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.