I Confess (Extra Credit Assignment)

Christ bears the cross and the Priest was bearing the difficulty of keeping the seal of confession

           Only God can forgive sins and he does so through man, or a priest. Confession is a divine institution therefore it is God’s will that priests hear confessions and through priests God forgives sins. The priest remained faithful to his vow of not revealing anything from a confession because he understood the sacrament of Penance. The priest understood that he was just a body to fill the ears of God and receive the humiliation from the man who committed the murder. Had he revealed the information the confession would no longer be between the murderer and God.

            The end of the movie demonstrates that Hitchcock understood the sacrament of Penance and captured the difficulty of the seal of confession well. I read an article in which a Deacon studying to become a priest looks at the movie with admiration. He likes how Hitchcock is able to show that it is no easy task to bear the vows of a priest but it is possible to keep those vows. Hitchcock must have viewed God in an understanding light and understood his power and figure over priests, particularly the main character of the movie. Though it seems difficult, the priest never loses his truth and vow to God.

            While I was watching the movie I was really hoping that the priest would not break his seal. I would have been disappointed with Hitchcock if he had let the priest do so. Therefore, I would have ended the movie in a similar way in that respect. However, I would have liked there to be more concrete resolution. I would have liked either the wife to incriminate her husband or the husband to have confessed to the police himself. I wanted justice, not in a harsh way but just for closure purposes. However, the key part was that the priest never broke the seal of confession and was known by the audience to be not guilty. 

In-Class Essay Critique

           The first issue is the point of view and the perspective that the essay takes. The perspective is from someone outside of Christianity, not even someone very well-educated on the topic that is written about. Writing from the opposing view may help see the concepts in a different way but this essay failed to do so accurately. The ideas presented are distorted and do not line up with the focuses that have been presented in class.

            The next issue is the essay’s relativity to the prompt that was provided. A quote by Luigi Giussani was provided and a few questions to aid in developing a focus or topic. This essay seemed to diverge from that path and take its own path that was inaccurate and strange. The essay created an analogy about the relationship between God and reality. The analogy might have initially had a clever intention, but looking back on it, it was not good.  It was trying to get at God’s covenants with his people in the Old Testament and how each time they failed; God gave people another chance until he sent his son, Christ. However, the way the argument was put forth was weak and not well planned or reflected upon.

            Overall, the essay seems sort of cynical or at least negative towards Christianity. The analogy was clever but executed poorly and inaccurately. Compared the works and things the class has addressed, this essay seemed to negate most things. The point of view taken kindled the negative approach and helped create a cynical view. The essay got on a roller coaster ride but was not harnessed securely to the seat and took a fall to imminent death.

A Universal Call to Holiness

Universal Call to Holiness

“…If I need something, I chase after it if it goes away”

            I take numerous things for granted and I see this quote parallel with that because it correlates with the phrase, “You don’t know what you have until it is gone”. For instance, Jesus Christ lived on earth for approximately thirty-three years and then he was gone. At first the Apostles were at a loss and kept themselves locked up in a room until Christ came and told them not to be afraid but to go out and teach. In a way they began ‘chasing’ Christ because they wanted to attain his state of divinity or perfection. This is the Universal Call to Holiness, to ‘chase’ after Christ and the perfection and beauty he embodies.

“Has the Church failed mankind, or has mankind failed the Church?” “…Both, both, because first and foremost it is mankind who failed the Church, because if I need something, I chase after it if it goes away. No one chased after it…The Church began to fail mankind, as I see it…because she forgot who Christ was, she did not rely on…, she was ashamed of Christ, of saying who Christ is.”

            T.S. Eliot finds fault with Catholics and the Church because they have failed to respond and encounter holiness. Instead of attaining perfection and beauty or truth, the same truth and beauty that Jesus possessed, mankind has remained stagnant in his desires and evil. For everyday Catholics this implies the necessity for improvement and a reinvigoration to the call to holiness. Instead of continuing to submit to the antagonist of beauty, that is, evil, Catholics must reject evil and look to the epitome of truth, Jesus Christ. Catholics are at an advantage too because they already possess the initial grace given to them at Baptism. To take it just a step further and make the effort to become perfect is the solution to the call to holiness.

“…she was ashamed of Christ, of saying who Christ is.”

            Shame is weakness. Christ endured persecution to the point of death on the cross and he expects us to be able to endure pain and tribulations with hard hearts. To be ashamed of saying who Christ is punctuates the inability to dedicate ourselves to the cause. To say who Christ is without shame is to take on the challenge of receiving blows and derogatory comments but still holding the message above pain and showing confidence in what we are fighting for. This is also incorporated in the call to holiness because it is another facet of perfection. Perfection encompasses purity of heart, compassion, love, obedience, and conformity to Father’s will. The ultimate goal is to love God and love our neighbor. God sent his son who was the perfect model of perfection. He possessed all the facets of perfection and loved his neighbor. He said who his Father was with no shame and expects his followers to do the same in his name.

Universal Call to Holiness

            The goal is to imitate Christ because he was perfect. Likewise, his mother, Mary, followed the call to holiness and sets the same example as her son. There were/are others to, the ones called saints who were able to embrace holiness and work for perfection in their lives. The

Church is holy because Christ is holy, therefore as members of the Church in Baptism, the Church’s members are also holy. In order to achieve the level of holiness Jesus had we have to “become what we are”. We are the Church and the Church is holy. The arrow always points to the “X” which for the case of Catholics is the Father, Son and Spirit. The arrow points in an infinite direction upward because the nature of the call to holiness is everlasting. Perfection is a high goal, a goal that will make us happy and hard in our hearts. No matter how difficult, to be united with God is truly worth it.

"She Went by Gently"-Paul Vincent Carroll, Responses

A gift of Baptism is the ability to love others as God loves us. How is this ability seen in the women’s treatment of the girl?

God loves unconditionally and irrevocably with commitment and self-sacrifice. He does not judge anyone on the basis of any discriminatory factors such as race or cultural background. In a similar way the woman is able to love everyone around her. She expresses love even for the girl who was bearing a child because of promiscuous behavior. She expresses it in her firm but kind actions toward the girl. The woman comforts her in a time of distress and encourages a continuation of life and reform. Then the woman baptizes the child so that the child may too have the ability to love in its life.

At the end of the story the woman says in regard to the infant, “I saved him.” What does she mean by that statement?

The woman has saved the infant through Baptism meaning that the infant has been cleansed of original sin and welcomed as a child of God and member of the Mystical Body of Christ. In addition with reference to the first question, she has bestowed upon the infant an ability to love as God loves. The infant is given not only the life from his mother but also life from the Baptism because now the infant can grow in the Church and love with commitment. I saved him. The woman saved the infant in the spiritual sense dictated by the church.

The author describes the journey of the woman to her own home. What is the purpose of this section of the story? What is he trying to convey about the woman through his descriptions?

This section of the story elaborates on a deeper level the woman’s connection with God and her spiritual sense that she applies to all the things in her life from feeding her husband to the scenery around her. She is able to pinpoint God and his goodness in everything and holds no contempt for anything. She has such spiritual awareness that she can look at the stream and the flower and interpret it as she did in relation to Baptism. The author is conveying her thorough understanding of the sacrament of Baptism and also the importance of this sacrament. The end emphasizes the woman’s faith and love.

Gifts of the Holy Spirit and Me

In my life the gifts of the Holy Spirit are present through my personal prayer and reflection and the prayers and reflections that occur at school. I try to bear these gifts outside of school and I attend mass to give me a renewal of the liturgy and word of God. School helps me learn of these gifts. Religion class is centered around building a better understanding of the faith. I see the gifts in others around me too, especially the faculty and staff at school and church. Most of the people I surround myself with are always encouraging that I practice these gifts, not explicitly but I can determine it by the meaning of each gift in relation to what they are saying. Not long ago I saw piety at work when we did adoration at school because I was able to stop for a moment and fully focus on Jesus and my needs. There are people in my life that seem to embody a gift or more in themselves. They are the people who give me courage and teach me about God and the way to God. The gifts are working in my life not just outside of me but inside of me too. I possess each to some degree although I strive for a fuller possession of the gifts.

In my life today the gift I need most is piety. There are so many distractions that I create in my head and outside my head that I have trouble managing. I am often accused for thinking too much about the things that distress me. Then I think that if I didn't think as much I might stop caring and I don't want to stop caring. There I go again. The gift of piety helps me not only to be at peace during the hectic times but also to love others. I think this is also a great challenge to me because I try to love others but never feel like I am doing a good job or someone does something and I get upset. Piety offers a patience and acceptance of others and of the distractions. If I can understand others and be clear of anxiety I can focus more effectively on other aspects of my faith like fear of The Lord. Having a better sense of the gift of piety would allow me to be at a peace and therefore more able to think not of anxieties but of God. Today the world around me seems so busy and full of distractions I hardly feel I have time to slow down and reform my thoughts and actions.

"Are Sacraments Narrow?" Mark Shea

1. What is Ludwig's problem?
Ludwig does not understand why Catholics narrow the idea of grace down and confine it to the sacraments. In his view grace is much more simple and is not constricted to the sacraments.
2. Explain what the Church is not thinking about when it comes to "sacramentality":
The Church is not thinking when it comes to "sacramentality" that the sacraments prohibit or restrict any of God's love. Neither is it thinking that anyone who has not received the sacraments cannot be saved.
3. Explain what the Church is thinking about when it comes to "sacramentality":
The Church is thinking when it comes to "sacramentality" that other doctrines that state that God has not saved every one are untrue. It tries to support the idea that God redeems or saves every one and the sacraments are  prayers, gestures, and materials that bring us closer to that redemption and therefore closer to God the Father.
4. "How does God reveal and give to each individual human being his universally offered grace?"
God sent the ultimate symbol of himself, he sent his son Jesus who is considered a sacrament of the Father. Jesus represents and presents God and Jesus provides us with the sacraments which are the continuation of his life and teachings.
5. Which Christian doctrine is the foundation for the sacraments?
The life of Jesus Christ is the foundation for the sacraments because not only did he establish the sacraments but he also was a sacrament that paved the way toward salvation. His work is continued n the sacraments.
6. Explain what the gobs of modern "spirituality" tells us:
This modern spirituality tells us that God wouldn't spend his efforts by becoming human or revealing himself n the human way that Christians believe. The modern view sees it as below God to become a savage human.
7. Explain the Chritian repudiation of  "such spiritual snobbery":
The Chruch rejects the notion that God is condescending and so superior to humans. Instead, he likes the idea of joining us in human history through his son. That way he can try and accomplish his covenant in a way that humans can relate to and understand more fully than previous attempts.
8. "But that was so he could put this gross body of flesh to death on the cross and revert it back to pure spirituality, wasn't it?"
The is not what Jesus came for. He came as a human to emphasize that we too can resurrect and make it to heaven. Also, since he resurrected body and soul, we too can resurrect in our human state not just our souls. This is sort of comforting to know that we stay whole.
9. Explain: "That is why the Sacramental worldview see more than just a symbol in a sacrament."
This worldview sees that sacraments not only represent and present something but also sacraments are the incarnation of something. And they do something for us, mainly bringing us closer to Christ or heal or give power or reconciliation from our sins.
10. Explain what G.K. Chesterton said:
Chesterton said that real presence in the Eucharist and the universal grace of God are different.  Sacraments are God touching us through the son he sent, not just the idea that God universally decided to save everyone just because. He saved everyone when he sent his son and when his son established the sacraments.
11. What does grace do?
Grace, through the sacraments, touches us in the same way that Jesus touched and healed people 2000 years ago. In the sacraments we are able to participate in grace and since the sacraments are material and tangible they touch us with God's hand for salvation.

The Divine Sense of Humor...and other things

"A Divine Sense of Humor"

A divine sense of humor is not what it may seem, not some funny thing about God or Christianity, look through the words and then you’ll understand what it is. And it is just that, it is the ability to see through objects or people or nature. All objects with divine sense of humor are translucent to some other more significant meaning than its surface appearance. In Christianity, the divine sense of humor is directly linked to a sacrament. A sacrament is a tangible or audible thing with more than just a surface meaning. Sacraments present and represent something else. It is important to remember this so that one does not forget that God is an ultimate symbol, the thing itself of nature. It is important to make these connections of things in nature and God to have a divine sense of humor as it is to understand the double meanings of sacraments.

 "The Bible is a Sacramental"

The Bible is like a sacrament because it has as Sheen writes, a “foreground” and a “background”. Again it is this idea of two meanings or a deeper sense of the things presented in the foreground found in the background. It is also written that a sacrament is a mystery. Jesus is a sacrament because he is a mystery; he represents something divine, his father and presents something human because he was human. God becoming human was the best option for man because man is not divine like God; man is human…like man. So Jesus came and after he went man was left with the sacraments, signs of what he hopefully taught some of man.

 "What the Sacraments Bring to Man"

The sacraments are gifts from God, brought to man through Jesus. The sacraments are the most direct way to link human and divine together and be filled with grace. This leads Sheen to explain three levels of living, “the sensate, the intellectual, and the divine”. The most important level of course is the divine because that is where man is filled with grace and truth. God is giving himself and ourselves to us when man begins to understand the divine sense/aspect of life. A further understanding of the divine sense understands that man can prove Jesus saves because he left the sacraments. Sacraments are an almost permanent symbol of what Jesus was and what he continues to be on the divine side.

 "Seven Conditions of Life"

  There are two different aspects to these conditions of life. There are the practical ones:

Ø  Birth

Ø  Nourishment

Ø  Maturity/growth

Ø  Healing (of physical or mental wounds)

Ø  Diseases rid of

Ø  Live under government

Ø  Reproduce

Then the ones related to a Christ-life

Ø  Baptism

Ø  Eucharist

Ø  Confirmation

Ø  Penance

Ø  Anointing of the Sick

Ø  Holy Orders

Ø  Matrimony

These are the seven sacraments, signs of the conditions of life. They are instituted by Jesus, they are outward signs and have power of giving grace/divine life.

 "The Power and Efficacy of the Sacraments"

The power and efficacy of the sacraments is found in Jesus’ life and the end of his life and his resurrection back to life. He suffered and shed blood. Blood is vital to the survival of humans therefore blood can represent life. Jesus gave his life and he was human and divine therefore his blood was significant. His suffering was a sacrifice and made the sacraments all more powerful because Jesus was divine.

 "The Application to the Sacraments"

The sacraments convey grace because of Jesus’ divinity and bloodshed for man. Then, the sacraments are given out and are received and applied differently to each person during each circumstance in their life. Jesus set the ball rolling and has made the sacraments, not it is up to man receiving them to interpret them and receive them well.

What is the Divine Sense of Humor?

The Divine Sense of Humor is that which relates to a opaquness of things and in the religious sense of those things in the Bible, the Bible itself, and all that Jesus taught. Jesus prepared his followers with numerous parables and teachings in order to instill in them this divine sense of humor. It is to see through things as if they are clear not in physical attributes but in the meaning of things. Archbishop Fulton describes the different teachings of Jesus that alluded to this divine sense of humor.

Fulton Videos on the Divine Sense:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxLdrE7WTaA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGVmc95Byl8&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyfSiaz-q7w&feature=relmfu