1st Semester Smore
By: Parker Brown
The Original State of Man; Original Sin and its Consequences
- Man was originally happy and without pain and suffering and in perfect union with God in the Garden of Eden.
- However, Adam and Eve's pride in themselves was too much and they wanted to be like God.
- The serpent then tricked Eve to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Eve then gave the fruit to Adam who also ate it.
- When God came down to the Earth he say what Adam and Eve did and that the serpent had tricked them.
- He then expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and death and suffering came into the world.
- Still, God promised Adam and Eve a redeemer to atone for their betrayal.
The Word Became Flesh
- God sent his redeemer in the form of his only begotten son Jesus Christ
- The Angel Gabriel came to Mary at the Annunciation and told Mary that she would be the vigin Mother of God.
- Jesus was a descendant of Jesse who was the father of King David and the ancestor to many of David's successors in the Kingdoms of Judea and Israel.
- At the visitation Mary goes to see her cousin St. Elizabeth who was in her sixth month of pregnancy when she ,in her old age, was considered barren and in Elizabeth's womb St. John the Baptist leaped for joy at the knowledge that he was close to Jesus.
- When Mary was not too far from the time that Jesus was to be born she and her husband St. Joseph were called to Joseph's home town of Bethlehem for a Roman census called by Augustus Caesar.
- The town was so packed that Mary and Joseph were only able to find a m,anger to stay in where Mary gave birth to Jesus.
- After Jesus' birth he was later taken to be presented in the Temple in accordance to Jewish traditions at the Presentation.
- At the Presentation St. Simeon recognized Jesus as the Messiah.
- When Jesus was older and in Jerusalem with his parents for the Passover celebrations he became missing when his parents were heading home. They went back to Jerusalem and searched for three days for Jesus and found him preaching in the Temple.
- Christ became flesh:
- To make expiation for sins, reconcile man with God, and restore human nature lost by sin.
- To manifest the infinite depth of God's love.
- To offer a model of holiness.
- And to allow people to share in his divine life.
Eternal Life with God
The Paschal Mystery
- Christ was baptized by St. John the Baptist even though John said that Jesus should be baptizing him.
- At his baptism all three parts of the trinity were present:
- The Son in Jesus Christ
- The Father in the voice that declared Jesus as his son
- The Holy Spirit in the dove that descended from the sky.
- At the Wedding of Cana Jesus turned water into wine on the command of his mother.
- After Jesus' baptism he went into the desert for forty days.
- In this period Satan tempted him multiple times.
- He tempted Jesus to turn a stone into bread to make Jesus' period of fasting unreasonable.
- The devil then took Jesus to the top of the Temple in Jerusalem and told him to jump off for God would send his angels to save him this would have been salvation without the cross. He attempted to show Jesus that as the Son of God he did not have to suffer. This would have made the statement that God was indifferent to mankind.
- He then offered Jesus to be the ruler of all of mankind if Jesus worshiped him, however Jesus already ruled the world but not Earthly kingdoms but of the divine.
- Years later when Jesus was to enter Jerusalem and ultimately die St. Peter tried to dissuade him but Jesus said that Peter was working under the influence of Satan.
- When he was going to be arrested one of his disciples, Judas, betrayed him by giving him over to the Jewish authorities.
- Christ transfigured, or transformed into something more beautiful, at the Transfiguration. At this event he showed his true divine nature to a few of his disciples. He was joined by Moses and Elijah.
- At the Last Supper just before Jesus was arrested he instituted the Eucharist and washed the feet of his disciples.
- At the Agony in the Garden moments before his arrest Jesus pleaded with his Father if there was another way to save humanity. He ultimately accepted his fate and was arrested.
- Christ was then taken to the Roman Pilate government for the Jews were not allowed to give capital punishment. He then sent Jesus to Herod who was the client-king of Jesus' birth place. He in turn sent Jesus back to Pilate. Pilate had Jesus whipped but was then prepared to release him. However the Jewish High Priests wanted him crucified. Pilate then gave them a choice to either release Jesus or release Jesus Barabbas who was a known murderer and rapist. The Jews, with encouragement from the High Priests called for Jesus to be executed and Barabbas released.
- Jesus was then given a cross to carry up to Calvary hill and be executed.
- Three days after Christ died he resurrected from the dead along with many of the long deceased faithful.
- During Christ's crucifixion St. Peter had denied knowing Jesus three times before the bird crowed as Jesus said he would. After the Resurrection Jesus asked Peter if he loved Jesus and Peter answered yes three times and was forgiven for his fall.
- Forty days after the Resurrection Jesus ascended into heaven promising a guide for the Earthly church.
- A couple of days after the Resurrection the Holy Spirit, the third person of God, came to the Apostles and gave them the courage to speak about Jesus. They also gained the ability to speak in multiple languages.
The Theological Virtues
- The three theological virtues are Faith, Hope, and Charity
- Faith helps us move beyond natural intellect and moves the will of a person to comprehend supernatural truths. It is infused by God into our souls during Baptism.
- Sins against faith include: Voluntary Doubt, Schism, Incredulity, Apostasy, and Heresy.
- Voluntary Doubt: refusing to hold as true what God revealed and the Church teaches.
- Schism: refusing to submit to the authority of the Pope and refusing to accept communion with the Church.
- Incredulity: neglect or outright refusal to assent to a revealed truth.
- Apostasy: total repudiation of the Catholic faith.
- Heresy: denial of a truth that must be believed with divine and Catholic faith.
- Hope gives us the will to trust in God and his plan.
- Sins against hope include: Despair and Presumption.
- Despair: when a person loses all hope in God's forgiveness.
- Presumption: when someone trusts in their own power to bring them to salvation.
- Charity enables a person to love God above everything and love our neighbor as ourselves.
- Sins against charity include: Indifference, Ingratitude, Lukewarmness, Sloth, and Hatred of God.
- Indifference: when someone does not think about God and denies his power.
- Ingratitude: refusal to acknowledge God's goodness.
- Lukewarmness: neglect to respond to God's love.
- Sloth: refusal to share in God's delight.
- Hatred of God: when someone curses God and hates him.
Prayer: How We Communicate With God
- Prayer is an intimate conversation with God
- Scripture can be used as a source of prayer such as the Our Father and the Hail Mary.
- God answers all prayers in a way that we like or not. It may be immediate or over a period of years.
- Vocal is spoken prayer using words.
- Meditative prayer is used to gain a greater understanding of God.
- Contemplative Prayer is prayer where a person focuses his or her entire being on God.
The Four Marks of the Church
- The Four Marks of the Church are; One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic.
- One signifies that we are the Church that Jesus founded for Jesus did not found many churches but founded one Church.
- Holy means that ,through the Holy Spirit, the Church is set apart for God and comes solely from God because God's grace is so complete that the Church is sanctified
- Catholic represents how the Church is universal and should help everyone, Catholic or not, to come closer to Christ.
- Apostolic stands for the fact that the Church leaders are direct successors to the Twelve Apostles and that their power has been handed down through the generations.
Heaven
Apostolic
The Last Things
- The last things that will happen to or the state of being of a person who has died. They include; Particular Judgement, Last Judgement, Death, Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory.
- Particular Judgement is the judgement of a person's life who has died before the Second Coming.
- Final Judgement is the judgement of all people at the Second Coming of Jesus.
- Death is the expiration of our Earthly bodies where our soul is then judged.
- Heaven is the state of being of a person who accepts God into their lives and spends eternity in complete happiness and communion with God.
- Hell is the state of being of a person who has completely rejected God and therefore is completely separated from God in eternal suffering.
- Purgatory is the state of being for those who have been accepted into the Kingdom of God but still need to be cleansed of their worldly ,venial, sins.
Parousia
- The Parousia is the Second Coming of Jesus and means in Greek "apparition" or "presence."
- It is the time when the Last Judgment will be given for all of man.
- Jesus will also establish a new kingdom and a new Earth.
- All of the people who have kept the faith will live in eternal happiness with God while the wicked will suffer for all eternity.
- God's majesty, wisdom, justice, and mercy will be present for all to see and Jesus will make his final victory over sin.
- The Parousia is the culmination of human and salvation history. It is the event that the entirety of every person's lives has been building up to. "For we were not made for this Earth, but for Heaven."