MODULE 1

The Christian Family as a Natural Institution of Love, Support,

Pakikipagkapwa, and as a Church at Home

DOCTRINE
“A family’s living space could turn into a domestic church, a setting for the
Eucharist, the presence of Christ seated at its table.”
MORALS
“We are obliged to honor and respect all those who God, for our good, has
vested with his authority.”
WORSHIP
“For in celebrating the Eucharist together, the faithful are drawn into the
compelling love of Christ, to become one heart in love and practice in deed what they
profess by the Creed.”

I. PRE - ASSESSMENT
A. MULTIPLE CHOICE
Directions: Choose the letter of the correct answer and write it on the blank before each
number.

________ 1. The following are the three considered titles of the nature of the family except
_ one.

a. covenant relationship c. foundation for civil society

b. domestic Church d. small unit of the society

________ 2. How does the church support family life?

_
a. providing temporary financial support
b. running food banks and providing homeless shelters
c. giving relationship advice to couples
d. all of the above

________ 3. The following are the meaning of “honor” in the Commandments except one.
_
a. care to parents
b. obedience
c. righteousness
d. showing proper gratitude

4. Which of the following is not the meaning of family according to PCP II?

a. the Church in the home

b. the basic unit of Christian life
c. the first school of discipleship
 d. the basic unit of the society

________ 5. Which of the following represents a natural family?

_
a. parents and children
b. parents, children, grandparents, aunts, and uncle
c. mother, father, and biological children
d. Single-parent family

B. TRUE OR FALSE
Directions: Write T on the line before the number if the sentence is True and
F if it is False.

________________5. The Christian community is not a domestic Church.

________________3. God wills all persons to share in His divine life, to become God’s people.
________________4. The covenant of love creates and sustains the basic community we need to
become and survive as persons.
________________1. It is a “covenant” love because it creates and sustains the basic community
we need to become and survive as persons.
________________2. The work of God and the parents does not stop at birth, but continues all
through the years of nurturing and educating the child

II. EXPLORE (Contextualization - Life Situation)

ACTIVITY 1: K-W-L Chart

Directions: Fill in the tables A and B only.

A. WHAT I KNOW B. WHAT I WANT TO KNOW C. WHAT I LEARNED

III. FIRM UP

ACTIVITY 2: CLE 3-2-1 Chart

Directions: Watch a short film in Youtube entitled “Where There Is Family, There Is Love"
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGhCdwJRIP4). Supply what is asked in the
chart.
CLE 3 - 2 - 1 CHART

3 2 1
Things I have discovered. Things that the video has Important value that I have
taught me. gained.

WORD OF GOD and CHURCH TEACHINGS

Exodus 20:12

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which
the LORD your God gives you.”

The Christian Family as a Domestic Church, an Institution of Love,

Support and Pakikipagkapwa
THE FAMILY: ORIGINATING CONTEXT OF LIFE

CFC 1010. God wills all persons to share in His divine life, to become God’s people. The family
is the basic means for carrying out this plan, since it is “a community of persons, serving life
through the procreation and education of offspring, participating in the development of
society, and sharing in the mission of the Church” (PCP II 575). From our cultural family-
centeredness, we Filipinos easily accept the family as the privileged place where new human
life is generated, welcomed, and cared for.
Filipinos have traditionally recognized children as a gift from God. They experience the
birth of a baby into the world as a special moment when God’s creative power is so intimately
united with their own human parental procreative powers.

1011. Moreover, this cooperative work of God and the parents does not stop at birth, but
continues all through the years of nurturing and educating the child (cf. CCC 2201-6). St. Paul
indicates the depth relationship between family and God when he writes: “That is why I kneel
before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name” (Eph
3:14f).

1012. The nature of the family can be considered under three titles: Covenant relationship,
domestic Church, and foundation for civil society. First, as covenant relationship, most
Christian Filipinos connect the family with God creating Adam and Eve through love, and
calling them to mutual love, since He made them in the image and likeness of Himself who is
absolute and unfailing Love. They thus realize in a general way that man and woman are
created for one another, to unite and become one flesh in a communion of love that grounds
their marriage and family life. But perhaps many do not reflect, amidst all the difficulties of
family life today, how the family union is modeled on the covenant God made with his people
when He promised them unswerving fidelity and love.

1013. This idea of our family as covenant simply means to bring out this truth: there’s more
to the daily acts, talk, and events in family life than first meets the eye. The “more” is love,
and a love that goes all the way back to God as its ultimate source. It is a “covenant” love
because it creates and sustains the basic community we need to become and survive as
persons. Perhaps we recognize this most clearly in times of crisis when we face the threat of
family break-up. Without our families, who are we? What is the use of anything we do or think
or strive for, if we cannot share it with our loved ones? Deep down, even with all the
frustrations, and ups and downs of family life, it is within our families that we come to some
personal experience of God’s love and fidelity for each of us. Our family is the “covenant”
where we truly belong and find our “home.”

CHRISTIAN FAMILY AS A DOMESTIC CHURCH

1014. Second, the Christian family, beyond being this covenant relationship, “constitutes a
specific revelation and realization of ecclesial communion, and for this reason, too, it can and
should be called ‘the domestic Church’ ” (FC 21; cf. CCC 2204). For the family is not only
where “new citizens of human society are born, [but] by the grace of the Holy Spirit received
in Baptism, these are made children of God, thus perpetuating the People of God through the
centuries. Thus the family is, so to speak, the domestic Church” (LG 11). PCP II calls the family
“the Church in the home,” “the basic unit of Christian life,” “the first school of
discipleship” (PCP II Decrees, Art. 48; PCP II Doc. 421, 576). It is where we come to exercise
the daily Christian virtues of generous self-giving in active charity, in mutual forgiveness
and obedience, in prayer and thanksgiving.

1019.Finally, the family is also the “first and vital cell of society” (CCC 2207). Through its
service to life by birth and the education of its youth in social virtues, the family grounds and
continually nourishes the existence and development of society itself (cf. FC 42). The
experience of communion and sharing which is characteristic of the family’s daily life
represents its first and fundamental contribution to society (cf. FC 43). At a time when even
Philippine society is becoming more depersonalized, the family constitutes an irreplaceable
school in developing, guarding and transmitting the social virtues and values of respect,
dialogue, generous service, justice and love.

1020.But its role goes beyond procreation and education to embrace, in association with
other families, many social and political activities for the common good (cf. FC 44). The family
must “not live closed in on itself, but [must] remain open to the community, moved by a sense
of justice and concern for others, as well as by a consciousness of its responsibility towards
the whole society” (FC 64).

The FOURTH COMMANDMENT

Family Relationships
1021. Filial respect for parents is demanded of children and adults by the Fourth
Commandment. This is the common teaching of the Bible. The Wisdom Literature of the Old
Testament advises:“Observe, my son, your father’s bidding, and reject not your mother’s
teaching” (Pr 6:20). In the Letter to the Ephesians we read: “Children, obey your parents in
the Lord, for that is what is excepted of you. ‘Honor your father and mother’ is the first
Commandment to carry a promise with it, ‘that it may go well with you, and that you may
have a long life on earth’ ” (Eph 6:1-3).

1022. It is just such an attitude of filial reverence that Jesus showed Mary and Joseph in his
hidden life when “he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to
them . . . Jesus progressed steadily in wisdom and age and grace before God and men” (Lk
2:51-52). But it is important to understand that obedience here cannot mean the automatic,
unquestioning submissiveness that some Filipino parents seem to hold up as the Christian
ideal for their children (cf. NCDP 20-23). Often such “blind obedience” shows more servile
fear than authentic filial respect. True obedience arises, rather, from a willingness to listen to
what is being asked, and to respond in a fully personal, conscientious manner (cf. CCC 2216).
1023. The Commandment’s to “honor,” then, means showing proper gratitude, affection,
respect, obedience and care to parents (cf. CCC 2214f). In the complex system of typical
Filipino family relationships, involving ate, kuya, lola and lolo, etc. this proper respect is
extended to all who have contributed to one’s care, upbringing, and education. The act of
honoring, far from being merely a convention of social custom, is basically a religious act,
whose deep roots and true nature are revealed in Sacred Scripture. In the Old Testament,
extreme punishment was decreed for transgressors: “Whoever curses his father or mother
shall be put to death” (Ex 21:17). “A blasphemer is he who despises his father; accursed of his
Creator, he who angers his mother” (Sir 3:16).

1024. This indicates how closely one’s procreators are linked with the Creator. In honoring
our parents we honor God himself. This is expressed positively in the rewards promised to
those who obey the Commandment. “For the Lord sets a father in honor over his children; a
mother’s authority He confirms over her sons. He who honors his father atones for sins; he
stores up riches who reveres his mother” (Sir 3:2-3; cf. CCC 2218).

1025. Parental respect and responsibility for children. Care and respect for their children
as persons in their own right are enjoined by the Fourth Commandment. Thus we read in the
Pauline letters: “Fathers, do not nag your children lest they lose heart” (Col 3:21). “Fathers, do
not anger your children, bring them up with the training and instruction befitting the Lord”
(Eph 6:4). In his teaching, Christ himself offered a very positive picture of human parents:
What father among you will give his son a snake if he asks for a fish, or hand him a scorpion if
he asks for an egg? If you, with all your sins, know how to give your children good things, how
much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him (Lk 11:11-13).
But it is especially in Christ’s portrait of the merciful, forgiving father in his parable of the
“Prodigal Son” (cf. Lk 15:11-32), that we understand the full Christian meaning of parenthood.

1026.Duties of Christian parents. Thus the Church teaches that parents have the duty to
provide so far as they can for their children’s needs, guiding them in faith and morals, and
creating for them an environment for personal growth (cf. CCC 2221-31). In infancy and
childhood, parents provide for the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of their children. As
they grow older, the parents are called to promote their growing autonomy and
independence. Parents have the primary responsibility for the education of their children,
both secular and religious.

1027. Conclusion. Noted for our love of family and child-centeredness, we Filipino Christians
would seem to have little difficulty with this Commandment. Yet, problems do arise.
First, parents and children alike must learn how to communicate with one another openly
and deeply, in a loving, forgiving, mutually supporting atmosphere that is honest and truthful.
Secondly, parents as well as children must be willing to admit errors, since: a) no one is
perfect or sinless; b) loving forgiveness is what Christ asks of all; and c) truth and a proper
sense of right and wrong are the only bases for genuine forgiveness and interpersonal
relationships.
Thirdly, the whole family must look beyond itself and strive to offer Christian witness of the
Gospel values of justice and protection of human rights to the wider Philippine community of
town, province, region, and nation.

DUTIES OF CHILDREN TO PARENTS:

1. Respect toward parents that also flows to brothers and sisters.

2. Gratitude, as expressed in a quote from Sirach: "Remember that through your parents
you were born; what can you give back to them that equals their gift to you?"
3. Obedience to parents for as long as the child lives at home "when it is for his good or
the good of the family", except when obedience would require the child to do
something morally wrong.
4. Support that requires grown children to offer material and moral support for their
aging parents, particularly at times of "illness, loneliness, or distress".

DUTIES OF PARENTS TO CHILDREN

1. "Moral education, spiritual formation and evangelization" of their children.

2. Respect for their children as children of God and human persons.
3. Proper discipline for children while being careful not to provoke them.
4. "Avoiding pressure to choose a certain profession or spouse", which does not preclude
parents from giving "judicious advice".
5. "Being a good example" to their children.
6. "Acknowledging their own failings" to their children to guide and correct them.

Jesus' Expansion

The Gospel of Matthew relates that when told his mother and brothers were waiting to see
him, Jesus replied, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?" Stretching his hand over
his disciples he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my
Father in heaven is my brother, and my sister, and mother."
Pope Benedict XVI stated that this dictum of Jesus brought the fourth commandment to a new
and higher level. By doing God's will, any person can become part of the universal family of
Jesus. Thus, the fourth commandment's responsibilities extend to the greater society and
requires respect for "legitimate social authorities". The Catechism specifies "duties of citizens
and nations", which Kreeft summarizes as:

1. "Obedience and honor" to "all who for our good have received authority in society from
God".
2. "Payment of taxes, exercising the right to vote and defending one's country".
3. "An obligation to be vigilant and critical", which requires citizens to criticize that which
harms human dignity and the community.
4. "A duty to disobey" civil authorities and directives that are contrary to the moral order.
5. "To practice charity", which is a "necessity for any working family or society"; it is the
"greatest social commandment" and requires people to love God and neighbor.
6. "To welcome the foreigner" who is in need of security and livelihood that cannot be
found in his own country.
7. "An obligation for rich nations to help poor nations", especially in times of "immediate
need".
8. "An expectation for families to help other families".

PAKIKIPAGKAPWA
CFC 792. Our Filipino culture affords many traditional VALUES that are deeply consonant
with the Christian vision that grounds all its moral norms. For example, there is pagsasarili,
the self-reliance that is the first step toward moral responsibility;pakikisama, getting-along-
with-others, or the willingness to share with others; pagkakaisa, the unity of the community
that supports all loving service; and pakikipagkapwa-tao, the human solidarity with all, or
“being a friend of all” that supports Christian love of neighbor. Catholic Filipinos today
are alert, perhaps as never before, to the task of “building a truly Christian community, a
genuine pagsasamahang Kristiyano with pagdadamayan, bayanihan, pakikipagkapwa-tao,
and pagkamakadiyos as building blocks” (NCDP 28)

CFC 938. We Filipinos are very person-oriented; we naturally seek close personal
relationships. Love comes “natural” to us. Most of us like to be known as someone who knows
how to relate (taong marunong makipagkapwa tao; taong marunong makisama).
Unfortunately, however, our pakikipagkapwa tao often remains restricted to those who are
close to us, or those whom we respect and admire, or those from whom we have received (or
hope to receive) some favor. Besides, in today’s Philippines, with its nationwide process of
modernization and economic development, relationships are becoming more and more
merely functional and impersonal. Traditional personal relationships of love and respect are
frequently sacrificed at the altar of efficiency and economic gain.

IV. DEEPENING
ACTIVITY 3: Journal Writing
1.How can a Christian Family be considered as a
- Domestic Church?
- an institution of love, support and pakikipagkapwa?
2.What are the moral responsibility of your parents to you?
3. How do you understand the 4th commandment based from the teachings of the Catholic
Church?
 REFLECTION

ACTIVITY 4

As a Grade 8 student of SVA, am I honoring and respecting my parents and all those who God,
for my good, has vested with his authority? How?

V. TRANSFER (Integration of D-M-W)

ACTIVITY 5: FAITH IN ACTION

D-M-W WHAT I LEARNED FAITH IN ACTION

Instructions:
(Differentiated Output)
DOCTRINE
(What I
Believe) Family Prayer-gathering

Scaffold 1 : Family Prayer flow-making

MORALS
(What
Should I Do)

WORSHIP
(What Shall I
Pray)

CELEBRATION OF GOD’S WORD

Let us pray:
Gracious God, Lover of Families, help us to love each other fervently.
Grow our love so deep that it is able and willing to overcome and
forgive a multitude of misgivings.

Inspire a spirit of hospitality in each of us and enable us to cheerfully

share our home.

We acknowledge that you have given each of us spiritual gifts. Help

us to put our own needs aside and use those gifts to serve one
another well. We will rely on the strength and energy You supply.

We pray that everything we do within this family as the Church in our home, will bring you
glory through the One who lives in us. Amen.

REFERENCES/SOURCES:
Catechism for Filipino Catholics
Catechism of the Catholic Church
Bible: Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition
Where There Is Family, There Is Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGhCdwJRIP4

VI. POST-ASSESSMENT

ST. VINCENT’S ACADEMY, INC.

Kauswagan, Lanao del Norte
Tel. No.: (063) 227-1007
Email: svacademyschool@yahoo.com
Website: svapeace.webs.com
SY 2021-2022

CLE 8
POST-ASSESSMENT
Module 1

Name: _______________________________________________________________Date: _____________________________

Grade and Section:________________________________ Teacher: ________________________________________
Directions: Supply what is asked. Do not go beyond the given lines.

A. What is the Fourth Commandment?

1. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Give two duties of parents based from CFC 1026.

2. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
C. Why is a Christian family considered as a domestic church or the Church in the home?

4. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
B. Essay
Directions: Answer the question below to the best of your ability. Answer in 3 to 5 sentences
only. (5pts)

How do you follow the 4th Commandment of God? Support your answer by giving one
concrete example.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________