Lesson 2 --Charting the Course

Read pages 21-24of Our Goal and our Guides

This is an outline of the plan for the Quest for Happiness in general and for this book Our Goal and our Guides in particular.

Preview of this year's course:

In the freshman year we shall see how deeply God loves us, from the deeds of love which are especially attributed to the creative power of God the Father. We shall strive to return that love by the practice of all the virtues, but each year we shall stress on in particular. This year it will be that of faith.

(for more details about this, you can look at the chart on pages 10-11)

The theme for the four years as a whole:

We are seeking for perfect happiness. We can find it only in the measure in which we forget self and dedicate our lives to the glory of God. He loves us so much that He wants only our love in return so that He may make us happy with His immense love.

General Objective for Year 9

"To know the story of God's immense love for us and to believe all that it contains.

To know about God, about what He has done for me, and what we must do in return out of love for Him. Faith tells us this and enables us to believe it.

The focus by units

1. Reason and Faith
2. Liturgical Year
3. "I Believe in God, the Father ALmighty"
4. Creation, Fall, Promise of Redemption
5. Sacraments --Focus on Baptism and Confirmation
6. Basic Moral Principles -- Focus on 1st Three Commandments

Take a look at pages 25-27, though you don't have to read it closely. This section contains a bibliography of resources from Scripture, Liturgy, reference books, religion texts, Bible and Church history books, lives of saints, magazines, newspapers, and pamphlets. There is a similar bibliography at the end of every unit. Most of these are out of print but the care taken to compile the resources gives some clue as to the treasures of knowledge about our faith and also, the respect shown to the ability and interest of a 9th grade Catholic half a century ago. We live in a different time, though there are signs that things are changing for the better.

Finally, take a look at the general plan of the book. Each unit contains several chapters and a general form as follows:

Part I: Planning the Unit

• What do you already know?
• Words we will need to know.
• Some aims we hope to achieve in studying this unit.
• Suggested assignments and activities.

Part II: The Unit

• An outline at the beginning of each section
• The text itself
• A review of the section

Part III: Finishing the Unit

• A resume of the entire unit
• Review questions for the entire unit
• Parallel readings from other texts
• Related readings

You don't have to have this all memorized, but it may be useful to come back to. Understanding the plan or structure of a text is a useful help to being able to master its contents.

Go on to the NEXT section: Review of Introduction