Faith formation

Details: 17 January 2014

One of the traditional mental exercises that accompany the start of a new year is that of making New Year’s resolutions. As Christians, it is hoped—if not expected—that among such resolutions are some new, or renewed, spiritual pledges to help us to become better Christians.
The final promise in the traditional Act of Contrition that Catholics use when receiving the Sacrament of Penance states: I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance and to amend my life. What terrific spiritual pledges! With firm resolve the penitent makes a promise to God, first, to confess his sins, which for Catholics means going to Confession regularly; second, to do penance, which means living sacrificially; and finally, to amend his life, which means that authentic conversion is in the works.
In effect, when we pray this Act of Contrition prayer seriously, we commit to an action plan that deepens our humility as we admit our sinfulness, strengthens our spirituality as we make sacrifices, and bolsters our character as we plan to improve ourselves morally. These are all great goals, but they are predicated on the fact that we actually know what sin is, that we appreciate the essence of authentic sacrifice and that we know what growth in holiness looks like. This is where faith formation resources are indispensable. They provide us with the essential information we need in order to be genuinely “in formation”—that is, growing in our faith.
Fortunately, there are a wide variety of quality resources available to us in the area of faith formation. The accessibility of great Catholic books, CDs, movies and online resources continues to expand day by day. Even those who had little education in the faith while growing up can access a plethora of dynamic, user-friendly sources of true Catholic teaching with a few mouse-clicks on trusted internet sites. Parishes and diocesan offices also have offerings intended to form their members in the faith, such as classes, retreats and conferences, and those may also include offering Sacraments and devotions, which are part and parcel to faith formation as well.
For basic information in the form of indexed teachings of the Church, Catholic Answers has a very comprehensive website: www.catholic.org. The web address is even quite easy to remember! Visitors can search for answers regarding virtually any topic and can also read current news stories from around the globe pertaining to the Catholic Church.
There are also websites that offer free online talks or courses on a variety of faith topics. For example, the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology, founded by Dr. Scott Hahn, provides a wide range of studies focused on Scripture (naturally!). Go to: www.SalvationHistory.com. Ascension Press has a website with very simple 10-minute (per day) bible studies. Go to: www.BibleStudyForCatholics.com. For easy-to-digest daily readings from the Catechism of the Catholic Church, go to: www.flocknote.com/catechism. For a full classical arts curriculum, one can visit this site: www.InstituteofCatholicCulture.org.
If we have not done so already, we should make a New Year’s resolution to grow in our faith. Then we need to get to our parishes and to our computers to fulfill this pledge we made to ourselves and to our God. In time, we will most certainly be glad we did, because formation in the faith is so very necessary to all who call themselves disciples of Jesus. Now let’s get to work!