What Does It Mean to Be "Man Fully Alive"?

Hey Guys. For my last blog post, we are going to examine what it means to be "Man Fully Alive". "Man Fully Alive" is a complex term. It means that a person is fully living through the grace of God in their day to day activities, and devoting their life to prayer, and doing so in the Glory of God himself. Does this mean that the person living as "Man Fully Alive" cannot sin? No! He is totally open to concupiscence as we are but he recognizes when he has fallen to sin and takes the right steps to prevent it from happening again. As man fully alive the person knows that he is open and that is why he devotes himself to prayer and a life of living for God's Glory, for that is the true meaning of "Man Fully Alive". In this year of theology I have learned all of this through the teachings of Mr. Cole.  

Man Fully Alive

Throughout this year we have all grown to know Mr. Cole better than we did on the first day of school, or for me the fourth day of school. I am sure we have all picked up on his favorite phrases such as goodness, good stuff, or man fully alive, or his favorite tendencies such as pushing on his computer monitor or drawing crazy diagrams on the board. Today I want to take a more indepth look at one of Mr. Cole's favorite phrases, man fully alive. What does it mean to be man full alive? It means to be a person who is in the complete graces of god, a person who devtes their life to Chirst through prayer and by living as a man for others. I am not saying that man fully alive do not sin, we all sin it is part of human nature because of the fall because of concupiscence, but a man fully alive sees his flaws is truly sorry prays for forgiveness and goes to confession to be absolved of those sins. A man fully alive understands he will fall sometimes but understands that it hows you react or bounce back from failure that defines who you are instead of failure itself. If you have lived your life as man fully alive at the time of judgement you will be singing praises as the gates of heaven open up to let you in. I think what I have taken most from sophomore year theology and Mr. Cole himself this year is try and live your life as man fully alive and when you fall which will happen make sure you get up dust yourself off and respond in the correct way so that at the time of judgement God will be calling your name to come into his kingdom forever.

Can we really defend our faith?

Yesturday In our project I was the Catholic, I found myself struggling on some of the questions Gus was asking me. I pratice my faith and pray everyday, but I am not so sure that I could defend my faith free from error. I do not have a knowledge of the subject the way Mr. Cole does. Mr. Cole could make whoever questioned him embarassed by his knowledge. Where as myself on the other hand would struggle some with making the person questioninng me believe what I am saying is the truth and true goodness of Christ. So gentlemen the last thing I want to leave you with today is do you think that you can defend your faith?

Judging a book by its cover

With the homeless man I have sort of opened up my eyes to the fact that some people did not do anything wrong to get into that situation. I find myself constantly judging the people that live on the streets and junkies, drugies, and panhandlers. I have always told myself that if they wanted to get out they could. I Never did relieze that some of them just had some bad luck. After watching this video I think I will change my opinion about judging the people who are begging on the streets and maybe try to help then rather than just driving by. I won't continue to judge a book by its cover.

Reflection to Video (Ronald Davis)

When Watching this video I began to realize my own prejudices against the homeless. Although, I realize not all of them are drug addicts, alcoholics, or substance abusers, I find myself judging them with the stereotype that they are. Deep down I realize that not all of them are, but I find it harder and harder to see the truth in people. Christ says to clothe the poor, and to feed the sick and hungry, to shelter the homeless, and to not neglect the needy, but in moderns times, it has become so hard to tell the difference between the needy, and the desperate.

I know how good it makes me feel when I help out someone in need. A few weeks ago, I was at my local gas station, right off highway 59, a young man, no older than 25 approached me very shyly with a gas can, he said " excuse me sir, I don't mean to bother or provoke you, but my friend and I...our car ran out of gas, could you lend me a few dollars?" Startled by the situation, I studied him for a moment, he either was honest, or a very good liar, so I gave him 3 dollars, almost enough to buy a gallon of gasoline, told him good luck, and he left. After filling my tank, I decided to test this mans honesty. I parked up front, where I could get a good view of everything, and waited. The young man, solicited a couple other people, and gained some extra money, he had a hand full of ones in his hand. He then walked past me, into the gas station, and to my surprise, actually put the money on the pump. He and his friend filled their tank as fullest as money would allow, and were on their way. I was pretty satisfied with myself, having actually helping the needy, who was actually in need.

After watching the video however, I also realize how cruel people can be, and how humiliating (regardless of how desperate you are) begging can be. I never ridicule people because they cannot afford something, but I am prejudice against people for what I can only assume they have done. I believe that is what prevents us from helping more people like Ronald Davis. Not because we have extreme prejudice against the poor, but because we are judging the book by its cover. While the interview shows what the book has to say....

Ronald Davis Story

In this video that is just now gaining viral attention, I was very moved. I saw this man, Ronald Davis, and saw a man hurt by luck and bad circumstances and then cast aside because of it. I see him and all I think is what I can do to help him. Ronald is a homeless man living day to day from the money he earns off his begging on the streets. Even if you just look at him you can think and know that he is an honest man just trying to make a living and just trying to get a decent meal, and shelter to stay in. It made me even more sad to hear what some people would say to him. They would call him a bum when, if you had listened to him is not. He also said that even though your having a bad day, that doesn't mean you can just be mean to a person. I think we can all relate to this even by looking to the words and actions of Christ and seeing how he handled this situation. Even when he was crucified, he didn't spit back in their faces, he cal my ask for their forgiveness and wanted them all to do well just like Ronald.

From personal experience with working with the homeless, I can say his story is not unlike that of the homeless in Houston. I have worked on The Beacon, a homeless food distribution center in downtown, and seen the way some of the homeless people live. When I check people into the system sometimes I see that they are vets and others I see have been living literally on the streets for over 2 years and it breaks my heart. Just like Ronald said, I don't do anything detrimental to the homeless but do everything I can to help them. I think we can all do that. Just give a little of our time each month to helping people like Ronald can go along way, and personally I think that is what we should all do.

Here is the link to the video itself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AusCA28efa0&feature=youtu.be

Relating Basketball to the Church

With the basketball example I believe that the player who doesnt dribble cannot yell at the owner because there are rules to the game, and if those rules are broken such as a travel it is a turnover. I think this relates to the church because the rules in basketball are basically the same as the sin in the church. If you sin you fall out of the grace of God. If you die not in the grace of God you do not go to heaven that is kind of like a turnover in the game of basketball. So just like in basketball there are rules to being a good catholic in the Church.

Women Priests

• Hey guys. Today I want to talk about a sort of controversial topic, women priests. In Kentucky there is a woman who was ordained a priest. She believes to be under the authority of the church, but she is not. The church teaches that only men can be priests and no one else. Former Pope Benidict reaffirmed the statement and threatened other priest’s orders and excommunication if they were to ordain a woman priest. This woman, Smead, said that she is not scared of excommunication and is going to preahc regadless of what the church says. I think that this is wrong, I’m one for equaltiy for all but if the church says it is against its teachings then I say it is wrong as well. I leave this one up for discussion. If you want to read the article for yourself here is the link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/28/us-usa-religion-womenpriests-idUSBRE93Q0EE20130428.

    

Reflection on News Article

Kentucky Women Ordained Priest Outside Roman Catholic Church 

I really don't know how to address this topic without being sexist or discriminate about women's rights. A week ago, in theology, we were studying the marks of the Church. One of the most arguably important marks, One, would vigorously attack this problem.

In order to be fully be in communion with Christ and his Church, we must be one in faith, one in praise, and one in leadership. In the article, it states "The former pope, Benedict XVI, reaffirmed the Catholic Church's ban on women priests and warned that he would not tolerate disobedience by clerics on fundamental teachings". This draws a huge line across the playing field. I do not believe Pope Benedict XVI was under the influence of any one but God himself, when reaffirming this ruling. This already cripples the mark of the Church, One, because Smead is no longer in collaboration with the Churches leader. 

She also states " "It is a Medieval bullying stick the bishops used to keep control over people and to keep the voices of women silent. I am way beyond letting octogenarian men tell us how to live our lives." Well one could argue that some bishops and Popes of the past were sacrilegious of the Catholic Faith. That they were plagued by heresy, and schism, but if this is a act of the Church as a whole, then the Churches teaching is infallible. This is not to draw the line, or install a glass ceiling on women's rights in the Church. I am no person to declare the will of God, but I am a firm member of the Catholic Church, and wish to stay in Communion with Christ and his body, therefore believe and follow the Church's teachings, and I believe what the Pope taught and will teach will be correct. 

Also, she speaks that the Church is a body of State. AS A CATHOLIC WE ARE NO COUNTRY! We come from many Nationalities, and wish to unify the world as one people, one body, one God. We seek for equal representation of all human life, and coming from a males perspective, not to put down and silence our other half. 

Finally, if she was a Catholic, and wishes to hold the same standards as a Catholic, but wishes to incorporate women in the sacred sacrament, She gains nothing by splintering the Church. You solve no problems by starting fires. She fails just as greatly as Martin Luther did in the 14 Century. She might spark insight, but by forming a new religion, she only allows further splintering from her religion.

I believe see this more as a cry for attention, then as a act of faith. 

To the 6th Graders of America--on Anoiting

Anointing has been a part of the Catholic Tradition since the time the bible was written. The formation of the sacrament drew heavily from the Christ's healing and anointing of the sick in James 5:14-16:

           “Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, 

and they should pray over him and anoint (him) with oil in the name of the 

Lord, the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him 

up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.”

In the 3rd Century, Apostolic Tradition, by Hipppolytus described in his writings the anointing of the sick. In 5th century A.D. Pope Innocent addressed anointing explicitly in his letter to Decentius, Bishop of Gubbio. The letter was a reaction to a interpretation held by only presbyters could administer the sacrament and not bishops. This was corrected in Congregation for the Doctrine of the 

Faith.

In the 15th century, major leeps were made in the Council of Florence: to use olive oil blessed by a priest, only given to the sick if death is expected, person is anointed on eyes, ears, nostrils, mouth, hands, feet and loins,the minister of the sacrament is a priest and the effect is to cure the mind, body, and soul.

confession

All of us have misconceptions to what confession is, what it does, and the proper way to celebrate the Sacrament. Today in this article all of your questions will be answered. Some people that when we become Christians all sins past present and future are forgive. This is not true, nowhere in scripture does it state that our future sins are forgiven. Some people believe confession is necessary for every little sin, but this is also not the case, small menial sins can be confessed straight to God himself but bigger mortal sins must be confessed to a priest during the Sacrament of Confession in order for them to be forgiven. Since we know we cannot confess all of our little daily sins we know confessions is for grave mortal sins. Back during the time of Christ people did their penance before absolution today the order is reversed. Over the years confession has changed some, but the roots of the Sacrament stayed the same. The Didache says "Confess your sins in church, and do not go up to your prayer with an evil conscience. This is the way of life. . . . On the Lord’s Day gather together, break bread, and give thanks, after confessing your transgressions so that your sacrifice may be pure". I hope this article on Confession helps enhance the knowledge of the Sacrament and clear up all misconceptions.

Miracle of Lanciano

This Miracle takes place during the 700 A.D., in the city of Lanciano.

In St. Longinus Church a Basilian monk said Mass with doubt of the true presence of Christ in his soul. Upon saying the words of Consecration the bread and wine turned into true living flesh. The blood coagulated into 5 pools, varying in size and shape. 

This is a picture of the literal flesh and blood the was consecrated into the body and Blood of Christ. It is responsible of a strange phenomenon baffling scientist. Five blood "pellets" were resulted from the miracle, each varying in size and shape, but when weighed the all weigh the same, and when added to each other and weighed against, no matter how many pellets are weighed, they equal the same weight. 

The most recent scientific research done on the material was in 1970 and was proved that...

• The flesh is real flesh. The blood is real blood.
• The flesh consists of the muscular tissue of the heart  (myocardium)
• The flesh and blood belong to the human species.
• The flesh and blood have the same blood type (AB).
• In the blood, there were found proteins in the same normal proportions as are found in the sero-proteic make up of fresh, normal blood.
• In the blood, there were also found these minerals: Chlorides, phosphorous, magnesium, potassium, sodium and calcium. The preservation of the flesh and of the blood, which were
  left in their natural state for twelve centuries (without any chemical preservatives) and exposed to the action of atmospheric and biological agents, remains an extraordinary phenomenon.

Christ day after day gives us his flesh and blood in accordance for our sins. He gives it to us freely, to accept or reject freely, and without hesitation. He simply asks for us to believe fully in him, and to conform ourselves to the incarnation. Celebrating Christ with doubt in our soul is much like entrusting your life to a serial killer. Foolish, and suicide. We should fully believe in Christ and his Church, and fully entrust our souls and will to them. 

Eucharist

Hey guys. Today I’m going to talk about who can really receive the Eucharist. People who can receive the Eucharist are as follows: Catholics, other christians, and some exceptions. Next I’m going to talk about some exceptions, and then go into deeper why some can receive the eucharist and some cannot. Some exceptions, of those who can receive the eucharist are Protestants and Eastern Orthodox churches. The reasons why protestants can receive the eucharist are more limited than others. Protestants can only receive the Eucharist when the presence of death is eminent and they truly wish to repent and accept Jesus. eastern Orthodox has almost the same limitations but can also receive it in the acceptance of penance.

We as catholics can receive the Eucharist in many different areas. We can receive it before death in the anointing of the sick. We can receive it during penance. And we most often receive it during mass. There are some restrictions how we can receive it. We cannot receive it with a mortal sin on our conscience and cannot receive it without fasting for an hour before. Thanks guys bye.  

Who Can Receive Communion?

Gentlemen, Today I will be speaking to you about who can receive communion. Communion is the most important of the seven sacraments instituted by Christ. The Church has specific guidelines for those who can receive communion. First you must be in a state of grace. Therefore you must not have a mortal sin on you conscience, if you receive  communion with a   mortal sin it is another mortal sin. Another major requirement is that the person receiving the sacrament must believe in transubstantiation. Those receiving must observe the Eucharistic fast.  Finally those receiving cannot be under ecclesiastical censure. Catholics welcome other Christians to join them in the sacrament of Eucharist. Although Catholics encourage non Christians to join them in the celebrating of the liturgy but not in the Sacrament of Eucharist. I hope what I have told you today helps you understand who can and cannot receive the Sacrament of Communion.  

Sacraments to Human Nature

The Sacraments Correspond to Human Nature by revealing deeper realities to the soul. Sacraments are a visible signs of God's love and will for us to be saved. They correspond to the soul by which they are a factor of God's saving grace and enable us to fully experience God's plan for us. They enable us to participate in the invisible and therefore see what God has planned for us, and experience the faith fully, by incorporating us completely into the Catholic Faith. The Church created the sacraments to do just that, to allow us ( its members) to be fully united to Christs Church. 

Sacraments

Hey guys. Today I’m going to talk about how the sacraments correspond to human life. Some sources that I used to research this information are as follows: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Aquinas_and_the_Sacraments). Thomas Aquinas says that the seven sacraments, Baptism, Reconciliation, The Eucharist, Confirmation, Holy Orders, Marriage, and Anointing of the sick, all corresponds to a part of human life. Baptism is our outward sign of washing and corresponds to infancy and the cleansing of that which is bad. Reconciliation corresponds to, agian, to cleansing and the washing away of sin. The Eucharist corresponds to our human and spiritual nourishment and as John 6:56 says,"My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” But it is much more than a food item we eat at mass. It is the heavenly nourishment that is our key to salvation. Confirmation is the sign of maturity in the church, and signifies our adulthood in the church. Holy Orders is the sign of the few who have been called to the service and shows another sign of maturity in the church. Marriage, again, is another sign of maturity by accepting what God has bound in two flesh to be bound in one flesh. Finally anointing of the sick signifies the process from life to death and signifies that we are no longer materially able to hold on and are ready to receive our judgement and our not scared of our fate because of this preparation. Thanks guys for listening. Bye

What is a Lay person?

A Lay person, in my own words, is someone who carries out God's plan for them ( doing the will of God), without being ordained to do so. I bring this topic up because about two years ago I received a book filled with the writings of Ann the lay Apostles, and I never understood what exactly her role was in the Church so this is my go at it.

Lay is commonly defined and being in a certain profession but not being licensed or recongnized as a professional in that profession, such as I am a blogger, but I am not really famous for it, or very good at it.
So when Ann titles herself as the "Lay Apostle" she is in the profession of evangelizing, but she is simply licensing herself to do so. In a sense, all the people of the world are "Lay" at something, in the Church a Catholic Monk would be considered lay, because he is not what society would consider a professsional, but he takes up his role in praying in solitude and fasting for the common good of others.

The A's B's and C's of the Liturgal Celebration

So in Mass this morning I noticed how next to the readings,in the hymnal, it has a letter identify its version as A, B, and C. It got me curious, I just thought the readings were set at the beginning of each year, not that there were three different versions to follow depending on the year. I google searched it, and this is what I learned.

What we are reading is the lectionary, and it is on a cycle that rotates once a year, with three different variations. I never noticed this before but in year A, we usually hear the Gospel on the account of Matthew, B is Mark, and C is Luke. Now, yes I have left out John. Why? Because we listen to him during the season of lent. Currently, I believe we are in year B. There isn't really anything significant about it I have learned ( so far) other than that its so one, we don't have to hear the same thing over and over again, year after year, and two its so we get different accounts of the same idea, and I am assuming it helps us to better piece together Christ's message. Anyways.. Thats All I got.

Miracles

I believe in miracles. Fade in. It was a cold dark friday afternoon about 20 boys walk into their last class of the week. During this last period these students wound be taking an essay theology test on moodle. Once Mr. Sulliavn unlocked the computers but when the kids clicked on moodle the recivied a gift from God. Moodle was down, there was a problem with the server. The boys yelled for joy, the IT department was notified about the problem but could not fix it. We could not take our test, we were extactic. Also our teacher Mr. Cole's wife just had their first child so he can't be too mad. Lets just say based on recent events I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!!!!

Catholic Rites

Hey guys. Today I want to talk to u about all the different rite of the church. First off there are many different rites set up for different things like the Armenian rite which traces its roots back to the earliest church fathers. The church has all of these rites because there are many different places and Catholics around the world who celebrate in different ways and the church has to make different ceremonies to accommodate them. Here in Houston we have the adapted Roman rite. It is interesting to see how all these rites work from the Alexandrian to the Chaldean rites we'll get into that maybe tomorrow.

Apostolic Mark

Hey guys. Today I want to talk to you about one of the marks of the church, being Apostolic. What it means to say that the church I apostolic is that starting with Jesus choosing the 12 apostles he chooses us to e apart of the church. It also means that we in the church and te church as the bride of Christ have certain duties, such as evangelization and governing, that we have been given by Christ. I think that catholic or not we are all called to give the news of our faith to others and call them in and that is what truly makes us holy

Biblical Relation

Saturday Night I was staying with a friend at his house, his parents went out to a formal event and left us at home to mess around by ourselves. Later that night his dad came home a little drunk. So My friends Dad wanted to go back out to another bar and drink some more and have a good time, but my friend, his mother and I all knew that was not a good idea since he could get in alot of trouble. His mother instructed us to take all of the car keys and hide them with us and pretend to go to bed, so that his Dad would not see the keys and want to go back out. Everything ended up being alright and we got a good laugh out of it in the morning, although his dad was very embarrassed. 

Furthermore this reminded me of a familiar biblical story.

And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside.Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered the nakedness of their father; their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father's nakedness. When Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his youngest son had done to him, he said, "Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers." He also said, "Blessed by the LORD my God be Shem; and let Canaan be his slave. God enlarge Japheth, and let him dwell in the tents of Shem; and let Canaan be his slave."(Genesis 9:18-29)

My friend and I were Shem and Japheth, having taken the keys, and made no deal out of it. 

Laziness

Lately, as the school year comes to a close, I have been finding myself and my colleagues to be slacking quite a bit. Our motivation is running low, we find ourselves showing up to class in the morning more because we have no choice, and less for the securement of our future. In Catholicism, this is one of the 7 deadly sins, known as Sloth. In other words, being lazy.

Laziness, when present, can be the haymaker in the wrestling match we know as ordinary life. Spiritually, it is the first domino that falls setting off a endless trail of sin. Why? Simply because when you become lazy, it starts off as " Eh, I'll do my homework in the class before its due" and progresses to  "I can afford a few 0's in the grade book" to finally " I really just do not care about studying, Battlefield sounds pretty nice right now." Spiritually, it numbs what I call the thirst. The thirst is the instinct engraved into everyone's soul at conception to seek out and find/praise/be with God, and when one gives up on making their way to God, well that is no bueno.

Abortion

Abortion is the chilling of a child before birth in the mothers womb. The Catholic Church considers this murder because they believe that child is an innocent being from the time of conception. Sadly abortion is legal and there are clinics that will abort babies free of charge. The Church is working extremely hard to get a law in place that makes abortion illegal. The most common arguement is well what if the girl is raped or can't afford to keep the baby? Their is always the option of adoption, I think giving your kid up for a better life is better then killing him/her in the womb.

Death Penalty

The Death Penalty is a very commonly debated topic in the Catholic Church today. The Catholic Church only allows the death penalty when it is the last resort. If the prison cannot control a person from hurting or killing more people that is the only time the Church accepts the death penalty. A commonly argued point is that how can the Church be so against abortion but allow people be put to death? They don't understand that the Church only accepts the death penelty when it is a last resort.

Service Work

Service Hours

            Over this past year I completed my service hours at a couple of places. I volunteered the majority of the time at the Houston Food Bank and then also volunteered some at the Emergency Aid Coalition.

            At the Houston Food Bank I made back pack buddies. Back pack buddies are bags with food and milk inside, and they are passed out to kids at school who otherwise would not eat over the weekend. One of the employees told us that over the course of the weekend the bag may have to support the whole family. When I heard that it really hit home because I have access to however much food I need whenever I need it. At the Emergency Aid Coalition I made sandwiches for the homeless. One of the ladies who volunteered there at a regular basis told me that the majority of the people who come to get sandwiches on a daily basis. The thought of eating a baloney everyday just made me so grateful for everything I have.

            I believe that through doing my service hours I have gained a greater appreciation for what it means to be a man for others. I have seen the struggles and hardships others go through on a daily basis and I am extremely thankful that I have been so blessed and have not had to go through that. I have also had a greater understand of the phrase to whom much is given much is expected. Since I have been so blessed I need to give back to my community. All the things I take for granted I will now start to appreciate because I now realize that the things I think are necessities are truly luxuries. I think that I will now try and give back more often and have a better attitude towards volunteering.

            This experience has impacted my belief system because I think service work is more important now. The first couple times I went to volunteer I was in sort of a bad mood, and I don’t want to be here mood. As I started to see the difference I was making and the cause I was contributing to was very important. I started to become excited to go volunteer it became fun and I was having a good time. I was going into volunteering with an open mind and I truly feel that helped me make a bigger impact.

             I enjoyed volunteering with my family because I think it brought us closer together, and really opened up all of our eyes about how truly blessed we are. We saw the difference we were making and how truly appreciative the people were. You do not volunteer to make yourself feel good or just because it is a school requirement. You volunteer to help those who are working extremely hard but just can’t seem to make ends meet and you are just trying to take one thing off their plate. At the Houston food bank they told us that 93% of the people they help are the working poor. The majority of the people they help are just going through a rough patch they aren’t just sitting at home and being lazy. I used to think that food banks just gave food to those people who do not work and I thought why should I help somebody who isn’t trying to help themselves? When I heard that the majority of the people help are the working poor that really changed my opinion of how important it is to help these food banks out. I think that was one of the main lessons my family learned while volunteering together.

Arianism

Hey guys. Since today we had theology and we learned about heresies, I just wanted to let you all know more about one heresy that I found interesting, Arianism. Arianism is the belief that Jesus wasn't fully divine, but a super human. That can't be true though because in order for our sins to be forgiven Jesus must have been equal to God in his infinite state in order for the infinite break between us to be repaired. I found this kind of cool because this relates partly to what the Nazis in WWII believed about how their is a supreme rase. If this heresy had gained more ground, i think that the Nazis could have had more fervor to take over the world and our globe and theology might have looked very different today if not for the early church being able to suppress the Arianists.

Heaven and Hell

Heaven...well what is Heaven?
As a little kid, you might have imagined it as the perfect world, sitting upon the clouds, with a big Gold Gate sitting at the entrance, and a huge line to get in. Again, no one walking on this world knows the answer to what it is like. Some may claim to have seen visions, and even the Church may confirm them, but no biological being of today can accurately describe it. But as a Catholic we know for a fact that once we are there, we are in perfect union with God, destined for eternal happiness and peace. As a biblical reference often you can search revelations:

 Revelation 21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Hell is pretty much the exact opposite of Heaven. Happiness is nonexistent,  for when God crafted the soul, he crafted it to seek and crave him. Hell is the furthest thing away from God. If Heaven and Hell were planets ( and the Universe had a actual endpoint) they would be and two opposite corners of each other. There, the soul suffers with Satan in eternal damnation, to never be pleased in any spiritual or physical way, and forced to suffer the emptiness of the void they still seek to fill, to only be filled by God. 

Death and After

Lately, My grandmother has been fighting sickness. Despite the title of this post, no she is not dead... But it brings me back to just about a year ago ( February 6, 2012) when my late grandfather passed away. It brought to mind some questions I had and you may have. Much like myself, many people question upon their relatives death, is he in heaven now?, is he waiting to be judged?, even sometimes..is there a line to be judged?

Well I cannot give you a firm answer, I have never been to heaven, nor to receive visions, or expect to go there anytime soon and return with a answer. But I can say, upon the death of any human, the soul parts from  its body and is immediately judged by God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. His judgement is fair, and eternal. One may ask, well what would get you sent to hell? There are so many answers to this question, but to simplify it, when one fully rejects God.  Now, Purgatory.. just as no one knows what Heaven or Hell looks like, nor can we describe purgatory. I have heard many ideas of it, some scarier than others, but a young nun whom I studied under in 8th grade put it in a heart-sinking but best describing way, she said " it is similar to hell, except in hell, there is no hope for the damned soul, but in purgatory, there's hope for the soul, it may be cleansed and sent to heaven, and I presume it can reject God and be sent to Hell." We can assume the duration of penance spent in purgatory is in proportion to the sins committed by the soul, and even the most holiest of holy people pass through purgatory for we are all sinners.

Francis

I was in mass today and the priest was giving his homily, and since it was the Sunday devoted to the divine mercy he told us a story he had a read about a young boy named Francis who had cancer. He and his mom would go pray before and after everytime he would go visit the cancer clinic. They went to pray there a short time after one of his surgeries and it was shortly after pope Francis was elected. With stiches in his head young Francis said to his mom " mom i now have two patron saints, saint Francis of Assisi and Pope Francis.

Resurrection

Can you imagine seeing one of your best friends be put to death on a cross? I think it would be even harder to believe he would Resurect just a short time later. I think if I was an apostle I would have doubted Christ rising from the dead just like Thomas. Those things just do not happen. That should be plenty of evidence to prove that Christ was divine.

The New Christ

Hey guys. To keep up with my easter theme I wanted to talk about the new risen Christ's body. For some reason I was thinking about it and it stuck out as a really interesting topic for me. This concerns Christs new body after the resurrection. Its said that Jesus's new body was made of spiritual stuff and of physical stuff as many scholars and our theology book says. Another cool fact is that it was free from any disease. It was like a giant body of purel. Also it is said that Mary Magdalene didn't recognize him and we can see that he must have a whole new look, but with the same God powers. Thanks for listening to my Easter theme guys. Bye

The Pope

Hey Guys. As you know yesterday I shared a story about the new pope, Pope Francis. I just wanted to let my audience know more about who he is. I thought I should start out with some interesting facts. One, he is the first pope from the americas. He is also the first pope from Argentina, and is fluent in many languages. Another interesting fact about him is that he is a Jesuit. He is the first jesuit to ever be a pope and one of the few who was ever a cardinal. I thought I should share this because a.) it is a cool story, b.)I'm a jesuit student, and c.) To better inform you about my last story. Thanks guys for listening.

The Pope and Dominic

Hey guys. I just wanted to share this little story with you guys. As you know the pope celebrates Easter Mass in the vatican every year. Well this year was special. After the pope made his usual rounds in his popemobile -- (armored glass car that he travels in) -- he got out of his car on the walk through the seating area and pick up a young boy - around eight years old whose name is Dominic. The interesting thing about Dominic was that he has cerebral palsy, and is from Rhode Island. The pope picked up the young boy and gave him a long hug and kissed him, which is unusual for a pope to do because they usually just do a hand brush blessing over children if they even touch anyone in the first place. In an essay by the father of the boy who was touched says that he is keeping to his pontificate because he is not just devoted to the poor, he is devoted to the least of us people in every way. I thought this story was great and really made me feel good about myself being a jesuit, because the pope is a jesuit himself and made me proud to be who I am religiously.

Noah's Ark

God was very displeased with the human race and how they were defying God's laws. He sent a huge flood to wipe them out except for Noah and his family and 2 of every creature. Noah and his family and the animals were in the Ark for 40 days and nights. God then promised Noah he woud never do this to the human race again.

Upper Room

While the Apostles were waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit they stayed in the upper room. They are all scared, they were hiding hoping theywould not suffer the same fate as Jesus. Can you imagine how scared you would be if the man you followed for the past few years was murdered for everything you believed in. I would be hiding too. I would be scared if I had to go out and prech somthing that had just gotten their friend killed.

Holy Week

The Risen Christ Approaches!

This Sunday, March 31st is Easter Sunday! The day our lord Christ Rises from his grave to redeem and save mankind. 

Easter, along with Christmas, and other days of Holy Obligation where the Church is packed with "Jack Catholics" ( Catholics who only show up to the most important Celebrations) pack the Church. Another name for these type of Catholics lacking in Faith is "Cafeteria Catholics", those who pick and choose which Church teachings they wish to follow. Sadly, I'll admit that I am a little of each of these, so I cannot go on a rant on how bad it is or how much of a sinner  a person is for being one.   But there is always Hope to redeem ourselves! The Lenten Season --soon to come to a end-- is a great time for a spiritual change. Often, sacrificing or "giving up" something for God during lent is always a great faith builder for me. Lent is a call to Holiness, a call for preparation for what is to come. This is what Christ time in the desert was focused on. Just as we prepare ourselves for Easter, Christ was preparing himself for his death on the Cross. And just as the Apostles rejoice we they discover that their Lord has risen, so shall we!

The Communion of Saints

First Judgement

This first post is to inform you about the Church as the Communion of Saints. That is to say that it covers a range of topics from Judgement day to how the relationships between churches are, such as that of the Muslim and the Catholic faiths. To start off I want to talk about Judgement Day. My view on it, and from what I have been taught, makes it sound like a bad thing. Where in St. Johns last writings in the book of Revelation, he talks about how the lamb will undo the seven seals and it will be pandemonium on earth makes others scared about Jesus's second coming. I'm here to tell you not to be scared. Jesus's Second coming will be a glorious thing, not something to be feared. If you are faithful and have a good sense of morals, Jesus's second coming will be the best thing to ever happen to you. You will be taken into heaven by his power. But thats for another time. I'm Charles Mooz with my partner, God, signing off. 

-Chales Mooz