Summary of the Week - 18th April

ON THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS DONE ON 18^TH APRIL 2012

Introduction

The sacrament of Holy Orders and the sacrament of Marriage are called the sacrament of mission. They help us to build the body of Christ. These two sacraments were established by Jesus in view of the fact that we belong to a double family: the family of the flesh and the family of the spirit. My concern now is on the sacrament of Holy Orders.

It is God’s will that we be provided with priests on our way to heaven

Priests have two fold roles:

v  They offer to God the prayers and sacrifices of their people and express to him the peoples’ needs.

v  They make God’s will known to their people.

In Old Testament priests were appointed from among the descendants of Aaron, while the rest of the tribes, the Levites would be at the service of the priests. At the time of Jesus, a few priestly families in Jerusalem had all the power in their hands. They bitterly opposed Jesus during his preaching, and eventually condemned him to death. Through the death of Jesus a new worship was being established and a new High Priest, Jesus was consecrated.

Only Christ can claim to be a priest in his own right

Jesus is priest, a unique priest, offering a unique sacrifice: a sacrifice in which he was at the same time the priest and a victim. Jesus is a priest who will live forever, he does not need to be replaced as the Jewish priests were in fact even in heaven he will continue to be a priest. His work is to intercede for us all with his father (Heb.7:25).

Jesus offered a unique sacrifice on the cross: his sacrifice need not to be repeated as the sacrifices at the temple of Jerusalem which were repeated day after day. Jesus offered his sacrifice once and for all. Being himself not only the priest but also the victim offered to the father.

S0 wonderful is Jesus our priest: He is holy, untouched by sin, and at the same time compassionate towards our weakness, since he too was tempted the way we are tempted. Besides being our priest, he is also our brother; he chose to become so, when he made us, his father’s children at Baptism (heb.2:11; 4:15; 8:26).

Jesus turns his followers into priestly people, to enable them join him in his worship

Only Jesus can render our worship worthy of his father. To enable us to join our worship to his, he bestowed on us a gift no one would ever have thought of. Jesus shared with us his own priesthood that made us truly his priests at Baptism. Not in exactly the same way as ordained priests are but true priestly people.

We Christians have the righty to call ourselves “the priestly people” with far more reason than the tribe of Levi called themselves so in the Old Testament. But this should not be an empty title. In his letter to all Christians, Peter reminds us that having been appointed priests; we should not neglect our daily offering.

From among his followers, Jesus chose twelve men who were supposed to do the following:

Ø  They were to preach the good news as he was preaching it: “Go out to the whole world: proclaim the Good News to all creatures” (Mk.16:16).

Ø  They were to turn believers into God’s children by communicating to them the life in the spirit through the Baptism he would establish: “Baptize them in the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit” (Jn.20:23).

Ø  They were to forgive the people’s sins as he was forgiving anyone who repented: “if you forgive any man’s sins they are forgiven” (Jn.20:23).

Ø  They were to change bread and wine into his Body and Blood as he had done at the Last Supper:” Do this to remember me” (Lk.22:19).

Ø  They were to govern  God’s people ; but they should carry out this task not as the rulers of the world do, who demand service from everyone, but as the servants of everyone, following Jesus’ own example (Lk.22: 24- 30 ; Jn. 13: 12-15).

Who is pope?

As Peter, for a time an apostle like the rest, was appointed by Jesus to lead the whole church, so the Pope, a Bishop like the rest, on being chosen Pope, becomes the head of the whole church. His power does not come from those who choose him but from Christ himself. Pope is the successor of Peter, Chief Shepherds and teacher who represents Christ in our midst. The e whole church, both flock and shepherds is under his care.

His work: Guided by the spirit, he teaches us the true faith, governs us and leads us to holiness.

After the pope we have Bishops: Each Bishop is I in charge of a dioceses, a kind of “province” within the church, just as the various apostles had certain reigns under their care. The Bishop carries out his work under the guidance and union with the Holy Father.

His work: to preach the Good News to non- Christians, to instruct Christians in the true faith, and to lead to holiness the various communities entrusted to his care.

We have priests: we could call them “helper-priests”, since they are appointed by the Bishop to help him with the care of the Christian communities he entrusts to them.

Their work: to preach the Good News to non- Christians, to instruct Christians in the faith, to baptize, to celebrate the Eucharist, to forgive sins in the sacrament of Reconciliation, to anoint the sick and to bless marriages. With permission from the bishop they may also administer the sacrament of confirmation.

 And finally we have Deacons: they are collaborators of Bishop and Priests.

Their work: to see to the administration of the goods of the church and to the distribution of relief to the poor, to preach the Good News, to prepare for Baptism and to baptize them, to distribute the Eucharist, to bless marriages and so on.

Deacons do not have the power to preside over the celebration of the Eucharist, to administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation or the Anointing of the sick. These are works to be carried out by priests.

Conclusion

Jesus turned his apostles into priests out of love for his people and it was his will that they should pass to their successors those same priestly powers they had received from him. To that purpose Jesus opened a particular channel for the life in the spirit to flow with particular abundance into the heart of those chosen to become priests. We call this particular channel the Sacrament of Holy holders.

The effects of this Sacrament on the person ordained priest are not limited to the day of Ordination but extend to his  whole life  providing him  with the light and the strength he needs to faithfully carry out his mission and to gradually become a faithful copy of Christ, the High Priest.

Summary of the week - April 11th

BAPTISM; BORN AGAIN IN BAPTISM.

BY; MILLICENT DIANG'A

Jesus planned to communicate divine life to man and woman through baptism, before his resurrection he gave his disciples a clear command, …..'Go make disciples of all nation, baptise them in the name of the father ,the son, and the Holy Spirit,  and teach them to observe all the commands I gave to you.” (Mt 28 19)

What is baptism then?

The word baptism mean cleansing.

Did the baptism which Jesus commanded to his disciple the same with what John gave him?

John himself confirms that the baptism Jesus would confer would carry far greater power than his own. But as seen in the baptism Jesus established, does resembles John because it consist of external washing, it is also a sign of determination to abandon sin and start a new life.

John himself said........ ‘I baptise you with water but the one who follows me is more powerful than I am....he will baptise you with the holy spirit (Mt.3;11).

He meant that in accepting my baptism, you express your determination to start a life of holiness, get ready to receive messiah, and a baptism you will receive from Him will work more radical change than the one I give.

Jesus explanation of baptism he commanded to his disciple was …....“unless one is born through the spirit and water, he cant enter the kingdom of God. He adds that what is born of flesh is flesh what is born of spirit is spirit, one must be born from above.

In Jesus explanation we see clearly that he was talking of two lives; life of a body natural life; the life which God communicated to us through our parents. And....

The divine life; which the spirit communicate to us through water, and this is obtained through baptism,which is called life in the spirit, since according to Jesus it is the spirit who gives it to us.

Water symbols

In the bible we see that water and spirit are mentioned together for the first time......and Gods spirit hovered over the water(gen 1;1-2)this emphasizes that there was nothing in the beginning but water and Gods spirit

This new divine life will not at all replace the first life one received from the flesh but it will make such a tremendous change in ones life

Baptism makes us the children of God, since we are, a divine life is communicated to us by God. known as life in the spirit, our parents too are not the ones who gave us the natural life though they claim us to be their children. They are instruments which the spirit make use of to communicate divine life.

Water is so essential to our lives, in real sense it sustain and maintain life. God used water  to express his love and generosity for their people,he led his people from slavery through the waters of red sea, the church always regard this as the perfect symbol of baptism, which led people away from slavery of sin to freedom of the children of God. Moses from the apparent rock he gave to people water to drink through Gods power.

According  prophet Ezekiel....... shall pour clean water upon you.......i shall clean you of all your defilement and all your idols.  Ezekiel 36;25”.

He also saw a vision of a stream gushing out of the temple,this symbolized that there was no heart so wicked that  the spirit is unable to change when communicating in his divine life.

Jesus also connected the symbol of water at Jacob's well when he was talking to the Samaritan woman’.........anyone who drinks the water i shall give will never be thirsty again...................welling up to eternal life (John 4;16)

He also said that if one is thirty let him come to me and drink and believes in me.......from his breast shall flow fountains of living waters, (jn7;37-38)

Finally when they speared Jesus, came out the blood and water.

BAPTISM; SET FREE AND BEING CLEANSED.

In this episode we are going to look in to details what life in the spirit brings to those who have been baptised, I would like to focus on the wonderful transformation which takes place in a person at the moment he is possessed of the life in the spirit.

It makes us ready to be Gods children, and through this the spirit through baptism set us free from the slavery to the devil.

·        Through baptism our sins are cleansed

·        The spirit adorns our soul with a beauty beyond description;

·         It gives us faith; through faith we adhere firmly to Christ

·        brings hope; hope for eternity, for the rewards stored up for us in heaven, a great conviction that Christ will not fail us.

·        it kindles true love in our hearts, Gods love. it leads us to love God as our father, here it leads us to love people the way God loves us.

BAPTISM;  BECOMING GOD’S CHILDREN.

We now have no doubt who is a child of God ,as the previous sessions we already knowN that through baptism we become Gods children The question comes along ...what does it mean to affirm God’s child ?.

We become children of God even outside the Christian faith, devoted and well meaning people of the past often declared all men and women  in the world children of God. This is just a figurative use. According to John he says that the title children of God is not only words but the realities due to the extra ordinary change we experience which takes place in the moment we receive baptismal, We are Gods children not by adoption but by truly sharing God s love. Gods treats us not as  his servants but as his own children, whom he shared with the life in the spirit God's very life starts flowing from God to us, in John where Jesus himself acknowledge that am the vine and you are my branches (jn 15;5)

He affirms to us that ....”as I who am sent by the father, myself draw life from the father,”

so who ever eats me will draw life from me. This is to say that there is a flow of life from the father to Jesus and from Jesus to us; this life is non other than the life in the spirit The life by which both father and son themselves lives.

Mk 1;11. during baptism In river Jordan God spoke to Jesus ..’One more thing we should keep in mind is when we are baptised we become Gods children but we DONT become exactly like Jesus,  Jesus is Gods son by nature he is always so, He shares his Fathers life in full..The life in that spirit renders us God –like but not divine.

“you are my dear son” We start being Gods children only after baptism is when we become Gods children and shares Gods life in a limited way, that is only as much as we are capable of sharing, there fore life in spirit does not makes us God or divine, but it renders us.

Hence

·        Baptism makes us truly Gods children

·        It is not a question of God merely adopting us as children,or treating us as such.

·        We truly becomes Gods sons and daughters the very moment he communicate divine life to us/just as we become our parents children when they communicate to us our life as human beings

·        When communicating to us the life in spirit,God takes us into his family,or as Paul puts it; we start forming part of God’s household

·        It was Jesus who made divine life available to us,He obtained it at a price of his blood.

BAPTISM; LIVING TEMPLES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

God communicates himself to us in Baptism he dwells in us He chooses us as His Temple; we cannot exactly say what it means Baptism turns me into Gods temple. On receiving divine life, I truly become the temple of the Holy Spirit. Temples are that houses where God is suppose to dwell in, we refer to our church building the temple when the Eucharist is kept in them. Materially how big the structure is it has no life,  because we are living beings then we are living temple.

God wants to be worshipped first and foremost from within the heart of man and woman

When we vividly recall the episode of the Samaritan woman in John 4;5-26.

1. First Jesus lets the woman know that God has a gift to offer for her, here Jesus wanted her to know that the spirit is the Gods gift to us. The grace gift which encloses all the other gift.

Sometimes called grace of life...that is living gift. when applied to the spirit the gift that gives life. finally in order to prepare her to accept his message in full, Jesus faces the woman with her own sinfulness.

The living water he has been talking about is the Holy Spirit if accepted  he would take possession of a man’s heart and change it radically.

It was Jesus longing that the worship going on within him should  be repeated in the hearts of each and every Christian Jesus  loved the Jerusalem Temple as a sign of his father love to the people of Israelites. When the temple was turned to market place Jesus  could not bear it, he drove them  away due to anger. The angry businessmen ask him why he did so, he replied ....”destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up.  People could not understand him, John went ahead translating that he was speaking of sanctuary which is his body. Human Beings should aspire to nothing greater or holier than to become temple. He promised us to ask the father and He will give us an paraclete to be with us for ever. (jn14;16-17)

Ignatius of Loyola loved to call himself theophous, a name which means bearer of God, one who bears God whenever he goes, On his judgement day the judge called him devil, with great dignity Bishop Loyola said ….let no one call devil the bearer of Christ, Then the judge boasted saying that ….let Ignatius who calls himself a bearer of Christ be sentenced to become the food of wild beasts in Rome.

·        The spirit carries within us a wonderful work

·        it enlightens us to discover Gods plan of love for us

·        He leads us in prayers

·        He gave us the affirm assurance that we are Gods children

·        He gives us light and strengthen us when persecuted

·        He brings peace and joy help us to patient, to forgive offences received and to love every one without distinctions.

·        Indeed in all we do, in order to do what God wants us to do,we must allow ourselves to be guided by the spirit.

Sin is the greatest enemy of spirit ,Though there is no power at all that can destroy the spirit we got in baptism,, only the persons on his own will can chase away the spirit one do this through sins. Paul says to the Corinthians ...did you not realise that you are the temple of God and the spirit of God lives in you. 1Cor 3;16, he added that if anyone destroys the temple of God, He  will destroy him because the temple of God is sacred and we are the temple, and not just our souls but our bodies too.

BECOMING ONE WITH CHRIST AND WITH THE BROTHERS AND SISTER

We have seen how and when one becomes a child of God ,now we want to see clearly on when one belongs to the family of God Mary was the first creature to be incorporated into the family of God,she receive the favour right when he was conceived. Gods family grow from pentecost  trough apostles.

The church is the family of God in the church there is no discrimination, old and young, learned and unlearned, the only people left out of the Lords house are those that on their own free will has rejected the gift of the spirit. Only in heaven we will know what a wealthiest and noble family we have made on earth

Summary of the Week and a Reflection (29th & 30th March)

THE CELEBRATIVE MOMENT OF CHRISTIAN MYSTERY: THE LITURGY

Sr. Mary Mbom

1.1  What is liturgy? It is means the “work” or “work for the people” or “public service”. The essence of the liturgy is the actual work or deed done by God’s grace Christ, not the humanly invented ceremonies that carry it. It is what God does not what we do, and what God does is to redeem us from sin and make us holy. In the divine sacrament of the Eucharist, the work of redemption is accomplished. (CCC 1068). This accomplishment is not just a symbol but is really done. Through the liturgy, God gives us the dignity of sharing in his own work, opus Die which is the work of our redemption.

1.2  The Holy Spirit in the liturgy: when the Holy Spirit comes upon the bread and wine and accomplishes what surpasses every word and thought, bread becomes the body of Christ and wine becomes His blood. The same Holy Spirit through Mary, the word became flesh. (St John Damascene) In liturgical actions the Holy Spirit is sent in order to bring us into communion with Christ and so to form His body.(CCC 1108). The Holy Spirit is also to prepare the assembly to encounter Christ and to recall and manifest Christ to the faith of the assembly. Finally the Holy Spirit completes the liturgy as he completes the Trinitarian plan of salvation.

1.3  Who celebrates the liturgy? According to the book of Revelation, St John say it is the following:

A)    A throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne, the Lord God. (Rev 4:2-8)

B)    It then shows the Lamb, standing as though it had been slain; Christ crucified and risen, the one high priest…. (Rev 5:6).

C)    The river of life…..flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Rev 22:1; CCC 1137)

           Those who take part in the service of the praise of God are the adorers and they are:

1)      Angels,

2)      All creation,

3)      The servants of the Old and New covenant,

4)      The new people of God,

5)      The martyrs slain because of the word,

6)      A great multitude which no one could count, from every tribe, nation, peoples and tongues.

To conclude this part, the liturgy is far greater than the universe and the liturgy is not in the world but vice versa.

2.2. The visible elements in the church

The altar is where the sacrifice is offered, it is also the tomb where Christ rose, and it is the Lord’s Table.

 Tabernacle. It is where the Blessed Sacrament is kept and they are situated in the most worthy place with the greatest honour.

Cathedral, this is the chair of the bishop in the cathedral, or that of the priest in the parish. Usually it is the biggest among all the other chairs on the altar.

The lectern or ambo, the word of God is being proclaimed from there.

Baptistry, is where baptism takes place.

     The church has a space where one is free to recollect and pray silently. It is the house of God and everyone is welcomed.

The life in the Spirit

3.1. Christ came into the world to communicate to us a wonderful treasure.

St Paul tells us that no one has ever seen God (Jn 1:8). We know something about Him from creation, about his power which creatures to existence, his wisdom in arrangement and his love to man. But His life is beyond us because we don’t what is in God’s heart. We cannot say how we were conceived in our mother’s wombs and how we grew to till when we were delivered. It goes same with not knowing who God is really is.

 In the Old Testament, God spoke Moses and revealed his name to him in the burning bush (Ex 3: 13-15). Still the Jews could not dare pronounce his name, they substituted it with different titles.

Summary of the Week and a Reflection (8th & 9th March)

MARY IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Bro.Liyumba Exuperius OFM.Cap. 

In the last week lecture we looked at Mother Mary in the New Testament. The aim was to trace and understand the person of Mary from the New Testament and the tradition. We know very little about Miriam of Nazareth as an actual historical person. Mary stands altitudes of men and women through centuries-especially the poor whose lives are not considered worth recording.

Mary mother of Jesus (mk. 6:8, Mt. 5:5, Acts 1:4) is not figured largely in the NT.

In this lecture the lecturer tried to view all the Synoptic Gospels, John’s Gospel and the letter of St Paul to the Galatians to see how they explained and how they understand Mary.

Gal 4:4, mentioned Mary as woman: `when the time had to come, God send forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law’. That means, God send His son born in woman’s body, given birth as human but in God rule-law-through the Holy Spirit. Paul explicit references a Jewish woman giving birth to the Messiah under the law of Judaism. Mary mother of Jesus (Theotokos- in Greek). Mary is the place through which the Son of God entered human history.

In Mk.4:31-35, the Scribes called Jesus Belzebul, the king of the devils because He was driving evil spirits, and they accused him of using the power from devil. In fact from the beginning the Scribes did not believe in Jesus, they believed that nothing good could come from Him.

Therefore in Mk. 4:31-35 Jesus said His mother, brothers and sisters are those who believed in Him and did the will of God. Here we learned that Jesus did not deny His family, but in that context Jesus offsets family ties, and possibly the selfish concerns of His brothers and sisters. He spiritualizes the whole situation by emphasizing on doing the will of God.

Matthew chapter one, is about Jesus’ infancy narrative: That means from Abraham to David. In this chapter Matthew counted14 generations including Mary (the mother of Jesus). She is in the list of the patriarchs, why? Because Jesus took our humanity being born through Mary’s body under Gods rule and through the Holy Spirit. So in relation to the humanity Mary was the one through whom Jesus was born without a human father. Mary was the lawful wife of Joseph. However the manner in which the Messiah was to be born was through the Spirit. This is why Matthew included Mary among the ancestors of Jesus.

Luke. 1:26-38. The annunciation.

The Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth where Mary lived .The Angel greeted Mary: The God be with you that means you’re chosen with the special task to do.

The Greek word chaire-means full of grace, Mary through the grace of God was chosen to be the mother of Jesus (God). Mary was chosen without the original sin.

The acceptance of Mary to bear the son of God, is a significant act of Obedience and of faith.

As the sign of Holy Spirit Mary praised God by singing the magnificat.

Mary rejoices-sang Gods praise.

Jesus presented in the temple.Lk.2:41-52. According to the Jews tradition the first male child was to send to the Lord as a gift, so that he may do the Lords work as Mary and Joseph did to Jesus. In this occasion we found also the prophetic message from Simon who was an upright devout man and the Holy Spirit rested in him.  Prompted by the Holy Spirit He came to the temple.

Simon said to the parent “the son is destined for the fall and rise many……….and you Mary a sword will pierce your soul too”, then He blessed the son. Simon was prophesying the passion and death of Jesus, Mary was to suffer as a mother. Therefore Simon gave His Lord glory by singing the Nunc Dimittis.

In Luke 2:41-52, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem during the Jewish feast, His parents thought that He was lost, they went back and found Him in the temple discussing with the Jewish elders and doctors. He told his parents Mary and Joseph “I must be in the house of my father” Mary put all this in her heart, which means deeply meditating on them.

Mary Identified as: Mother and virgin, Holy, Faithful, servant, obedient, perfect disciple and blessed one.

John chapter 2:1-11, is about the wedding in Cana of Galilee. They had no wine, they asked Mary to tell Jesus about the issue but Jesus told Mary “woman My hour has not came”. This means His hour which will given by the Holy Spirit, the hour of His passion.

The significance of the wedding is a union between God and His people.

Wine means Holy Spirit.

Hour also means the time to go to back to His father-Heaven.

Six stone jars filled by wine mean the sign of glory.  

Mary seat of wisdom, Pray for us!

Christian Mystery - Comments from Sr. Scholar

CHRISTIAN OF MYSTERY

Sr.Scholar

My comment goes to sr. Beatrice in her reflection which was done on 16^th February about the mystery of Christ life and mystery of the human person. The reflection was nicely done especially on the part of mystery of human person where she pointed out very well that human beings are unique and they contain the unity of soul and body in a profound way. I also like the point of the union of spirit and matter which forms a single nature but not two natures united. I appreciate very much her work and may God bless her spirit of generosity.

***

I would like to bring my comment on Diana’s work on the mystery of sin and Grace which was done on 20^th February. The work is nicely done and I appreciate her sacrifice. The idea of the original sin which is a consequence of the first sin where the whole humanity is affected is very striking.it lead to four consequences which every human person is affected; ignorance, concupiscence, weakness of will and malice. I also like the various gifts given to us by God; natural gifts which we receive freely from God and also different types of grace. Evertything is well done and I admire.

***

 My comment goes to sr. Monica’s work on her reflection about the mystery of Jesus. Jesus has two natures; divine and human. The interesting part is that he humbled himself to be baptized by john though he had no sin since baptism cleanses us from original sin. The cooperation of Mary with God in the line of salvation has made man to become partaker of Jesus’ divine nature and oneness with God the father. The reflection is well done and I appreciate.

 ***

My comment goes to Jane’s work on the Holyspirit.He is the second person of the spirit and his work is to sanctify.Its not easy to understand fully all these it needs greater faith to believe without questioning. I like this knowledge of the term spirit which translates the Hebrew word “ruah” which means breath, air wind. Is also interesting the titles of the holy spirit and the symbols which many people are not aware of especially the symbol of seal ,hand, and finger and this many people includes me for it was the first time to come across them. The work is well done and I appreciate.

Summary of the Week and a Reflection (23rd & 24th February)

I Believe in the Holy Spirit

Jane Njeri

In our class of 23^rd February, we learnt about the Holy Spirit. We started by defining the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is divine worshiped and glorified we also say that, it is the lord God, the giver of life and it processed from the Father, who is God.

In the Old Testament the Jews did not know about the Holy Spirit but Jesus Himself did. We see that, the Holy Spirit appeared to the people during the day of the Pentecostal in Jerusalem. The Jewish feast of the Pentecost had celebrated the wheat harvest but on that day the Apostles received the harvest of the Holy Spirit; the courage, confidence and zeal to go out into the world and proclaim Gods salvation in Jesus Christ, it was a day to build Gods people up. They experienced this through the power which comes in many forms. For instance as the divine power or creative power. This divine power makes the disciples; preach and teach the gospel, gather the people together, lead the people and through this to the development and formation of many communities. During this period around 5000 people were baptized. The communities formed were know as ‘ekklesial tuo theou’ meaning the assemble of God, who received the power from above, which unites, forgives, heals e.t.c. The Holy Spirit made people move forward.

Titles of the Holy Spirit include,

·          

We also see that the Holy Spirit has different symbols;

·         Water

·         Anointing

·         Five

·         Cloud at night

·         The seal

·         The hand

·         The dove

Some of the functions of the Holy Spirit are;

·         The Holy Spirit the guide and healer.

·         It puts thing in order.

·         It is a universal principle that is it unites all people in the world.

·         The Holy Spirit is the mover of the world, it has a wide mission.

We also talked about the disciples who followed Jesus closely. Jesus had so many disciples (people who followed Him). The Apostles (the sent) were sent as missionaries. They were of two types Apostles of the church and of Christ, the messengers to witness and form churches

Summary of the Week and a Reflection (16th & 17th February)

The Mystery of Sin and Grace

Diana Kimberly

Grace Saves!

In last week’s class we learnt on the Account of sin Genesis 3:1-24

Sin is an offense against the will of God. The First sin of Adam and Eve which was eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil affects all relationships between humans with God, humans to humans, humans with nature and humans to one self.

The author of good is God, while that of Evil is the Adversary, Satan. When Eve was tricked by the serpent to eat from the tree of knowledge and saw that the fruit was good for food and pleasing to the eye and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she went ahead to share with Adam even after they were asked not to eat fruit from that tree by God, having eaten the fruit they realized they were naked and so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves, when they heard the voice of the  Lord God as he was walking in the garden they hid as they knew they had disobeyed his command and therefore lost perfect harmony with God and were sent out of the garden of  Eden, the lord cursed the serpent and said that all livestock and wild animals would be above it, it would crawl on its belly and eat dust all its life and that there would be enmity between man and the serpent therefore man will crush his head and the serpent would strike his heel.

The lord also cursed the woman and told her that she would be in pain in childbearing, her desire would be for her husband and he would rule over her and to Adam the lord said that because he listened to woman and disobeyed him, he would toil in pain so as to eat all the days of his life. 

The consequences of the first sin are:

i) They (Adam& Eve) lost perfect harmony / peace with God

ii) Relationships that were a source of happiness became a source of pain; therefore we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God Romans 3:23

Original sin- It is not a personal sin, it is a consequence of the first sin and the whole humanity is affected. This is a condition, wherei we are not able to redeem ourselves so as to reach God and be one with him. Romans 7:13-25

Consequences of the Original sin are “Death”, “Suffering” and “Pain”.

I) Ignorance- Lack of perfect knowledge and understanding

ii) Concupiscence- attachment to what is “pleasurable”, “love for the cross” and” love for suffering”.

iii) Weakness of will- Lack of control of what one wants to do.

iv) Malice - a inclination to what is evil.

Grace is charis in Greek meaning a gift/ a blessing.

We have various gifts given to us by God

a) Natural gifts- are freely given to us some examples are:

-Life                                          -Our talents

-Our five senses                        -Love

-Intelligence                              -Rain

b) Sanctifying grace/created habitual grace- is the divine gift put into us. It forgives/removes the original sin and all actual sin making us reconciled children of God, assisting us further by creating good habits in us. Romans 5:5; 7:25; 8:1-39

b) Actual supernatural grace- makes you holy and they are:

-The sacramental graces (Graces from Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony)

-The 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit namely:

1. Wisdom

2. Understanding

3. Counsel

4. Fortitude

5. Knowledge

6. Piety

7. Fear of the Lord

-Grace of evangelical counsels, to live a life of chastity, poverty and obedience

-Prayer- the prayers we pray daily for protection, grace to be good at what we do i.e. to be good students lectures, parents and other roles we take up.

d) Uncreated grace- Is the gift of God himself which we will experience when we go to heaven.

SUMMARY AND REFLECTION (9TH AND 10TH FEBRUARY)

THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST'S LIFE & THE MYSTERY OF THE HUMAN PERSON 

Sr. Beatrice Ndiritu

The Mysteries of Jesus & The Human Person

In the last week, lecture we looked at the mysteries of Christ life, traced his mystery in all his earthly life from the swaddling clothes of his birth to the vinegar of his passion, and shroud of his resurrection everything in his life was a sigh of his mystery. His deeds, miracles and word reviled in him the whole dwelling of God in him

The two fundamental mysteries in his life were the incarnation and his paschal mystery. By his incarnation, he becomes the sigh and instrument of his divinity and the salvation he brings to the humankind. What was visible in the earthly life leads to the invisible mystery of his divine son ship and redemptive mission. By incarnation, he became poor to enrich us in his poverty. God communicates with us by allowing us his son to our human nature though he remained God he saves us by reconciling us to God so that we may know him, have model in him for our holiness and to make us partakers of his divine nature.

Jesus life was a mystery of redemption which comes to us through the blood of his cross his mystery was at work throughout his entire life; birth, baptism, silent passion and death. The birth of Jesus on Christmas is the mystery o f the marvelous exchange whereby Mary gives to God her yes will and body and God gives her word / Jesus Lord, God gives salvation while Mary gives her humanity. Jesus hidden life is his submission to atone for our disobedient and in his deeds of miracles and word healing and exorcisms he took our infirmities and bore our diseases and by his word he purifies its hearers. By his paschal mystery (death and resurrection), he died for our sins and through his resurrection he justifies us. By his death, he showed his love, he became a curse upon himself; he paid the law of justice and fulfilled his father’s will. He paid our ransom by shedding his own blood.

  THEMYSTERY OF HUMAN PERSON.

The human person is a being at once corporeal and spiritual created in the image of God. The nature of human person is revealed in the biblical account in the book of Genesis in the two-creation account. In Genesis (1:27) God created man in the image of himself, “In the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.” It is also reflected in the second account of creation in Genesis (2:7) this biblical account expresses the reality in symbolic language when it affirms “then the lord formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils’ the breath of life”and man became a living being.”

The human body shares in the dignity of the image of God and to be of God’s image means the body is animated by a spiritual soul and it have divine image. Human beings are Gods being in that they have self-consciousness, they have self-knowledge and they are free being and have intelligent.

In conclusion, human beings are unique and they contain the unity of soul and body in a profound way. The soul is considered the form of the body as it is spiritual and the body made of matter becomes a living human body. The union of spirit and matter forms a single nature but not two natures united. Every spiritual soul is created immediately by God, it is immortal it does not perish when it separates from the body at death and it will be united with the body at the final resurrection. Man and woman contains equality and difference and in this they reflect creators wisdom and goodness

The Mystery of Jesus: Summary and Reflection (2nd & 3rd February)

The Mystery of Jesus & the Salvific Significance of His Life

Sr. Monica Ichife

The Mystery of Jesus

The word of God became flesh for the salvation of humanity, through the new eve our lady Mary the blessed virgin. The cooperation of Mary with God in the line of salvation has made man to become partaker of Jesus’ divine nature and oneness with God the father.

In the mysteries of Christ’s incarnation we understand the word was God and was made flesh as proclaimed/affirmed by Elizabeth the blood relations (cousin) of Mary when she says “blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus”(Lk1:42). Jesus as the word made flesh in his hidden life of which we understand that he identified with humanity right from his birth and childhood. He is involved in domestic and social life activities; he was submissive to his parents Joseph and Mary in obedience. And for him to be really effective he was prepared by his parents and God the father who is in absolute control of his mission.

His public ministry was ushered in with his baptism, he acted as light to the world but first he was humble enough to be baptized by john the Baptist though we earn that baptism cleanses us from original sin and Jesus is without any sin; his incarnation was by the power of the holy spirit. Hence his baptism is to show/prove his true nature as the son of God who strengthens and empowers him for the great task ahead saying after his baptism “this is my son, the beloved, He is my chosen one” (Matt3: 17). We see also his triumphant entry into Jerusalem to be a proof of his messianic kingship. For his ministry and mission to stay on he (Jesus) choose himself among his followers 12 apostles to whom he entrusted this great mission and faith with the first place given to Simon peter as the key holder to the church we have today.

The mystery of his death and resurrection was accompanied by suffering which began from Gethsemane as a perfect act of obedience; again we see this paschal mystery as in accordance with Gods plan of redemption for his humanity and Jesus’ acceptance. Though Adam and eve were the cause of mans downfall in disobedience but we see the best of the new creation in the person of Jesus as Gods mercy and compassion is experienced through him.

Jesus resurrection glorifies God because hid divinity is truly manifested in the supreme power of his name which above every other name hence all liturgical prayers conclude with the word “through Christ our lord.

In conclusion we see the lordship of Christ manifested in the lips of peter where he says, “You are the messiah, the true son of God.” Hence the uniqueness of Christ Jesus and his relationship with God the FATHER. In other words it’s an invitation for man not to submit his personal faith to any earthly power but only God the father.