Just Teach Sheet Deep Formation September Week 1

Adult Track – Just Teach Sheet

September Week 1
Theme: Faith & Belonging to the Church
Audience: Adults returning or practising Catholics
Focus: Faith in Christ necessarily includes belonging to His Church. The Church is Christ’s Body and the ordinary path of salvation.

Weekly Goal

Adults recognise that authentic Catholic faith is not private or individualistic, but lived in communion with the Church that Christ Himself founded.

What You’ll Need

This sheet

A Bible or Missal

Quiet place for reflection

Opening Prayer (Daily)

Lord Jesus,
You called me into Your Church at Baptism.
Keep me faithful to You by keeping me faithful to Your Body, the Church.
Help me to love, serve, and witness as a member of Your people. Amen.

�� Day 1 – Faith Is Ecclesial

Teaching:
Faith is personal — I believe. But it is never solitary. We believe with the Church.
�� 1 Corinthians 12:12–13 – “For just as the body is one and has many members… so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptised into one body.”

��️ Reflection:
To believe in Christ is to be grafted into His Body. An isolated believer is like a branch cut from the vine (John 15:5).

Questions:

Do I see faith as just “me and God”?

How do I live belonging to the Church in daily life?

�� Day 2 – The Church Christ Founded

Teaching:
Jesus didn’t leave us just a book or ideas. He left us His Church, founded on Peter and the apostles.
�� Matthew 16:18–19 – “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church… I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.”

��️ Reflection:
There is no Christianity without the Church. To follow Jesus is to follow Him in the Church He created.

Questions:

How does knowing Jesus founded the Catholic Church strengthen my faith?

How does this answer the claim that “all churches are the same”?

�� Day 3 – The Church Is Catholic

Teaching:
The mark “Catholic” means universal. The Church is not tied to one nation, culture, or language. She is everywhere, for everyone.
�� Acts 1:8 – “You will be My witnesses… to the ends of the earth.”

��️ Reflection:
From Rome to Africa, from the early martyrs to today’s persecuted faithful, the same Eucharist is celebrated. This universality is a sign of God’s plan.

Questions:

How does being Catholic connect me to a worldwide family?

Do I pray for Catholics in other lands?

�� Day 4 – The Teaching Church

Teaching:
Christ gave His authority to the apostles, and through them to the bishops in communion with Peter’s successor, the Pope. The Magisterium safeguards the truth.
�� John 14:26 – “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit… will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.”

��️ Reflection:
Without the Church’s teaching office, the Gospel fragments into opinion. With it, the same truth is handed on faithfully through centuries.

Questions:

When have I trusted the Church’s teaching even when I didn’t fully understand it?

Do I see the Pope and bishops as Christ’s gift, not as obstacles?

��️ Day 5 – Communion of Saints

Teaching:
Belonging to the Church unites us not only with those on earth, but with the saints in heaven and souls in purgatory.
�� Hebrews 12:1 – “We are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses.”

��️ Reflection:
We don’t walk alone. Every Mass unites heaven and earth.

Questions:

Do I remember that when I go to Mass, I stand with the saints and angels?

How does this truth give me courage in daily faith?

Weekend Wrap-Up – Living Belonging

What makes the Catholic Church unique among Christian groups?

How would my faith weaken if I tried to live it alone?

What concrete step can I take this week to live more fully as a member of Christ’s Church?

Journal Prompts

“I know I belong to the Catholic Church because…”

“When I live apart from the Church, my faith…”

“One way I will live belonging to the Church this week is…”

Apologetics Corner

“Isn’t the Church just human?”
The Church is both divine and human — like Christ Himself. She is holy because Christ is her Head, even though her members are sinners.

“Why not just follow the Bible?”
The Bible itself comes from the Church, which canonised it. Without the Church, we would not even know what Scripture is.

“Isn’t it enough to be a good person without the Church?”
Salvation is not about vague goodness but union with Christ, found fully in His Church through the Sacraments.

Catechism Extension

CCC 181 – Faith as personal and ecclesial

CCC 748–752 – The Church in God’s plan

CCC 830–831 – The Church is Catholic

Reflection: Faith without the Church is not the faith Christ intended. The Church is the place where we meet Him, receive His grace, and journey together to heaven.