Distance Learning

I. JUSTIFICATION

1987 Harry is cleansed from his sins when he goes to the river for healing. “We’re going to a river to a healing.”

1988 The little boy’s death at the end of the story represents how Harry took part in Christ’s Passion because he died to sin by drowning in the river. His Resurrection was entering The Kingdom of Heaven as being born to a new life.

1989 Conversion was seen through the prayer of Harry’s mother. The prayer for her to get better was turning her away from sin and towards God for healing.

1990 The first moment Harry is detached from sin is when he encountered the truth behind Jesus Christ. He said he never knew who Jesus was and learned that day that Jesus was the one who created him and

1991 The acceptance of God’s righteousness was seen when Harry asked Mrs. Connin if Bebel Summers could really heal him.

1992 This form of justification was seen when Bevel Summers was preaching and said, “There ain’t but one river and that’s the River of Life, made out of Jesus’ Blood. That’s the river you have to lay your pain in, in the River of Faith, in the River of Life, in the River of Love, in the rich red river of Jesus’ Blood, you people!”

1993 The cooperation between God’s grace and man’s freedom was illustrated through Harry’s baptism.

1994 Harry’s parents are also seen as sinners. They failed to teach Harry the Catholic teachings and did not make known the work of God’s love. The will receive a greater mercy.

1995 The sanctification and birth of the “inner man” was shown when Harry was baptized in the river. Bevel says, “You count. You didn’t count before.”

II. GRACE

1996 The grace of God is seen through “the healing” the preacher promises. Bevel says, “I read in Mark about an unclean man, I read in Luke about a blind man, I read in John about a dead man! Oh you people hear! The same blood that makes this River red, made that leper clean, made that blind man stare, made that dead man leap!”

1997 The participation in the Life of God was also demonstrated through the baptism. He was adopted as the Lord’s son and washed away his sins.

1998 The vocation of eternal life was represented in Harry’s death. He enters the Kingdom of Christ and begins a new, eternal life in Heaven.

1999 The sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism was “The count” Harry received after he was baptized. It led him in search to find the Kingdom of Christ.

2000 Harry perfects his soul through his baptism. He is encountering the permanent disposition to live and act in keeping with God’s call. After his baptism, “the count” is seen as Harry’s calling and acceptance of grace.

2001 The preparation of man for the reception of grace was seen through the picture of Jesus above Mrs. Connin’s bed. This image brought justification through faith and charity.

2002 Harry chose to search for the Kingdom of Christ. He knew that God promised “eternal life” if he longed for the truth and wanted to satisfy this desire.

2003 Harry shows his ignorance by not knowing who Jesus Christ is. Harry thought that Jesus Christ was a word like “oh” or a person who may have cheated someone out of something. His ignorance failed to illustrate grace.

2004 Reverend Bevel Summers exercised the responsibilities of the Christian life and ministries within the Church through his healing and his preaching’s of the Kingdom of Christ and the Blood of the River. 

2005 Harry escapes his experience by trusting in his faith of the Kingdom of Christ. He dies a good end and encounters his Maker through his search for the Kingdom of Christ. He is justified and saved through his death.

The Man Without A Face

            In the movie, A Man Without A Face, a young boy named Chuck Nordstadt befriends a disfigured man whom the people of the town are not fond of. Rumors spread all over town about Mr. McLeod. People who had never even met the man seemed to have their minds made up about him and who he was as a person. Chuck sees McLeod one day on a ferry and was frightened, but also intrigued by him. One day, Chuck decided to walk to the library to study for his exam to get into boarding school. As he was walking, he decided to go off with some of his friends on a boat and ended up outside of Mr. McLeod’s house. After being scared off by McLeod’s dog, Chuck realizes he had left his books on the rocks outside of the McLeod’s house. Upon his return to McLeod’s house, Chuck encounters the “disfigured man” for the first time. Chuck then discovers that McLeod was a former teacher and seeks for his help to prepare him for his upcoming exam.

            At first, Chuck failed to see past McLeod’s deformed face. During the time McLeod was tutoring him, Chuck could only focus on the missing side of his face. It was obvious that Chuck was frightened by the man’s appearance and had reasonable doubt as to how capable McLeod was at helping him. At times, Chuck would refuse to listen to or obey McLeod’s orders, such as writing an essay or doing homework. By Chuck’s actions, it showed that he was not certain he could trust or even depend on McLeod for help. Chuck also thought that what McLeod was teaching was irrelevant and had nothing to do with the material on his exam. For example, when McLeod would ask Chuck to dig a hole, Chuck thought that it was a waste of time and did not understand the significance of it. Although Chuck didn’t understand why he was digging them, McLeod was actually teaching him geometry through a way other than sitting down and practicing problems for hours. Whenever Chuck refused to do what McLeod asked of him, McLeod would say, “Disca et Disceda,” which meant “learn or leave.” McLeod had seemed to be teaching the boy manners and how to build character in a way to prepare him for his exam. As the movie continues, we see a growth in Chuck and Mr. McLeod’s relationship. Chuck arrives at the moral certainty that he can trust McLeod despite the fear and doubt that were brought about by the rumors. He does this by seeing McLeod as a friend instead of only a teacher. McLeod teaches him about poetry and acts out plays to help Chuck better understand Shakespeare. The material McLeod teaches him intrigues Chuck, which makes him want to keep coming back to learn more. The more the boy meets with McLeod, the closer they become. Chuck also begins to see McLeod not only as a teacher, but also as a friend and father figure. He develops a sense of trust with McLeod after he is told about the car accident that left half of McLeod’s face and body distorted. Even after McLeod explained how he became the way he is, Chuck doesn’t think of him any differently.

            One of the several things McLeod taught Nordstadt was not to “cheat” on the problem of using his freedom to decide whether or not the rumors that were spread were true. Towards the middle of the movie, McLeod tells Chuck, “Start taking responsibility for what you want.” McLeod was trying to teach the boy to voice his own opinion and stick up for what he wants and believes. It was important to McLeod that he did this because this was another lesson he was trying to teach Nordstadt about life. Only Chuck could decide what to believe about McLeod based on what he knew about him. McLeod did not want Chuck to base his beliefs off of what other people thought, but instead on his own beliefs of what he knew to be true.

            Something in particular that I liked about this movie was how it foreshadowed in the beginning what would happen in the end. The movie started with a dream that Chuck had of graduating from boarding school. He was lifted in the air being carried on the shoulders of his fellow classmates and looked into the crowd as if something were missing. He says, “Whatever the dream, there’s always a face that I cannot see, that I keep missing, out there beyond the edge of the crowd.” This dream in the beginning of the movie foreshadows the friendship he makes with McLeod. At the end of the movie, it shows Chuck four years later actually graduating like he dreamed of. He looked out into the crowd with a smile and realized something or someone was missing. As he looked into the distance, Chuck saw McLeod walking off into the distance. To me, this was one of the best parts of the movie and showed how connected they remained to each other after everything that had happened between them.

Knowledge

Knowledge is constantly developing information acquired through experience and education. To know something is to simply retain information from things such as facts, history, or what we read or hear. We gain knowledge by reading books and being taught certain facts by other people or things. For example, we know that God is real and that He is the creator for everything in existence. Even though we haven’t seen Him or encountered Him, we know that He is real from the things we are taught in Church, from the Bible, from our parents, and in school. Another example of things that we know from learning is history. We are taught history throughout our entire lives, in school, reading books, watching documentaries, and from living in the present and past making our own history. We know things like the 50 states that are in the Unite States or the different religions around the world. We can also gain knowledge from personal experiences. For example, we cannot know that we like or dislike a certain food without trying it first. Another example is we cannot know that we are a talented in a sport until we try to play one. Experiences in life are essential to continue to learn and know things in life. Lastly, we gain knowledge from our surroundings. When we are young, we learn how to behave around others and develop a sense of what is right or wrong. To “know” something can be come in all of these various forms and more. 

Cathedral

In the story Cathedral by Raymond Carver, the narrator's wife has a friend who is blind that comes to visit and stay with them. The narrator is not exactly looking forward to the blind man, Robert, staying with him. When the narrator first meets the Robert, he judges him instantly and does not know how to act around him. He tells Robert he has never met a blind man before and found it interesting that he could have a beard. As the story continues, the narrator begins to realize that Robert is not much different from a "normal" person. The narrator and the blind man talk and begin to develop a relationship. By the end of the story, the narrator and blind man are watching television and the blind man tells the narrator to draw a cathedral with his eyes closed. By doing this, it showed the narrator that there is a different way to "see" something. Not physically, but to see the deeper meaning behind an object. This gave the narrator a greater understanding of what it means to really "see."

1. The narrator was not looking forward to the blind man's visit because he had never met this man before and he figured since the man was blind, he would be an inconvenience. This reveals that the narrator is judgmental and bases his judgements on stereotypes.

2. It is possible to read the experience the narrator's wife as an experience of being "seen" when Robert touched her face. When he did this, he could was able to "see" more to her than just an appearance. When most people see someone, the first thing they see is their appearance. When Robert touched her face, he saw more than what would meet the eye. He could tell her mood, read her expression, and was more intimate with her than most people get when they are confronted. The wife's attempt at suicide relates to her desires to be seen because it was a sign that she wanted to be seen for more an her appearance, she wanted to be understood. She desired someone to see her for who she is inside and see a deeper meaning within her.

3. To receive another's friend means to accept another's friend and make an effort to develop a relationship with him or her. It means that you are willing to create a friendship for the sake of another friend. You have to do whatever it takes to make this person feel comfortable and happy to please your friend. Whether by putting aside any differences or opinions about that person, you must make them feel as though they are welcomed in your presence and make your friend happy.

4. Even though Robert never physically "saw" his wife Beulah, I think he saw and fell in love with who she was as a person, based on her personality, how she treated him, and her love for him. To "see" is simply to look without finding a deeper meaning. To be seen means to look deeper into an object or person and find the meaning of it and see that person or thing for more than who or what it is. The blind man was able to find true love because he "saw" his wife for who she was and couldn't make judgements based off of appearance.

5. I think the characters in this story smoke pot to help get comfortable with one another. At first, it seemed a bit tense when the blind man first came to the house and one way that they were able to relax and become more comfortable with each other was to smoke pot.

6. The churches reveal what cultures think about God by how God is viewed. In the Cathedral, God was seen as the King or the one who had all the power. God was looked up to and depended on. Different cultures could have different opinions about God's place. Cultures who see God as a significant part of their lives will put God before others, whereas cultures who don't see God as a very important part of their lives won't put Him before their other priorities.

7. At the end of the story, the narrator has difficulty drawing the Cathedral with his eyes closed. When he begins to draw the cathedral, he begins to "see." He saw the meaning behind the cathedral and what it symbolizes. The narrator finally realized what the blind man sees, which is based off of senses and deeper meanings. The narrator "sees" like the blind man by doing this because he experiences what it is like to take away your physical sight and only base your actions on what you know and can sense.

The Imagination Of A 6 Year Old

It's funny how much changes in your life as you grow up. When I was younger, all I would do was run around and play with dolls. I was so full of life and everything was exciting to me. I had such a vivid imagination growing up and such a thirst for exploration. When I was around the age of 6, my life basically consisted of naps and playing with my Barbie dolls. I would have little tea parties with them, give them make overs and pretend that they were actually real people. When I'd play with my dolls, I'd pretend they had this "hidden life" of their own. My imagination would completely take over to the point where I'd think the dolls would come alive when I wasn't around. It sounds crazy, I know, but at the age of 6 it was completely normal to imagine or pretend your dolls or toys had a life of their own. It seems like as we grow older, we tend to lose this capability of imagining such things as when we were kids. As we grow up, we learn that our imagination consists of only the things we want to come true in our life to make it more interesting. We learn to face reality and soon get distracted by our teenage years. All of a sudden we become too old to play with barbie dolls and other toys, and become more focused on school, friends and relationships. Growing apart from these toys from our childhood also makes us grow apart from our imagination and wonder that we used to have.

St. Gregory of Nyssa once said, "Concepts create idols, only wonder knows." I think this means that we are unable to truly know or imagine anything without wonder. My imagination as a kid created this wonder for bringing these dolls to life. I find this quote to very true. This wonder ultimately made me think of more possibilities for the doll other than it's main purpose. I think that it is important for everyone to keep this imagination that they had as a kid, because without wonder, we will never be able to grasp anything in life.

"This is Water" by David Foster Wallace

            Throughout my entire life, most of the important choices I’ve had to face have been decided for me, such as what school to go to, what subjects I should take, what sports I should play, and so on. When we are younger, the majority of our choices aren’t made by us because we are not at the age where we can make the “right” choice. This meaning, we learn to make good choices by the way we are raised, right from wrong and also through experience. Sometimes these choices made for us are beneficial and we don’t realize it until later in life. For example, all throughout elementary and middle school I was horrible in math. I struggled every year and was behind everyone in my class. My mother chose to send me to tutoring for a couple of years to improve my math skills. To this day, math is now my strongest subject in school. At that time, I may not have agreed with her choice or want to go to tutoring, but it ultimately helped me in my future.

        

         Choices are essentially one of the key elements to freedom. We make choices every day whether they are good or bad. In Wallace’s speech, he talks about the fundamental choices that affect our future. I completely agree with this idea because we know ourselves better than anyone. We all know our desires and make certain choices in order to fulfill those desires. Although we don’t always make the best choices, we learn from experiences and take from them to make better ones. Like I said before, from an early age we are all taught right from wrong to help make better choices in our lives. We cannot learn to make the right choices without making wrong ones along the way. These choices do in fact allow us to engage in the world differently than others. Our experiences are essential to our growth and development as a human being. The choices we make ultimately affect our lives severely which is why it is important we make the best choices all of the time.

         Throughout Wallace’s speech, he talks about how he believes that he is the center of the world and only his desires are important.  In my opinion, this was an interesting idea. We all believe that our desires and needs in life are more important than others. For example, if a friend of mine wants something and doesn’t get it, I’m not as likely to get upset about it as he or she might be; whereas if I don’t get something I desire, I will be unhappy and I will expect others to feel the same. This shows how “socially repulsive” as he would say, that we are. We ignore the feelings and situations of others that may have a worst reality than us. We chose to think this way and we choose to believe that our immediate needs determine the world’s priority, which was a very valid point that Wallace made in his speech.

        

         In Wallace’s speech, the audience applauded and laughed at things you’d usually just sit there and think about. Although it may have seemed that Wallace was insulting the audience, I believe he was only being honest. Wallace’s speech about liberal arts was very informative and was full of examples of the way we think. I believed the audience laughed in some of these moments because they realized what Wallace was saying was true, whether they have experienced it themselves before or realize that some of these things could happen to them. Some of the people in the audience may laugh simply because they are showing their ignorance of the information being presented to them.

         David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” was a very insightful speech. It made me think more about my choices in life and to think them more through, especially this year as a senior applying to colleges. I only want to make the best choices for myself and have the best future possible. I expect happiness out of the decisions I make in my life and refuse to live a life of regret and disappointment. Hopefully by doing this, I can motivate others to make better choices to improve their future as well. 

Caligula

For this weeks assignment, I was given a play to read called "Caligula" by Albert Camus. I was told to read the first act of this play and answer a couple of questions. For the past two classes, we have been discussing the 4 Truths of the "I" which are: I did not make myself, we have limited abilities, we have unlimited desires, and we all want to be happy. When reading this play, these four truths of the human person could relate to the character Caligula.

Camus demonstrates Caligula's heart through his unlimited desires. In the play, Caligula returns to the palace where he tells one of the patricians, Helicon, his desire for the moon. He continuously explains how "this world of ours, the scheme of things as they call it, is quite intolerable. That's why I want the moon, or happiness, or eternal life." Caligula feels that he needs these things in order to "live by the light of truth." This meaning, he wants to live a life of fulfillment and desires the things that are viewed as being impossible.

The Patricians viewed Caligula's "heart" to be crazy. They didn't understand the meaning behind his "heart" and desires that Caligula had come to understand. It was only Helicon who tried to understand his desire for the moon. On the last page of Act 1, Helicon asks, "In what way can I help you?" and Caligula replies "In the way of. . . the impossible." Here we see that Helicon is making an effort to understand this "want" of his and help Caligula achieve the impossible. I also agree with Helicon and would try to figure out what it is that Caligula believes will bring fulfillment to his life. I agree with this because I believe that Caligula has a point when he says, "Men die; and they are not happy." If we do not find happiness and reach for the impossible in our life, we will not be happy and not live by the truth.