There are many! Have small group members/students find some of their own.

• Openness of Abraham: “He took him outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so,’ he added, ‘shall your descendants be.’ Abram put his faith in the Lord, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.” (Gen 15:5-6)
• Openness of Samuel: “The Lord came and revealed his presence, calling out as before, ‘Samuel, Samuel!’ Samuel answered, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening’.”(1 Sam 3:10)

• Openness of Nathanael: “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, ‘Here is a true Israelite. There is no duplicity in him.’ Nathanael said to him, ‘How do you know me?’” (Jn 1:47-48)
• Openness of the Canaanite Woman: “He said in reply, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ But the woman came and did him homage saying, ‘Lord, help me.’” (Matt 15:24-25)

• “The Pharisees saw this and said to his disciples: ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners’?” (Matt 9:11)

There are many! Following are a few for your consideration:

• It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will. His will was that men should have access to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the Holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature. (CCC #51)
• Only the light of divine Revelation clarifies the reality of sin and particularly of the sin committed at mankind's origins. Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly and are tempted to explain it as merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure, etc. Only in the knowledge of God’s plan for man can we grasp that sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another. (CCC #387)

• Why is an sense of openness to God’s presence, gift and mystery so important in the spiritual growth of men and women today?
• What are some of the obstacles to real openness for men and women today?
• Why is evidence and reason so important to an open posture?
• How can faithful Catholics be “closed”?
• Are you open to a Revelation of God the Creator as Father?
• Do you consider yourself open to a new experience of Christ and the Church?
• In what areas are you apt to become more closed?
• Give an example of a situation where someone’s experience of God is “boxed up”.
• Give an example of a situation where someone is open to God’s revelation.

• No coercion
• Requires freedom
• Willingness to look at everything
• Willingness to be moved
• Recognition of our posture as creatures before the Creator
• Awareness of God as a Father
• Awareness of Christ as a Gift
• Recognition of an emptiness that can be infinitely fulfilled
• Open to reality in its totality
• Open to new experience
• Open to persons

Open to a New Experience