Man Fully Alive!

Man Fully Alive

            Hello, today I will be blogging for the last time. The topic of today is a quote from St. Irenaeus. “The glory of God is man fully alive.” What can this mean? How is this important? I will tell you what I think.

            This year I have learned a lot about my faith and myself. This quote from Irenaeus has helped me strive to be closer with God. Being alive encompasses discovering ours own identities in Jesus.  My interpretation of this quote is to truly be you in life. We need to step out of our comfort zones and be an individual.  We are supposed to show God’s glory and communicate it. As children of God, we should always want to show glory for our Father. We can do this by being ourselves and not following the norm of modern day society. We don’t need to follow a set of socially acceptable rules on how to act or express ourselves. We should act as one with Christ, glorifying him in every moment possible.

This has been another great year. I have learned a lot about what it means to be a Christian and how to act fully live in Christ. We are all called to learn more about our religion and ourselves. This will bring us closer to God and help us find TRUE happiness in our lives.

Man Fully Alive-Last Blog

This is my last blog of the school year and it will be about being "Man Fully Alive." This phrase was stressed greatly throughout the year in theology class. Everything we learned and the whole basis of our class was centered around being man fully alive. Now the full statement is "The glory of God is man fully alive." This was said by St. Irenaeus. Now my first interpretation of this statement is that if you wish to glorify God, which all Catholics should strive for, you must act yourself. You should live your life to its fullest and be nobody but you. In my opinion this is one of the best guidelines to live by. Your parents, teachers, and other adults always tell you to be yourself and sometimes you may not listen to them. But after this year of theology and fully understanding what this statement means I came to realize that these people are smart and you should listen to them.

God created humans different. Each one of us is our own special person. You will eventually learn this if you do not know. You were created in the image and likeness of God, so he likes how he created you. There is no need to act like someone else. Now, this does not mean you can't have role models and follow their examples, but just be yourself and don't idolize them. The interesting thing I learned about this statement is that you can look at it in two ways--frontwards or backwards. Not only is "The glory of God man fully alive," but "Man fully alive is man glorifying God." I find this extraordinary that there is two ways to look at this statement, although they mean the same thing.

 St Irenaeus states: “the glory of God is man fully alive; moreover man’s life is the vision of God. God created us so that we could be stewards of his Earth and receive his glory. God is not selfish at all, he created us out of the goodness of his heart and wants us very badly to be man fully alive by glorifying him.
1 Corinthians 15:28 sums this up pretty well: "The ultimate purpose of creation is that God who is the creator of all things may at last be all in all, thus simultaneously assuring His own glory and our beatitude.”(1 Cor.15: 28)

Throughout the year we have been establishing a foundation for glorifying God. For example, participatingpartially alive, but fully alive. We can do this by being holy which allows us to glorify God. This year was a very successful one and I feel like I now fully understand what it means to be "Man Fully Alive."
in the sacraments is an easy way to do such action. The sacraments are a direct line into the grace of God. We also learned this year that we all have a call to holiness (I blogged about this earlier in the week). This call to holiness reflects us being man fully alive. We should not be

The Sacrament of Matrimony

The sacrament of Matrimony is a very powerful one in the Catholic Church. Though received by many, priests are not allowed to receive it because they devote their life to God. In the sacramental union of husband and wife we discover also the union of Christ and his Church as well as the union of the Father and the Son—each union sealed by the Holy Spirit. And since the union of husband and wife shares in the union of God, it is one and indissoluble. Jesus says: “What God has joined together let no man put asunder” (Matthew 19:6). Since this union is sacramental, grace is given. The married life, although at times very difficult, is not impossible. The Church cherishes a very high and precious view of marriage, but it is not a falsely idealistic or quixotic teaching. What we believe about marriage reflects what we believe about the power and presence of Christ in our life.

Divorce within the Catholic Church is very complicated. If you have not remarried and are properly disposed, you can receive the sacraments of Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance or Anointing of the Sick. A declaration of nullity, sometimes called an annulment, says that you are free to marry within the Church or that an existing marriage can be regularized. Declarations of nullity do not render children illegitimate because the Church presumes that the bride and groom married in good faith—even if that marriage is later declared null. All in all, obtaining a legal divorce in the Catholic Church can be proven to be very difficult. 

Entering the Priesthood

Entering the Priesthood

             Hello, today I will be blogging about the increase in young men entering the priesthood. In a time where kids are surrounded by temptations through social media and other places, more young men are entering seminaries on the road to priesthood.  Why is this happening?
               I’ll tell you what I think. Many young men feel like their lives are missing something. They eventually find prayer and God and fill that hole start to fill up. Growing up, teenagers are taught that fulfillment and happiness in life is found through material or unimportant things such as money. After achieving these attribute there is still a feeling that they are missing something. The culture kids are raised in teaches kids all wrong, but eventually they find God and truly come to know what true fulfillment and happiness is like. These men then spread the word and help other young men find happiness in life.

We should know that God gives us true happiness in life. Material things can make us happy for a while but then we still need more. Material objects cannot satisfy our want for a relationship with God. God makes us happy and adds fulfillment in our lives. God is the reason why we live and should play a huge role in our everyday lives.

Universal Call To Holiness

Today will be an informative blog on the call to holiness. As members of the Church we are all called to holiness. This universal call to holiness stretches out to any baptized member of the Church. According to John Paul II holiness isn't simply one option among many; it is the essence of being Catholic. To be Catholic is to be called to holiness. Holiness can be summed up in one word – love. Christ calls his disciples to authentic love – love of God and love of neighbor. Saying this is one thing. Living it is another. We might think that holiness is the stuff of priests and nuns. We might think of living a holier life as something we will do tomorrow or sometime in the future. This is wrong. Sacred Scripture tells us the time to be holy is now. There is no need to wait to be holy. Performing one small act of holiness right before you die will not ensure you a place in Heaven. This call to holiness is an ongoing thing. The spiritual journey is entirely dependent on God. It is a gift God gives us. It is a grace. Going to Mass doesn't make us holy. We must participate in Mass and accept God the father. Neither does saying a million rosaries. God sustains us in life – in everything we do. We are entirely dependent on his mercy. Our effort is necessary. What we can do to place ourselves in the presence of Christ we should do. Daily prayer is essential. Reading the scriptures is another key that unlocks the doors to eternity. God loves us abundantly. God knows us completely. Everything we say and do should be a response to that Love.

Losing

I recently went to the Houston Dynamo game. I am a big fan and go to all their home games. Since the construction of the new stadium back in 2012 we have not lost. The Dynamo have gone 39 games or so without losing a game. But like every team or individual, you must eventually lose. We lost this Sunday in a disappointing 0-1 game. I was devastated and frankly annoyed. Failing is a part of life. Losing in sports will happen, along with losing/failing at other things. A great common quote said by many: "Why do we fall, so that we can learn to pick ourselves back up" tells us that as humans we are not perfect, we are not God. We will fail again and again and again. But through these failures come learning opportunities. God created man so that he could fail. He gave us free will which lets us make decisions, and sometimes we will fail. God is not stupid, he is smart. He knew that by giving us free will and allowing us to fail would only make us stronger. Now this may not be the case for some people. Once you fail you cannot just give up. You must work even harder and learn from your past mistakes. An example from my life could be something simple like golf. I may make a terrible shot on one hole, but I will look over what I did wrong and try to fix that mistake. You may not always get it right on the second, even third try, but eventually you will. You should trust in God and believe that he will guide you closer to success. Their is a good bible verse that shows this: "Let not your heart be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me" (John 14:1)

Stress

What is stress? Why do we get stressed? Can we overcome our stress? Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances. Stress can be really hard on us, especially those in demanding and challenging high schools. I'm not sure why other people get stressed, but I can bet, like me, they get stressed over school work. Balancing sports, academics, and other extracurriculars. There are different ways to deal with stress. Some people choose to drop a course or maybe stop playing a sport. Some people, God forbid, choose self harm and other hurtful acts. But I choose to turn to God. Praying is a great way to release stress. You can put all your worries away and just focus on praying. God can help you deal with stress. There is a verse in the bible that Jesus says: "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible." (Mark 10:27) Maybe you, by yourself can not overcome with stress, but with the help of God you can. 


Here is a great link about dealing with stress through God:

http://www.freebiblestudyguides.org/bible-answers/coping-with-stress.htm