Adult Track – Just Teach Sheet

December Week 2 (2025)
Theme: Advent & Preparation
Focus: John the Baptist, Repentance, and Moral Renewal
Audience: Adults — practising, returning, or seeking deeper conversion

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Weekly Goal

To understand Advent as a call to serious repentance and moral renewal, not sentimentality.
John the Baptist confronts us with a clear truth: meeting Christ requires change — concrete, visible, and lived out in daily life.

This week aims to restore a robust Catholic understanding of repentance, conscience, confession, and fruit-bearing faith.

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What You’ll Need

This sheet

A Bible

Time for honest self-examination

(Strongly recommended) the Sacrament of Reconciliation during Advent

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Opening Prayer (Daily)

Lord Jesus Christ,
You sent John the Baptist to prepare Your way.
Give me the courage to hear the truth about my life,
the humility to repent,
and the grace to change what must be changed.
Let this Advent not pass without renewal of heart.
Amen.

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Day 1 – John the Baptist: Prophet, Not Performer

Teaching
John the Baptist appears suddenly in the wilderness, stripped of comfort and compromise.
He does not entertain, negotiate, or soften his message.
He proclaims one essential truth: “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”

Matthew 3:1–2
CCC 523: “John goes before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah.”

Catholic Insight
John represents the final voice of the Old Covenant and the immediate threshold of the New.
His role is not to console, but to expose hearts — so that Christ may heal them.

Reflection
Have I reduced faith to comfort and reassurance, rather than truth and conversion?

Practice
Read Matthew 3 slowly. Note what disturbs you — that is often where God is working.

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Day 2 – What Repentance Really Means

Teaching
Repentance (metanoia) means a change of mind and direction — not vague regret.
John rejects shallow sorrow and demands fruit: visible evidence of interior change.

Luke 3:8 – “Bear fruits worthy of repentance.”
CCC 1428: “This interior repentance is a radical reorientation of our whole life.”

Catholic Doctrine
True repentance involves:

Recognition of sin

Sorrow for offending God

Firm purpose of amendment

Concrete change

This finds its fullest expression in Sacramental Confession, not self-therapy.

Reflection
Do I mistake feeling bad for actually changing?

Practice
Write down one habitual sin or repeated moral weakness. Ask: What concrete step would repentance require here?

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Day 3 – Moral Renewal Is Practical

Teaching
When people asked John what to do, he did not give vague spiritual advice.
He addressed money, power, honesty, and justice.

Luke 3:10–14

Catholic Moral Vision
The Gospel is not merely interior; it reshapes behaviour.
Grace does not replace effort — it empowers it.

CCC 1807: “Justice disposes one to respect the rights of each.”

Reflection
Faith without moral consequence is not faith — it is sentiment.

Practice
Examine one concrete area:

Speech

Work integrity

Use of money

Sexual morality

Charity toward the poor

Ask: What would repentance look like here?

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Day 4 – “He Must Increase, I Must Decrease”

Teaching
John’s greatness lies in his humility.
He steps aside so Christ can appear.

John 3:30
CCC 2547: “The Lord grieves over the rich because they find their consolation in abundance.”

Spiritual Truth
Repentance is not self-hatred; it is de-centering the ego so Christ may rule.

Reflection
Where do pride, control, or self-justification block Christ’s work in me?

Practice
Choose one deliberate act of humility this week — silence instead of defence, generosity instead of comfort, obedience instead of control.

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Day 5 – Preparing for a Real Judgment

Teaching
John prepares people not for an idea, but for a Judge.
Christ’s coming brings mercy — but mercy presupposes truth.

Matthew 3:11–12
CCC 678: “Jesus Christ will come in glory to judge the living and the dead.”

Catholic Balance
Judgment is not opposed to mercy — it is mercy revealed.
Without judgment, evil is never addressed; without mercy, hope collapses.

Reflection
If Christ examined my life today, what would He ask me to change?

Practice
Pray Psalm 51 slowly. Let it become your Advent prayer.

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Weekend Synthesis

Theme	Catholic Truth
Repentance	A concrete turning of life toward God
Moral renewal	Faith must reshape behaviour
Humility	Christ increases as self decreases
Judgment	Truth revealed, not love withdrawn
Advent	A season for serious spiritual preparation

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Apologetics

“Why is the Church so focused on sin?”
→ Because grace heals real wounds. Ignoring sin does not make us free.

“Isn’t repentance unhealthy guilt?”
→ No. Catholic repentance leads to forgiveness, peace, and restored dignity.

“Why Confession?”
→ Because Christ instituted it (John 20:22–23). Forgiveness is personal, not abstract.

“Can’t God forgive without confession?”
→ God is not bound by sacraments; we are. He gave Confession as the ordinary means of reconciliation.

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Catechism Extension

CCC 523–524 – John the Baptist’s mission

CCC 1427–1433 – Conversion and repentance

CCC 1450–1460 – The Sacrament of Penance

CCC 1803–1811 – Moral virtues

CCC 678–679 – Judgment

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Further Reading

St John Henry Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons

Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: Infancy Narratives

Fr Jacques Philippe, Interior Freedom

Romano Guardini, The Lord

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Closing Prayer

Lord Jesus Christ,
send Your light into my conscience.
Give me the grace to repent honestly,
to change concretely,
and to bear fruit worthy of Your coming.
May this Advent not pass in comfort,
but in conversion.
Amen.