Anything could be considered an obstacle, even Life itself, it truly depends on your life and how you live and treat it. If one lives in a society of prayer and almost constant conversation with God, how will you direct your decisions if a girl comes up to have a conversation with you? Or let's say another slacks off a lot and does nothing to work, how would he respond to a job offer?
To truly understand one's situation, one has to analyze their surroundings and process their goals in life. From there, one will be capable of knowing what obstacles they face and how to overcome them to be able to achieve their goals.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
St. Peter: Church is a Royal Priesthood
Yes, the Church is a Royal Priesthood because the faithful are called to be like Christ. We are called to be the 'salt and light of the world' and we should give witness to God and His Love. In a way we are all priests, showing the way to the One Way to Salvation, Jesus Christ. As Christians, we believe in Christ, and to trust in Christ means to be in Him and with Him. He asks us to become Beacons of Light for the world. But how? Why? Not only for our mutual loving relationship with Him, but for the Salvation of All. (In fact, blogs like The Official Guide to be a Man Fully Live hopefully this command, to spread the Word for the understanding the Truth that is Christ.)
If you have any questions or comments please email us at og2bemfa@gmail.com
If you have any questions or comments please email us at og2bemfa@gmail.com
The Universal Call to Holiness
It is the invitation to common man to sanctify the world. We are all called to be with the Creator, but only the righteous shall join Him. Therefore, if our goal, our objective in life is to be with Him; what is Righteousness? How much 'right' must we do to be simply worthy?
The Church has already answered these questions, we must "bare our Cross and Follow Christ", or "Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Christ gave us the Beatitudes, Moses presented the Commandments. This is the bare minimum we must achieve. But how are we even worthy, we, mortal creatures, created by him? The simple answer: God is pure and eternal Love. God loves us to His eternal Life. He wants us to return to Him, but that is our decision. He loves us so much that we can make our own decisions.
But if God is perfect, how can we be even close to perfection, if we are all simply Good and temptation to Sin? Lumen Gentium 40.2 answers this quite effectively: "All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity.(love)"
The Church has already answered these questions, we must "bare our Cross and Follow Christ", or "Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Christ gave us the Beatitudes, Moses presented the Commandments. This is the bare minimum we must achieve. But how are we even worthy, we, mortal creatures, created by him? The simple answer: God is pure and eternal Love. God loves us to His eternal Life. He wants us to return to Him, but that is our decision. He loves us so much that we can make our own decisions.
But if God is perfect, how can we be even close to perfection, if we are all simply Good and temptation to Sin? Lumen Gentium 40.2 answers this quite effectively: "All Christians in any state or walk of life are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity.(love)"
Thursday, April 25, 2013
In Persona Christi; Ex Opere Operato
In questions with the 7 Sacraments, one that usually comes up is "Will the graces of the Sacrament still flow through even if the minister is not holy enough?"
Yes.
The beauty of the Sacraments is that the work of grace works through itself. For example, in the Sacrament of Eucharist, the priest only has to say the consecration and Christ's words "Do this in memory of me" and the transubstantiation of the bread and wine go to the Body and Blood of Christ. (The physical appearances "accidents" still look the same, but the substance itself has changed) The spiritual state of the priest does not matter because the graces of the sacrament flow through and works by itself.
What seems confusing about this is that if the priest was not in good moral standing, it looks like he would not be doing his job of 'In Persona Christi' or in the place/person/role of Christ. The detail to remember here is that Christ was Human, but also Divine, therefore, those who are simply Human could never be perfectly exemplary of Christ on Earth.
We are all called to Holiness and to strive for God's Glory in all that we do.
Yes.
The beauty of the Sacraments is that the work of grace works through itself. For example, in the Sacrament of Eucharist, the priest only has to say the consecration and Christ's words "Do this in memory of me" and the transubstantiation of the bread and wine go to the Body and Blood of Christ. (The physical appearances "accidents" still look the same, but the substance itself has changed) The spiritual state of the priest does not matter because the graces of the sacrament flow through and works by itself.
What seems confusing about this is that if the priest was not in good moral standing, it looks like he would not be doing his job of 'In Persona Christi' or in the place/person/role of Christ. The detail to remember here is that Christ was Human, but also Divine, therefore, those who are simply Human could never be perfectly exemplary of Christ on Earth.
We are all called to Holiness and to strive for God's Glory in all that we do.
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
The Rites of the Catholic Church
The Catholic Church has grown with time and branched out into many distinctive rites. A Rite is a type of catholicism that has specific expressions and modes of worship based on the local culture. Rites are not protestant. They are not a different denomination of Christianity but rather they are the Catholic Church's way of adapting to specific cultures. They all share Catholic beliefs but they have different ways of celebrating those beliefs. They are loyal to the Catholic Church centered in the Vatican.
There are 21 different Rites within the Catholic Church. These Rites compose 7 basic origins, with closely located regions falling into the same Rite.
The largest Rite is the Roman Catholic Church, who's primary language is Latin.
The Alexandrian Rite, sometimes called the Coptic Rite, originated in Egypt and includes the Ethopian Rite. Its liturgical languages are Coptic, Arabic, and Ge'ez.
The Antiochene Rite, named after Antioch, developed under the influence of the Church of Jerusalem. Within this group is also Syro-Malankara, Maronite, and Syrian Catholics. Its liturgical languages are Syriac and Arabic.
The Armenian Rite uses Armenian as its liturgical language and has no Rites closely associated with it.
The Byzantine Rite is perhaps the most encompassing because it contains Albanian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Greek, Greek-Melkite, Hungarian, Italo-Albanian, Romanian, Russian, Ruthenian, Slovak, and Ukrainian Churches coming from it. It originated from Constantinople(Byzantium).
The Last Rite, the Chaldean contains the Chaldean and Malabar Churches and is concentrated in India and the Middle East. Its liturgical languages are classical Syriac, Arabic, and Malayalam.
There are 21 different Rites within the Catholic Church. These Rites compose 7 basic origins, with closely located regions falling into the same Rite.
The largest Rite is the Roman Catholic Church, who's primary language is Latin.
The Alexandrian Rite, sometimes called the Coptic Rite, originated in Egypt and includes the Ethopian Rite. Its liturgical languages are Coptic, Arabic, and Ge'ez.
The Antiochene Rite, named after Antioch, developed under the influence of the Church of Jerusalem. Within this group is also Syro-Malankara, Maronite, and Syrian Catholics. Its liturgical languages are Syriac and Arabic.
The Armenian Rite uses Armenian as its liturgical language and has no Rites closely associated with it.
The Byzantine Rite is perhaps the most encompassing because it contains Albanian, Belarusian, Bulgarian, Greek, Greek-Melkite, Hungarian, Italo-Albanian, Romanian, Russian, Ruthenian, Slovak, and Ukrainian Churches coming from it. It originated from Constantinople(Byzantium).
The Last Rite, the Chaldean contains the Chaldean and Malabar Churches and is concentrated in India and the Middle East. Its liturgical languages are classical Syriac, Arabic, and Malayalam.
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