Man Fully Alive

             In Theology class, my teacher poses this question, "what does it mean to be man fully alive?" When hearing this, we all groan. Mainly because no one in our class knows the full answer to his question. If we ask him what the answer is, he replies with a cool and collected "I don't know." During this time, he is asking a multitude of follow up questions to our answers. From watching these these discussions, I reasoned that there is not one specific answer, but many equally important answers.
            Attaining My maximum potential is a very important aspect of man fully alive. Acquiring that maximum potential requires us to transcend into another level of success through hard work and determination. Let me give an example. When Michael Jordan first tried out for a basketball team, he did not make the cut. That means that everyone was better than him. Through hard work he was able to transcend his previous abilities and become the best ball player in the world. It may seem like all that hard work shows no results, but the truly successful keep working and working, eventually transcending.
           Loving thy neighbor frees up the conscience. Hate and a bad disposition fills my being and consumes all mythoughts. Whenever I am mad at someone, I cannot do anything at all, I am paralyzed with hate and stubbornness.
          Seeing as loving thy neighbor is an important part of man fully alive, so is being happy. Happiness can be achieved through many different routes, but one thing happiness is not, is materialism. The underlying tones of many of my posts criticizes the consume culture of America and the world. Advertisers make money by telling me that if I buy this and that, it will make me happy.
           Finally, the most fundamental way to be man fully alive is by glorifying God. The end goal of life is to be one with God; if you are one with God, then the three points above are fulfilled. Wanting to know God is the most instinctual feeling a human can have. Everybody has that feeling, it might be suppressed by our crazy fast culture, but it is there if you think about it.
         All in all, being one with God is Man Fully Alive.

Fishers of Men

In our modern society, the number of priests to administer the sacraments dwindles. Young people in our modern bustling society do not have Christ present in their life. The vocation to the priesthood becomes dimmer and dimmer when the pressure of our modern society fills up our time.  The priesthood goes against this modern culture. Modern culture consists of tons and tons of distractions. Televisions and video games take time away from Christ. The absence of Christ in our society is a big problem in our communities.
Daily mass was a big deal a generation ago. Many Catholic families attended and prayed the rosary every night. Now, some people barely even show up once a month. Even in our schools, any aspect of religion is omitted from the education system.
Our fast culture omits God from our lives. We are distracted by the materialistic ideas and appearances, but we never slow down anymore to take part in the Sacraments. God will always supply the Church with people who have heard the call to the priesthood, but that call is getting quieter and quieter.

St. Justin Martyr's Letter

Among many other aspects of the Church, St, Justin Martyr's letter to the Roman Emperor explaining Christianity reveals how closely traditions in the early church mirror those of modern times. There are many examples of this. One involves the congregation's use of the same word "Amen" in the early church as in today's Catholic church. Another common tradition is the readings before the Anaphora. In the early days of the Church, Christians would read the memoirs and letters of the Apostles, much like today's Church reads the Gospels and letters of the Apostles. A third similarity is the re-enactment of the Last Supper during the Anaphora and belief in the transubstantiation of the host, as well as the existence of Eucharistic ministers.

These similarities, as well as a cool look into how Church ceremonies were peformed "back in the day" also cement the faith and teaching that the Catholic Church is the true one created by Christ. Christians in the time of St. Justin Martyr were not far removed from Christ's earthly life, temporally speaking. Therefore it's valid to assume that they practiced the equivalent teachings and traditions as the ones passed down by Christ. Examining the similarities pointed out above shows that the Catholic Church is the true Church established by Christ, validating its mark as One.

Some things do not change

          In 150 AD. Justin Martyr wrote to the Roman Emperor about his religion and what the physical actions of Christianity mean. At this time, Christians were being prosecuted and killed. Much of this dislike was founded on the accusation that Christians had "love feasts" and they ate the body of their leader each week. Basically, they were talking about having mass and partaking in the Eucharist, but when pagan Romans  heard this, they thought that Christians were crazy. Justin Martyr explained to the Emperor the significance of mass.
          Though Justin Martyr explained what the mass entailed, Christianity was not legalized until hundreds of years later. This goes to show that the hated of Christians was still deeply entrenched in the Roman ideology. The Emperor just shrugged off his letter and ignored Justin Martyr.
         Justin Martyr's letter provide insight into mass back in 150 AD. The core fundamentals of the mass in 150 AD is the exact same as today's mass. This shows the divinity in the Church. Nothing can stay the same for 2000 years, not even mountains.

• You still need to be Baptized to partake in the Eucharist
• Baptism is still for the remission of sins
• The host is still bread and wine mixed with water
• Amen is still the general remark for consent of the congregation
• Deacons still carry the host to people who cannot come to mass
• The Eucharist is still called the Eucharist
• There are Gospel readings in every mass
• Only bishops and priests can administer the Eucharist
• Sunday is still the day of Mass

A Human First and Foremost

The video of Mr. Ronald Davis, a homeless man, demonstrates many valid points and also opens one's eyes to reality. Too often in our society, we view the homeless as lazy or unwilling to try to get a job. We don't know these people's lives or their struggles, and we presume ourselves knowledgeable enough to judge them.  As a consequence of our culture's individualistic streak, many people assume that it is totally within one's power to pull themselves out of the misery they find themselves in. Many people ignore that homelessness isn't a lifestyle choice; it's forced upon people by circumstances outside their control. In other words, a tragedy such as a house fire or hurricane forces people to live and panhandle on the streets to remain alive. Many times it isn't the homeless person's fault they must beg for money, or that they can't get a job. Like Mr. Davis pointed out, the homeless face challenges that most people do not in trying to obtain a job: a call-back number or address, for example. This realization opens one's eyes to the contingency of a person's social circumstances and reinforces Christ's message of helping those less fortunate than yourself. Put simply, it's often not a homeless man's fault that he is in an unfortunate position, just as it was not by my doing that I was fortunate enough to be born into a steady family. All people being equal, we must attempt to give the less fortunate a chance to get their lives back, a chance they will not get otherwise.

Ronald Davis's message reflects another basic teaching of the Church: the inherent dignity of all people. Catholics believe that God created humans in His image and likeness, and in so doing assigned us dignity by virtue of our humanity. Sadly, many people ignore intrinsic human dignity and instead view others as inferior or not as worthy as they for success. Mr. Davis mentions passerby who call him "a bum" because of his unfortunate position. They probably view him as sub-human, reducing his own dignity by begging on the street. Like I mentioned above, these people judge the unfortunate without knowing their struggles. To echo Mr. Davis's words, he is a  human first and foremost and as such deserves love and respect from all people. It is the utmost tragedy when circumstances out of one's control reduce one's standing in the eyes of other people because the unfortunate do nothing to deserve it.

On Bumming

I watched video on Ronald Davis's emotional talk. If you have not watched the video or heard the story, Mr. Davis talks about his homeless life. No one wants to be homeless, it is not a life choice. Yes, some people might be happy homeless, but I can guarantee that they were not happy when they first became homeless. Mr.  Davis. has to beg for the 16 dollars so he can stay the night in a room. Begging is one of the worst ways to live your life. There is no satisfaction of doing a task with your own hands. When we see people begging, many of us shunt them away emotionally by saying they are there  for a reason. We do not see that these homeless people are also emotionally aware that you are shunting them away. This emotional ignore is like getting ignored by your parents, but you did nothing wrong.

I guess what I am trying to say is that the homeless are just like us. They are not dumb, they are not numb to emotion, they are trying to survive. Yes we have it easier than they do, but that does not mean we can't help out a little. No, I don't want redistribution of wealth, but lending a helping hand goes a long way.


Watch the video here

The Church's Limits

The Catholic Church is a remarkable institution; t is open to anyone, regardless of their past, ethnicity, or nationality. This catholic mark defines the Church as tolerant and accepting of people for who they are. However, there must be limits to the Church's openness regarding beliefs. Just like any other moral system, the Church's ethics prescribe a way of living, in accordance with Christ's words and deeds. While the Church continues to accept people of all backgrounds, its limit on tolerance must stop at belief. This may sound harsh at first glance, but it's really the same limit prescribed by any religion or moral code. In order to be called a Catholic, one must conform to what the Church teaches. For example, if you want to play basketball, you must dribble and shoot without picking up the ball and running. If you decide to run across the court while kicking the ball, you're playing soccer instead of basketball. 

When one chooses to follow a certain ethical code, he or she chooses it based on the merits of that code, not necessarily what they think they can shape the code to be. Similarly, when a person decides to become a Catholic, they choose based on the merits of the Catholic Church, not what they believe their conception of God to be. The Catholic conception of God is rigid and cannot change, given Christ's words in Scripture and Tradition. To put it bluntly, and a little coarsely, if you don't like Catholicism, then change religions (or denominations).