I.C. Don Milani Lanciano Italy
IDEA OF GOD For Christians, God is one and triine. They believe in one God, which manifests itself in three people: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
This original idea of God came from Jesus. According to the Gospels Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit and the Vergin Mary: he is a man and a God at the same time. The human and the divine nature coexist in Jesus.
He claimed to be the son of God and the revelation of God and He promised that after him the Holy Spirit would remain close to the people of God.
That is why Christians sign their bodies in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, before starting every prayer or celebration.
BIBLE The Holy Book for Christians is The Bible, from the Greek "ta Biblia" meaning "the books". Christians believe it contains the Word of God communicated to everybody for their salvation. It is composed of books, written by several authors, in a wide period of time and it was preceded by an oral tradition. It consists of 73 books, devided in Old Testament and New Testament.
The Old Testament stresses the special relationship between God and his chosen people, Israel, but includes instructions for proselytes as well. This relationship is expressed in the biblical covenant (contract) between the two, received by Moses.
The New Testament narrates the New covenant between God and every men in Jesus Christ. It contains the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) with the narration of Jesus Christ's life.
BAPTISM How do you become a Christian? Through the sacrament of baptism The words "baptism" and "baptize" are derived from Greek and means "immerse in water". In fact, baptism symbolizes the burial of the "Old Man" in Christ's death for the rebirth of the “New Man� in Christ.
THE CHURCH The word church derives from the Greek “ekklesía” which means "community" or "convocation". In the Old Testament the Church was the Assembly of the people of God. In the New Testament the Church is the communion of the baptized, gathered together with their Lord as an only body.
HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE OF THE CHURCH The Pope The pope is the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle to whom Jesus had given the task of founding his church. He is also Bishop of Rome and has the task of ruling the church. Today our pope is called Francis I.
The Cardinals The Cardinals are collaborators of the Pope, appointed by him.
The Bishops The Bishops are in charge of the particular churches on specific areas of Italian territory. Each area or city has its own Bishop.
The priests The priests are men who have received a call from God for a great mission: to lead all of us to the encounter with Jesus and to salvation. They transmit the word of God to us, they pray and they administer the sacraments.
TEMPORAL STRUCTURE: THE LITURGICAL YEAR
You can't read all the readings/ sermons in the 73 books that form the Bible in only one year; For this reason they are distributed in a three years: Year A Year B Year C
The liturgical year is centered around two fundamental moments for Christianity: Christmas and Easter. These are also the main holidays.
CHRISTMAS Christmas recalls the birth of Jesus, presented with two different meanings: • Jesus the Savior, incarnation of God, the Father (Christmas) • Jesus the Savior whose salvation is given to all the people of the Earth, not only to the Jewish people. The color of Christmas is green, symbol of hope. Christmas time is preceded by the Advent, a period of four weeks.
EASTER Easter is the main Christian feast. At Easter time we celebrate the Mystery of Christ's death on the Cross and his resurrection. The Christians believe that Christ overcame and defeated the death: in fact he resurrected after 3 days. Easter time is preceded by the period of Lent (40 days), during which the Christians get ready to live this Mystery of Salvation (God gave his life to save us), through prayer, penance and fasting.
The color of Easter is white, symbol of joy, victory and resurrection.