Week 16: Homework

Reading Assignment:
Read Chapter 18 of Theology and Sanity, “The Redeeming Sacrifice”—pp. 255--268.

Questions:

1. Which three words sum up what Our Lord is? How do these express what he did as well? (p.255)
2. What was the thing He [Jesus] had come to do? (p.256)
3. What is the “life-formula” of the Atonement? (p.261)
4. What was the suffering from which Jesus shrank in the Garden of Gethsemane if not the bodily torments he was about to endure? (p.262)
5. Does Christ undergo his suffering unwillingly? (p.262)
6. What happened to Christ’s soul after He died? (p.265)
7. What is meant by the word hell in the Apostle’s Creed? What are three synonyms for this place? (p.265)
8. How does Christ’s bodily Resurrection demonstrate complete victory over death? (p.266)
9. How are the Resurrection and the Acension organically part of the Sacrifice of Christ?

Reflection Questions:

1. What is the consequence of thinking of the Truth as a person as opposed to merely an idea?
2. If Christ’s prayer for the Church was that it be one as He and the Father are one, what do you think He thinks about all the denominational/intra-denominational division in the Christian community? Is there a remedy for this division?
3. Some people claim that the Resurrection of Jesus was not a physical event but rather a spiritual event that takes place in the hearts of believers. Do you think this belief is compatible with authentic Christian faith? Why or why not?

Week 15: Homework

Reading Assignment:
Read Chapter 17 of Theology and Sanity, “The Redeemer”—pp. 242--268.

Questions:

1. Why was it the Second Person of the Trinity who was chosen for the redemption of the world? (p. 242-3)
2. How is Jesus more of a man than we are? (p. 243)
3. What’s the significance of Jesus being conceived of a human mother? Couldn’t he have just suddenly appeared among us with a human body and human soul? (p. 243-4)
4. Does Christ’s sinlessness diminish his humanity? Why or why not? (p. 244)
5. How could Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, grow in wisdom? (p. 245).
6. Does the fact that Jesus had infused knowledge and the Beatific Vision contradict his humanity? (p. 246)
7. How did the Holy Spirit help Jesus in his ministry? (p. 247)
8. Did Christ have faith, hope, and charity? (p. 247)
9. If Christ was God, in what sense was he praying to God? (p. 247)
10. Why must we look closely at Christ in the Gospels? (p. 248)
11. What does it mean to know Christ personally? Why is it important? Where do we meet Him? (p. 249-50)
12. What is the particular modern error about Christ that Sheed mentions on page 250? How does this misperception of Christ differ from real love? (p. 250-1)
13. Explain how Jesus could say both “I and the Father are one and the Father is greater than I”? (p. 253)
14. How did Jesus teach? (p. 254)

Reflection Questions:

1. Have you ever dismissed Christ as “meek and mild”? What can you do during this Lent to improve your understanding of him?
2. If we are related to Jesus through Mary (c.f. question 3 above), what kind of relationship with Our Lady do you think would be most pleasing to Christ? What can you do to develop a relationship like that?

Prayer Has Nothing to Do With the Animal Part of Us

I found this quotation from Archbishop Fulton Sheen on The Catholic Spitfire Grill.

We said prayer is the lifting of the heart and minid to God. Notice we said noting so much about emotions. Why not? Because prayer really does not have very much to do with sensations or emotions or feeling. It's not a feeling in the stomach. Just as it is not a pain in the stomach. It is not a capricious feeling, something that makes us purr on the inside. It has nothing to do with the animal part of us. It is not in the glands. It is in the intellect. It is in the will. It is in the heart. As embracing a love of Truth which belongs to the intellect and also a resolve and a determination to grow in love which is one of the acts of will. We do not therefore pray because we feel like it. Sometimes our prayers are much better when we do not feel like praying. St. Francis de Sales said "An ounce of desolation is of greater worth a pound of consolation." Very often in prayer we do not have a sense of the presence of God. I say 'sense' referring it to the biological or emotional part of our lives Really we are very much like children that are carried in mother's arms. If we are carried in Our Lord's arms, we rarely see His Face. We know it is there. Prayer then is an intercourse between the created spirit and the uncreated spirit which is God. It is a communication, a conversation, an adoration, a penance, a happiness, a work, a rest, an asking, a submission. ~Archbishop Fulton Sheen

Week 14: Homework

Reading Assignment:
Read Chapter 16 of Theology and Sanity, “The Mission of Christ”—pp. 231--242.

Questions:

1. What did the angel tell Joseph about Jesus’ mission? (p. 234)
2. List the things Jesus directly says he has come to do. (p.235)
3. What are the three words St. Paul uses repeatedly to describe the Lord’s work? (p.236-7)
4. What is justification? What is redemption? (p.237-8)
5. What are the “two elements in what Our Lord did?” (p. 238)
6. What is the significance of St. John the Baptist saying that Our Lord takes away the sin (singular) of the world? (p. 239)
7. How does the Incarnation answer “the double problem that faced fallen mankind?” (p. 240-2).

Reflection Questions:

1. Have you ever seen the words “John 3:16” displayed at a sporting event? Do you think this is a good way to evangelize? Does this verse capture the essence of the mission of Christ? Read the passage and commit it to memory. Read John 3:17, too. Is that verse important to remember too?

Our Lady of Lourdes

Today is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. John F. Kippley has an interesting article entitled The Exquisite Timing of Lourdes: Confronting the Skeptics about the appearances at Lourdes over at Catholic Exchange.

Here is a snippet:

The timing of the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes
beginning on February 11, 1858 was not only providential in the sense of God's
loving kindness to us sinners but was absolutely exquisite in terms of what was
going on in European intellectual circles at that time.

The sex scandals involving priests and bishops, the very low rate of
acceptance of Humanae Vitae, the continuing liturgical abuses, the surveys
purporting to show the unbelief of Catholics, and other negative indicators lead
many of us to dream of living in more faith-filled times. The times in which
Bernadette Soubirous lived in Lourdes were not such times.

Read the rest here. For more about Lourdes, read this.

Change of Venue

Tonight's class will not meet in the Activity Center. We will instead be meeting in a classroom 16, which is across from the Gift Shop (so I'm told).

Note: There is no food or drink allowed in the classrooms. I don't know what I'll do with myself...