The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive

On the first day of the school year, my theology teacher asked our class: "What is man fully alive?" After several minutes of wise remarks and trying to avoid answering questions, we eventually got to what my teacher wanted us to get: "The Glory of God is Man fully alive." But what exactly do I think this means after having the rest of the school year to reflect on it? Ultimately the glory of God is man fully alive through works of prayer and charity, the sacraments, and in everyday life.

Throughout life, we are always surrounded by hardships. Hardships make life a lot more difficult and often bring our emotional, physical, and spiritual doubts to light. Prayer helps calm us down and helps us discern what is true and what isn't. Prayer, not only in hardships, brings us closer to God. Prayer brings us closer to God because prayer is conservation with God, and our relationship grows much like our relationships with friends grow the more we talk to them. Prayer is glorifying God because in prayer, we acknowledge that God is the ultimate creator, healer, example of mercy, and God is love. In prayer, we grow in our bonds with God and ultimately feel more alive. We also give glory to God in charity by helping others. Also, to me, I feel much better after helping others than I do doing anything else. I think this shows that through glorifying God we truly feel Fully Alive and the most fulfilled.

Secondly, we feel fully alive through our reception of the Sacraments. Through the reception of the Sacraments we receive grace that helps redeem us and bring us closer to God. The Sacraments glorify God because through the sacraments we are following God's will; also, through our reception of the sacraments we often pray, sing, and honor God. The sacraments ultimately make us fully alive by giving us the graces to bring ourselves closer to God and rebuild our bonds; by rebuilding our bonds we feel fully alive.

Finally, we can ultimately feel fully alive through everyday actions. Through our everyday actions, we can either follow God's will or reject God and follow the Devil's. I believe here we can truly see that the Glory of God is man fully alive. You can tell this is true because every time you choose the Devil's way, dont you usually feel bad? But whenever you choose God's path, you usually feel really good and glad that you chose the just and right way. This makes it easier to realize that glorifying God makes us feel much better than glorifying the Devil.

Through charity, prayer, the sacraments, and everyday life we glorify God. We glorify God by showing his greatness and trying our best to grow closer to him. Most people will agree with me that by following God's will, they feel good and better than they would have choosing the wrong path. Through these actions, and all actions that ultimately bring us closer to God, we fulfill the statement: "The Glory of God is Man fully Alive." and will truly become alive.

Glory of God is man fully alive

At the beginning of the school year, my teacher Mr. Cole asked us the question: "What does it mean to be man fully alive?" I thought I had a general idea but if he asked me I could not give him a good answer. As the school year went along, I reflected on this and learned in his class. Now I feel like I can answer this question.
What does it mean to be man fully alive? Man fully alive is someone that works his hardest at everything he does, and by working his hardest he gives glory to God. Whether it is a kid to an adult that has to work, it all applies the same. It does not matter how old or mature you are, we as humans should strive to be men fully alive. God wants us to be happy and to work. It is human nature to work and when we work hard it helps us and gives glory to God. If you work at something but do not work your hardest, you do not feel completely satisfied and you do not give glory to God because it was not your hardest. When we work our hardest, we may fail but we will get better each time we work. When we get better, it sets the bar a little bit higher on how much responsibility we have to give glory to God. A kid working his hardest gives the same amount of glory to God as a grown up working his hardest. We are all equal, and we are all called to give glory to God by working our hardest. I might of gave this answer to my teacher, but I would not understand what it really meant until I learned and learned in his class all year. Thanks Mr. Cole, I will try my hardest each and everyday, and I will try to get others to work their hardest too. Also if you want to learn more about how to man fully alive, read the book Fully Alive Action Guide: A Journey That Will Change Your Life by Ken Davis. I hear it is supposed to be a good book about this topic.

Saints

Often when Catholics are troubled by or need guidance on something, they pray to Saints. But why do they pray to Saints and what are Saints? Saints with a lowercase 's' are those people who have reached the glory of Heaven. Saints with a capital 'S' are people who are recognized by the Church as having remained faithful during their time on earth, are recognized by the Church to be great examples to follow, and have reached the glory of Heaven. Saints have to be canonized by the Church and once canonized they receive their own holiday where Church followers look back at what they have accomplished, learn from their actions, and pray to them for guidance. Saints are prayed to for guidance because during difficulty in their life they remained faithful to God. People pray to Saints because they have set great examples for all Christians to follow and are usually recognized for/represent some aspect of life (lost items, travel, throats, chastity). 956: "The intercession of the saints-Being more closely united to Christ, those who dwell in heaven fix the whole Church more firmly in holiness.... They do not cease to intercede with the Father for us, as they proffer the merits which they acquired on earth through the one mediator between God and men, Christ Jesus.... So by their fraternal concern is our weakness greatly helped.” So in conclusion, Saints and saints are prayed to because they intercede for us to God and provide great examples for us to follow in our spiritual life.

Vocation

Every person in life is called to a specific vocation. Everyone is called to a vocation to be apart of the common priesthood as well as join in the universal call to holiness. Becoming a priest or a consecrated is not the only way to join the universal call to holiness; rather, we can join this calling by simply participating in life to the utmost potential and to the best ability that we can whether this means following a teacher's instructions, cleaning toilets, or cooking food. But people that know of God are also required to participate in the sacraments and try their best to rebuild their relationship with God. We are also called to a more specific vocation: marriage, consecration, or holy orders. Each person will either be called to marriage with a spouse, becoming a brother or sister, or becoming a priest. These vocations are more specific and decide how we take part in the Church for the rest of our life: laity or apart of the hierarchy. Through discernment and prayer we can discover our true vocation; it takes time and a lot of prayer to discover what we will ultimately become.

"Life is not about how hard we get hit, it is about hard we get hit and keep going."

Why does God allow failure, pain, misery, sadness in our goals in life? He makes all these obstacles in our life to help us.Would you just want to be the best of the best without even trying? Without putting in the work to succeed? No, when you put in the work and you try your hardest that is when you feel inexplicable  God wants us to follow our dreams, but our dreams can not be achieved overnight. You have to put in hours and hours and hours to get better at your goal.
"Life is not about how hard we get hit, it is about hard we get hit and keep going." This is my life moto. I was inspired to write this blog post of the inspirational video: "Why do we fall" on you tube. Life is not about who got the most troubles, it is about who had the most troubles and kept going and succeeded. In the video, it talks about how pain is will go away with time if you try your hardest, but if you do not try your hardest the pain will always be with you. The physical pain will go away with time, and if you try your hardest you will succeed the next time, but if you do not. Then the emotional pain will always be there, where you ask yourself if I had just tried harder could I of succeeded? This is why you should never give up, and always try your hardest. God puts these obstacles in your life to help you with your goals and your character. It is during the hard times, that show who we really are inside.
Failure can happen at any time and any place. I have failed myself a lot, and I have come back stronger from every failure. I do not like failure, but failure helps me strive for better. Good examples of people that have never given up and kept trying their hardest are professional athletes in any sport. Many of them have gone through extremely hard times, but have prevailed. They have used those hard times to help them succeed. All of us should do the same in our lives, whether it is to become a professional athlete or a doctor. Do your best always, and never give up. Those difficult times determine who you are, and who you will become.

Autistic Girl Expresses Unimaginable Intelligence

Lots of people will just look at people like Carly, an autistic girl, and judge them. They will give them the term as mentally retarded. Then one day, Carly changed many people's views on autism. One that day, she rushed to the laptop and wrote two words, "Hurt, Help." In those two words, we realize she is smarter than we take her to be. Later on she writes all the time on the computer, and these two sentences took me by surprise, "I am autistic, but that is not who I am. Take time to know me, before you judge me." She is just like us in every way except by the way her brain functions. This is one thing I will take away from this video: Do not judge people even if they seem mentally retarded. I try not to judge people, but at times like when I see a person like Carly I feel bad and place the title on her as Mentally Ill. She might seem like that, but she is just like everyone else. I may have judged her not in a mean way, but no one should be judged. I do feel sorry for her, that she has to deal with this problem in her life but she is proving not only to me and her parents but to everyone in the world that she is a normal kid inside a different body. The catholic church does not want anyone to be judged meanly or wrongly and this video shows how people's interpretations of people might not always be right. So I have one message to Carly and that is: Keep doing what you are doing, and showing people that disabilities do not change who you are.

Ronald Davis

In society today, we constantly tell eachother to follow the golden rule or to think about "WWJD" (What Would Jesus Do), but do we really follow these things? This man above, Ronald Davis, would probably say that many people today do not treat others rightly. Davis is a homeless man who has to constantly beg people for money in order for him to eat and who has to constantly sleep outside in the cold. Davis told cameras how he is treated like scum and trash because he doesnt have a job. After this, Davis said something that made a lot of sense to me: people always tell me to get a job, but how can I get a job when I'm homeless. I can not dressed nicely, I dont have an address for employers to reach me, and I dont have a phone to talk to people. I think society today is cruel and treats humans wrong. "2258: Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human being." Here, the catechism tells everyone that all human life is sacred because God created each and everyone of us in HIS image; we must treat eachother with respect because God created us all equal and with equal dignity. We must support our fellow man rather than demean and hurt him; looking at Davis's story, we can see that we must help the homeless. I can understand not giving money because of the fear of drugs or alcohol but maybe we can all give a little food, water, or snacks to the homeless. We must look out for eachother and love eachother like we love God and like we love ourselves.

The Church loves, welcomes, and respects the person but not their actions

The Catholic Church does not hate on people who are gay or go against them as a person, the Church only does not like the act that they do. As the quote says, "Be yourself and the right people will love the real you." Be yourself, the Catholic Church will always love you no matter what you do, they may not like your actions but the Church will always love you. If someone is gay or lesbian, the Church will love them, welcome them, and respect them but they may ask for them to change to the way God wanted but they do not hate you for being that way.
Another example of this is that if you have sex before marriage. The Church will never stop loving, welcoming, and respecting you but they will ask for you to repent and to change your ways. Even if you were Catholic and then changed your religion, the Catholic Church will be sad you left but they will never stop loving, welcoming, and respecting you. When you finally come back to the Catholic Church, they will be overjoyed but they will not think of you any differently than before. Therefore, the Church will always love, welcome, and respect you and they will never stop but they will want you to change your actions.

Homeless Man, Ronald Davis' Emotional Story Called a Bum

Homeless men are more common each and everyday. Most people think that homeless men choose to be homeless on their own, and feel as if they get lots of money for doing nothing. These homeless men are in fact dirty and smelly, and actually are begging to stay alive not to just beg. These men work from sun up to sun down to try and get enough money to get something to sleep and somewhere nice to stay. The common person think that these people are gross and bad for their own lives, and they feel as if they should get jobs. But can they really?

Homeless men are on the streets getting money to stay alive but can they really get another job? In this video, Ronald Davis shows that they can not get another job because of how they look and smell. When they go to apply for a job, they gross the person out and they do not give them the job that they need. These homeless men are stuck on the streets til one person will give them a chance to get their life back, where they can eat and sleep whatever and wherever they want. Homeless men are not their by choice but by force, therefore we should do more to help them in our lives.

Why do we need the sacraments? Didn't Jesus die for us already?

Jesus died on the cross to save mankind, but he also instituted the sacraments to save mankind. Why did he do both?? Well, when Jesus died on the cross he opened to mankind the opportunity to save ourselves. His one death is worth infinitely; this means that every time we sin, Jesus's one death still keeps that door open to redemption whereas whenever Adam and Eve sinned, they were completely shut out until Jesus died for our sins. Now because his death does not completely redeem us, we need the sacraments. The sacraments rebuild our bond with God through the reception of graces: actual and sanctifying grace. Jesus's death allows us to be redeemed while the sacraments actually rebuild our relationship with God.

Basic Church Rules

Many Catholics don not know the basic rules the Church has given them to follow. These are the basic rules that you should follow to be in a state of grace with God, although it is much more beneficial to do way more than these basic expectations. First you must attend Mass every Sunday and holy day of obligation. Secondly, go to confession at least once a year but once a month would be the better thing to do. Receive Holy Communion during Easter but receiving weekly or even daily is more encouraged. Fourth, observe laws on fasting and abstinence: one full meal on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday while not eating meat on Fridays during Lent. Finally, support the Church financially and otherwise every Sunday and holy day of obligation. So give money to your church. These are the basic rules to follow in the church, but being lukewarm gets you nowhere in life. You must be persistent and constantly strive to become closer to God.

The Real Presence

The Eucharist is the real presence of Jesus Christ. There are many people and heresies that attack this statement, because they do not believe the real presence of Jesus Christ. The early Church fathers stated firmly that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist. The Church teaches, "The doctrine of the Real Presence asserts that in the Holy Eucharist, Jesus is literally and wholly present—body and blood, soul and divinity—under the appearances of bread and wine." I truly believe the Eucharist is Christ's real presence and so has the Church after it was instituted. If you feel like you want to read more about this topic, go to: "The Real Presence". This is a good website to learn more about the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Miracle of Lanciano

Miracle of Lanciano:  In the Church of St. Legontian in Lanciano, Italy, the eucharist changed into real flesh and blood. This change supposedly happened because a Basilian monk there was doubting that Jesus was truly present in the Eucharist. The flesh and blood were tested and these were the results: the flesh and blood were real and human, the flesh came from the heart (myocardium, endocardium, vagus nerve, left ventricle), flesh and blood have AB blood type (identical to that found on the Shroud of Turin), proteins were present in the blood that proved that the blood was fresh, and it has remained preserved since its transformation. This transformation is very helpful for non-catholics to look at and understand what happens in the Eucharist. The Eucharist ALWAYS changes into the body and blood of Christ during mass, although it usually only changed in essence. What this means is that the bread and wine does not change physically (taste, shape, color, etc. remains the same) but its essence changes (what makes it up on the inside; it’s in no way physical). So, the Miracle of Lanciano is so interesting because it shows non-Catholics what happens but in an extreme way.

Annulment vs Divorce

Many catholics believe that an annulment is a divorce of a catholic couple but this is incorrect. A divorce is the separation of two married people and is not validated by the Church. A civil divorce can only be acknowledged if an annulment is given (church divorce). An annulment recognizes that a marriage never happened either because of unjust reasons such as someone being forced into marriage. An annulment states that a valid marriage never existed and therefore it is possible to become separated because their marriage wasnt valid. "According to the Church...a true marriage a man and a woman become one flesh before the eyes of God...However, various impediments can render an individual unable to contract marriage. For this reason (or for other reasons that render the marriage null and void), after an examination of the situation by the competent ecclesiastical tribunal, the Church can declare the nullity of a marriage, i.e., that the marriage never existed. In this case, provided the natural obligations of a previous union are discharged, the contracting parties are free to marry -Catechism of the Catholic Church"

Women as priests?

Every since the beginning of priesthood, women have tried to become a priest. Further, in 1994 Pope John Paul II formally declared that the Church does not have the power to ordain women. He stated, "Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church’s judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force. Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Luke 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful" (OrdinatioSacerdotalis 4). I am sorry for you women out there because Jesus made man priests, not women and that is how it has been ever since. For this reason, women CAN NOT be priests.

Purgatory

Purgatory is thought about often about by church followers as a scary place. It is the place between earth and heaven where you are purified completely of your sins so that you are capable of going to heaven in a holy state. Many people are scared and terrified of the aspect of purgatory. Personally, I love the idea because it helps me realize that God loves me and tries his best to help me reach my goal of heaven. Its like bowling. In bowling, you try to knock over all the pins (go to heaven) but you don't always bowl a strike. You have to try again until you knock them over and even if its a spare you still reach your ultimate goal. This is how purgatory is; purgatory is the equivalent of trying to get that spare to reach your goal ultimate goal of Heaven. Whereas getting a gutterballs gives no chance of knocking over pins and signifies how lost you become from that goal of salvation in Hell. Catechism 1031 says that "The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent. The tradition of the Church, by reference to certain texts of Scripture, speaks of a cleansing fire: 'As for certain lesser faults, we must believe that, before the Final Judgment, there is a purifying fire. He who is truth says that whoever utters blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will be pardoned neither in this age nor in the age to come. From this sentence we understand that certain offenses can be forgiven in this age, but certain others in the age to come.'"

prayer

What is prayer? Prayer is the way we connect to God. It is a conversation with God. Many people do not pray or do not feel like they can pray because they are distracted. It is very easy to get distracted during prayer by many things like people talking, etc. Prayer is necessary in our relationship with God because it is us talking to him. For example, in a relationship with a girl on earth if they do not talk then their relationship suffers. But if they talk, their relationship grows. This is just how our relationship with God works but by through prayer. We all need to pray more, and you will see that you are a happier person because of prayer.

Service Hour Reflection

      For my Sophomore Service hours I completed a variety of tasks with several different organizations. I worked at the Beacon, Challenger Football, A Mentally Challenged Bingo Party, and giving out toys at the hospital. At the Beacon, I was responsible for a number of tasks: first I helped make green beans (sounds a lot easier than it really is because it involved opening hundreds of cans to feed the number of people that showed up) and secondly I cleaned all the dishes, which too sounds a lot easier than it really is. At Challenger Football, I just played with the mentally disabled kids and gave them a fun great time of football. At the Bingo Party, I helped mentally disabled adults and kids play bingo. Finally at the Children’s Hospital, I helped give out toys to sick kids around Christmas time.

      Before helping with the service projects, I always feel disappointed to be “wasting” my day away to do required service for school. I always think that it is going to be awkward helping other people and not a lot of fun, but it never seems to happen that way. After every service project,, I felt great; I felt completely at peace and like I had just done something great. I think its so weird how we always hate our service hours but end up loving doing them after. I realized that, like we learn in Theology, we truly are ultimately fulfilled by God and our social aspects, which is shown by the great feeling of happiness that we feel after completing a service project.

      My service relates greatly to my Jesuit education because our education emphasizes the ambition to be Men for Others. I feel like I have successfully completed this task by helping the mentally disabled have fun, give toys out, and make food/clean for homeless or less fortunate people. I see these experiences connecting to my long term goals because I wish to develop myself to constantly do service and constantly help others, which I believe these projects has helped me move along my path. I think everyone should learn to love service because it is needed and a very fulfilling thing to do.

      I personally, loved doing my service hours with my dad. It’s great to see him out enjoying helping others even though he necessarily doesn’t have to help. It further makes my pops a good role model for me to follow through his regular and spiritual life. These service projects were very difficult at times but very fun at others and I am very thankful for having done them.

Indulgences

Indulgences are the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sin whose guilt has already been forgiven, available to the faithful under certain conditions prescribed by the church. That is the official definition by the Catholic Church. Indulgences has caused many problems in the past because they sold indulgences a long time ago. When one person stood up against the sale of indulgences, he changed his view of the church and criticized the church in almost every issue creating the Protestant Reformation. The church no longer sells indulgences but offers them if the person who wants an indulgence follows a particular physical and/or spiritual journey. Everyone in the world should try to have indulgences because they reduce our length in purgatory.

Boston Marathon

On April 15, around 2:45 P.M. the in-explainable happened. No one would of thought that another attack on the USA would happen. Every time there is something that happens like this, the Catholic Church prays and prays for the people who got hurt. No one can explain why this happened except for the person or people involved. But no matter what happens, the Catholic Church does not want to kill the person even if they committed the worst crime.

Which of the four marks of the Church seems the greatest or most important and why?

I think the most important mark of the Church is that the church is one. If the church wasn’t one then there would be many different beliefs and no one would believe the same thing; in a sense, our faith wouldn’t really exist. Holiness may be very important in the Church but if the church was not one, then other beliefs could contradict that the Church is or isn’t holy in the first place. Apostolic is also very important in the Church because without it, the Church could not consider itself descending from the teachings of Christ or consider itself correct about theological teachings in the Church. One is more important than apostolic because without the oneness, the apostles could have spread non-unified or false teachings that would confused the Church’s followers. The Church is kept together as one primarily because of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Oneness is also more important than catholic. You can see from the Old Testament that God started with a small group of people and gradually elevated the number of people he guided and taught with time. So if the Church was not universal, then God would be working through a select few of people until it became universal. But it could not become universal without the oneness of the teachings and the faith because if it spreaded non-unified, then many other religions would form that were not completely similar the beliefs of the Catholic Church.

Salvation is what now?? (Protestantism vs. Catholicism)

Protestants and Catholics believe many similar and different things. One different thing is their views on salvation and how we are saved. Catholics believe that we are saved through our own personal effort to remain in a state of grace with God by receiving his grace in the seven sacraments. But before we receive the sacraments, we must be baptized in order to wash away the effects of Original Sin. Also, Jesus needed to come in order to provide the expiation necessary to rebuild the bond between us and God before we would be allowed to lead our salvation ourselves. Now, because of the Reformation centuries ago, Protestants believe that it is possible to be saved by faith alone. They believe that just by believing in God and all that he has taught, you can be saved. I never really understood how people believed that because by believing in God and all he has taught you would also have to follow those beliefs with meritorious works and actions otherwise you would be a hippocrates. And if you are a hippocrate, then you do not fully believe all revelation that God has revealed. Similarly, both protestants and Catholics believe that it is possible for those who do not know about Christ to go to heaven.

Morning After Pill

In the U.S, a law has just been passed that allows young girls to receive the Morning After Pill because the pill posed to major medical risks to young women. The morning after pill is a drug that women take to prevent themselves from getting pregnant the "morning after", or up to six days after, having sex. This is a very controversial topic because it is preventing pregnancies and in a way telling young women that it is okay and normal to have sex at a young age. The Catechism says this about all contraceptives: "2399:  The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception). (Catechism of the Catholic Church)" The Church does not agree with the use of a contraceptive to prevent births unless you already have too many children to handle. The ruling of the morning after pill directly attacks christian as well as parental beliefs: no parent wants their kids having sex as young as 12. Having sex that young ruins the sanctity of marriage and gives children yet another reason to frequently have sex. Personally, I see this as a great idea with many fallbacks. I can see how helpful it would be to woman already having sex, but it also gives younger woman more of a reason to do so. Also, it prevents man and woman from doing what they were made to do: procreate. The morning after pill in a social viewpoint is great, but in my catholic christian viewpoint really sucks.

Heaven

Heaven is permanent communion with God. Everyday of our lives we are with God, no matter what. When we reach heaven, we feel happier than we have ever felt because God created us to be with him. After the fall, we did not have the same relationship with God and we did not feel his presence. Therefore, when our relationship with God is back to the same way when we were created, there is no moment in life that could make you feel happier. Therefore, everyone should want to go to heaven so that we may see God. The catholic teaching on heaven is, " Heaven is permanent communion with God after the body dies."

Original Sin

Ever since Adam and Eve committed the first sin of the world, everyone except for Mary and Jesus were born with Original Sin. Original sin is passed on through the generations on our souls, and the only way to get rid of Original Sin is through baptism. After we are baptized, Original Sin is taken away but it leaves Concupiscence  which is basically like a scar. The Catholic teaching on Original Sin is, "the sin that Adam committed and a consequence of this first sin, the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from Adam" (Catholic View).

Hell

Some people have the wrong idea of Hell. Some people think that if you go to Hell, you could still be able to go to heaven/purgatory. But Hell is a permanent separation from God. There is no way to go back to change what you have done. Also many people think Hell is just fire and the devil, but Hell is complete darkness. Hell is a terrible pain every day, every second of you are there. You will always feel pain but this pain you receive is from the sight of God and you want to be with him. We were made to be with him so when we are permanently separated, you can not be happy ever. Therefore, no one ever should want to go there. We do not know what it is completely like since we have not died and gone there, but this is what the Catholic Church teaches. The basic teaching of Hell is that it is permanent separation from God.

Divorce then Remarry?

During our time, many marriages end in divorce. About 50% of all marriages end up in divorce, and then the divorced couples get married later to someone else. But is this right? The Catholic church specifically states that marriage is final. When a couple gets married, they become one flesh. For this reason, when a couple gets divorced they still remain one flesh. Therefore, if a divorced couple gets remarried to someone else, the couples are one flesh with another person so that they can not become one flesh with this new person resulting in the divorced couple to commit adultery every time they make love to the new person.

Final Four

Right now, the Final Four for 2013 is about to come to a close in Atlanta, Georgia with Louisville vs Michigan. The Final Four is a great example of people using their abilities to the utmost potential for the greater glory of God. They are using the gifts that God has given them to benefit their team, school, family, friends, and God. Wasting talent for laziness is not happening here, but rather these men and women have practiced hard and persevered all season long to be given the chance to visit the Final Four. May God be with both teams for the men and the women playing to win the Final Four and keep them safe.

P.S. I am rooting for Michigan

North Korea

Right now, South Korea is scared that North Korea will attack. North Korea is a communistic country and takes complete control of its people. Many of its civilians are malnourished or treated unfairly. God is not allowed in North Korea; it is illegal to practice Christianity or Catholicism. I think its unfair to the Korean people that they should be punished to practice the religion they choose. Communism hurts the people under its control and limits the rights they should be allowed to practice.

Easter

Happy Easter everybody!! Easter was about a week ago and I just wanted to wish everybody a happy one. Many people forget about what Easter really means to us and tend to associate it with a bunny and candy. But Easter to Catholics and Christians all around the world should mean much more. We should concentrate more on Jesus's resurrection and how the gates of heaven have finally been opened up for us and thank God for that rather than thank God for the candy and gifts we received that day. Once again Happy Easter!

Who can receive communion??

Sometimes, it is confusing to know whether you are in a state of grace to receive the Eucharist. If you receive the Eucharist unworthily or not in the right state of mind, you end up hurting your relationship with God more; unworthy redemption causes more sin. The Church has made some guidelines for its followers, so that they know whether they are capable of receiving the Eucharist worthily. First, you must be in a state of grace. This means that you must be in good standings with God and directly ties to the second rule that you must have been to confession since your last mortal sin. You cannot receive the Eucharist with mortal sins on your soul; it is okay to receive communion with venial sins because the Eucharist forgives you of them if you are truly sorry.Thirdly, you must believe in the doctrine of transubstantiation. You can only receive the Eucharist if you believe that it truly changes into the Body and Blood of Christ. Fourth, you must observe the Eucharistic fast (cannot eat or drink anything besides water or medicine for at least an hour before mass). Finally, you must not be under an ecclesiastical censure. This means that you must be in a good relationship with the Church; cant receive if you've been interdicted or excommunicated by the church. Also, to receive the most out of the sacrament you must receive it with the right intentions; receive it to grow in relationships with God and not to save yourself.


Other Christian denominations can receive the Eucharist if they have permission from the diocese. Normally, this is never given because 1) if other denominations receive the Eucharist  then they are receiving it in the wrong state of mind because they do not believe in transubstantiation. So, the church protects them by not letting them receive it. 2) Also, it is normally impossible to receive permission because if you receive communion, then you would be proclaiming a unity to the church, which does not exist. Eastern Orthodox Christians can receive the Eucharist from a catholic church because they believe the same things about the Eucharist although they should receive it in their own church whenever possible. Finally, Non-Christians cannot receive communion because they have not been baptized. In an emergency situation, it is possible for Non-Christians to receive communion as Viaticum. 

Confession is safe

Many people are scared to go to confession because they feel like their sins could be told to other people and they wouldn't be held secret. The church has instituted a set of laws that prevent a priest from talking about a followers sins. This is even protected in the court of law. Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary says this about the seal of confession: "The grave duty of keeping absolutely secret all sins that are told in sacramental confession and anything else that is told by the penitent and is related to the confession. It is an obligation binding in the natural law, the divine law of Christ, and in the positive law of the Church. It binds the confessor and any other person who in any way discovers what was confessed. Under no circumstances may any of this information be revealed unless the penitent freely gives permission."

Venial Sin vs. Mortal Sin

I know many catholic people are confused about what is the differences in the sins they commit. The Church says there are two types of sins: Venial and Mortal. Venial sins are sins that damage our relationship with God but do not totally destroy it. Mortal sins completely separate us from God and require confession to heal whereas venial sins only require the Eucharist to heal the relationship or just spending time with God in general. Here, the catechism says: 1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent." So for a sin to be mortal, it must be a bad sin, it must come about by free will, and the person who commits the sin must know that it is grave and mortal.

Cannibalism

Cannibalism is the act of eating another person's body or body parts. I believe this is truly wrong and so does the Catholic church. The Catholic church teaches that it is a sin to kill someone to eat them. It goes against the Commandment: "You shall not kill." If you eat a person that has already died, it is disrespectful to that person and their family. Some people think that this is okay or is funny like the picture to the left of this, but it is not actually funny and it actually happens in real life. Therefore, no one should eat someone else's body or body parts.

Gay Marriage

Right now the hot topic on the street is gay marriage. Gay marriage by definition is the "marriage between two persons of the same biological sex and/or gender identity." Right away we see problems arise as we find there is nothing more to there marriage but there own pleasure. This is due to the purpose of marriage is the joining of a man and a woman in order so that they may consummate their marriage with the possibility of new life. With the joining of two people of the same gender it is impossible for this to happen therefore it should not be considered marriage at all. This religious belief conflicts with my political belief of believing that all people should be to choose who they want to be and I couldn't see God punishing a very holy homosexual just because he was homosexual.

Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?

In the United States, it is legal to have abortions. The Catholic Church specifically states, "The Catholic Church has always condemned abortion as a grave evil" (http://www.catholic.com/tracts/abortion). But many women today have abortions because they do not want to have a baby. Abortions kill babies that are in the womb, and the women that have abortions, have an abortion because it is a part of their rights in the United States. But what about the babies rights? Shouldn't they be allowed to live? Abortions do not just end pregnancy but they kill life. Therefore, I believe that abortions should be made illegal. If a young women gets pregnant and does not want to have to care for a baby, they should put the baby up for adoption. Babies should have rights too...

The new Pope

Recently a new pope was elected: Pope Francis I. Before choosing his new name, his name was Jorge Mario Bergoglio. He was the cardinal for Buenos Aires, Argentina. Bergoglio is known for his humility and strong virtues of helping the poor. Francis I is also a Jesuit. This is especially an astounding thing for me and my school because we go to a JESUIT school. I think Pope Francis I is going to be a great pope. Already, he is doing things very differently in the church; he isn't going to live in the Pope's quarters of the Vatican but rather in the guest house. He has constantly been emphasizing his strong desire to help the poor (which is the reason he chose the name Francis) and to spread the faith. I think Frances I will bring the church to a new level and do a great job of spreading the faith across the world.



Here is the link to the Pope's full mass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdWZWDqhCdA 

How do you know God exists?

Here is a basic yet huge question in the Catholic faith. First of all, every Catholic must have faith that God exists, but if faith is not enough, St Thomas Aquinas has made 5 reasons for why he believes God exists. First, the argument for motion. Nothing can move by itself; there is always a first mover. This can also be made clearer by Newton's law: an object in motion remains in motion and an object in rest remains in rest unless acted on by an outside force. So in the beginning, everything was motionless until it was acted on by an outside force (God). Secondly, there is efficient causes. This tells us/points out to us that nothing exists prior to itself. I wouldnt exist without my parents, they wouldnt exist without theirs, and this continues up to the first people on earth. Then they could be argued to have developed on their own, but now where did the world come from? That could be argued to have come from the big bang, but if the big bang was true then what created the particles and bits of matter that were necessary for the big bang to take place? Everything came from something else. Thirdly is the Argument from Possibility and Necessity. "Since objects are countable, the objects in the universe are finite in number. If, for all existent objects, they do not exist at some time, then, given infinite time, there would be nothing in existence. (Nothing can come from nothing—there is no creation for individual existent objects." This pretty much explains that if everything in the world is finite, then there is a chance that nothing would exist at one time, and if nothing exists at one time then nothing can be created out of nothing. Fourth, Argument from Gradation of Being proves the existence of God. "There is a gradation to be found in things [where] some [things] are better or worse than others. Therefore there must also be something which is to all beings the cause of their being, goodness, and every other perfection; and this we call God." Since everything in life that we characterize is based on the perfect example of that characterization, then there must be something that perfectly characterizes love or happiness, which ultimately can only be God. Fifth is the argument of design, which says that "We see that natural bodies work toward some goal, and do not do so by chance.Most natural things lack knowledge.  But as an arrow reaches its target because it is directed by an archer, what lacks intelligence achieves goals by being directed by something intelligence.Therefore some intelligent being exists by whom all natural things are directed to their end; and this being we call God."

My brother and I are making a blog that addresses our questions about the Church. Our blog will broadly cover how to live a holy life according to the Catholic Faith. We also plan on incorporating new or interesting news about the Catholic Church today or how we feel about actions happening around the world.