The Mystery of Redemption
and Christian Discipleship
The Original State of Man
- The original relationship between God and Man was intended to be Joyful and loving.
- Because of the blissful world God had created for them, Adam and Eve lived in peace and prosperity.
- Sin was not known to any creature yet and there was no illness, suffering, or death.
- Adam and Eve were created by God for each other, incomplete without the other and were the first couple of all creation.
- There was perfect harmony among all that were created and living.
- There was only one job given to the first of us and that was to be stewards of and labor for God's creation.
Original Sin and its Consequences
- Original Sin was caused by the temptations of Satan that caused Adam and Eve to disobey God and his love.
- They were given complete freedom, with one exception. To not eat from the tree of knowledge and Wisdom, which due to allurement they did.
- This act destroyed the absolute peace and trust between God and Man, leaving all future generations with many consequences.
- These Included:
- A loss of friendship - Due to the rejection of his trust and the expelling from the Garden, Adam and Eve felt a loss of God's grace in which they were first enriched with.
- Suffering and Death - In their original state, Adam and Eve were immune to the effects of suffering and death but with the introduction of sin came the consequences such as illness, fear, pain during birth, and hard work.
- An Inclination to Sin - One of the greatest affects from the fall is concupiscence or a tendency towards sin. This was endowed when man rejected God's friendship and protection.
- Affect on All Humanity - Because of the rejection of peace and love, all future generations of Adam and Eve would feel the corollary of their sin.
THE THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES
FAITH
- Faith is the acceptance of truths guaranteed by God.
- It is based on God's exposed truth he has given to us
- And it helps people to believe and attempt to understand the vast glory and wonder of our God
HOPE
- Hope is one of the virtues given to us by God so that we may never give up on his plan.
- It helps to allow a person to trust in God's grace and promise of salvation
- Through hope and the means it provides, all can achieve everlasting life in Heaven.
LOVE
- A virtue that empowers a person to care for all as we would care for Christ.
- The most important of all three, without love we would not be able to achieve Faith or Hope.
- All virtues are at the service of love because of its ability to make us Christ-like.
The Word became Flesh
- The word became flesh for many reasons such as:
- To save all humanity from it sins and to heal the relationship of God and Man.
- And to also destroy all unholy powers of the devil
- There are also 4 specific reasons for why the word became flesh, they are as follows:
- To Reconcile Us to God - This had the purpose of giving humanity a messiah to help restore the praise, love, and peace between God and Man.
- To Manifest God's Love - God became man through Jesus, his only son, to suffer and die for us therefor showing us through his huge sacrifice, he loves us more than we know.
- To offer a Model of Holiness - With sin penetrating the world, God sent us a loving savior to show us the way to an eternity with him in Heaven he did this in many ways such as spreading his ministry, giving many parables and healings, and lastly giving us the Beatitudes.
- To Allow Us a Share in Divine Life - By giving all of humanity Jesus, participating in God's life was made possible. Jesus is apart of God through the Holy Trinity, therefor giving a glimpse of God.
- To defeat the Devil - His tempting powers had entered the world through original sin, and had been taking over. So in response, God sent a messiah to save us from hell and our sins and to open the gates of Heaven.
The Paschal Mystery
- The completion of Christ's work of redemption through his passion, death, resurrection, and ascension.
- The Paschal Mystery is especially celebrated through the Eucharist, where the paschal sacrifice of Christ is renewed.
- The paschal Mystery was presented to the chosen people by Elijah and Moses as we can see in the Old Testament.
Prayer
- Prayer is what most would call an intimate dialogue with God.
- During prayer we raise our heart and soul to God to talk and attempt to find answers.
- Through a regular life of prayer, we can instill an intimate, loving, and strong relationship with God.
- There are many types of prayer such as, prayer in the form of scripture, vocal prayer, or meditative prayer.
- There are also many forms or ways of using prayer such as, Blessing and Adoration, Petitions, Intercession, Thanksgiving, Praise, or Contrition.
- There is joy and fulfillment in prayer, but there are also many difficulties
- Main difficulties include, lack of time, distraction, and spiritual dryness.
- Through prayer we can strengthen our faith and step farther from temptations from the devil.
- There are many prayers that one can use everyday that are simple, easy to remember, and very helpful such as, The Lord's Prayer or Our Father, and the HAil Mary
The Four marks of the Church
- The Church is identified with four specific marks.
- These four marks were signs to from Christ to show that the Church is different from all other churches.
- They also help distinguish that the Church has a divine origin and is the one True Church
- These four marks are as follows:
- One - When we say that the Church is One we are stating that the Church is unique and that it is the one True Church. We are also stating that the Church is united in its belief is one true God
- Holy - The Church's holiness is received from her founder, Jesus. Christ fulfills the Church with his sanctifying grace. The main reason that the Church is known as Holy is because of the way the Church is able to bring all members of the Church to communion with God.
- Catholic - The word Catholic can be taken in two different forms. These are that The Church is catholic because she has received universal authority from Christ to fulfill her universal mission. The second reason is because the word catholic comes from the Greek language meaning "universal" this means that the Church is one whole body in its belief is one God.
- Apostolic - The church is apostolic because of its history of Jesus choosing the Apostles as the foundation of the Church. The church is also apostolic because it follows the Apostles three fold sense which is based on an apostolic foundation, faith, and succession.
The Last Things
- The Last Things are the from Revelation and are the last parts that our soul expiriences after the death of our human life.
- The last things include :
- Death - When God decides it is time to join him in his heavenly kingdom, he calls us and our soul leaves our earthly body.
- Judgement - Particular Judgement comes from when we die and we face God as our Judge and he decides if we followed his will and get to spend eternity with him or not.
- Heaven - When we are judged at our death and God looks at our life, if we have served him to our fullest love then he sends us to an eternity with him known as heaven.
- Hell - At this same judgment, the other option other than Heaven is Hell which is an eternity without God spent with the fires of the Devil.
- Purgatory - Purgatory is known as a place of spiritual purification from our sins, sort of a middle ground to help us achieve Heaven.
Parousia
- The Parousia is known as the second coming of the Lord which was promised to us in scripture
- During the Parousia, Jesus will return to complete the final judgment and send all people to heaven, hell, or purgatory.
- Christ will appear with all of God's power, majesty, wisdom, justice, and mercy and all will come to see Christ's final victory on Earth.