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.