Indulgences

          Today, I would like to talk about indulgences. An indulgence, plain and simply, is a certain set of actions that a priest tells you to do, and by doing these actions the Church, instituted by Christ, guarantees that you will receive grace from God. Furthermore, an indulgence for a certain set of actions can only be given once those actions have been forgiven. It either removes "part or all of the temporal punishment due to sin" (CC 1471).
          An indulgence requires faith and normally involves the act of prayer, sacrifice, work, or a journey (this is only in extreme conditions). When you went to do something in order to lessen the punishment of your sin, you can do whatever you desire to do, whether it be pray ten Hail Mary's for a month or go on a long pilgrimage. An indulgence though, is given by a priest and, through the Church, gives grace.The grace receive from the Church comes from a "treasury of merits" which is the everlasting grace Christ won for our Salvation. By partaking in these indulgences, we not only lessen the graveness of our sins, but we gain good virtues along the way, allowing us to come closer in relationship to Christ. An indulgence is either partial or plenary depending on whether or not all of the debt due to the sin is removed. It is important to receive confession and the Eucharist once the indulgence has been completed in order to fully complete it. Indulgences are often giving on certain feast days or special occasions. Furthermore, the Church has an official list of indulgences called the Enchiridion of Indulgences. Some acts in this book include visiting the Stations of the Cross and praying at certain locations.

The Glory of God is Man Fully Alive

To be fully alive does not really mean to just be yourself and follow whatever your heart desires. Ultimately, the only way to truly be yourself is to live through and for God, who created you and gives you the miracle of life. As the glory of God is man fully alive, man fully alive is man glorifying God.

From this year in Theology, I have been able to learn the many
responsibilities that we have as Christians, especially as Catholics. We have to live our lives according to God's will by following the Ten Commandments that he gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai and by following the New Commandment of Love that Jesus gave to his Apostles and was handed
down through all these generations. We have to treat all of our neighbors, even strangers, with love and respect. In doing so, we somewhat evangelize the world. Ecumenism is one of the main goals for the Catholic Church to unify all the Christian faiths. And, by spreading the Gospels and being a model of holiness for others, we can evangelize the world and allow others to hear the Good News. We have to try to the best of our ability to live in imitation of Jesus Christ. Living a life of selflessness can help us achieve this goal and find the true meaning of life. We also have to care for the creation of God by living as stewards and caretakers of the earth. Although God created everything for us, his ultimate creation, we still have the role of stewardship. We can see the glory of God in all of his creations.

We have the responsibility of attending Mass every Sunday and worshiping God in communion with one another as we hope to be in communion with God and someday join him in his Kingdom of Heaven where there is eternal happiness and life. We must live a life of prayer and  holiness, participating in the sacraments and receiving the graces that they offer us. We must be careful to not fall into temptation and sin, for it hurts our relationship with God and separates us farther and farther from him. We have to look for the truth at all times and make sure that what we are doing is the right action to commit, for the Devil tempts us through distortion of the truth and fear.

Ultimately, we are to follow in Jesus' footsteps. And, to help us do this, Jesus established the Church in order to carry on his teachings and help all of us live our lives fully, giving glory to God. By following the dogma of the Catholic Church, we can be humans that are fully alive, and we can show our neighbors, who may be our separated brethren or people of a completely other faith, how to live as people that are fully alive. As St. Irenaeus once said, "the Glory of God is Man Fully Alive."

Sacrifice and Self-Denial

          Following the blog post about Matrimony, I would like to talk about sacrifice and self-denial. In the Church, there is a word that means to seek holiness through self-denial. This word is mortification. As Christians, we must practice mortification in our daily lives so that we may strengthen our bodies against the temptations to sin and thus strengthen our souls as well. We can strengthen our resolve to not sin by practicing self-control and avoiding anything that may cause us to sin.
          Mortification does not simply involve not sinning, but avoiding anything that may even tempt us to sin. One common example of this is to avoid looking at someone not dressed appropriately so that you are not later tempted to commit a sexual sin. This also includes not watching shows in which promote these immoral actions. Another example is not joining in conversations in which the people are gossiping. If you happen to hear some of the gossip, do not tell anyone because you hurt both the person whom you are gossiping about and yourself in the end (eventually you will regret spreading the gossip once the person being gossiped about gets hurt). One important thing to not do, which many people do in today's culture, is listen to inappropriate music. Today, there are many songs that talk about all these immoral actions and make them sound good and common. The common part is true, but the good is not. We must live our live according to the path we choose, and if we get married then the act of sex should only be practiced with your partner.
           Self-denial involves practicing common virtues. This may include being willing to help someone even though it may slightly inconvenience you are simply being patient while in a long line for something minimalistic. One of the simplest things may be remembering to pray every day (and then praying). Attending mass on a complicated weekend is also a good example.

Matrimony

When Jesus was made flesh and came to this world, he elevated matrimony to the status of a sacrament. So, a marriage between two baptized people is a sacramental marriage and cannot be dissolved once it is consummated. You do not want to divorce and remarry once you have been in a sacramental marriage because that is pretty much committing adultery and you would be living a life of mortal sin. When Jesus was on earth, he said, ""Every one who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery" (Luke 16:18; cf. Mark 10:11–12). And, St. Paul goes to say that a man and a woman are bound by sacramental law as long they live. The Church has been proclaiming Christ's teaching on the permanence of marriage from the early times of the Church, and she continues to do the same in this modern time. Although some other Christian denominations have changed some of their teachings in order to allow divorce in their culture, the Catholic Church remains faithful to the early teachings of Jesus.

There are some instances when a divorced couple can remarry even though their ex-spouses are still alive. One of these instances is when a sacramental marriage never even existed to begin with. There has to have been an exchange of valid matrimonial consent between both the man and woman in order for there to be a sacramental marriage. So, without this exchange, there isn't a sacramental marriage taking place. A decree of annulment can be given, allowing the man and woman to remarry, if a diocesan marriage tribunal establishes the fact that there is no real valid marriage. So, there is actually no divorce or remarriage taking place because they were never married before God. Only man may see this as an actual marriage while God does not.

But, if the man and woman are in a sacramental marriage, they cannot remarry even though they may live in separation from one another. St. Paul explains this as he says, "To the married I give charge, not I but the Lord, that the wife should not separate from her husband (but if she does, let her remain single or else be reconciled to her husband)—and that the husband should not divorce his wife" (1 Cor. 7:10-11). We do not have to worry so much about facing problems of divorce because God is looking over us and makes sure that those that are married have the grace necessary to live out their marriage vows and either stay married or live happily. Because Matrimony is a sacrament, it gives grace to help live how God wants us to live in union with one another as one flesh.