Visions - Pflaum Home

Connecting Gospel and Doctrine
The Christian message centers on Jesus Christ. The Gospels
are our primary source for knowing and adhering to Jesus
Christ in faith. The Pflaum Gospel Weeklies put Jesus Christ at
the center of catechesis by building lessons around the Sunday
Gospels of the liturgical year. “Because the Gospels narrate the
life of Jesus and the mystery of our redemption after Christ and
the Reign of God that he proclaimed, catechesis will also be
centered on Christ if the Gospels occupy a pivotal place within
it.” Catechesis aims at putting “people… in communion …with
Jesus Christ: only he can lead us to the love of the Father in the
Spirit and make us share in the life of the Holy Trinity”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 426). All further quotations
are from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Connecting the Weekly Issue of Visions to the What
the Church Believes and Teaches Handbook
As you look through this Teaching Guide, you will
sometimes see a Chi-rho in the margin. This icon is
your signal to look at the reference to a section in the What
the Church Believes and Teaches catechism handbook
(WCBT), which came with your subscription to Visions. The
citation directs you to pages in the handbook that underscore
and expand the doctrinal content of the Visions issues. You
can incorporate the WCBT pages into your lesson, use them
as a review of the doctrinal content, or call them to parents’
attention as something to explore with their children at home.
25th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
“At the heart of catechesis we find, in
essence, a person, the Person of
Jesus of Nazareth, the only Son from
the Father…who suffered and died for us, and who now, after
rising, is living with us forever” (426). “Christ’s whole life is a
mystery of redemption” (516). “Christ did not live his life for
himself but for us” (519). Also, 427-429.
26th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
“In all of his life Jesus presents himself
as our model. …who invites us to
become his disciples and follow him”
(520). The cross is the unique sacrifice of Christ. Because in his
incarnate divine person Jesus has in some way united himself to
every human, “the paschal mystery is offered to all” (618).
27th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
The vocation of every follower of
Jesus is to love. The vocation of every
married couple is mutual love that
becomes an image of God’s unfailing love for us. God created us
out of love and calls us to love. The vocation of marriage is
written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from
the hand of the Creator (1603-05). God did not create humans as
solitary beings but from the beginning created them male and
female (Genesis 1.27; 383). The partnership of man and woman
constitutes the first form of communion between persons
(Gaudium et Spes #13). Also, CCC on marriage 1638-1664,
2360-2372.
TG1-2
28th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
We follow Jesus by loving God, who is
the source of all good, and our
neighbor as ourselves. To the rich
young man who asks Jesus what he must do to have eternal life,
Jesus answers first by invoking the necessity to recognize God as
the “One there is who is good,” and then by invoking the
Commandments that involve love of neighbor. Jesus also
challenges the young man to follow him as a model, to sell his
possessions and follow him (2052-53). Also, 2075, 2443-49,
2451-52, 2458, 2461-62.
29th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Christ’s whole life expresses his
mission: “to serve and give his life as
a ransom for many” (608). We follow
Jesus Christ by pouring out our lives in love and service as he did.
We follow Jesus by living our baptism, as James and John do in
the Gospel. It is in the Church, in communion with all the
baptized, that Christians fulfill their vocations (2030). Also, 618,
2013-14, 2028-29.
30th Sunday in
Ordinary Time
“The ministry of catechesis draws
ever fresh energy from the councils”
(9). “Catechesis in the Church has again
attracted attention in the wake of the Second Vatican Council,
which Pope Paul VI considered the great catechism of modern
times” (10). “The college of bishops exercises power over the
universal Church in a solemn manner in an ecumenical council.
But there never is an ecumenical council which is not confirmed
or at least recognized as such by Peter’s successor” (884).
31st Sunday in
Ordinary Time
Jesus teaches his disciples two great
commandments—love God and your
neighbor as yourself. When someone
asks Jesus, “Which Commandment in the Law is greatest?”
Jesus replies: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the
greatest and first Commandment. And a second is like it: You
shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two
Commandments hang all the Law and the prophets” (2055). Also
2052, 2196.
32nd Sunday in
Ordinary Time
In all of his life Jesus presents
himself as our model. In praising a
widow for her wholeheartedness, Jesus
lifts up someone who models his way of loving and being. “The
whole of Christ’s life was a continual teaching: his silences, his
miracles, his gestures, his prayer, his love for people, his special
affection for the little and poor, his acceptance of total sacrifice on
the Cross for the redemption of the world, and his Resurrection
are the actualization of his word and the fulfillment of Revelation”
(561). See Jesus’ love for the poor, 2443-2449.