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.