Pope Francis is an amazing pope who is unique in his way. His real name is Jorge Bergoglio and chose his pope name to be dedicated to Saint Francis of Assisi. He was born in Argentina and has Italian heritage. He is a Jesuit who loves to tango and play soccer when he was younger. He also loved to hang out with his friends, which one day lead him to go to confession. That day at confession was a major turning point for him and his religious perspective. He slowly started to make his way from priest to cardinal to pope. As pope he wrote about a lot different things, but the topics he focused on were mainly on family, light, the environment and love. This definitely showed that as a pope he really cares about others, how their lives are, strengths their fair and teaches them to love by showing them love. As pope, he is described as a non-desk pope, which basically means that he doesn't just sit at a desk all day but he goes out and gets totally involved with the community. He made an effort to know every person personally. No other pope did all things that he did. He will change the way the catholic church functions and along with that, make the world a better place.
Monday, May 15, 2017
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Acts of the Apostles
Acts of the Apostles
1.The people i learned about in the unit suffered in extremely similar ways. Many were imprisoned by the people who tried to block out the power of god then later executed. Some suffered mentally as well. God in a way tested them to the point where they lost all hope in god and in themselves. But in the end all of the apostles that i learned about had full faith in god and either were saved by him of died in the name of him, which made them martyrs.
2. I found that the Acts story of Paul in Corinth was inspiring. The line that i found the most inspiring from the story was “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you…” this quote was inspiring to me because i always say to myself to never keep silent to the things that i think is right or wrong. Reading the story made me believe this even more.
3. I have experienced many challenges in my life and i think that i have dealt with them in similar ways. The two most challenging things that i have experienced in my life are people saying “you can’t do that” or “good luck with that”, but the only way i know how to deal with things like that are by proving them wrong and doing it. Then the other challenge i always have is with myself.
4. There are a few people that i turn to when things like that happen. My parents of course because i know they always want the best for me. My mom is the one i go to when i have something super personal to deal with, then i go to my dad for everything else or a problem that i really need to think about.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
the beatitudes
These are the beatitudes:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.“
This means that those who need God’s help to live like he wants them to has a part of God’s people and in his kingdom.
“Blessed are they who mourn, for they shall be comforted.“
This means those grieving or who are sorry for their sins will be comforted by jesus and he forgives those who confess their sins.
“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “
These are those who are humble, and who do good in God's name and they will be part of God's kingdom on earth.
“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
Those who do good in the world and strive for righteousness will get the good they deserve in the world.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
This means that those who show mercy and goodness to others will get mercy and kindness back.
“Blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God.”
Those who love God and want to make him happy more than anything will see the power of God and will be part of God's kingdom.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.”
Those who try to make peace and stand up for the weak will be like jesus the son of God.
“Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
This means that those who stand for what God says is right and get hurt of made fun of will go to heaven.
If everyone followed the beatitudes we would have much happier and humble lives. People would stand up for the weak, prayer for others or for forgiveness of their own sins, and follow the word of god. But people can't have that life if we don't follow the beatitudes. In order live the life of the beatitudes we must be kind and humble to others, then we will get kindness and mercy back. We have to continue listen to the poor and helping them. We have to strive to share our love and goodness with everyone around us and try to heal our broken community and world. That's how we’ll live following the beatitudes and be a part of the kingdom of god. The only thing that we have to give up is everything that stands between us and our relationship with god and following what he says is right. God says the beatitudes are right. I spent a day following the beatitudes and felt good inside. It was just a normal day following them but i just a little more time and effort in doing them. The hardest thing was remembering to do something that i would normally just do my own thing. For example i stood up for freinds, forvgave someone and let go of the gruge, and i also donated. And i just felt good on the inside that day and didnt have any regrets that day. So we can all follow the beatitues but only if we make an effort for it.
Monday, November 28, 2016
Jesus as a teenager
As an adult Jesus was always caring, helpful, and a teacher to everyone. Along with this and everything that I have learned about Jesus as an adult, he did not change a whole lot from when he was a teenager. As a teenager I am sure that Jesus was a polite, respectful, and helpful to everyone around him, with the grace of God embedded in him. Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit, and because of that God's grace and divinity was within him. This was supported and stated in Luke 2:40, “And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.” But even with all this goodness and grace in him, I am sure he had some teenage qualities we have today. One story from the Bible that I remember shows that Jesus wasn't exactly the most responsible or trustworthy teen. This story was the boy Jesus lost in the temple. In the story Jesus said his family was traveling back from Jerusalem after some religious festivals. well on their way home they couldn't find Jesus with them, and thought that he was traveling back home with other relatives. after a while they could not
find Jesus anywhere. Little did they know that Jesus was teaching in the temple of Jerusalem. When they found him he was deep in a serious discussion with some of the teachers of the Temple. He was not playing with others his age but talking with, teaching, and answering questions of the teachers. In the story it does show that Jesus was in a sense a loner, but only with others his age. He probably wasn't the most popular boy his age, only because nobody in their teens would care to listen to Jesus teach. They would much rather fool around like most teenagers do today. I am also pretty sure that, with everything he learned about his father up in heaven, Jesus prayed to God his father whenever he got the chance. He had a strong connection with God, and he considered him his true father. And God was in fact his true father, maybe without him knowing, but he was still close with Joseph. Is help Joseph with carpentry all the time, and probably at a young age had the mindset that he was to carry on Joseph work. but also deep inside Jesus new that his calling was to teach about his father's word.
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Monday, November 14, 2016
Prayer of ACTS
Prayer of ACTS
A God, you wonderful and amazing creator of heaven and earth, and all beautiful living things. I fall at your feet with love and adoration for all that you have done!
C Lord forgive me in all the bad I have done and help me to forgive myself, and others to forgive me. I want to live my life humble and kind in your grace.
T God, thank you for this amazing and beautiful life I am living, and for everyone in it. I thank you lord for allowing me to wake up to another beautiful day filled with life, blessings, and memories waiting to happen.
S lord, help me to be grateful for what I have, the path on which you are leading me and for who I am. God, let me have more confidence, courage and strength with every step I take.
AMEN
A God, you wonderful and amazing creator of heaven and earth, and all beautiful living things. I fall at your feet with love and adoration for all that you have done!
C Lord forgive me in all the bad I have done and help me to forgive myself, and others to forgive me. I want to live my life humble and kind in your grace.
T God, thank you for this amazing and beautiful life I am living, and for everyone in it. I thank you lord for allowing me to wake up to another beautiful day filled with life, blessings, and memories waiting to happen.
S lord, help me to be grateful for what I have, the path on which you are leading me and for who I am. God, let me have more confidence, courage and strength with every step I take.
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The Parables
The parables
In the parable “The Prodigal son” I didn’t really learn any specific things that I didn't already know. I've always known the story of the prodigal son,along with most of the other parables, by heart almost. I do think that some things were made a little more clearer now that I have reheard them and that I am older. For example the parable of the prodigal son is fictional. The story didn't actually happen, it was meant to tell the listeners a moral through storytelling. Also in class I just realized that when the son
asked for his inheritance, it was like saying to his father, “You’re not dying fast enough, I just wish you were dead.” when he said this I thought it was a massive insult and I would never dream of telling my parent that. As for the other parables, the story of the sewer was made clearer to me. The parable of the sower uses the idea of a farmer planting his seeds into the ground. Some seeds fell on the path, rock, or among thorns. Because they landed on different ground their outcomes and growth were affected and impacted differently. Another parable that was made clearer was the rich man and Lazarus, but the rest I understood and knew. The rich man and Lazarus parable impacted me the most out of all of them though. The biggest thing I took out of the parable was there is in fact hell. Whenever we go to church the priest or preacher tend to avoid talking about hell and teach us about universalism, where everyone goes to heaven. But Jesus
made it very clear that every person on earth will spend either eternity in heaven or in hell. In the parable the rich man, who has everything, completely neglects Lazarus, who is a very poor man, when all the while he is sitting hungry and disease at his gate. All Lazarus is asking for is the scraps left over from his table. While the rich man may not know it, every time he neglects Lazarus or ignores him, he is setting himself farther and farther into hell. the last with doing nothing and living a humble life is destined to go to heaven. This basically shows you that the more more sins you do the more likely will go to hell, whereas if you repent and try to live a humble life you are aim to go to heaven. If Jesus were in our society today he'll be telling many many parables. There is so much that we have to learn about the goodness of God and how to live our lives the right way. And especially with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. We neglect so many of the homeless that we have in our cities today. We also have to learn that we need to pick the right path in our lives just like in the parable of the sower. Jesus will just basically have a lot of cleaning up to do.
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asked for his inheritance, it was like saying to his father, “You’re not dying fast enough, I just wish you were dead.” when he said this I thought it was a massive insult and I would never dream of telling my parent that. As for the other parables, the story of the sewer was made clearer to me. The parable of the sower uses the idea of a farmer planting his seeds into the ground. Some seeds fell on the path, rock, or among thorns. Because they landed on different ground their outcomes and growth were affected and impacted differently. Another parable that was made clearer was the rich man and Lazarus, but the rest I understood and knew. The rich man and Lazarus parable impacted me the most out of all of them though. The biggest thing I took out of the parable was there is in fact hell. Whenever we go to church the priest or preacher tend to avoid talking about hell and teach us about universalism, where everyone goes to heaven. But Jesusmade it very clear that every person on earth will spend either eternity in heaven or in hell. In the parable the rich man, who has everything, completely neglects Lazarus, who is a very poor man, when all the while he is sitting hungry and disease at his gate. All Lazarus is asking for is the scraps left over from his table. While the rich man may not know it, every time he neglects Lazarus or ignores him, he is setting himself farther and farther into hell. the last with doing nothing and living a humble life is destined to go to heaven. This basically shows you that the more more sins you do the more likely will go to hell, whereas if you repent and try to live a humble life you are aim to go to heaven. If Jesus were in our society today he'll be telling many many parables. There is so much that we have to learn about the goodness of God and how to live our lives the right way. And especially with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. We neglect so many of the homeless that we have in our cities today. We also have to learn that we need to pick the right path in our lives just like in the parable of the sower. Jesus will just basically have a lot of cleaning up to do.
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Wednesday, October 26, 2016
I grew up Catholic, so I have been baptized, i've had my first communion and my confirmation in eighth grade. I think that the main reason why I was so religious when I was younger and probably the reason why I'm not anymore is because of my mom. I have three parts of my family and two of them are religious, but not exactly the same religion, and the other is not at all. my mom’s side of family are Catholic and very religious. My dad's side of the family, on the other hand, are not as religious, they do occasionally bless themselves if they, for example, see a dead animal on the road or pass by Cemetery of any kind. I mostly relate to my dad’s side of the family. Then there is my step mom's side of the family who are protestant. I went to church a lot when I was younger it was mainly either Protestant or Catholic Mass, and I understood both. I also went to Sunday school where I viewed everything as stories that tried to teach us about life and how to be well behaved and how not to sin. I've always loved learning about myths, Legends and folklore ever since I was little, and as much as it pains me to say it, I look at Jesus as
more of a myth than a truth. I'm a bit of a realist, so I belive what can see more than what I just hear about. I do believe in a higher power, but I see it as nature, not God. I still know all the stories and prayers even though i'm not as close to him as I once was. I also still go to church pray at meals and bless myself so I don’t show disrespect to my mom’s family. I was taught and I know that God sent Jesus to save us from our sins and grant us eternal life, and it’s all explained in the Nicene Creed prayer mainly created by the catholic church. I know that he is the son of God and born of mary and joseph in a manger in Bethlehem, and that is why we celebrate Christmas and have the nativity. As he grew up he taught about God and performed miracles. As he taught he gain twelve close followers who are known as disciples and everyone who he and his disciples taught are called apostles. He was also tempted by the devil in the desert for 40 days and that is why we give up something for 40 days during lent. But when he got older he was betrayed by one of his twelve disciples and was seen as a threat to the church. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate and was mocked “King of the Jews” and three days
more of a myth than a truth. I'm a bit of a realist, so I belive what can see more than what I just hear about. I do believe in a higher power, but I see it as nature, not God. I still know all the stories and prayers even though i'm not as close to him as I once was. I also still go to church pray at meals and bless myself so I don’t show disrespect to my mom’s family. I was taught and I know that God sent Jesus to save us from our sins and grant us eternal life, and it’s all explained in the Nicene Creed prayer mainly created by the catholic church. I know that he is the son of God and born of mary and joseph in a manger in Bethlehem, and that is why we celebrate Christmas and have the nativity. As he grew up he taught about God and performed miracles. As he taught he gain twelve close followers who are known as disciples and everyone who he and his disciples taught are called apostles. He was also tempted by the devil in the desert for 40 days and that is why we give up something for 40 days during lent. But when he got older he was betrayed by one of his twelve disciples and was seen as a threat to the church. He was crucified under Pontius Pilate and was mocked “King of the Jews” and three days
after his death he was resurrected, and that’s why we have easter. And all of this was God’s plan and Jesus knew this, so before his crucifixion he prayed on a rock to God, his father, for strength. So most of the holidays we celebrated are related to Jesus, except for Halloween of course, which is related to Lucifer. And I celebrate all of them with my family, knowing the story behind them, I just don't have 100% belief or faith in Jesus or God.
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