Synopsis
This book represents the foundations for understanding another of my books, Diagnosing the soul and hagiotherapy, which has already been translated into English. The books outline the differences between and complementariness of the practice of evangelisation and spiritual therapeutic methods. Although more than twenty years have passed since this book was first published in Croatian, it has not lost its urgency, contemporaneity and fascination. Perhaps this is because the Church has been striving, from Vatican II to the present day, to find effective means of evangelisation and re-evangelisation, means which are still barely visible today. Encounter with the Living God arose out of practical experiences during seminars for the evangelisation of the Church. It is based on the early Christian catechumenate, used by the Church for the animation and evangelisation of believers until well into the seventh century. This primary method of evangelisation was restored in the Council Rite of the Christian Initiation of Adults. Thus the contents of the catecheses, didactic elements, methodology and testimonies arose out of the experience of working with adults. The goal of the catechumenate, and of this book, is to bring believers to meet Jesus Christ, which is the heart of Christian experience. God is Spirit, and has created in us a spiritual soul, creating us in his own image, so that we may know and meet our Creator. This is even truer since the Son of God took upon himself human nature, redeemed mankind from sin and sent his Holy Spirit upon the Church. The purpose of this catechumenate is to draw people into the Kingdom of God, or in other words, to enable them to carry out the will of God. And God’s will for us is that we should live life to the full, developing our spiritual potential, and with our whole beings striving towards the perfection of the image of God. By baptism we have been called to become children of God, and that gives us many opportunities to be wiser, more creative, moral, more successful, free and dignified – in other words, to grow into the fullness of Christ, and to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect (see Col 1:28 – 2:3 and Mt 5:48). The experience of faith is the starting point for development and the precondition for understanding God’s will and his plan for all people. Like the early Christian catechumenate, the book is divided according to the four periods of the believer's growth towards the experience of faith: the pre-catechumenate, the catechumenate, the period of purification and enlightenment and finally, the period of mystagogy. During the pre-catechumenate, people should be catechised according to where they are. Three catechisms are essential – on human existence, on sin and suffering, and on the human spiritual dimension. During the catechumenate the topics of freedom from slavery to sin, death and suffering, the need for conversion, prayer, the importance of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Church should be covered. During the third period the participants are led towards conversion in a practical way, and are taught how to pray for deliverance from addictions and for healing of the soul and spirit. During the mystagogy period, seminar participants are taught how to renew the sacraments of initiation; baptism, confirmation and the eucharist, and are guided towards experiencing new birth through the Holy Spirit, so that the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit may bring about new growth, unlimited development in holiness and newness of life.
Présentation de l'éditeur
This book represents the foundations for understanding another of my books, Diagnosing the soul and hagiotherapy, which has already been translated into English. The books outline the differences between and complementariness of the practice of evangelisation and spiritual therapeutic methods. Although more than twenty years have passed since this book was first published in Croatian, it has not lost its urgency, contemporaneity and fascination. Perhaps this is because the Church has been striving, from Vatican II to the present day, to find effective means of evangelisation and re-evangelisation, means which are still barely visible today. Encounter with the Living God arose out of practical experiences during seminars for the evangelisation of the Church. It is based on the early Christian catechumenate, used by the Church for the animation and evangelisation of believers until well into the seventh century. This primary method of evangelisation was restored in the Council Rite of the Christian Initiation of Adults. Thus the contents of the catecheses, didactic elements, methodology and testimonies arose out of the experience of working with adults. The goal of the catechumenate, and of this book, is to bring believers to meet Jesus Christ, which is the heart of Christian experience. God is Spirit, and has created in us a spiritual soul, creating us in his own image, so that we may know and meet our Creator. This is even truer since the Son of God took upon himself human nature, redeemed mankind from sin and sent his Holy Spirit upon the Church. The purpose of this catechumenate is to draw people into the Kingdom of God, or in other words, to enable them to carry out the will of God. And God’s will for us is that we should live life to the full, developing our spiritual potential, and with our whole beings striving towards the perfection of the image of God. By baptism we have been called to become children of God, and that gives us many opportunities to be wiser, more creative, moral, more successful, free and dignified – in other words, to grow into the fullness of Christ, and to be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect (see Col 1:28 – 2:3 and Mt 5:48). The experience of faith is the starting point for development and the precondition for understanding God’s will and his plan for all people. Like the early Christian catechumenate, the book is divided according to the four periods of the believer's growth towards the experience of faith: the pre-catechumenate, the catechumenate, the period of purification and enlightenment and finally, the period of mystagogy. During the pre-catechumenate, people should be catechised according to where they are. Three catechisms are essential – on human existence, on sin and suffering, and on the human spiritual dimension. During the catechumenate the topics of freedom from slavery to sin, death and suffering, the need for conversion, prayer, the importance of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Church should be covered. During the third period the participants are led towards conversion in a practical way, and are taught how to pray for deliverance from addictions and for healing of the soul and spirit. During the mystagogy period, seminar participants are taught how to renew the sacraments of initiation; baptism, confirmation and the eucharist, and are guided towards experiencing new birth through the Holy Spirit, so that the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit may bring about new growth, unlimited development in holiness and newness of life.
Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.
