She Went By Gently

1. A gift of Baptism is the ability to love others as God loves us. How is this ability seen in the woman's treatment of the girl?

     Regardless of what happened in the past, the the woman's character towards the girl shows her belief in God's love for us. The ability to love others as God loves us is a gift of Baptism. The lady cared for the girl as if she was her own child. This disturbed her husband, but it did not stop her from caring for the girl. The woman showed a sense of grace towards the girl.

2. At the end of the story the woman says in regard to the infant, "I saved him." What does she mean by that statement?

     When the woman says in regard to the infant, "I saved him." She means that she saved him spiritually in a religious sense. The woman baptized him in order to save him. She Baptized him to bring him back to God and his kingdom.

3. The author describes the journey of the woman to her own home. What is the purpose of this section of the story? What is he trying to convey about the woman through his descriptions?

     The journey of the woman to her own home was a comparison to her own life and how she witnessed Baptism again. By helping others she also witnessed  a sense of grace. THe part of the story when she witnessed darkness was like a comparison to original sin. Through everything she went through she never gave up on God and God never gave up on her.

Confirmation

1. The gifts of the Holy Spirit work in my life every day in many different ways. Without these gift I would not be the child of God I consider myself to be today. Each of the gifts of the Holy Spirit effect my life in different ways. The gift understanding helps me realize all the problems including me and surrounding me. As a senior in High school I am faced with many struggles with family, school work, friends, and many others. The gift of understanding helps me get through these struggles and also helps me forgive others. The gift of wisdom is my favorite. This gift helps me focus. It helps me focus on what is important: relationships with family, friends, and God. The gift of Piety allows me to serve God. I think this gift is very important in my life. This gift helps me realize all the good things God has done for me, and allows me to praise and serve him in return. The gift of piety brings peace in my life. It helps me realize that God has always and will always be there for me, and for that thank him.

2. The Holy Spirit gives seven gifts to those that are confirmed. Each of these git are very important in the person being confirmed's life. The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the lord. In my life, all of the gifts of the Holy Spirit are essential in my everyday life. One that is very important to me is Fear of The Lord. Fear of The Lord is important, because it lets us know that God and only God is our creator. The ten commandments say, "There shall be no other gods before me." This gift of the Holy Spirit is not saying that we should be afraid and scared of God. It is saying that we should recognize God's power. Everything that has been done, has been done by God. God is mighty and he has the power to do any and everything. I'm just thankful that he used his power to create me and that he gave me a chance in this world. That is why the gift of Fear of the Lord is important to me.

DIstance Learning #3

The following answers come from the questions of the reading "Are Sacraments Narrow?" These answers are my opinions.
1. Ludwig did not understand grace and therefore did not understand the higher life given to us by God.. Grace has a wider view then what most of us think. It is okay to not understand. As he continues through the sacraments, the more he will understand.
2. When it comes to Sacramentality the Church is not only thinking about Christians. Everyone has a choice to be Baptized and to be saved. The Church is not being biased.
3. When it comes to Sacramentality, the Church is thinking about the important relationship between God and his people. Salvation is essential in this relationship from both ends.
4. The Church refers us to the Son Of God, Jesus Christ. Jesus is a sign of God, therefore God is present in him. All of the Sacraments of the Church are extensions of the power of Christ and God.
5. The primal Sacrament of Sacraments, the Incarnate Son of God is the Christian doctrine that is the foundation of all sacraments.
6. The gobs modern "spirituality" tells us that God is an extended ether in the cosmos and he never puts himself with crudeness of matter. With this spirituality to be spiritual is to be more or less disembodied. Lastly the sign of primitive superstition is that the Christian God should employ physical means like sacrifices of blood.
7. The Christian Bible repudiates the spiritual snobbery with the announcement that God likes matter a lot. He loves us. He declared it good at the beginning of creation and continues to manifest himself.
8. "But that was so that he could put this gross body of flesh to death on the Cross and revert back to pure spirituality, wasn't it?" I do agree with this statement. Besides the fact that they called Jesus body gross. But it compares the incarnation with the spiritual view of God, which is correct.
9. "That is why the sacramental worldview sees more than just a symbol in a Sacrament". Christians view the Sacraments as an encounter with Christ. Therefore, the Sacraments are more than what they are, because they are a sign of Christ, whom is unlimited.
10. .K Chesterton said that the difference between the sacramental Real presence in the Eucharist and the universal grace of God is the difference between saying "The spirit of Jehovah pervades the universe" and saying "Jesus Christ walked in the room". He also said that the sacraments and Sacramentality does not come from a desire to exclude any from the redemption of Christ, but from the odd nature of Christianity itself with its stubborn insistence that the world was saved when God became local.
11. Grace is the theory that God is here on Earth in all of us. Not only Christians. Grace must be focused in the lens of the Sacrament, not to limit God, but to kindle us. That is the purpose of Grace, to kindle everyone on Earth

Distance Learning # 2

     The first article I read was called "These are the Sacraments - Seven Conditions Of Life". This article explains that people grow and develop in the church just as they do in society. Christians grow and develop in the Church through the Sacraments. You are born into the Church through your Baptism. Then, we nourish ourselves trough the Eucharist, taking the body and blood of Christ at mass. We spiritually take our responsibilities of the Church through Confirmation. We heal ourselves by asking for forgiveness from God through Penance. We pray and bless those that are sick through the Sacrament of Anointing Of The Sick. Some live spiritually with God and the Church through the Sacrament of Holy Orders. We get married with others through God in the Sacrament of Matrimony.

     The second article I read was called "These are the Sacraments - What the Sacraments Bring to Man". This article talks about how Jesus Christ died on the cross to bring us to a higher life. It is upon us to look for that higher life. It explains a story about a tadpole that thought that the world was only water.  If the tadpole would have looked for a higher life then he would see more than water. We use the sacraments to experience Christ. The Sacraments provide us with divine life and grace.

     The third article I read was called "These are the Sacraments - The Bible Is Sacramental". This article explains that the Bible itself is Sacramental. The words and deeds of Jesus are Sacramental and that is what the Bible is filled with. The Bible is the word of God. The Bible gives the sacraments a background meaning. In the Bible, a sign is always a symbol. All symbols are signs but not all signs are symbols.

     The last article I read was called "These are the Sacraments - A Divine Sense Of Humor". This article was an introductory to to the sacraments. It explained to us what they mean and what the symbol to us on Earth. It also explained that in order for one to understand a sacrament, he or she must have a divine sense of humor. When they say divine sense of humor they mean that the person is able to see over and above things here on Earth. The divine sense of humor relates to our understanding of the Sacraments. The divine sense of humor helps us understand the visible sign of the invisible God.