Christ as sacrament of God - Essay Example

Part I CHRIST AS SACRAMENT OF GOD A) Jesus as Man Jesus was born of flesh and blood Matt 18-25). Jesus was circumcised like other children (Luke 2:21). Jesus became hungry (Matt 4:2) and he was thirsty ( John 19:28) He was also tempted by the devil for 40 days and 40 nights. He suffered and died on the cross. Jesus was the mediator between man and God the father. (I Tim. 2:5) Jesus rescured the world thru his death (Lumen Gentium) B) Jesus was the Son of God. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:20) So he was God. St. Paul said that the Godhead lived in him in fullness. (Col. 2: 9). He was called (Word) Son of God at birth (Heb. 1: 3-14). The heavenly angels worshipped him (Heb. 1: 6) This proves that Jesus is a God for only God can be worshipped. (Acts 10: 25,26). Jesus accepted his being God (Jn. 10: 29, 36). The Jews felt this as Blasphemy for they interpreted Jesus' claim as Son of God as making himself a God also. (Jn. 10: 30-33) Jesus said that he and the Father are one. Jesus showed good works being a sacrament of the Father God. Jesus is the old testament's Emmanuel and the Alpha and the Omega. Jesus is another Person in the Holy Trinity. Jesus was fully and concurrently both man and God. Christ is the head of the Mystical body, the Catholic Church( Vatican II). Jesus was the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. Jesus rules the things in heaven and on earth with his Glory. Jesus is the divine teacher(Lumen Gentium). CHURCH AS SACRAMENT OF CHRIST A) Human Part: Bishops, cardinals, popes grow old and die, they care f or the hungry, destitute, the abandoned, the unwanted. They care for the personal, business, other earthly problems of the Church members. The human part of the sacrament is the oil, etr. According to Dulles, The true church (Political Society Model)was a community of men brought together by same Christian faith and sacraments (thru grace, hope and love) under leadership of pastors and the Pope. (Body of Christ model). In the Church as servant model, the church must help its members in solving daily problems of human life on earth.(Dulles). In Splendour of the Church (Lubac), the beautiful architectural wonders of the Catholic Churches in the Vatican and other Major historical sites, Catholic Universities all over the world were constructed to teach liberal arts and more importantly to spread christianity. (Lubac). In Gaudium at Spes. the modern church is now confronted with technological, financial advances like tv, cellphone, airplanes, a fast paced life and population explosion. Man pursued his goals making God and Christ aside. Most men abused their liberty and preferred to violate God's laws. Poverty forces man to feed his stomach first before obeying God's laws. The arts and sciences must be harnessed to help improve human life. War must be avoided thru building a community of nations. Not all those who say Lord, Lord will go to heaven They must obey God's commandments. In Mysterium Ecclesiae, The church is one and infallible. Catholics must esteem their common Christian heritage thru purification and renewal. The will of Christ must be fulfilled by following His teachings handed down thru the popes starting with Peter and the apostles. Infallibility of the church, that should not be falsified, includes the deposit of faith and those matters without which the deposit of faith should be preserved. Priests, alone, can build up the Body in the Holy Eucharist. In Church and Unity,The church cannot commit mistakes in its decisions.The trinity doctrine is based on tradition. The Protestants freed themselves from Catholic traditions and teachings and based their beliefs on the bible. Love should unite the Catholic Church with Protestants and other churches. The Catholic church dislikes the going away of the Protestants. In Decree and Ecumenism, restoration of the unity of Catholics is the main thrust of Second Vatican Council. In Church as a communion, the Catholics join together in the communion of the saints, thru the Holy Eucharist, studying the apostles' teachings and fellowship. We form one body with Christ as the Head. In Cathechism and the Catholic Church, The life of man is to know and love God. Cathechism is the teaching of Catholic Christian doctrine of faith and moral, as mentioned in the Vatican II council, so there will be baptisms and conversions to the faith. Charity is emphasized here. Prayer and public acceptance of the faith is imposed. B) Divine Part: The church was set up by Christ and headed by Peter (Matt 16:18). The sacraments ( Baptism, Penance, Confirmation, Holy Anointing, Holy Eucharist, Holy Matrimony, Holy orders, Penance) show the grace of God to man. The Saints are our models as they showed us they could live, suffer, sacrifice, and even die for Christ and the Church. The church is invisible according to Pope Pius XII. The Holy Spirit gave gifts to its members. The church is a divine organism with the Head united with the divine nature.(Dulles). Congar said that fellowship with God and the church members thru Christ are two parts of reality. In the letters of the Vatican, The community has hierarchical parts and the Mystical Body of Christ are not two separate agencies but joined thru one interlocked reality.(Lumen Gentium,8)(Congar ). In the Sacrament model, The church is a sign or instrument of intimate union with God and All mankind thru Christ, especially the Holy Eucharist, and Baptism. Pouring of water gives a feeling of indescribable spiritual empowerment. The church expresses expressively shows Christ in its face. The church continues Christ's ministry on earth to baptize, gather and save mankind from the files of hell. In the splendour of the church (Lubac), the church is a strong divine power. It's strong inspirational liturgies during the Holy Euchristic celebration feeds the soul with spiritual food. Another splendour is the rising up of saints everywhere and the miracles they unselfishly bestowed others resulting in faster conversions to the Catholic faith. Remember Lady of Lourdes, Lady of Fatima, among others. The life and sufferings of Jesus, Mother Mary, Joseph and the Apostles give us vivid guides that we too can try our best to emulate them. Ephesians 4:16 tells us that Jesus is the Head of the Church. We are the church members held strongly together strongly to Christ thru love. We must do our part in the body or else we will be cut off . We must obey the commandments and teachings of God and Christ thru church. The Church is the fullness and also the bride of Christ (Splendour of the church).The Holy Spirit dwells in the church. The church is the people made one with the unity of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. It is also called the building of God, and the land for cultivating. Jesus distributes to his church body gifts of ministries The church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. In Church and Unity, God the Father sent Jesus as man and God to redeem the world by dying on the Cross. The Holy Eucharist is Christ being sacrificed bringing unity to the church. The people should love one another and love God above everything. Jesus gave teaching, ruling and sanctifying functions to the twelve apostles. The similarity between the Christ as the sacrament of God and the Church as the Sacrament of Christ. Jesus said if you have seen me you have seen the father. Jesus was sent here to redeem the world from satan. The church is the sacrament of Christ. This means that the church performs the actions of Christ on earth since he has left the church leadership and management to Peter. Now the Pope is the Vicar of Christ. The Sacraments, like baptism, will give salvation to the new church members. This is similar but not the same as the church is a redeemer. The church did not die on the cross. God Send Jesus is similar to but not the same as Jesus established the Church thru Peter. Part II The 16 year olds think of the church as Sunday activity. We go to mass only birthdays, marriage, death and important occasions. The children today are so busy playing with the internet, using cellphones, watching cable tv partying. They idolize superstars like singers, basketball players and the like. The 16 year olds are trained more on the sciences and the arts. They are trained on business and economic news. More time is spent on watching movies and playing playstation and computer games. The rules of morality today has evolved away from the traditional standards of the apostles' time. The Church recognizes this changes as acceptable. These changes are necessary for the advancement of science and technology. The fast transfer of information thru the internet has made us dependent on the world economy and not only within the business corners of our nation. Some methods for teaching the 16 year olds the Catholic faith are as follows: 1) Show verses of the Bible in relation to the catholic faith. Verses such as ones enumerated on part one as to Jesus being a God and a man at the same time is a must. Most people will take the bible as unquestionable evidence of truth. We can tell stories using the bibles verses as evidence of divine intervention in our daily actions and words. Verses of the bible can be used as support for the Catholic teachings like love for one another, charity, faith in God, hope in God. Whenever 16 year olds have vacant time, they can scan the bible for reflection as what the Lord wants them to do in every situation in their daily lives like in school, at home, with their boyfriends and girlfriends, with strangers, with their parents, and even with unfriendly persons. 2) Tell stories of Saints. Stories of Saints St. Francis of Assisi. He gave back to his father the clothes on his body to be a poor man and to form the world renowned St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Group. He was the son of a rich man. The Story of St. La Salle who founded the many branches of La Salle schools world -wide is very encouraging to the 16 year olds. The story of the Lady the children of lady of Lourdes and Lady of Fatima is very wonderful. Mother Mary chose children to spread the Catholic faith. Even the priests at those times and places had to do some questionings to determine if the miracles and the kids' stories were made up (not true) by children and also if the miracles were made by satan himself to mislead the faithful. The newest miracle is the present day story concerning the Lady of Medjogorje. One of the miracles here is known as the miracle of the dancing sun. Many people from other faiths and religious beliefs and even Catholics who only sometimes go to mass on rare occasions have returned to the fold and prayed for repentance. I like the story of the 3:00 prayer. This is the story of a girl in Poland who started the 3:00 prayer( Hour of Mercy ) during the German occupation of Poland. Now the 3:00 prayer is being done on most television stations worldwide. 3) Tell the life story of Mary, Joseph and Jesus based on the bible and tradition. The bible is complete with the stories of the baptism of John the Baptist of Jesus Christ, the birth of Jesus Christ. The bible also tells that Mother Mary and Joseph traveled to another place to avoid the evil ruler to get hold of Jesus. Jesus, the King of kings, and Lord of lords was born on hay in an animal manger. This birth story is repeated every Christmas day. The story also of the many miracles of Jesus like bringing Lazarus back to life, the turning of water to wine in cana in obedience to Jesus' Mother Mary's request as there is no wine at the wedding feast. The miracles like multiplying the loaves of bread and fish so he can feed the many persons following him at the height of his ministry to proclaim the gospel of God. The bible also tells the story of how many cried as she saw Jesus suffering by being crowned with thorns, being whipped and dragged for miles only to be mocked by the guards. Jesus was crucified on the cross. This story was made into a movie entitled Passion of the Christ. The bible also tells of the non belief of one of his apostles that Jesus has risen from the dead. He showed the wounds on his hands and feet to the non-believer. Jesus said the it is more blessed that they believed and have faith in Jesus Christ. 4) Teaching Catholic Books. The books' teachings will be related to the Catholic teachings as shown in theological books like; Michael Schmaus Dogma 4, Models of the Church by Avery Dulles, The Church we believe in by Sullivan Francis, The Splendour of the Church by Henri De Lubac, I Believe in the Holy Spirit by Yves Congar, The Church and Unity by B C Butler, Vatican II, Dogmatic Constitution of the Church ( Lumen Gentium ), Vatican II, Decree on Ecumenism ( Unitatis Redintegratio), Declaration of Mysterium Ecclesiae, Declaration of the Church as communion of the saints etc. thru Holy Eucharist in the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass, Vatican II, Gaudium at Spes, and Cathechism of the Catholic Church. These Catholic books, when guided by the pastors, bishops, priests, cardinals etc., will impress on the child the many benefits of using the different sacraments of the church like Baptism, Confirmation, Penance, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders and others. The children will learn that there are both invisible and visible parts of every sacrament. The invisible part is given by God. The visible part is what we see like the water and the oil. These books tell that different popes and church leaders have enriched the Catholic tradition since the world's economic, business, cultural and traditional thinking changed. 5) Using Ourselves as Living Examples. If we follow the commandments of God and avoid doing things that is not pleasing to the eyes of God, then we can show to others that since you, their friend, can follow the teachings of the church, then the 16 year old can now be easily be convince and be converted. You can invite him to go with you to the many church activities like Sunday mass, bible reading and Cathechism class. We can apply to the church as lay leaders and take Cathechism teaching classes. We can help by teaching Cathechism classes on Sundays or other available days to the 16 year olds. 5) Retreats. We can invite a group of 16 year old students to attend two or more nights in a far away retreat house. The students will be taught the different catholic teachings thru role playing. The group is divided into smaller groups and each group will do exercises or role playing where at the end of the session each small group will summarize and comment then give suggestions to the whole group. There will other suggestions given by everybody. Then the retreat master will summarize what they just learned thru experience and connect the activity to the Catholic teachings. As they say, action speaks louder than words. These retreats are combined with several hours of prayer and reflection. Most retreats concentrate on love for neighbor and love for God. 6) Architectural designs of Church buildings. The children will be shown pictures of the different buildings of the Vatican, like St. Peter's Square, and other Beautiful Church buildings all over the world. By showing the pictures of the BIG churches of Vatican, and also the pictures inside the Vatican and other religious sites made by famous artist, the 16 year olds will surely be moved by the passion of the Catholics during the earlier times of Catholicism. If the 16 year olds have the parental permission and there are available funds, the children can visit Jerusalem and see the birthplace of Jesus Christ and follow steps Jesus took during his judgment and finally dying on the cross. 7) Inviting Cardinals, Bishops etc. to a seminar. The 16 year olds could have a seminar where the local Bishop or Cardinal will expound on certain topics that concern the 16 year olds. Some topics concerning him is premarital sex, seeing bold magazines, drugs, drinking, peer pressure to do worldly things, invitations to join other religious denominations to convert to their religion. Other topics concerning the 16 year olds are abortion, being gay or lesbian. These topics are so important so that while they are still 16 year olds, they can be molded to better understand and keep obeying the ten commandments. Just like a young tree, the child can still be changed in character, in spirit and in mind. Once he has grown to around 25 yrs of age, it is more difficult to change his ways. 8) Inviting them to a vocation seminar. The 16 year old could be invited to a vocation seminar where they are shown the life of the priesthood, brotherhood, missionaries, nuns, and lay minister and volunteers as well as lay religion teachers. The 16 year olds will realize that they could serve God as priests, lay ministers, married persons, or ordinary church-goers. They will then have a bigger understanding of the Catholic faith and responsibility of the Church leaders. 9) Group students to make a short play, oration, reporting on certain passages or topics in the bible. In a classroom situation, students can be grouped they will be assigned to present a play concerting a teaching in the bible like love, hope, obedience among others. Another topic could be the portraying of the lives of the saints. Then, the class can be asked to react by giving reactions and comments that the bibles teaches and connect the teachings to present day situations. The teacher can then summarize the comments, suggestions and reactions of the class and the give his or her comments, suggestions and reflections on the topic or bible story or verse concerned. They class will reflect thru prayer afterwards in their own words as they pray to God asking for their personal intentions and understanding and guidance. This activity will imbibe in them the need to fulfill the 16 year olds' unnoticed spiritual needs. CONCLUSION: Jesus Christ as shown by the bible verses is both man and God. There are several ways of teaching the Catholic faith to 16 year olds. We can use one or two or a combination of one of the other or even all the methods above so that the 16 year olds will understand and cherish and put into practice what they have learned. The church was established by Christ to put into action what he as redeemer of the Church regained. There are invisible and visible parts of the sacraments. The Catholic books enumerated below are useful guides for everyday living so we will know that we must follow the teachings of God for not all those who said Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of God But only those who follow the will of God the Father. http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/yukoszarycz/ecc/ (Models of Church_Dulles) http://www.star.ucl.ac.uk/vgg/rc/aplgtc/hahn/m1/splndr.html (Splendour of the Church) http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19641121_lumen-gentium_en.html ( Lumen Gentium) http://www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/v2modwor.htm (Gaudium at Spes) http://www.saint-mike.org/Library/Curia/Congregations/Faith/Mysterium_Ecclesiae.html (Mysterium Ecclesiae) http://matt1618.freeyellow.com/unity5.html (B. C. Butler, The Church and Unity ) http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_decree_19641121_unitatis-redintegratio_en.html (Decree and Ecumenism) http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/p123a9p5.htm( Church as Communion) http://www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/ccc.html (Cathechism & Catholic Church) Read More