word, if we receive it, makes us Children of
God... The whole world around us exists because of it, and we can
complete this by reading Genesis, in which we see that when God SAYS
to do something, it is done. (Gen. 1:3, 6, 9. 11, 14, 20, 24, 26).
The Word of the Lord creates us, makes us Children of God.
And now let's think, how does that word come to us? In Wisdom 18:15, we
see that the Word leaps from heaven, like a relentless warrior, like a sharp
sword that tears everything. And in Isaiah 55:10-11, we see that His Word
will not return to Him empty, without having accomplished what He
desires, without soaking and fertilizing that to which God sends it. It
comes from God with power, and never returns void.
The Word of the Lord is powerful to show us our vocation, to take away
our fear when we are SENT by God on some special mission. In Jeremiah
1:4-10, we see that the Lord tells him not to be afraid because he is a boy,
for He has put His words in his mouth, and gives him authority over
kingdoms to destroy and rebuild. . . and later, in 17-19, he tells him not to
faint, because He makes it a stronghold, a bronze wall, etc., and promises
that neither priests nor kings will be able to defeat him, because the Lord
is with him.

On the other hand, we see that the Lord many times before entrusting us
with a mission, wants and has to purify us, remove from us all the dirt and
rot that we have. In Isaiah 6:4-8, we see how he feels impure, how the
Lord purifies him with a burning coal, and once purified, he no longer
fears, and when the Lord asks: whom shall I send? He answers: Here I
am, send me.
There are also times when, without our wanting it, the Lord can clearly
indicate his will to us, even when we are thinking about something else, or
when because of our fault, because of our pride, because of our laziness,
we do not want to hear his voice. In Acts 9:4-7, we see that the Lord
called Saul to his service, making him see his light when he was
persecuting Christians. It made him fall off his horse, as he often has to do
with us, making us fall off those horses that we don't want to get off: our
stubbornness, our self-sufficiency, etc. The Lord leaves Saul blind until he
obeys the Lord, with which we see again how the Lord purifies us before
entrusting us with a mission. He later made Saul the Apostle of the
Gentiles; Why would he want us if we allow ourselves to be pulled by the
"horse" to which we are tied?
The Lord himself commands us to investigate the scriptures, as we see in

John 5:30.
Also when we are tempted, we must turn to the Word of God. In Matthew
4:3 we see that Jesus responds to the Tempter by saying that the life of
man is the Word of God. And in his other temptations, he also responds
with Words of Scripture, whereupon the devil leaves him.
In the Word we also find the bases and foundations of our community life,
of how we should behave with our brothers. In Col. 3:16, we see that
others also have something of Christ for us, since his Word dwells in
them. From here we can learn to

receive fraternal correction and think that just as we are letters from Christ
to them. They are also for us. Don't you think that many susceptibilities
and anger would disappear if we constantly thought that our brothers are
sent by Christ to us as letters? We would always sing gratefully with
psalms, hymns and inspired songs. In II Cor. 3:3, we read that Paul says
that we are a letter from Christ written by the Spirit of God, in the very
heart. And what is a letter? It is always a message, important information,
a request... If we are a letter from God, isn't it true that we are something
very important to our brothers? We have to be attentive to know what
message the Lord wants to give to our brothers through us. We are letters
from God; that these letters do not remain locked in an envelope, without
anyone being able to read them; We have an obligation to make them
reach their destination.
We could spend many hours seeing how much the Word of the Lord can
WE ARE EQUAL TO A LETTER

WRITTEN BY GOD
influence us; as it is the best school of life, wisdom, joy and strength. But
to finish, let's read Lk. 1:26-38. It is the Annunciation. It is perhaps the
most poetic page of Holy Scripture. We see in it how the Lord sends his
Word to Mary through an angel, his messenger. By comparison, for us
that angel could be a sermon listening, a brother's advice, a reading. We
also realize that the Lord himself confirms his own message, telling Mary
that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant. And when Mary is sure of the
Lord's message, she does not argue, she does not think about what
consequences what the Lord announces to her will have for her, but rather
she answers with simplicity and humility: "Behold, I am the handmaid of
the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word." thus teaching us to
respond to the Lord, when we are certain of what He desires, "here is your
slave...". What will happen next? We don't know, but we can trust Him,
how powerful He is, to guide us on the right path if we obey Him with
humility and trust.
This is enough to realize that the Word of God is Spirit and Life. It is the
path we must follow, the easiest and safest way to be with Jesus. It is the
treasure of the Church to give us life, as it does every day at Mass. We
have to remember that without it, nothing would exist. You always have to
listen to it.

If Mary had not been attentive to the Word of God, what would have
happened?
The Revelation is now complete, the only new thing we can have are
motions that the Holy Spirit gives to people in accordance with the true
interpretation and meaning of Sacred Scripture and Tradition, entrusted to
the Magisterium of the Church by the same Spirit . That is why before
reading or listening to the Word, we must ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten
us so that we live the Word.
Last class, we told you that one method of reading the Word is the Missal:
it is also a very good method for praying. (Explain it). There is also a book
called " Strong Conversations for Strong Times", which is a complement
to the daily Missal, because in addition to bringing the 2 readings of the
day, it brings a commentary that helps us a lot to understand the readings
and begin our prayer.
We must grow spiritually, we cannot stagnate, and the Holy Spirit, through
prayer, will teach us more and more what the Word of God tells us. But let
us remember that first we must purify our spiritual ears from all noise and
interference, so that our eyes are clean and our words are always full of
love. It is then, and only then, when He will remove the veils of divinity and
teach us "to pray, to communicate with that invisible God, through his
living Word, which is his Son Jesus.

1. —Who is the WORD, or the Word of God?....................
2. —Where do we find it?
3. —In this class we saw that the Word of God is like a two-edged sword.
(Heb. 4:12). If we use it and live we ; of it
contrary
us.............................................
4. —In Lc. 8:19, Jesus tells us that: My mother and my brothers are
those who hear the........................... of......................................... and the
........................ in....................................... ........................................
5. —In Lc. 8:4 (Parable of the Sower), Jesus tells us in verse 11 that his
Word is like a..................................................................................
a) The first hear the Word but................................................... so that
not And......................................................................................
b)When the word falls on rock, they hear the Word with joy, but
...........................and at
the time of the test. . .
c) When the word falls among thorns, it indicates to those who hear
the Word,
From God, but.................................. And the............................ And the
.............................. AND the seed dies.
6. —In which land, of the previous examples, do you think you are?
7. —What do you think you should do to be one of those in whom the

Word of the Lord falls on good ground?....................................................
8. —What did you like most about the class?
9. —Following the example of the Holy Virgin. Virgin, how should we

respond to the word of the Lord, already confirmed for us?
This Questionnaire is not to be read by anyone; It is made for each person

to review their life, alone with God.

FAITH
Genesis 22:1-18. Abraham.

YO. —God wants to work in us and through us. (Jeremiah 18:1-6).
Faith is the means by which we allow Him to do so.
What is Faith?
The Bible gives us the following definition: "Faith is the guarantee of what
is hoped for; the proof of realities that are not seen. (Hebrews 11:1).
What is expected? What are the realities that are not seen? All this is
gathered together in revelation. Through revelation we know what Christ
has communicated to us about the Father.
Faith is a YES to Christ, I BELIEVE WHAT YOU SAY, accepting His
Word, it is believing in Jesus.
How does Faith in God come to us? Well, through preaching, and
preaching in turn comes from the Word of God. (Rom. 10:17).
Faith is not my own invention. It is not achieved through reflection. The
Word of Christ is heard and believed, even if it has not been seen. The
Gospel makes us new, and this means conversion. (II Tim. 3:14-15).
As we said at the beginning:

A) God wants to work in us and through us. (I Jn. 5:5) (Jn. 14:13).
B) Faith is the way or the means by which God works. (Rom. 1:17).
—Not because He wants to make the path difficult or present obstacles for
us to reach Him.
—But He wants us to rest in Him so that He can work through us. (How
we learn to swim) (Gal. 2:20).
—Faith makes it easier to receive. It opens our soul and heart. Ex. Closed
hands.

—Faith allows us to use what God gives us, that is, it makes us act in
Faith (II Cor. 5:6-7).
—Faith is like a key, it is useless if we do not use it to open the lock.
C) Faith is not only doctrinal belief or trust in the goodness of God, but it
is believing his Word, expecting its fulfillment and acting accordingly. (Mk.
5:24) (Matt. 14:22-23).
II. —Faith is not a blind step, but an affirmative response to the

Revelation of God.
What is Revelation? Vatican II tells us: "God, in his goodness and wisdom,
wanted to reveal himself and manifest the mystery of his will, by which
men, through the mediation of Christ, the Word made flesh, have access
in the Holy Spirit to the Father." and they become participants in the divine
nature. Thus, by this revelation, the invisible God, by the abundance of his
charity, speaks to men as friends and dwells among them, in order to
invite them to union with Him and receive them into it. (Dei Verbum Cap.
1-2).
Faith is a supernatural virtue that makes us accept revealed truths, out of

trust in the Word of God that reveals them to us. Jesus is the Verb, the
Word.
To believe what Jesus tells us, we must first know him. Believing is related
to knowing, knowing. Before believing what is said, you believe in who
says it.
Although it is man's response, we cannot fail to point out the
gratuitousness of Faith. The more noble and sublime the objective, the
less man can achieve it by his own strength and worth. (Ephesians 2:8).
Faith presupposes and demands humility.

If we humbly realize that by ourselves we cannot do or understand
anything about supernatural life, we are ripe for the illumination of the Holy
Spirit.
The Holy Spirit makes us give
a) A response to certain promises He makes for everyone. Ex. Being
baptized in the Holy Spirit (Matt. 3:11).
b) He makes us entrust ourselves to his guidance for a particular
situation, whether through a brother or through personal inspiration.
c) Sometimes we have to take steps of Faith without special revelation,
trusting in what we know of His mercy.

III. — Tips to grow in Faith.
1) Not to be tense about one's Faith, but to relax and have the will to
fight, to try. Allow the Lord to teach us how. (Ephesians 2:8).
2) Do not try to force the feelings of Faith, understanding the revealed

truths or mysteries, because if we do so, we focus attention on ourselves,
when what we should do is focus on Christ, on His power and on what
interests Him. . We have to be convinced that there are divine mysteries
that we cannot understand, because God does not fit in our minds. (Ex.
Saint Augustine: the angel wanting to put the sea into a little hole). This is
not opposed to contemplation, in which God is the one who reveals
something of his mysteries to us, to the extent that He pleases.
3) When asking for something in prayer, do it with confidence, not like

beggars, giving thanks in advance to God for what He will do, confessing
His Lordship and power, praising Him and trusting in His promises (Mark.
11:24).
4) Read books that build Faith, that is, books that show us the faith of
others and the results they have obtained, whether Lives of the great
Saints, who have always been men of great Faith, or one of the new
books of this kind. Renewal in the Holy Spirit, in which it seems that the
Lord wants people of intense and firm Faith„ to be able to act with all his
power. (Ex. The Cross and the Dagger).
5) Pray for faith, with confidence of obtaining it. (Mk. 9:24).
LORD INCREASE MY FAITH

1. —What did you understand by having FAITH before this Course?
2. —And what do you understand now?
3. - What is the difference?
4. —What does "Believing in Jesus Christ" mean to you?
5. —In Hebrews 11:1 we read that faith is the guarantee of things hoped
for.
a) What do you understand by this? .....................................................
b) What do you expect from the Lord?...................................................
And the proof of realities that are not seen.
c) Have you experienced this in any way?
6. — Is your FAITH alive and active?
a) Have you started developing it?
b) Where?
c) How?
d) In your personal life and prayer?
e) In ministries to other people?
7. —After reflecting on this class and praying, how do you plan to work to
develop your faith?
This Questionnaire is not to be read by anyone; It is made for each person

to review their life, alone with God.

LOVE TO GOD
Jeremiah 33:2-3.
A. —What it means to love God.
Loving God is the greatest thing anyone can do.
—God is the greatest cause for which any person would want to live.
(Rom. 14:8).
—The desire to surrender completely to God is the special characteristic
of great Christians. (Mt. 13:44-46).
—To know and love God is to live deeply; We all hunger for God. (Jn.
6:35). In Christ, we can learn to satisfy this hunger, receiving Him in the
Eucharist, the Bread of Life that feeds us but by making us taste what the
Lord is, leaves us with greater hunger for Him, for greater intimacy, more
prayer, etc.
B. —How one should love God.

1) With all the Heart (I of Jn. 4:16). —Putting him before anything else.
—Obeying him. (I of Jn. 2:6) (Phil. 2:5).
2) With all the Mind:
—Wanting to get to know you better. Not with our means, studying
Theology, acquiring various doctorates, etc., but letting the Holy Spirit
teach us. (Jn. 14:26).
3) With all the soul:
—Directing everything we have (time, money, affection, friendships),
towards Him. (Gal. 2:20).
11.—It is the Holy Spirit, who makes us grow in our relationship with God.
(Jn. 16:13-15).
—We will know the depths of God. (Eph. 3:14-21);
—Led by the spirit. (Gal. 5:18).
—He will make us perfect. (I Cor. 13:11).

—Transform ourselves according to the action of the Holy Spirit. (2 Cor.
3:16-18).
—We have to let ourselves be the Lord. (Phil. 2:13).
—We must convince ourselves of the importance of prayer. (Time, place).
In the next class we will talk more about it.
And when we feel that we are failing, that the path is difficult and rough,
when the first moments pass and we stop feeling the presence of the Lord
that makes us happy and optimistic, let us remember that the joy of the
Lord always helps and strengthens us. (Es. 12:2-3). (Neh. 8- at the end of
10).

1. — Do you really love God above any other person or thing?

a) Do you love him with all your heart?...........................................
b) With all your mind?..............................................................
c) With all your soul?...............................................................
d) With all your strength? ........................................................
2. —What are you doing to know and love God more every day?
3. — Do you feel totally surrendered to Him or are you still bound by
something that you cannot let go of?
4. —Do you feel that you love others more since you received the
baptism in the Spirit?
5. —Have others noticed this loving attitude of yours?
a) They have told you?
b) Have they changed favorably

with you?................................................
6. —In Matthew 6:33, Jesus makes us a promise: "Seek first the

Kingdom of God and His Justice and everything else will be added to us."
a) What is the "Kingdom of God" for you?
b) Are you looking for Him first, before anything else or anyone else?
c) What does "His Justice" mean to you?
d) Do you believe in that promise of Jesus that everything else will be

added to you?
7. —How can you know if you really love God?
8. —What have you gotten out of this class?


THE SENTENCE
Although we have already discussed this in Growth 2, it is good to stop

and think about whether our prayer life has improved.
For years we have prayed repeating established formulas without putting

real interest in what we say; because? Because by repeating something,
that something becomes a mechanical formula, empty, lifeless, without
heat. The Holy Spirit is teaching us today that these are no longer the
times to pray, he wants to teach us to pray, which is not to repeat, but to
speak, to dialogue with God spontaneously, freely, as a child speaks with
his Father.
PRAYING MEANS: Counting on the existence of God, placing yourself in

HIS presence, recognizing His power and entrusting yourself to Him. It
means presenting before God the joy and misery of the world, it means
hearing the word of God and responding to it, in short, praying means
living with God. Jesus' disciples were believing Jews, who prayed the
ancient prayers of God's people and praised him as king and Lord,
powerful, great and holy. When they said to Jesus: Lord, teach us to pray,
Jesus gave them that they could call God FATHER. Jesus himself used
this invocation, because he said Abba, Father, which was the word with
which the children of Palestine called their father. (Mark 14:36) (Rom.
8:15-16) (Gal. 4:6).
J ESUS TEACHES US TO PRAY, BECAUSE HE IS THE GREATEST EXAMPLE OF A

MAN OF PRAYER. IN THE GREAT MOMENTS OF HIS LIFE HE RETIRED TO PRAY. IT
SHOWS. ABOVE ALL, HOW DIRECT AND SIMPLE HIS PRAYER IS.
This shows how much we deceive ourselves if we neglect the dialogue
with God and dedicate all our time to daily tasks, at work, at home or even
in works of charity.
The word of God constantly invites us: Pray. (Lk. 18:1) (Col. 4:2) (I Thess.
5:17).

We often think that prayer is a matter of our disposition, our mood, and
Satan knows this, and he separates us more and more from a life of
prayer. And we forget that the word Pray (Mt. 26.41), is an order. This
word has come from the mouth of the Lord of Lords and before it, there is
only one attitude: that of the one who obeys. Jesus has freed us from all
the powers of darkness, which want to separate us from prayer.
The command to pray does NOT say that we pray only in the morning, at
noon, or at night. It is true that we must set certain times of prayer, but the
Lord calls us to a total life of prayer, to a life of constant exchange with
Him.
If we came to understand that prayer increases our time and gives all our
tasks peace, love, patience and thus a good end, this would be recorded
in us in an unforgettable way: First sharpen the instruments, then use
them, that is, above all and first of all, pray. As our prayer life is, so will our
life, our harvest, so will our victory over our desires and temptations.
Feeling called to a life of prayer and making the decision to pray further is
to declare war on the devil, because when we pray, we praise Jesus'
victory over our sins, ask for liberation from our bonds, or fight for other
souls, reach faith, and with this, we attack the kingdom of Satan. When
trying to take away its prey, we have to expect resistance and attacks on
its part. Now, prayer is not a monologue, but dialogue, conversation. God
is not a mute statue, but an interlocutor. An important part of prayer is also
listening to God. He has many things to tell us, much more important than
what we can say to Him, God can speak to us internally, in the silence of
the soul. But speaking about God to man also has another normal
channel: Holy Scripture. Prayer and Reading of the Word guarantee direct
channels from God to us.
ELEMENTS OF PRAYER
Several elements must come together in prayer that give it unity and
strength. Just as in a paella there are many components and it is a single
tasty stew, so it is with these different elements of prayer.

MODESTY
TRUST
PERSEVERANCE
DOCILITY OF
WILL
PRAYER
We must think that God is our Lord and Creator and we are only weak and
sinful creatures, completely dependent on Him.
He. So let us pray with humility.
God is our Father, who answers our prayers, although many times in a
different way than we expect, because He knows better than us what is
best for us; Therefore, let us pray with confidence.
Christ did not stop praying on the Mount of Olives; He persevered in his
prayer even though his soul was sad until death, with this he taught us to
pray with perseverance.
We must be willing to have the type of prayer that God wants for us every
day, that is, pray with docility of will.
PRAYER CLASSES
As we saw previously, a prayer life is made up of, among many other
forms, prayer of petition, thanksgiving, intercession, adoration or praise,
constant prayer, intimacy, etc.
Almost all men, even those who know nothing or very little about prayer,
resort to petitionary prayer. (Mark 11:24) (Mt. 7:7). This happens when
they are in great need.
Since there is a need that we cannot resolve, we ask, and many times our
prayer, although it has been made with fervor, with all humility, etc., does
not receive an answer.
Because? Because only children are given the right and have been
promised to be attended to in their prayers. The Scripture says that Jesus,
when he dies, takes us back to the heart of the Father and from the
condition of servants makes us children: "But to all who received it, the
power was given to become children of God, to those who believe in his
name." (Jn. 1:12). Children are those who no longer live in bondage but
have received the Spirit of adoption and cry "Abba Father" (Rom. 8:15).
Every Father is pleased to give his children, especially our Heavenly
Father. (Lk. 11:9-11).
Sometimes when we receive answers to our requests we also receive
parental correction. A good son also receives corrections from his
heavenly Father and knows that he must accept them. Not because we
are corrected are we less loved by God, on the contrary, it is a sample of
His infinite love and sure proof of not being bastards but legitimate

children, at the same time that it prepares us for new gifts from the hand
of the Father. (Heb. 12:5-13).
A true son does not doubt whether or not there are answered prayers,
because he is sure that his request will be resolved, although sometimes
in a different way than he imagined.
Let us now move on to the prayer of thanksgiving. (Cabbage. 2:6-7). In
thanksgiving, there is a very particular force. If I thank someone, I express
with it that I firmly believe in their promises and I expect their fulfillment.
He who gives thanks to God in advance, recognizes his greatness and
trusts in his love.
In the word of God there are many promises, and to give thanks for them
is to take possession of them, make use of them, apply them to us in this
20th century, and live them today. We have the right to this because
Christ won them for us: "He who offers sacrifices of thanksgiving gives me
glory, to the upright man I will show the Salvation of God. (Psalm 50:23).
Another way to pray is to intercede for something or someone; It
definitively breaks our selfishness: He who knows how to do good and
does not do it, sins. (Saint. 4:17).
The Lord has chosen us, to release in us the power of his Spirit, and this
choice, which raises us, cleanses, teaches and leads us in a life in the
Spirit, not in a way of enlightenment, but of surrender to Him and through
Him To the brothers, it presents us with an opportunity to do good. The
Spirit of God teaches us to pray, not only for our own, but for our fellow
human beings. Intercession only achieves its objective when it is done
with all sincerity, and with perseverance, because it is serious about
achieving something determined, something from which it does not give
up easily, but for which it seriously sacrifices time and effort. Praying is
staying in prayer until God answers.
The Lord gives us an example of intercessory prayer in John 17:9 26,
asking the Father for his own, asking for them, unity, protection, care,
salvation, wisdom and finally, glory.
Now, we have not only been created to present our requests to God, or to
intercede for our brothers, things that are very important; Above all, we
have been created to worship God, to praise him.
Praise (Ps. 34:1), contains a power that we hardly understand, the praise
of the name of Jesus and his love can achieve what human means could
not achieve.
It is up to us, his creatures, nothing else but to praise our Creator, who
has brought us out of nothing. There is no greater dignity for us, who are
like grains of sand or droplets of water, than to praise and glorify him, the
Almighty, thanks to whom we are. It is incomprehensible that poor beings
like us dare to make our praise to God wait. Today, we must decide, once
and for all, to enter the choir of worshipers so that later, in heaven, our
voice will not fail and to be counted among those who contemplate his
face and surround his throne in joyful allegation and praise. .
Constant Prayer.

Prayer is the breathing of the soul, and breathing has to be done
constantly, because only in this way can one live.
A life of constant prayer is a constant dialogue of the soul with God. If we
love Jesus, we will talk to Him about all our affairs, we will present
everything to Him in prayer and we will submit everything to His blessing.
(I Tim. 2:8) (Romans 12:9-12) (Jas. 5:16).
Later, we will talk about the prayer of intimacy or union with God.
To conclude, we want to say that a Community without prayer is a dead

Community; It will be useless to work hard, teach many classes, have
great organization, if there is no prayer; The power will be obtained from
prayer, and thus all the works that are carried out will be anointed by the
Lord.

GROWTH 3 QUESTIONNAIRE No.7
1. —What is the difference between prayer and prayer?
2. —Is your sentence a monologue or a dialogue?
3. —How do you use prayer as your weapon?

a) In temptations? ..................................................................
b) In the worries? ...................................................................
c) In anguish?.........................................................................
d) In depressions? .................................................................................
e) In disappointments? ................................................................................
f) —Have you asked the Holy Spirit to teach you how to pray?
4. —You make that request in an attitude:

Humble? ..........................................
Reverent? .......................................
Worship? ................
Of respect? .....................................
Trustworthy?....................................
5. —After studying your previous answers, how should your sentence change?
6. Are you persevering in your prayer?..............................................................
7. —James 1:5 tells us that if we lack.......................................................... Ask

God who gives generously to everyone.........................................................
But ask for it with ............................................... without ..............................
Because he who............................ Is like the waves of the sea carried by
One to another part. No................................ receive something from the Lord
A man like this...................................... AND................................. In all
Their paths.
8. —What kind of prayer do you practice?

a) Petition? ................................................
b) Thanksgiving? ..........................
c) Intercession? .........................................
d) Worship?..........................................
e) Praise?...................................................
f) Contemplation? .....
g) Others?.............................................
9. —What changes have you had in your life because of this class?
This Questionnaire is not to be read by anyone; It is made for each person to

review their life, alone with God.

GROWTH No. 3 CLASS No 8
LET YOURSELF BE GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
All of us have been baptized in the Holy Spirit, and in some personal way,
we have experienced its power acting, working, transforming.
But, as a key condition of this, we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and
Savior, we have opened the doors of our hearts to Him, and for this we
have received the adoption as children of God. (Rom. 8:15-16).
Now, God is going to treat us like children, like children he is going to
teach us, guide us, correct us, etc. (Heb. 12:5-11).
The Bible tells us in Romans 8:14, Indeed, all who are guided by the Holy
Spirit of God are children of God.
We children of God have no power in ourselves to initiate, promote or
maintain a life in the Spirit. Rather, it is revealed to us that God is the one
who produces in us this walk towards Christ. (Phil. 2:13). Human
responsibility consists of putting in all our effort, but depending entirely on
the Spirit. The Bible tells us that the righteous will live by FAITH (Rom.
1:17). This our dependence on the Spirit must encompass all the fields to
which our responsibility reaches: our family, our work, our apostolate, our
entertainment, our relationships, etc. (Vatican II, Constitution on the
Church, can. IV No. 34, second paragraph).
This life in Faith will never be achieved through human resolution or by

struggle or by the efforts of the flesh: it is by fighting the Good Fight of
Faith (I Tim 6,12). There is a big difference between striving to do what
only God can do, and striving to maintain an attitude of dependence on
Him to do what only He can do.

This is precisely the good fight of Faith, dying to ourselves so that then
He, through His Spirit, lives and acts in and through us.
I spirit
MEAT SPIRIT
If we consider the line as a border, we see that when I act in any

circumstance, even in pious things (e.g. a catechism class, a homily, etc.)
I act in the flesh; To act in the spirit is to let ourselves be guided by the
Spirit of God.
Let's now realize what the Word of God tells us about what it means to let
ourselves be guided by the Spirit.
Galatians 3:3.
Are we baptized in the Spirit and want to move forward in the life of the
Spirit? So we have to think that it is foolish to let the flesh dominate us by
speaking ill of our brother, by judging our Community without even having
the necessary bases to do so; Even worse is judging Priests by an
external attitude. It is foolish to allow the flesh to dominate us through our
weaknesses and appetites, etc., instead of allowing ourselves to be
guided by the Spirit. Our spirit is given to us by God to respond to Him
(Watchman Nee, in Deliverance. of the Spirit). It is foolish to think that our
advancement and growth as people or as a Community depend on
ourselves and not on the Spirit of God, when we know that it blows where
it wants, even if we have no preparation, even if we have no studies; If we
have Him, it is enough. It is foolish to judge other Communities because
they develop differently than ours. In short, everything that is not inspired
or guided by the Holy Spirit is foolish.
But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, since the Spirit of GOD
dwells in you. Rom. 8:9.
Galatians 5:25: True Spirituality depends on a positive attitude of trust in

the presence and power of the indwelling Spirit.
Galatians 2:20: Christian doctrine alone has no power in itself to initiate,
promote, or maintain a life in the Spirit. It is revealed to us that the Spirit is
the one who produces this walk in the Spirit. Human responsibility
consists of doing everything on our part, but depending entirely on Him
(Jn. 16:13) (Rom. 8:28).
CONCLUSION:
If the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is a surrender of our entire being to the
Spirit of the Lord and a special performance of that Divine Spirit in us, let
us think that this Baptism in the Holy Spirit does not end, but rather
continues throughout our entire life. renewing itself day after day, hour
after hour, etc. That is why we must make a constant effort to stop acting

for ourselves so as not to let ourselves be carried away by our selfishness
and our desires, but on the contrary, surrender everything, especially our
will, to the inspirations of the Spirit of God (Rom. 12:1-2).

1. — What have you noticed? power of the Holy Spirit in your life?
2. — In what ways do you notice that you have allowed yourself to be

guided by the Holy Spirit and in what ways by yourself?
3. — Do you live by faith?
4. —In what way do you allow yourself to be dominated by the flesh?
5. —You are a temple of the Holy Spirit. Do you live by this? Do you
remember it frequently? ...............................................................
6. —Have you bowed your will to the Divine Will?
In what?
7. — Do you frequently renew your dedication to the Lord?
8. —How has the Holy Spirit prompted you to work for your brothers?
9. — Do you feel God's call to commit yourself to his service through this
Community?
10. — Are you willing to work on what, according to you, the Holy Spirit
inspires the Community for you?
11. —How much time could you dedicate to this job?

a) Every day? ............................................
b) Weekly? ................................................
c) Eventually? ............................................
12. —At what time do your circumstances allow you to work for the
Lord? This Questionnaire is not to be read by anyone; It is made for each

GROWTH No. 3
Questions to reflect on at the end of the Course, both in Coexistence and

during rest time.
1. - Is Jesus really LORD of all areas of my life?

Is there not some portion of my life in which I have not allowed Him to
reign?
2. - Have I tried to ensure that the word of the Lord transforms my life, not
by reading it only for study or hobby, but by ensuring that it penetrates my
being to transform it?
3. - Have I understood in this Course the need to "live by faith"?

What resolutions have I made for this faith to grow in me?
4. - My love for the Lord must be not a sentimentality, but rather a

response to his love for me. What will my "commitment of love" to the
Lord consist of? Try to make it concrete and ask that this commitment be
greater every day.
5. - What time and place have I set for my personal prayer? Am I fulfilling
my resolution to dedicate a certain amount of time to the Lord? How long
have I set?
6. - Have I given my life to the Spirit of the Lord? Am I attentive to your

inspirations? Do I look for them in all my actions, big and small?
I must try, from the moment it dawns, to surrender my entire day to the
Holy Spirit, and remember as many times as I can this surrender, when
changing my occupation, when undertaking something new, in a joy, a
worry, etc. Am I doing it like this?
These questions can be reviewed every week, to realize if they are

becoming more and more positive, and in that case move on, or if I have
stopped along the way and then think about what the cause is and
remedy it.

GROWTH No. 4

GOD IS CALLING HIS PEOPLE
Goal: To make us understand that in our lives, just as he did with his
people Israel, the Lord continues to make choices for each of us.
1. - GOD MADE ISRAEL HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE

The choice of Israel as God's favorite people was a free and independent
choice on the part of God. This choice was not due to a blind competition
of circumstances, but to a deliberate and sovereign initiative on the part of
God. (Ex. 34:9) (Num. 23:8). The book of Deuteronomy considers the
election by God as due to Yahweh's love for his ancestors and the oath
sworn to his parents.
a) The origin of election is a free initiative on the part of God. (Dt. 7:6;
14:2; 4:34).
b) The purpose of the election is to constitute a holy people,

consecrated to Yahweh (Deut. 26:19).
c) The result of such a choice, which placed Israel above other peoples,
was to point it to a different destiny that has nothing in common with the
destiny of other peoples.
2. - FIRST CALLS FROM THE LORD

As happened with the people of Israel, when we give ourselves to the
Lord to be part of his people, we feel throughout our lives his constant
calls for something increasingly better.
a) God never asks for everything at once, but on the contrary, he asks
us little by little, preparing us, and to the extent of our response, his calls
are for something greater, not according to the category of the work, but
according to the greatness of the love that it demands. .
b) Its first call is to existence itself, when we are born. Just as in

Genesis 1:27, he makes us in his image and likeness, giving us dominion
over ourselves and what surrounds us.
c) We grow and when due to our weakness we fall into faults, He

lovingly makes us new calls that show us our reality and awaken our
conscience. (Gen. 3:9).
d) God's love is eternal, and sometimes after a life of sin or distance

from the Lord, He has a new call for us, he floods us with his Spirit,
washes us and we become new men, as happens in Baptism in the Holy
Spirit. (Gen. 9:9-17). This is the so-called Cosmic Alliance, made by God
with Noah for a new purified humanity.

CONDITIONS: FAITH, OBEDIENCE, FAITHFULNESS
If we are docile to the small calls of the Lord, He makes our faith and trust
grow, to follow Him even in things that sometimes we do not understand,
as in the case of Abraham. Yahweh calls to him: "Go from your land, from
your kindred, from your father's house, to the land that I show you. . . ". It
is a choice and a pact, because God, when asking Abraham for
obedience, also offers him: I will bless whoever blesses you. (Gen. 12:1-
3).
OBEDIENCE – FAITH – FAITHFULNESS
This alliance is consummated by Abraham's blind obedience when he

sacrifices his son Isaac, a test to which he subjects him to the Lord before
beginning the fulfillment of his promise to make his descendants multiply
like the stars (Gen. 22:15-17).
Abraham is the father of believers because of his obedience, his faith and
his faithfulness, and he teaches us that these are the essential qualities to
truly be part of God's people.
In St. John 8:31, we see that we will be of the lineage of Abraham if we do
the works of Abraham, that is, if we obey in everything, from leaving our
land, leaving relatives and possessions (money, comforts, etc.), in
abandonment absolute to God, and walk through the desert in search of
the promised land that is Jesus himself in us.
Jesus also teaches us this in his obedience to the Father, becoming
obedient to the point of death on the cross, that is, if we want to be a
chosen people, we need Faith, Obedience and Fidelity.
In the past courses we have talked and thought a lot about Faith, now we
are going to think a little about what Obedience and Fidelity consist of.
OBEDIENCE
To truly grow in the Lord, we must OBEY his commands. In Exodus 19:5-
6, we see the Covenant on Mount Sinai, where the tables of the Law, or
Decalogue, are given to Moses. This Alliance is already a bilateral pact,
because the Lord says: IF YOU FULFILL MY COMMANDMENTS, I WILL
BE YOUR GOD AND YOU WILL BE MY PEOPLE. For Him to be our
God, that is, our strength, our Savior, our Father, our Everything, and for
us to be His people, whom He leads, guides and protects to get them to

the promised land, we have to obey His commands. .
In Deuteronomy 6:4-5, we find the very heart of the law and of God's
Covenant with his people. Here is the supreme commandment: love God
with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your strength.
The mere thought that the eternal, omnipotent and immense God, God
who does not need men at all because He has everything in Himself, has
so much tenderness and mercy for us that the only thing He asks of us is
our love, must make us Every moment of our life the love that asks of us
and that commands us grows more and more. It is also when we fulfill that
mandate and only then, when we reach our complete realization, when we
stop living in idolatry (because idolatry is our selfishness, love of money,
disordered affections, etc., since anything or person that is for us more
important than God, is an idol) and we focus on
God, cause and effect of our life.
The Lord does not abandon us in the efforts we make to obey Him; It only
asks us to have courage and courage to overcome all obstacles and
reach the promised land. (Joshua 1:2-4).
The Lord's commands are not more important because they are external
(written in stone) but because He engraves them in our hearts according
to our docility and openness to Him (Jeremiah 31, 31-34).
The Lord offers us to "forgive us our sins and remember them no more."
In Ezekiel 36:26-27, He offers us a new heart, removing from us the heart
of stone and giving us a heart of flesh. He promises to infuse us with his
Spirit, causing us to conduct ourselves according to his precepts and
standards.
That is to say that we, into whom the Lord has infused his Spirit, must
always obey his commands, which are commands of love, certain that if
we put our will into it, He will change our heart of stone for a new heart.
FIDELITY
Fidelity to the Lord is obedience carried to the end. It's easy to start

obey, do it when we like, either when
that
obedience fills us with joy. But God asks us to always obey him, not
according to to our convenience, but which He commands
us,
constantly, until the cross, until death.
The fullness of all the Covenants and covenants of the Lord to his people
and with each one of us, is "in the institution of the Eucharist (Luke.
22:19); IT IS THE NEW AND ETERNAL COVENANT, the alliance of
perfect love, in which the Blood of Jesus is shed for all men for the
forgiveness of sins.
Through this Alliance, Jesus wants to stay with us UNTIL THE END, so
that our union with Him is complete and perfect. To seal this alliance he
gives us a new commandment: Love one another AS I HAVE LOVED
YOU, (Jn. 13:34), that is, until the end of our life and to the maximum of
our capacity, giving everything we are to our brothers, even life itself. By
obeying this precept, Christ IS in us, he makes us live his life, his very
essence, which is love. This is the fidelity that He asks of us, that which
marks us with His seal, that which unites us to Him, in His sacrifice to the
Father. That new and eternal precept is to love with your being, with your
feelings, with your Holy Spirit.
It is Christ in us, who has to transmit to us his fidelity to the Father, who
has to make our intimate alliance come true more and more fully,
renewing us, purifying us and transforming us into HIMSELF (II Cor. 3:18).
That is to say that the Axis and the Center, the beginning and the end, the
realization of all the promises and of all those called IS JESUS HIMSELF
IN HIS INFINITE LOVE, because He is the true and only promised land.

1. —What does divine election of the people of Israel mean?
2. —What was the basis of the divine election of the people of Israel? Could you
cite some texts about it?
3. —What is the first call of the Lord? (Gen. 1:27).
4. —What Alliance is called the Cosmic Alliance? With what can we compare
this Covenant of the Lord in our life?
a)................................................................................................................
b) ..........................................................................................................
5. —What are the essential qualities to be part of God's people? (Jn. 8:31).
6. —In Exodus 19:5-6 we see the Sinai Alliance, with Moses. What kind of
Alliance is this? What do we have to do for Him to be our God?
a) ..........................................................................................................
b) ...........................................................................................................
7. —What are the most important commands of the Lord?

(Jer. 31:31-34)
8. —What does the Lord offer us in Ezekiel 36:26-27?
9. —What is the NEW and ETERNAL Alliance? (Luc. 22:19)
10. —What commandment does the Lord give us to seal this Alliance? (Jn.
13:34)
11. —What is the true promised land?
12. —What do you think is the goal of this class?

HE WHO HAS EARS, LET HE LISTEN
The LORD has a different plan for each of us, and to faithfully follow and
obey that plan, we have to know what He wants for us, we have to know
how to listen to His voice.
1. • MEANS BY WHICH GOD SPEAKS TO US

God speaks to us through different means:
a) Through its Creation, that is, through nature, because all beings of
creation fulfill the mission for which they were made. That is why
contemplation of nature always tells us about our Creator.
b) The Events of our lives and our Circumstances are always telling us
about a God who in his divine Providence takes care of us and shows us a
path. Remember that they are one of the three sure signs, which we saw
in Growth two.
c) The Lord speaks to us through the People around us, superiors,
bosses, husbands, wives, children, servants, etc.
d) In the Bible, he speaks to us through words and actions.
e) He especially speaks to us through the Word or incarnate Word of
God, who is Christ (Jn. 1:14-18).
f) Our desires and desires for good things are another way the voice of
God reaches us. Saint Teresa said that the Lord made her desire what He
was going to grant her. (Phil. 2:13).
g) Through consciousness.
h) He speaks to us especially in personal prayer, but this will be
discussed extensively in the next class.
i) The Church also transmits the voice of God to us with its laws, its
advice and guidelines, the liturgy, etc.
j) Through the Holy Spirit. He guides each one along different paths, all
of them being good and pleasing to God, and thus, we see the great
difference between Saint John and Saint Paul, both guided by the Holy
Spirit. His presence marks a radical difference between the Old Law and
the New Covenant, based on the life of the Spirit. (II Cor. 3:6); The Holy
Spirit works in us internally, creating a new heart in us (Jer. 31:33-34) and
externally by the charismas that he freely gives to the Church, for the
edification of each one. (I Cor. 12:4-11).
2. - THE VOICE OF GOD SHOWS US THE PATH WE SHOULD

FOLLOW
The Lord can choose any of the means we have mentioned before, or
many others, to bring us closer to the path we must follow. We must be
attentive to these means, to be able to understand what He wants to tell
us.
There are calls from God for an entire Community, or a group, to follow a

certain path, and there are other calls that are only for us. These individual
calls from God generally leave us in the same situation we are in, only
with a change in ourselves that unites us more to the Lord and therefore
transforms our environment. It leaves us in our same job, but less
infatuated with it, with free time to dedicate to the Lord. In our same family,
but united to it with more sincere and authentic ties, seeking for each one
the happiness that only God gives. With the same friends, or with new
ones, but with whom we can go together and joyfully towards the Lord. (I
Cor. 7,17).
On rare occasions, it is a call that takes us out of our midst for a special
mission. When God makes this type of calling, he equips the person with
the gifts or charismas necessary to fulfill that mission.
a) The gifts or charismas frequent in our Renewal in the Holy Spirit are
generally not a sign of any special mission, but are simply signs of the
presence of the Holy Spirit in it.
b) When the Lord entrusts someone with a mission, he also gives them
the necessary instruments to carry it out. Scripture demonstrates this to us
with the special charismas given to the designated guides such as
Wisdom to Solomon (I Kings 4:29), strength to Gideon (Judges 6:12 18),
the prophecy to Jonah (Jon. 1:2).
c) These gifts from the Lord often do not depend on the holiness of the
person, nor even on their dedication or response to the Lord, but only on
the need or convenience of having them, due to the position they have in
the Community or in the Church. as we see in the case of Caiaphas (Jn.

11:49-50), who prophesied solely because he was a High Priest; or simply
because the Lord wants it that way, who allowed even Balaam's donkey to
prophesy (Num. 22:28).
d) John the Baptist gives us an important message when he says: "I

must decrease so that He may increase." When we notice that the Lord
equips us with certain gifts or charismas, we must try to be more humble,
to erase ourselves, so that only the Lord appears, and also, we must give
ourselves more to the Community, since these gifts are never for the
person, but for that through it others are built, or some benefit comes to
the Community.
3. —WE LISTEN TO GOD THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT

In our growth in Life in the Spirit, it will be the Spirit of the Lord, who works
directly in us so that we can hear the voice of God and that nothing
hinders us from this. He will protect us from every influence other than the
Holy Spirit Himself.
But before we can understand Him clearly, He Himself has to do a work of

purification in us, to which we have to pay attention. As we saw when
talking about the Word of God, the Lord takes care of cleansing us, and
this cleansing is generally painful; He has to strip us of ourselves, of our
pride, of our selfishness, of all external influence that is not Himself, of our
disordered affections that can become idolatries, even of our qualities
when we are attached to them. It has to make the void in us in order to fill
it. (Jn. 12:24-25).
And He does all this only when we consent to it, when we sincerely give
our lives to Him so that He can cut the dry, wash the stained, in a word,
when we are willing to accept all the work He needs to do in us, because
He will never It forces us, it only works in us if we want it and we ask it.
After his work of purification in us, after our poor alabaster vessel has
been broken, he will then teach us to pray and put in us the spirit of praise
and worship that will always be our first response to his voice.
He will teach us to hear what He wants to tell us, he will teach us to build
our inner temple, in which there can already be dialogue between us and
our God, who is always new, who is always personal.

and different, but which always aims to keep our lamp lit so that we can
lovingly receive the HUSBAND who constantly speaks to us and knocks
on our door.

1. —Cite 6 means by which the Lord speaks to us:
2. —How can you explain the verse from I Cor. 7:17, in relation to the calls that
the Lord makes to us?
3. —When the Lord entrusts someone with a special mission, he gives them the
necessary charismas for it. Can you mention what charismas he gave?
Solomon? (I Kings 4:29).........................................................................
Gideon? (Jc. 6:12-18)............................................................................
Jonas? (Jonah 1:2)................................................................................
Caiaphas? (Jn. 11:49-50)...............................................................................
4. —If we notice that the Lord has given us certain gifts or charismas, what
should we do following the advice of John the Baptist? (Jn. 3:30)
5. —Who will teach us to hear the voice of the Lord? ........................................
6. —After meditating Jn. 12:24-25, what kind of work do you think the Holy Spirit
has to do in us before we can clearly understand the voice of the Lord, before He
sends us on some mission?
7. —What will generally be our first response to the voice of the Lord?
8. —What are you going to do from now on to hear the voice of the Lord better?
review
This Questionnaire is not to be read by anyone; It is made for each person to
their life, alone with God.
ALWAYS PRAY, SEPARATE TO PRAY
Since the Initiation Course or Life in the Spirit, we have insisted on the
need and importance of prayer in our lives, but this is such an important
topic that we think it is necessary to talk about it once again, although with
a more focused approach. different.
1. - The most important thing in our life.

The most important thing in our life is to be attentive to the Lord and what
He wants to tell us.

"Marta, Martha, you worry and are disturbed by many things; but few are
necessary, OR RATHER, ONLY ONE. Maria has chosen the best part,
which will never be "taken away" from her. (Lk. 10:38).
It is the same word of God that tells us that this is the most important and
necessary thing in our life: prayer. Christ himself tells us that being with
Him, loving Him, communicating with Him, must be the axis of our interior
life.
Praying must be for us the impetus for our apostolate, the support for our
work, it must be like the source of energy for our family and community life
with Christ. It must be more important for us than working, than making
plans, than preaching, than everything, since everything must derive from
our prayer. Prayer is so important that Saint Therese, a contemplative
nun, was named Patroness of the Missions, when she never left her
convent.
That is why we must have a long time to pray, to unite with our God, to
receive from Him what He wants to give us, to tell Him and repeat to Him
that we love Him and that He is our Lord.
2. • How we should pray.

"When you pray, go into your room, and shut the door, and pray to your
Father who is in secret. . . And when you pray, do not be talkative, so that
no matter how much you talk they think they will be heard, because your
Father knows all the things you need before you ask him." (Matthew 6:6).
That is to say, our prayer must be intimate, spontaneous, not full of words,
but rather it must be a "Here I am, Lord", with loving union, allowing the
Spirit of the Lord to pray within us, to teach us to communicate. with our
Owner.
On other occasions we have talked about different kinds of prayer,
petition, thanksgiving, etc., all very good and necessary, but now that we
have spent time in our life with the Lord, we must ensure that our prayer is
increasingly more deep, of greater union with the Lord, more

contemplative.
3. • When we should pray.

In Luke 18:1-5, the Lord teaches us that we must pray incessantly, all the
time, because our perseverance must be tested. That is to say, many
times, when we believe that we are not heard, our prayer has already
been granted, but the Lord wants us to increase our confidence and
continue asking Him.
Jesus always prayed; He prayed before beginning his ministry, in the
desert; He prayed frequently on remote mountains, he prayed while he
was baptized, before the election of the 12", at the transfiguration, he
prayed for his own, he prayed for us, for those who would believe in him
until the end of the ages; he prayed in Gethsemane, in his Crucifixion. His
whole life was prayer, and he thus teaches us that ours must also be
continuous prayer, and that through prayer is how we grow in the life of
the Spirit and we will reach what should be our goal: Union with God.
4. - What does it mean to pray?

It is relating to our Father, to God our creator, our friend, our brother.
Therefore, in the same way in which a relationship is established with a
close friend, so simple and spontaneous, this is how our prayer should be.
Jesus himself, through his Spirit, leads us to his Father, unites us to his
Father, and we have to open our being to receive him because he wants
to give himself to us in prayer.
God not only speaks to us, but gives himself to us, his delivery of love is
immense, he wants to be our food; So our worship of Him is a poor
response, a stammer, but it fills the Lord with joy, because it means giving
Him everything we have. He wants us to tell him our love, however we
can.
As we saw before, He Himself gives us the advice to separate ourselves

to pray, in personal prayer. This does not mean breaking with our world,
but finding moments to be alone with Him. Jesus almost always waited for
night to go to the mountain and communicate with his Father. Once alone
with Him, put ourselves at His feet with all our reality, just as we are, that
is, with humility, with sincerity, without masks and without resentment,
abandoning ourselves in the Lord so that He teaches us what and how He
wants that day. our prayer.
"O night that you joined Beloved with beloved and beloved in the Beloved
transformed." Saint John of the Cross: "Climb to Mount Carmel."
5. - How to start?
Prayer also needs training, learning. With the exception of some chosen
ones who have the GIFT of prayer, the rest of us have to take baby steps

until the Lord takes us in his hands.
Benedictines have 3 words as a prayer guide:

1) . Reading. —It should not be to instruct us, but rather as the
springboard that launches us into the water of prayer. Choose the psalm
or the reading that we need to meditate, which can be the one of the day
in the Missal, or the one that the Lord tells us, begin to read, and where
we feel the call of the Lord to think about what we have read, or to talk to
Him, then stop reading and allow Him to lead us.
2) . Reflection or meditation. —It is letting the truth read penetrate our
hearts until we assimilate it, letting it penetrate our lives, our concrete
situations.
3) . Contemplation. —It is direct dialogue, it is the goal of our prayer.
Sometimes the first steps can be omitted and the Lord brings us directly
into His presence and contemplation. Without Him or us saying a word,
there will be a profound encounter.
The Lord has many ways and wants us to be open to whatever He wants
from our prayer. He doesn't want routine. The great Master of prayer is
the Holy Spirit and He will tell us how to pray. It only asks of us for our
disposition, our time, our environment. If we set aside to pray, He will
teach us how to do it.
When we enter a room full of people, with dim lights, at first we do not
distinguish anyone, but little by little we recognize the faces, the voices...
this is how it happens to us with the Lord: at first we try to dialogue with
Him, but We do not find his face, it is hidden among many. It takes our
effort, our perseverance, to remove the crowd from our things, so that God
is the best thing in our life and we can connect with Him.
We have to retreat to the mountain. Explain what Jesus might want to tell
us by going up the mountain. At first the terrain is arid, rough, but we must
learn to hand this problem over to the Lord as well.

6. - Some Tips to start our Prayer.
1) . Entrust to the Lord all the people we know and ask that not even the
memory of them distract us during prayer.
2) . Worries, passions, pressures, everything that disturbs us, also leave
it to the Lord so that He does not allow them to distract us.
3) . Since we give you everything, ask you to take it away from us.
4) . Find a comfortable and healthy posture, because you pray with your
whole body. Breathe deeply, give thanks for health, for the air that purifies
us, giving our whole body to the Lord.
5) . We undress before Him spiritually, without justifications or putting up
shields looking for excuses. Tell him things as they are.
Then, open the door of our heart, so that He enters, and close it to all
influence that is not Him. (Lk. 19:5) (Rev. 3:20). Little by little we will
overcome the harsh land of prayer, until the time comes when there will
be no need to speak, Lord Mega, takes us and takes us. The Spirit himself
will begin to tell us what he wants, he will teach us the complete truth and
will make us penetrate the mysteries of God.
These steps are not always necessary when we decide to learn to pray,
the Lord has no laws, He acts as He wants in each person; But if we have
been worldly, if we have not prayed frequently, we generally have to put in
our effort with these or other steps, but especially with perseverance and
generosity, to unite ourselves more and more to the Lord.

1. —Indicate 3 effects that prayer should have in your life:

1. —....................................................
2. —.....................................................
3. —....................................................
2 — Can you explain why Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, a

contemplative nun, is the Patroness of the missions?
4. —According to Matthew 6.6, what should our prayer be like?
5. —Based on the Gospels, can you cite 5 occasions when Jesus

prayed?
1. —....................................................
2. —....................................................
3. —....................................................
4. —....................................................
5. —....................................................
6. —For you, what does it mean to pray?
7. —What are the 3 steps that the Benedictines indicate to pray?

Explain them very briefly.
1. —....................................................................................................
2. —....................................................................................................
3. —...............................................................................................
7. —With sincerity, without pretexts, how much time do you think is

necessary to have a time of intimate prayer with the Lord?
8. — Have you made it your goal to give him that time? Make a
commitment to Him and set the easiest time for you.
9. What is the purpose of this class?

FULFILL THE WILL OF THE FATHER
Since the Christian must be an image of Christ, his life must be a

continuous search for and fulfilling the will of the Heavenly Father. Like
Christ, who from the beginning of His Life said: "Behold, I come, O God, to
do Your Will" (Heb 10: 7-10).
The Christian from his baptism must feel like a child of God and as a child
seek the will of God and be heir of God.
It is the Holy Spirit who makes us aware that we are children of God. He
makes us know the Will of the Father as he did with Christ. In Romans
8:14-17, we find that: "Those who are led by the Spirit are children of
God." And in Galatians 4:6, we find that: "The proof that you are children
of God is that God has sent into our hearts the Spirit of his Son who cries
Abba\Father."
In Mark 14:36, we see that Jesus in Gethsemane, in the Garden prayer,

says to his Father: But not what I want, but what you want.
On several occasions, Jesus tells us that His Father is Our Father.

In Matthew 6:9 and Luke 11:2, He teaches us the Lord's Prayer, His
favorite Prayer, which begins with: Father!
And in John 20:17, He commands Magdalene to tell her brothers that He,
Jesus, says, "I ascend to My father and your Father, to My God and your
God."
In several Gospel quotes we realize that only through Jesus can we reach
the Father:

Matthew 11:27
Luke 10:22
John 5:23, 8:19, 14:6-11.
How can we facilitate our relationship with God as Our Father? Something
that can help us is to think about our earthly parents: The small child
always wants to be close to his parents, he feels their protection and
being with them he is sure that he lacks nothing. As they grow, this need
for closeness with parents becomes less noticeable. Jesus told us in
Matthew 18:3: "Unless you become like children, you will not enter the
Kingdom of Heaven."
Perhaps with this he wanted to show us how much we should depend on

our Heavenly Father, how we should ask him at all times, tell him about
our things, our joys, our hurts, our successes, our sadnesses, everything;
Seek what pleases Him, be sure of His Pleasure.
This has to contain a lot of humility. We have to accept ourselves as we

are, desire to improve to please Him, but understand that we are sinful,
weak and miserable creatures whom He has to constantly correct. We
must raise our sights towards Him with love and trust, knowing that
despite our falls, our garbage, He loves us and will continue to love us as
every Father loves and forgives his Son.
We are not our work but the Father's. He has given everything to us;
Through Him we have life, the ability to follow Him and to imitate Christ.
We can think about the relationships that would exist between Jesus and
Mary, His Mother. With what love would Mary give her laws to Jesus and
with what love would Jesus obey Mary. We can also think about how
Jesus and Mary obeyed Joseph, Hebrew Head of the Family, even though
in the supernatural order he was inferior to Them. We must ask these
three family members to teach us that obedience of children to their
father, of us to God.
Jesus tells us in Jn. 14:31:
"I love the Father and that is why I do the Will of the Father."
We want to love the Father and that is why we want to do His Will in
everything. We must be attentive to understand that loving will in each of
our actions, but without worry, feeling happy and calm; with the same
confidence with which the flowers open to the sun, or the birds sing at
dawn, without knowing if the storm or the frost will come soon after, so we
must be safe in the arms of the Father, without worrying about things that
may come. , illness, old age, economic disorders, etc., because our
Father knows what is best for us and watches over us. And if those
seemingly bad things bother us, remember Romans 8:28: "Everything
works for good to those who love God."

We must constantly pray asking the Holy Spirit to give us His Light to
know even in the smallest things the Will of the Father; May he give us the
same feelings that Jesus had regarding his Father and may He, who is
Love, fill us with that wonderful love that makes our joy consist of
accepting that Will.
When the will of the Father seems to contradict our desires and
inclinations, that is when we must show our trust and love as children,
sure that our Father only desires our good, and obey like Christ, totally, to
the end, without placing conditions on that will. .
If we feel disconcerted by our own miseries or by the difficult

circumstances that surround us, always think that "Everything works for
the good of those who love God" (Rom. 8:28), and that from what we
consider evils, our Father who loves us and whom we love can draw union
with Christ and eternal life.

GROWTH 4 - QUESTIONNAIRE No. 4
1. —What example does Jesus give us in Hebrews 10:7-10?
2. —In Mark 14:36, what does Jesus say to his Father?
3. —In the following quotes, Jesus teaches us that:
(Jn. 20:17) (Mt 6:9) (Mt. 7:11)

4. —Jesus tells us that only through Him can we reach the Father. Point
out the quotes that correspond to the statements He makes:
a) Mt.11:27 ( ) No one knows the Father except the Son and
anyone to whom the Son wants to Reveal Him.
b) Jn.5:23 ( ) He who does not honor the Son does not honor the
c) Jn.8:19 ( ) Father.
d) Jn. 14:6 ( ) If you knew Me, you would know my Father.
No one goes to the Father except through Me
5. —What does Matthew 18:3 tell you? (Do not repeat the quote, but
interpret it)……………………………………………………………………
6. Could you quote a phrase from Scripture that helps you when you
go through difficult times, whether due to your weaknesses or the
circumstances around you?
7. —What do you believe, what does holiness consist of?
8. —What was the purpose of this class?

DO NOT GUESS THE HOLY SPIRIT
Our spiritual life, which must be Trinitarian, united and grafted into the
Trinity, consists of identifying with Christ, thinking about Him and praising
Him; because He took our place, because through Him we are saved
and forgiven, through Him we are redeemed (Col 2:14). We ask him for
favors, we accompany him, we talk to him.
Through Christ, we reach the Father without great difficulty, we recognize

his love, his forgiveness, we receive new life (Jn. 12:47). In such a way
that everyone who believes and accepts the Lord will have eternal life.
(Jn. 3:15). But the Holy Spirit was little known until this Spiritual Renewal.
The Holy Scripture in the Old Testament tells us about Him as a dynamic
force that changes and transforms people (I Chron. 12:19), invades them
(Judges. 3:10), clothes men and equips them for works that in normal life
would be almost all beyond their capabilities (Judg. 14:6-14). It is the
Holy Spirit who directs almost all the life and activity of the Prophets, who
sustains them in moments of discouragement and helps them to proclaim
the message of the Lord with all courage. (A.M. 7:14). But it can be said
that it appears as a temporary divine entity: it remains in the judges only
as long as their mission lasts.
In the New Testament, the Spirit that Christ promises to all who believe
in Him will remain permanently in the person who accepts the Lord
(John. 12:44) (Jn. 14:23). This Spirit is given to all who believe in Him, all
Christians become saturated with Him (I Cor 15:35-50). It is this same
Spirit who leads us to a deeper knowledge of Faith in the Lord (Acts
2:12), and is also the one who must guide our entire life.
We must live every moment in the company of the Spirit of God. He is

the great, powerful friend who drives us to great things. It is He who
encouraged the apostles in the early days of the Church and who has
watched over it throughout all times. It is He who is acting intensely in
this current Spiritual Renewal.

But that friend is grieved by sin (I Jn. 3:9), and also when we limit his
love, when we reject his gifts, that is, when we do not receive and
exercise his gifts and graces (Eph 4:30-32).
God wants us to avoid sins and if we obey and follow the Holy Spirit we
can do it; But if out of weakness we sin, He Himself offers us a wonderful
means to heal us: confess our sin, repent of it, and with the sacrament of
forgiveness and mercy of God acquire new graces of love and strength
so as not to fall.
Only Christ can wash us of sin, and he already did (Titus 3:5); but we are
weak and miserable and we fall many times if we do not live intimately
united to Him; That is why the Holy Spirit is grieved and since he knows
our nature, he gives us the remedy we need to immediately cure the
consequences of sin. If we acknowledge our sins, He is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9).
He is faithful because he is our Father and loves us as children; It is just
because the blood of Christ shed for us covers all the power of sin.
All divine forgiveness is based on the sacrifice of Christ, which satisfies

God (Mt. 26:28), but he sets a condition for us, which is reconciliation
driven by true repentance of the heart. When we are rebellious and
disobey God, the Holy Spirit becomes sad, it seems that he hides, we no
longer hear his inspirations and then God, as a good Father, allows other
means for us to return to his friendship.

Thus, weakness, illness, and even death can be means that the Father
uses in dealing with a rebellious child. That is not why we say that ALL
illness, weakness, etc., are sent by the Father, but His mercy CAN take
those forms to make us understand that we are not on the right path
(Prov. 3:1-12), to teach us certain virtues that we need, or to associate
us with his redemptive work. But be that as it may, the hand of God that
alerts us is like a pain in the soul, it is the Spirit grieved for us, for our sin,
but who must lead us to repentance and confession, and this, to
forgiveness.
In Luke 15:1-32, we read 3 parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the
lost son, which show us how God always waits for us, always forgives us
and rejoices when we return to Him. Let us note that it is always the son
who walks away, not the Father who rejects him.
Sin is always sin in the sight of God and is cured only by the redemption
of Jesus. But his redeeming Blood has already been shed for us; then we
only need to put ourselves back in grace, repent and confess our sins, to
receive the graces of the Sacrament of reconciliation, and have all the
privileges of the Children of God.
We have to be very careful not to grieve the Spirit, and to confess our
faults as soon as we commit them. If we are humble we allow the Holy
Spirit to act more: we must thank God for our weakness and misery,
never for offending God, but because in this way we understand our

nothingness and we turn to the Lord like the Blessed Virgin. Virgin:
"Behold the handmaid of the Lord
And also like her, we will understand the richness we have in walking
guided by the Spirit of God, we will resolve not to grieve or sadden Him
so as to be filled with Him, for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:30), and we
will be able to say joyfully: "The Mighty One has done wonders for me"
(Luke 1:49).
If we do not grieve the Spirit, he enlightens us if we ask him, he

strengthens us if we call on him, he consoles us in dangers, problems
and miseries. But He is something soft and tenuous; To listen to him, we
have to be attentive, attentive, and docile to his inspirations (I Kings
19:11 ff).
We must keep our eyes open so that it does not pass us by without us
realizing it, our ears attentive, that is, without external noises that disturb
us, and thus be able to understand its calls, its impulses, its insinuations,
which are always for something more. greater, something more hidden,
something more loving, and be ready to walk along the path that He
marks for us, which will be the special one for us, the one that the Lord
has pointed out to us from eternity.
1. —Who is the Holy Spirit? ……………………………………………
2. —How does it manifest itself in us? ………………………………..........
3. -It is. 5:19 gives us 4 tips. Which are?

a）………………………………………………………………………… b）
……………………………………………… ………………………… c）
………………………………………………………………………… d）
4. —In Eph. 4:25-32, we read several rules so as not to grieve the Spirit
Holy. Name the 3 that impress you the most:
a）………………………………………………………………………… b）
……………………………………………… …………………………… c）

…………………………………………………………………………
5. —How can we heal the consequences of our sins? （Prov. 28:13）
6. —What is divine forgiveness based on? (Mt. 26:28)
7. — Could you tell us 3 positive aspects that illnesses, weaknesses or

problems may have? （ Vat. Council. II, Dogmatic Constitution on the
Church. Chap. IV, No. 34）.
a）………………………………………………………………………… b）
……………………………………………… …………………………… c）
…………………………………………………………………………
8. —What teachings do you find in Luke 15:1-32?
9-— What was the central idea of the class and what did you get from it?

THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
As we saw in the previous class, in the New Testament, when the Holy
Spirit comes to someone, it remains permanently in that person who
accepts the Lord.
We see that it is by the work of the Holy Spirit that the Virgin Mary
conceives a Son. The Holy Spirit becomes evident in the baptism of Jesus
Christ and it is He who moves and directs all of Jesus' activity.
The Prophet Isaiah, from the Old Testament, had predicted a messianic
period; The messianic King is outlined in Chapter 11 of Isaiah: he is of the
lineage of David and the Spirit of Yahweh will rest on Him. (In his
prophetic vision, Isaiah mentions 7 spirits or gifts that will adorn that
messianic King). The fulfillment of this prophetic announcement is carried
out in Jesus Christ, in whom these gifts are manifested throughout his
entire life.
That Spirit of Yahweh that rests on Christ is the same that Jesus, shortly
before his Ascension to heaven, promises to his Apostles (Lk. 24:49; Acts
1:4), a promise whose fulfillment was realized on the day of Pentecost.
(Acts. 2:1 ff). In the apostles and in general in the primitive Community,
this coming of the Holy Spirit to them had a special character of plenitude.
The expression we see in the Bible is:... "and they were filled with the Holy
Spirit." . .
It is also the same Holy Spirit who lives in us, and who wants to carry out
in our souls his masterpiece, which is Jesus. It is He who sanctifies us,
and sanctification consists in our coming to have the same feelings as
Christ, in our being transformed into Christ.
And to do this, the Holy Spirit has those same instruments that rested on
Christ, that is, the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

We have to note some basic differences between these gifts and the gifts
generally called charismas, such as prophecy, tongues, etc., which is
what we generally refer to in our Renewal in the Holy Spirit:
1) The charismas are not a sign of holiness, or even of being in grace,
but they can occur in people in sin, as in Caiaphas (Jn. 11:49-50), and on
the other hand, the development of gifts in a person does imply spiritual
growth. Of course, charismas are also frequently granted by God to
people united with Him, and furthermore, as people serve as instruments
for the power of God to pass through them, something good must remain
in them, but it is not necessarily so.
2) Not all people have all the charismas necessary for the growth and
edification of the Church; On the other hand, the 7 gifts that we talk about
now are gifts from God that are given to all of us from our baptism,
although we must make them grow; They are like seeds that sprout and
bloom when we put in the effort, but the great theologian Saint Thomas
Aquinas says that without them, we could not be saved.
In our baptism, we receive everything we need for our Christian life:
BAPTISM:
FAITH
DIVINE LIFE
GIFTS
VIRTUES
CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH
DIVINE FILIATION
ERASE THE SIN
PARTICIPATION IN THE
DEATH AND
RESURRECTION OF CHRIST
At the same time as the gifts, we receive the virtues, which are like our
working instruments so that the gifts grow later. When we practice them
and fight against our defects, the Holy Spirit becomes increasingly
sensitive in us through the gifts, until we become almost completely
guided by them.
For example: by practicing small acts of humility, such as accepting that
we are ignored or not understood, etc., we prepare ourselves for
increasingly greater acts of humility, such as taking credit for actions in
which we have put all our effort into. other people who perhaps have done
little or nothing and give glory to God for it. Through these acts of heroic
humility, we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us with the Gift of Fear of God.
Therefore, although the Holy Spirit is the absolute owner of his gifts, we
can strive to develop them through the following means:
1. —Making Charity grow in us, that is, loving everyone more and more.
2. —Practicing and developing the other virtues. The virtues that unite us
to God, that is, the THEOLOGICAL virtues, are Faith, Hope and Charity.
The MORAL or CARDINAL virtues, so called because in them, as with the
compass, we always find the right path, are Prudence, which consists of
thinking carefully about what we should do or say in each situation;

Justice, which is giving each person what is theirs, in all aspects;
Strength, which is having strength in the face of life's setbacks;
Temperance, which is using what we like in an orderly manner. These
virtues make our actions with ourselves and with our brothers better. By
practicing these and other virtues, such as humility, trust, sacrifice,
poverty, etc., which are generally considered evangelical counsels, we
prepare the way for the Holy Spirit to act in us through his gifts.
3. —Being docile to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.
4. —Desiring them and asking the Holy Spirit for them. Not to settle for
what we are spiritually, but to long for greater union with God, greater
cleanliness and purity, to be like clean lanterns in which the Lord is
reflected. If we ask for them and remove the obstacles, the Holy Spirit will
surely give us his gifts. (Mary prays and asks for the Holy Spirit even
though she was already full of Him since the Annunciation).
The Spirit of God, with his gifts, works in our human faculties, which are
Understanding or Intelligence, the Will, and the lower faculties: sensitivity,
instinct, tendencies.
The most important of these faculties is Understanding, because it allows

us to know all things, and that is why there are four gifts that illuminate or
work in this faculty: they are the gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Science
and Counsel.
In our Will, the Gift of Pity acts. And in our lower faculties, the gifts of
Fortitude and Fear of God act.
When the gifts of the Holy Spirit have already developed in our lives, we
begin to live the blessings contained in the beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-10), which
are already in this life like a foretaste of eternal happiness.
In the attached table, we have exposed and represented this our spiritual
world, which we must understand more and more, in order to better know
the work of the Holy Spirit in us.
In the next class, we are going to see the 7 gifts one by one, with the
virtues related to them and the beatitudes to which they give rise. In the
gifts there is a kind of scale for their different degrees of perfection, which
begins with the Gift of Fear of God and ends at the highest with the Gift of
Wisdom, the most excellent of all, and in that order we will explain them.
With this we do not mean that these 7 gifts are the only ones that rested
on Christ and that are in us, but that they are those that are mentioned in
Isaiah and to which Sto. Thomas and most theologians make reference. In
reality the gifts could not be enumerated, Jesus was full of them and by
living in us he communicates them to us.
1. —How does the Holy Spirit appear in the Bible? Could you cite some
texts about it?
2. — Is there any difference between the Holy Spirit that moved the
Judges, the Prophets and Jesus Christ? .................................................
3. —What was the particular character of the coming of the Holy Spirit in
the primitive Community?
4. —What are the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit cited in Isaiah 11:1?
5. —Cite three means by which the gifts in us can grow and develop.
a) b) c)
6. —When the gifts have already developed in us, what promise of

Jesus do we begin to live?
7. — Could you say in which passage of Holy Scripture those promises

are found?
8. —What name is that passage generally designated by?
9-— What basic difference is there between the 7 gifts that we discussed
in this class and the extraordinary gifts that we generally call charismas?

THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT (2)
GIFT OF THE FEAR OF GOD
In Psalm 34:12, we read: "Come, children, listen to me, I will teach you the
Fear of the Lord." This is how the work of the Holy Spirit begins in us
through the gifts: it teaches us the fear of the Lord, which is the veneration
of a son for his father because He is good, because he gave his life for us,
because he forgave us our sins. faults. It is not fear of punishment, since
God is not a tyrant, but loving fear that we may offend our Father. That
fear gives us balance in everything, which produces conformity, joy, peace
and hope of seeing Him in heaven, and with this it makes us detached,
even from our opinions and feelings. This gift is especially related to
humility, hope and temperance. It produces in us horror of sin, deep
adoration of God and detachment from everything. His beatitude is:
Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Arrogance and pride are totally opposed to this gift, and we prepare
ourselves for the Holy Spirit to act in us through it, thinking about the
greatness of God, treating Him with confidence, and realizing how sad it is
to offend Him for Him. sin.
GIFT OF STRENGTH
It gives us strength to seek God: "Yahweh is my strength" (Isaiah 12:2), it
makes us constant to fight against our weaknesses, it gives us divine,
infinite strength, until it makes us say: "I can do all things in him who
comforts" (Phil. 4:13), and that gives us peace. It makes us hunger and
thirst for God, for holiness, with an invincible confidence that makes us
reach heroic virtues, knowing that it is God who does everything. Its virtue
is strength, which is similar to the gift, but leaves us with a certain anxiety
and trembling due to our weakness, that is, it has the human way, instead
of the divine way that gives us security and confidence. His beatitude is
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice, because they will be
filled, which is a glut of the most intense spiritual joys with which God fills.
The vices that oppose it are laziness, disordered fear, and shyness. (II

Tim. 1:7). It is encouraged by fulfilling our duty even if it costs us, asking
God to give us his strength to carry the cross joyfully, with voluntary
IF WE DO NOT
OVERCOME THESE
THINGS WE WILL
NOT HAVE THE GIFT
OF STRENGTH
IDLENESS FOOLISH
mortifications and with the Eucharist, bread of life and FEAR
strength from God.
GIFT OF PITY
It simplifies our relationships with God, making us truly feel like his
children (Rom. 8:16) and that is why we feel that others are our brothers. It
makes us give ourselves to God and others with generosity and love,
removing difficulties in our dealings with others, making us meek and
humble. Its main effects are: great tenderness towards God our Father,
abandoning ourselves calmly in his arms, and loving our neighbor as a
brother. Its virtue is everything that is worship of God, that is, Religion, and
Justice; His main blessedness is: blessed are the meek, for they will
possess the earth. It is the bliss of sweetness.
We prevent the development of this gift with hardness of heart, unbelief,

ungodliness, etc. It is fostered by cultivating the love of children towards
God, and the love of all things as belonging to the Father's house, with
total abandonment in the arms of God. Furthermore, treating everyone as
beloved brothers, children of the same Father.
GIFT OF COUNSEL
The Holy Spirit will teach you everything and remind you of what I told you
(John. 14:26). This gift makes us understand the intimate voice of God,
helping us to act prudently, but with quick decisions. Safe, as if we peered
into the divine mind and there we saw how we should behave and how
others should behave. It corresponds to the charisma of discernment, but
being a habit in us.

"Speak Lord, for your Servant is listening" (I Samuel 3:10). It is the gift that
those who govern something, a country, a Church, a Community, need
most. Its virtue is Prudence and its beatitude is: Blessed are the merciful,
because they will obtain mercy, because it teaches us that we will be
judged as we judge others, forgiven as we forgive, etc.
We oppose him with haste, recklessness, confidence in our own strength.

It is encouraged by humility, reflection, silence to listen to God and our
docility towards those whom God places us as superiors.
GIFT OF SCIENCE
God led the righteous on straight paths and showed him the Kingdom of
God and communicated to him the SCIENCE OF THE SAINTS. (Sat.
10:10). That science of the saints is the Gift of Science, which makes us
recognize the true value of creatures. "What good is it if you gain the
whole world if you lose your soul? (Luc. 9:25) Everything created is fragile
and unstable, but it will elevate us to God if we think that it was made by
Him, and that it is the reflection of His infinite beauty. It drives us to total
detachment, even from ourselves, to accept humiliations and sufferings
because they make us similar to Jesus, despising ourselves for our
nothingness and our tendency to evil, but without ever losing our
consciousness as children of God, which It gives us great human dignity
and leads us to love ourselves, so that we can love others as we love
ourselves.
There are many examples among the saints of how this gift works, such
as Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint John of the Cross, (A thousand thanks
pouring out...), etc. This gift teaches us to judge correctly, guides us in
what we should believe, shows us the state of our spiritual life, and frees
us from everything. Its virtues are knowledge of God and Faith. His
blessedness: Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
This cry is for our errors and faults, for those of the entire world, for the
sufferings of our brothers.
The opposite is culpable ignorance and presumption in human science. "I thank
you, Father, because you hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed

them to the little ones" (Mt. 11.25). It is encouraged by considering the vanity of
earthly things, relating everything to God, opposing the spirit of the world, seeking
constant cleanliness in the heart, without voluntary faults, but also removing the
feeling of guilt, assured of the salvation of the Lord.
GIFT OF UNDERSTANDING
Through this gift, our intelligence, through the action of the Holy Spirit, penetrates
the revealed truths. It is like lifting the veil, like seeing what neither the eye saw nor
the ear heard, etc. (I Cor 2:9-12). It is like an intuition of divine things, and even of
natural things: it is the gift of intuition. It is based on faith, which is obscure, but
through the gift of understanding divine things are illuminated, so that we can
separate what is true from what is false. We also understand what the symbols of
the Bible mean, it helps us in prayer until we reach Contemplation, which is the
light of those who love God.
There are times when we understand things about God that we had not
understood before, and it is because of the gift of Understanding. It makes us
know Christ, that we are saved, how and why, that we are sealed by the Holy
Spirit, etc. It is closely linked to the virtue of FAITH, which through this Mega gift
becomes heroic. It makes us, in a certain way, see God, that we have the true
sense of Christ (I Cor. 2:16), that is, his thought. His beatitude is "Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they will see God", because it cleanses our minds and hearts,
removing garbage, errors against faith, and makes us understand God more.
Its opposite vices are spiritual blindness and spiritual myopia, generally caused by
for lust and gluttony, since nothing prevents so much that
understanding flies, like excessive materiality. It is encouraged by living by faith,
seeking purity of soul and body, with silence interior. fidelity to the
inspirations of the Holy Spirit and frequently calling on this Divine Spirit, reminding
Jesus of his promise to send him to us.
GIFT OF WISDOM
This gift is the highest, the one that brings to its perfection the charity from which it
is inseparable. It unites us with God in that unity that Jesus asked for: You in Me
and I in them, so that they may be perfectly one (John 17:23) and that unity with
God makes us penetrate, as if through an intimate experience, into God himself.
Taste and see how good Yahweh is (Psalm 34:9). He shows us God as infinite
goodness, he teaches us to see through the eyes of the Beloved, through the eyes
of God. We see things divinely.
The gift of Wisdom encompasses all things of faith, mainly God himself; The gift of
Understanding begins to teach us Contemplation, and the gift of Wisdom is the gift
of Contemplation, of deep prayer. Jesus is the Wisdom of the Father, that is why
the gift of Wisdom transforms us into Jesus. Saint Paul, in II Cor. 3:18, tells us:
"We, contemplating the glory of God, are transformed into his own image from
clarity to clarity." This is how, from clarity to clarity, this gift transforms us into
Jesus, and by transforming us into Him, it gives us a profound knowledge of divine
things. We can consider this gift as the wings of spiritual life; It makes charity fly,
removing pettiness, human and rickety prudence, leading us to what should be
normal in the Christian life and even more so in renewal in the Holy Spirit: to the
mystical life, which is nothing more than the life of union with God, of
transformation in Christ. Its virtue is CHARITY: its beatitude is: Blessed are the

peaceful (or those who work for peace), because they will be called children of
God, since to live in God is to have his peace and transmit it to others, undoing
aggression and violence. .
Spiritual foolishness, lust and anger, fatuity, voluntary stupidity for immersing
ourselves in earthly things are opposed to Wisdom, for Saint Paul tells us: "Man
naturally does not understand the things of the Spirit of God" (I Cor. . 2:14). It is
encouraged by recollection or interior silence, fidelity to grace or inspirations,
humility, continually calling on the Holy Spirit, trying to see everything from God's
point of view, not becoming attached to anything in the world, not even to spiritual
things, but only to God, to prepare ourselves to serve God in dryness or
sweetness, as He wants, seeking the God of consolations, and not the
consolations of God.
CONCLUSION
When studying the gifts, we do not want to fill ourselves with knowledge, but rather
be aware of the divine world that we carry within, that under the impulse of the
Holy Spirit, everything is harmonious, because everything is a song of love and
has the sweetness of love. And that translates into praise.
But to enter into that harmony of praise, our heart must be ready at every moment
to open itself to the Spirit of Love, to its desires and its action; have willing hearts,
attentive souls, docile to his inspirations, so that he may be our Sanctifier.
If He is in the center of our souls, He will convert them into a single
passionate and harmonious praise: that of divine love. And in our Renewal
in the Holy Spirit, we must shout, cry out for the entire Church to be given
to Him, and moved and driven by Him, to be like a wonderful concert of
praise to our God.

When answering this questionnaire, use your own words, not those in
the table given to you in the previous class.
1. —How does the Holy Spirit begin his work in us through the gifts?
2. —What does the Fear of God consist of?
3. —What effects does the Gift of Fortitude have on us?
4. —According to 2a. Tim. 1:7, what kind of spirit has God given us?
5. —The Gift of Pity makes us feel.................................................. of

God and........................................... of others.
6. — What other effects does the Gift of Piety have on us?
7. —What is the Gift of Counsel useful for?
8. —What things oppose the Gift of Counsel?
9. —The Gift of science makes us know the true value of........................
a) The words
b) The creatures
c) The studiesuniversity students.
It prompts us to accept......................................and.................................
Because they make us similar to Jesus.
10. —What could we also call the Gift of Understanding?
11. —The Gift of Wisdom leads us to the mystical life. What is the
mystical life?

THE FRUITS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Saint Paul, in Galatians 5:22, lists some of the Fruits of the Holy Spirit:
Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, etc. Let's see what these Fruits
of the Spirit are and how we can make them grow and develop in us.
The Holy Spirit produces spiritual order in us, an ordering of our entire
being, which constitutes holiness; That is, it gives us spiritual maturity and
perfection, which are produced by the Fruits of the Spirit.
Plants, when they have reached a certain maturity, bear fruit. In Scripture
the soul is compared to a garden. Song of Solomon 5:1 says: Let my
Beloved come to his garden and be satisfied with the fruit of the apple
trees. The soul is a garden in which the Holy Spirit has placed grace,
divine seed, with all the virtues and gifts, and that grace, when it matures,
produces FRUITS. In Paradise, everything was order and harmony. Our
first parents obeyed the Lord and his Spirit caused the fruits to fully
develop in them. Sin came and that harmony was broken. God stopped
being the only important thing for man, who decided, disobediently, to do
his own will, separating himself from God, and then, the fruits of the Holy
Spirit could no longer become evident.
Grace restores in us something of the harmony of Paradise, ordering our

spirit, our affections, subjecting our being to God again. But this work is
generally slow and every time we order a part of our life, which sometimes
has to be with the help of the Lord's rebuke or warning, heavenly fruits
come. (Heb. 12:11).
We can say that the FRUIT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT is a supernatural

action in a person who has reached a certain spiritual maturity, an action
that produces a special joy. When we begin spiritual life, generally the
Lord fills us with sweetness to attract us; Then, when we have given our
hearts completely to Him, He gradually withdraws them from us so that
the pain and the cross can carry out their work of purification (I Pet. 4:13).
When we have managed to organize a part of our life through virtues,
gifts, and our effort, then the Fruits of the Spirit come, which prepare us
for a new stage in which we will have to organize another part that is still
in disorder. That is why the spiritual state of a person cannot be deduced
because they enjoy or suffer: joy means that they have taken a step in the
spiritual life; but suffering or dryness can mean that it is advancing even
further. We must not seek joy, but rather God, we must join his will, walk
the paths that He marks for us. (Saint. 1:12).
The Fruits of the Spirit are achieved by three main means:
1. —By prayer, which is the key that opens divine treasures: Whatever

you ask the Father in my name, He will grant it to you (Jn. 16:24). You
have to ask for and desire the fruits, it is the main means to achieve them
(Jn. 15:16).
2. —Removing the obstacles that oppose them, the actions that hinder,
the attachment to the things of the earth, to vices, to wealth; It is
necessary that we remove from our lives everything that prevents us from
enjoying the things of God, that we tear down all the barriers between Him
and us. Saint Paul in I Cor. 2:14, says: The animal man does not perceive
the things of the Spirit of God. And so it is: if we are dedicated to earthly
things, our spiritual palate cannot taste heavenly things. And this does not
mean that we cannot enjoy natural things, but as long as they are what
God wants for us, as long as they do not distance us from Him, as long as
they do not interrupt our relationship with Him (Jn. 15:5).
3. —It is necessary to make an effort and work. Each FRUIT indicates

that we have spiritually ordered a part of ourselves; our sanctification is a
process of order; To live spiritually is to order our affections and our
actions. Saint Augustine said that virtue is order in love. And that order
must exist in our actions, in our thoughts, in everything; and to achieve
that we need effort.
Each stage of this process of order results in more or less mature FRUITS
of the Holy Spirit, and if we want to achieve them, we have to work, united
with the Lord (Phil. 2:13), to acquire the virtues; we have to allow the Lord
to gradually purify our soul; We have to love more, advancing on the path
of perfection. That is to say, the means to produce the fruits are the
virtues and the gifts.
The first FRUIT that Saint Paul names is LOVE. We have to be aware that
it's not enough talk about love.
Have what to love
truly to Lord and for Him to all our siblings,
demonstrating with our works that we really love them. The order that we
must put in our soul must have as its root the virtue of Charity, that is,

LOVE; This order grows through LOVE and is completed by the fruit
LOVE. Love is the key to our life, that is why Saint Augustine said: "Love
and do what you want."
The doctrine of Jesus is love, the spiritual life is love; and when this love
has ordered our heart, that precious Fruit of love springs forth, which is
the joy of loving. In Romans 5:5, we read: "The Charity of God has been
poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."
Therefore, we can say that love is the image of the Holy Spirit. As the
Spirit of the Lord is poured into us through baptism in the Spirit, it
produces in us an image of his beauty, which is LOVE. And from the
maturity of this love in us, from cultivating it, from letting it grow and
develop, the FRUIT OF LOVE springs and from it, the JOY of loving, then
PEACE. And so the other fruits. (Remember Galatians 5:22).
By thinking about the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, as well as his gifts, horizons
open up for us in our spiritual life. We know that we have a path to travel,
a goal to achieve, but we also know that with our gaze fixed on the Lord,
always seeking Him, the Divine Spirit carries us as if supported by
heavenly wings, and that if we do what we can of our part, He provides
everything necessary to make us reach the goal, to our transformation in
Christ Jesus.
Song of the Class: Love is patient (I Cor. 13:4).

1. —What are the Fruits of the Holy Spirit? (Gal. 5:22).
2. —The Holy Spirit produces in us: ( )

a) Distrust b) fame c) order
3. —Grace is...................................... that God has placed in us and

that when matured produces....................................................................
4.....................—According to I Pet. 4:13, we should be glad to participate

in the..............
of.................... He
.......................Suffering can mean progress in
5. —There are 3 means to achieve the fruits of the Spirit: (Find the quote
corresponding to each one).
( ) Strive and work a) I Jn. 2:15.
( ) The sentence b) Phil. 2.13.
( ) Remove obstacles c) Jn. 16:24.
6. —What is the first fruit that Saint Paul names? (Gal. 5:22). ...............
either...............................................
7. —The doctrine of Jesus is..........................................................

Spiritual life is.............................................................................
The Father, through Jesus, shows us his..............................
The Holy Spirit is and fills us with..........................................
8. —Give a characteristic or a synonym for each of the fruits that

quote Galatians 5:22: Ex. Love patient
Happiness .......................................
Longsuffering .......................................
Benignity .......................................
Goodness .......................................
Fidelity .......................................
Meekness .......................................

GROWTH No. 4 FINAL QUESTIONS
Temperance .......................................
1. - Remember that to be God's chosen people, we need FAITH,

OBEDIENCE and FAITHFULNESS. Have you exercised your faith in
these months, has your obedience increased, and above all, has your
faithfulness to the Lord grown?
2. - Have you offered yourself to any purification that the Lord has wanted
to do in you, knowing that it is a means to better understand the voice of
God?
3. - Have you dedicated a special time to pray, relate to your

God, talk to him and listen to him? Have you tried to make that prayer
increasingly more intimate and deeper?
4. - Have you tried to keep yourself free from faults so that the Spirit of
Lord, indicate to you at every moment the will of the Father?
5. - Do you remember the means to grow the gifts of the Spirit

Holy in you and have you taken care that those means never fail in your
life?
6. - Remember that the fruits of the Holy Spirit are acquired through
prayer, removing the obstacles that oppose them, and working to acquire
them. Have you not neglected any of these three things?
These questions should be the bases of our end-of-course coexistence,

but they can be a frequent means of realizing if we are walking with firm
steps along the path of the Lord. If we review them sincerely, they can
make us see that they are stopping us on that path, so that we can strive
to return to it.

OBSERVATIONS
A specific title has not been achieved for the different "positions" of the
servers in the communities. Each one chooses the one that best suits
them at a general level and ministries, for example: Leader, Responsible,
Manager, Coordinator, Administrator, Bursar, Manager.
In teaching, Teacher, Catechist, Helper, Pastor, Older Brother, Younger

Brother, Sheep, Disciple.
The groups that are formed after the exhibition are called Small
Discussion or Sharing Groups.
In some communities it is customary that the Course Coordinator and his

assistant are the only ones who present the topics and they are called
Teachers or Catechists, the other servants called Elder Brothers, Pastors
or Sharing or Discussion Group Coordinators are in charge of " Shepherd"
the Disciples, Sheep or Participants.
In other communities where servers are scarce because they are new,
the topics or part of them are distributed among the most suitable,
monitoring them so that they do not make mistakes and training them
since one of the objectives of Evangelization is the training of
evangelizers and catechists.
Another problem has been the nomenclature of the quotes, some brothers
use a comma (,) to separate the chapter from the verses, others opt for a
colon (:) and still others indicate the verses with smaller numbers and a
hyphen below :
Zech 8:16-17 Zech 8:16-17 Zech 8 16-17
It is suggested to print the questionnaires on letter-sized sheets and

provide them to the disciples to answer and once corrected they can be
passed on to those who bring the books.
Some program models are attached that facilitate course control and a
final interview.

INTERVIEW ABOUT GROWTH
What have you learned from the talks at this seminar?

What testimony do you give in your home? Do you know how to love?
Do you know how to forgive?
Do you know how to share?
How is your sacramental life?:
Mass, confession, communion,
How often?
Do you already do your daily prayer?
Do you read the Bible every day?

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CATHOLIC CHARISMATIC RENEWAL IN THE HOLY SPIRIT

Digitization: Gabriel Rendón email: greccco@gmail.com

Fray Salvador García, OFM

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As in the case of "First Steps", this manual "Growing in the Spirit", we

Mexico, D. F., December 8, 1975, day of the Immaculate

THE TEAM OF. TEACHING OF THE COMMUNITY OF SAN JUAN

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The reasons for prolonging the course may be:

1) Let some parties be interspersed on the day the class is due, or

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3) That there is some issue of special importance that should be

D. THE TEAM THAT WILL WORK

There must also be an Assistant or Course Administrator, who will have

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THE CLASSES AND THEIR GOAL. GROWTH 3

Knowing that we come from God

4. THE WORD OF GOD OUR IN As the Word of the Lord must

5. FAITH What is the faith. Give them some

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Jesus Christ is our Lord totally or he is not. Therefore we need to be

JESUS IS THE LORD

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JESUS IS THE LORD

"SO THAT AT THE NAME OF JESUS EVERY KNEE MAY BEND IN

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1. —Is my life really under the lordship of Jesus? (Rom. 10:9-10)

3. —Am I honest with myself? (I Jn. 1:8-9)…………………………………….

6. —In what parts of my life has Jesus taken total direction?

7. — Is it Jesus who is filling my life or is it still my selfishness?

8. —Where is my life leading me as I am currently leading it?

11. —What was the central idea of this class? ...................................................

This Questionnaire is not to be read by anyone; It is made for each

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OUR ORIGIN AND OUR DESTINATION

There is no hesitation in admitting a slow evolution of beings in their

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A central idea can be derived from the teaching of Genesis: the

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Then, having conquered death, the children of God will be resurrected in

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2. —What should we understand regarding the creation of man in the Genesis

3. —Can the evolution of species or any other explanation of the formation of

4.............—In Joshua, Chapter 1:5, the Lord tells us not to...............................

10. —What is the central idea of this class?

This Questionnaire is not to be read by anyone; It is made for each

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According to Church doctrine, revealed truths are contained in sacred

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The Old Testament was to prepare and prophetically announce the

The books of the Old Testament manifest to everyone the knowledge

Three main methods can be suggested for Bible reading:

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1. —What are the books of the Pentateuch?

a) How many? ....................................