"She Went By Gently"

1.    “A gift of Baptism is the ability to love others as God loves us.” The woman shows this gift of Baptism through her treatment of the girl. The woman makes sure she comforts the girl while she is in this scary situation. She cares for her through this time and makes sure the girl has all of the necessary equipment to deliver her baby. The woman also shows her love by comforting her by telling her to be strong like her mother. She travels four miles in the darkness just to be by the girl’s side. The woman also believes in the young girl even when she knows that she is referred to a “slut” and has a sinful past. This care that the woman provides for the young girl is a symbol of the gift of Baptism.

2.    At the end of the story, the woman says in regards to the infant, “I saved him.” What she means by this statement is that by baptizing the baby before it died, she saved him from sin. When the woman said, “I baptize you, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost,” she is ultimately saving they baby by bringing him into God’s grace and protection.

3.    The author describes the woman’s journey back to her home very vividly. The purpose of this section of the story is to illustrate the birth of the baby and his baptism. She maintained her faith in God even though she witnessed original sin. The author was trying to convey the meaning behind the woman’s choice to baptize the baby and create a moment of rebirth of the baby and its baptism. 

The Gifts of The Holy Spirit

I’ve come to realize how much the Gifts of the Holy Spirit have affected my life over the past seventeen years. These gifts that God has instilled in the Holy Spirit have allowed me to not only find grace within others, but also true grace within myself. I’ve used these gifts of the Holy Spirit almost every day of my life, whether it’s to maintain patience to wait for something or someone or to keep my hope alive during the toughest of times. These gifts have helped me grow stronger as a person and grow closer to God through instilling faith, hope, charity, or even patience. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit also helped me with becoming wiser in situations, understanding people as well as my surroundings, knowledge, piety, and fortitude. Through these gifts, I’ve learned to never give up, even when I’m faced with the hardest situations and I think I can’t get through it. I know that God will always get me through everything he decides to put me through. These gifts have truly helped me through family matters, friendships, relationships, and internal conflicts. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit are constant reminders of why I am here on earth and what I have to do in order to succeed in this world.

One of the Gifts of the Holy Spirit that I find I need most in my life today would be my faith in God and others. In my eyes, faith is the key to closure and certainty. It is my faith that keeps me going and persevering. As long as I keep my faith in God and in others, I feel as though I have enough closure to move on and hope for the best. In any given situation, whether it’s bad or good, I pray and make sure I keep close to God through this time. I feel safer and more certain of a positive outcome in a situation when I maintain my faith in God because I know he only wants the best for me and will do whatever it takes to make me a stronger person. My faith in others is also essential. I put my faith and trust in a lot of people, such as my family and friends. I rely and depend on them when I am at my most vulnerable moments. Keeping my faith in them helps give me closure and gratification so that I can keep going and move forward in my life. Without faith in God and others, I would not be the strong young woman I am today and it would be extremely difficult to find any sense of happiness or certainty in my life. 

Distance Learning #3: "Are Sacraments Narrow?"

Are Sacraments Narrow? by Mark Shea

1. What is Ludwig's problem? Ludwig does not understand how grace is imparted through the sacraments. He was taught a different meaning of what grace was and believed that God's love was universal.

2. Explain what the Church is not thinking about when it comes to "sacramentality": The Church does not propose sacraments to deny God's universal love and will to save. It does not say that unbaptized people of good will are denied salvation because they were not baptized in the Church.

3. Explain what the Church is thinking about when it comes to "sacramentality": They condemn any doctrine that limits the scope of God's redemption to anything less than every last soul God has created. The Church points out that salvation is a relationship that requires at least two people.

4. "How does God reveal and give to each individual human being his universally offered grace?" The Church refers us us to the primal Sacrament of Sacraments, The Incarnate Son of God. The sacraments of the Church are extensions of his power work in the world.

5. Which Christian doctrine is the foundation for the Sacraments? The Christian doctrine that is the foundation for the Sacraments is the doctrine of the Trinity.

6. Explain what the gobs of modern "spirituality" tells us: It tells us to be more or less disembodied, to dwell in the realm of intuitions and concepts and secret mental "revelations" unknown to those less Highly Evolved.

7. Explain the Christian repudiation of "such spiritual snobbery": God likes matter, so much that he continued to manifest himself through it right up until He took upon himself a real physical body of matter that united himself to the totality of our beings through becoming a real live man in Jesus Christ. 

             

8. "But that was so that he could put his gross body of flesh to death on the Cross and revert back to pure spirituality, wasn't it" Answer & explain: This means Christ was not put to death to return us back to spirituality, it is that we will not only live again but will live as human beings.

9. Explain "That is why the sacramental worldview sees more than just a symbol in a sacrament."God reveals himself through physical acts and causes creation by his grace to show his work of redemption.

10. Explain what G.K. Chesterton said: GK Chesterton said the difference between the sacramental Real Presence in the Eucharist and the universal grace of God. Sacramentality derives from the odd nature of Christianity itself. He describes the grace of God and how it is shown through his divine acts.

11. What does grace do? Grace presents to us God sharing the divine life and God coming to us through physical and divine acts. Grace enables us to experience divine life and see and understand God's love for us.

Distance Learning #2: The Sacraments

            In the Introduction handout, Fulton Sheen describes what is called the Divine Sense of Humor. He explains how in order to understand the sacraments; we must all develop a divine sense of humor. He gives examples to illustrate this divine sense of humor, such as the horse and the human. If someone tells a joke to a horse and a human, the human and the horse would both understand the words and the joke being presented, but the human would be the one to laugh. The horse would get only the material side of the sacrament. Sheen also describes how there are physical sacraments, such as a handshake or a kiss. In order to understand the sacraments, you must find a deeper meaning behind a symbol. He also says that two reasons why we fail to understand the sacraments are because we cut off God from the natural world and we fail to confound substantiality with Him.

            In the handout, “The Bible is a Sacrament”, Sheen discuses the Bibles meaning and symbolism. The Bible is a symbol of the trust and belief in God. He also explains the origin of the word “sacrament.” The word in Greek translates at “mystery,” which is why the Bible and God are seen as the unknown. God Himself takes upon a human nature to unite human nature and divine nature in one person. The humanity of Christ was the cause of our justification and sanctification. God is what separates the divine world from the human and natural world.

             The handout “What the Sacraments Bring to Man” discusses the differences between human nature and divine life. Those who live the natural life fail to see the higher life of grace. There are three levels: the sensate, the intellectual, and the divine. The first level denies the reality except those that come from the flesh or the known. The second level is the peak of all powers of human reason and human will. The third level is a fulfilled heart that seeks truth for unknown reasons. When every person was created, we were made as one with God. He communicates through signs and symbols to speak so that human nature can meet and understand divine life. God also made contact with humanity in two ways. The first being invisible contact, where Jesus performed miracles and the second being Jesus extending his power through the sacraments.

            The Seven Conditions of Life helps us understand the physical and natural life. The first five of these conditions refer the person as an individual and the remaining two as a member of society. These conditions of life consists of: birth, those who do not eat shall not live, maturity and responsibility as an adult, healed wounds, and driving out disease. There are also conditions that lead to a Christ life. These conditions are: the Sacrament of Baptism, the Eucharist, Confirmation, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony. The visible signs of the sacraments are the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.

            Life is blood, which is also a sin. In a way, life symbolizes the emptying and cleansing of sin. Since life is blood, blood is also therefore the symbol of sacrifice. When man gives up his blood, what he is really doing is giving up his own life. The blood of Christ is ultimately of infinite valued because he is a divine person. His blood is more valuable than that of a lamb and man.

            Sacraments do not confer grace as magical signs, but instead they communicate it only because they are in contact with the Risen Christ. The blood of Christ is applied at different moments in life that results in a different kind of power. Chris-life affects us in different ways when we are born and when we are about to die. We enter a stage in responsibility and marriage and grow from there. To receive the Blood of Christ, we must be willing to cleanse our sins and receive him as the Sacrament of Baptism and the Sacrament of Penance.