Sacraments and sacraments

HOMEWORK FOR JANUARY 30/31:
*Finish reading the Harcourt chapter if you haven't done so already. Take notes for the exam.
*Read CCCC nos. 548-577 - pay specific attention to 550-556, 559, 568-571
*Read CCCC nos. 250-251
*"Learning to Pray" packet
*Complete your Unit 1 Project
*STUDY FOR THE EXAM NEXT WEEK

CLASS NOTES FROM JANUARY 26/27:
The term "sacrament" comes from the Latin world sacramentum. A sacramentum in pre-Christian history was a pledge, contract, or oath that parties would make to each other. Typically, two people would deposit a sum of money at the temple and if the contract we breached by one of the parties, then they would forfeit their deposit. Later on, a sacramentum was considered a pledge of allegiance to the emperor, a commander, of the Roman gods.

The African theologian and scholar Tertullian (d. 225) was one of the earliest Christian writers that used the term sacramentum in a religious context. He believed baptism was a type of sacramentum in the sense that the newly baptized were taking an oath of allegiance to Jesus Christ--"it was a ritual through which people began a new life of service to God" (Martos).

As polytheism died out in the Roman empire the term sacramentum gradually lost its original meaning and it was slowly used more often to describe the ceremony of initiation into the church, various blessings, and liturgical feasts, etc. Augustine once defined a sacramentum/sacrament "as a sign of a sacred reality" and he noted that "according to this general defintion anything in the world could be considered a sacrament since all of creation is a sign of God" (Martos). Eventually, the term sacrament was limited to refer to the seven sacraments in the catholic church.

Numerous places, actions, objects, and persons can be considered sacred if we use a broad definition of the term sacrament. There are sacred places such as temples, churches, mountains, shrines, and cities. There are sacred actions such as praying, singing, eating, fasting, and dancing. There are sacred objects such as pictures, statues, vestments, writings, foods, and tools. And there are sacred persons such as priests, kings, saints, shamans, virgins, gurus, and prophets. Martos points out that "any ritual or object, person or place, can be considered sacramental if it is taken to be a symbol of something sacred or mysterious."

A proper Sacrament in the catholic church is defined as "an efficacious sign of grace, instituted by Jesus Christ, entrusted to the church, by which divine life is dispensed to us." This definition refers to the seven sacraments in the church: baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, reconciliation, anointing of the sick, holy orders, and matrimony.

Sacraments of Initiation = baptism, confirmation, Eucharist
Sacraments of Healing = reconciliation, anointing of the sick
Sacraments of Vocation = holy orders, and matrimony (marriage)

PRAYER: finally we discussed how prayer is the most fundamental and basic sacrament of the Christian life. We watched a video and discussed the life of a 20th century Cistercian Monk named Thomas Merton. Here's another PBS video on Merton.

PBS: Thomas Merton | Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

Gerard Manley Hopkins

HOMEWORK FOR JANUARY 26/27:
*Read CCCC nos. 1-32 (this is a review of what has been discussed)
*Finish reading the Harcourt chapter.
*Memorize "God's Grandeur" for the Unit 1 exam

CLASS NOTES FROM JANUARY 24/25:
Gerard Manley Hopkins was born in England in 1844 to an Anglican family. He was a poet, Jesuit priest, and convert to catholicism. During his lifetime he was relatively unknown as a poet and it wasn't until the 20th century that his work received the respect it deserved.

Hopkins attended a boarding school as a child and he likely developed his love of literature from his mother appreciation of Dickens and German philosophy. He shocked his friends and family when he converted to catholicism and entered the Society of Jesus. When he entered the society he mistakenly believed that he must suborniate all of his literary interests to his religious vocation as a catholic priest. During his theology studies he began writing again and his friends and peers criticized his work as unreadable and choppy. Throughout much of his life, Hopkins suffered from sickness and bouts of depression and desolation.
Click here to read more about Hopkins's life.

Themes in his work: Hopkins had a profound appreciation for the sacramental character of our world and he believed that it shined for the in witness of the creator (Ellsberg). Ignatian spirituality also influenced his work; e.g. "God in all things" and "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam."

Revelation, Incarnation, Apostolic Tradition, and Faith

HOMEWORK FOR TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY JANUARY 24 & 25:
*Be prepared to (finally) discuss "Pride of a Nation" (handout).
*Bring a sacred or sentimental object for either you or your family.
*Read "God's Grandeur," and "Pied Beauty" by Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. (handouts).
*Write a quick summary/reflection/analysis of these two poems in your notebook. What is Hopkins' worldview and/or where does he find God present?
*Also, read Harcourt, pp. 16-21.

Class Notes from January 20 & 23:
Revelation (def) is God's self-communication to humanity throughout history. Through an utterly free decision, God reveals himself to humanity. God's revelation and communication happen gradually.

Incarnation (def) is the truth of the faith that the Son of God assumed human nature and became man in order to accomplish our salvation in that same human nature. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, is both true God and true man, not part God and part man. The incarnation is not a plus; it's not a mixing together of different things; and it's not as though Jesus is half divine and half human. If we really want to learn about Jesus and God and what the incarnation means, then we should pay very close attention to what Jesus says and what Jesus does. Jesus says whenever you see me, you see the Father because the Father and I are one. You see me, and you see the Father. When you experience me, you experience the reality of who the Father is. When you see what I do, when you see how I act, you experience the reality of God. In this respect, Jesus is the sacrament of God because he points to God the Father. He reveals who God is to humanity.

Apostolic Tradition (def) the apostles transmitted all they received from Christ and learned from the Holy Spirit to their successors, the bishops, and through them to all generations until the end of the world. Scripture and tradition are bound closely together and communicate with one another.

What Faith Is, and What Faith Is Not"

CST & CST+, Symbols/Signs Review, and Class Discussion

Class Notes from January 18 & 19:

Mr. Danny Walsh presented on the differences between Catholic Social Teaching (CST) and Catholic Social Teaching Plus (CST+). You have the option of choosing one of these two classes for your junior year. If you have questions, please consult the course descriptions or schedule a meeting with Mr. Walsh. Both classes have a service-learning component.

Signs (def) are something that points to another reality and means what it signifies; the meaning is mostly fixed. For example, most people would interpret and understand a 'STOP' sign to mean only one thing = STOP.

Symbols (def) are multi-dimensional signs that point to another reality and manifest the reality to which they point. They are open to interpretation and can have multiple meanings. For example, something as simple as a kiss can manifest many different things to different people: love and affection, romance and seduction, greeting or farewell, betrayal and death, anger and frustration, or the rock band KISS.

SYMBOL OR SIGN?

CU Retreat Center

The Human Person, God, and Symbols & Signs

HOMEWORK FOR WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY JAN 18 & 19:
*Read and take notes over "Spiritual But Not Religious? Not So Fast!"
By James Martin, S.J.
*There will be an open-note quiz over the Martin article.
*Read, "Pride of a Nation." We might not get to this article in class, but we will discuss it in a following class.

Class Notes from January 13 & 17:
THE HUMAN PERSON: Human experience is the starting point for all theology. When we reflect upon God, we are also reflecting upon how we "know" God and what it means to be human. To ask questions about God is simultaneously to ask questions about ourselves. Remember, we can only know God in a human way. We can begin asking questions about God by asking questions about ourselves; e.g., "What's the purpose of my life?" "Why do I exist?" "Who am I?" "What is happiness?" "What are my hopes/dreams?" "What is love?" "Why/how do I love?"

Human beings are self-transcending creatures; i.e., we can "go beyond ourselves" with our questioning. We are not driven by only instincts. We can ask "big" philosophical questions or meaning questions. We are finite creatures that exists in a specific time, place, culture, and history, but we can also transcend our own time, space, and circumstances through our questioning. Our questioning is not limited by finite circumstances. We are oriented to something infinite. We can move from the specific (the concrete world) to the abstract.

Theologically speaking, this "infinite reality" towards which we are oriented we can call a "Holy Mystery" or "God." Even before an experience of revelation, scripture, or prayer, we are already oriented towards this Mystery. Our entire existence--whether we acknowledge it or not--is grounded in this "Holy Mystery," or permeated by its presence. The "Infinite," "Holy Mystery," or "God" is silently present as the "background" or "horizon" in all or our experiences; e.g., relationships, communities, prayer, etc. God is incomprehensible in an absolute sense: we cannot know or classify God as we might classify various species of plants or animals. We can have an intuition of God, but we can never grab ahold or possess God.

Human beings are both matter and spirit, or "spirited matter." As matter, we are finite, rooted in human history, and we physically exist and will one day die. We come in and out of being. As spirit, we are capable of transcending the finiteness or limits of our bodies by asking big philosophical questions, etc.

If the "Holy Mystery" or "God" was going to communicate God's self to us it would be in a human way--through experience and human history. Human history is the process of God's self-communication. The climax of salvation history comes to its absolute pinnacle in the person of Jesus Christ--truly human and truly divine.

SIGNS & SYMBOLS: Symbols and signs are everywhere we turn--we could neither construct meaning, nor communicate without them. A sign is something that points to another reality and means what it signifies; the meaning is mostly fixed; e.g., a "stop" sign. Symbols are multi-dimensional signs that point to another reality and manifest the reality to which they point. Symbols are open to interpretation and they can manifest many different things to different people.

Value of Studying Theology and What do Christians mean by 'God'?

HOMEWORK FOR NEXT CLASS: Read the "God and Humanity" handout twice, take notes, and bring your questions to class.
Class Notes for 11/12 January 2012:
Theology is the reflective element of religion/faith
It is an attempt to think and talk about our faith rationally. Our reflection on our faith is largely enriched and influenced by the experiences of many other people throughout human history. Over the years these stories and writings form what we call a tradition.

St. Anselm (d. 1109) defined Christian Theology as "fides quaerens intellectum" or "faith seeking understanding."

Values of studying theology: 1) Most people throughout human history have been religious, or have believed in God. Atheism and skepticism are relatively new phenomena in human history. 2) It's important to have an understanding of the sources, history, and development of Christianity and other religions in the world. 3) Most of Western Civilization has been shaped by the Judeo-Christian tradition in some way. Religious values have impacted secular values and laws; e.g. "justice" in the Hebrew Bible. And 4) if you're going to interact with other people effectively in this world, it's good to have some knowledge or understanding of various worldviews, religions, traditions, and philosophies.

Four subdivisions of Christian Theology: 1) Biblical Studies: how the documents in either the Hebrew/Christian scriptures were formed, how they were selected, cultural context, history, etc. 2) Historical Theology: studies how Christian faith developed in the post-bibical era. Studies the history of the Church, Christian thought, movements, etc. 3) Fundamental, Constructive, Systematic, or Dogmatic Theology: studies the basic formulations of Christian belief and how they relate to one another. Using reason to think about our faith. 4) Moral/Ethical Theology: focuses on the values arising from Christian beliefs and attempts to identify behaviors and actions that are congruent with these beliefs/values; i.e., "how we ought to act."

An explanation of Thomas Aquinas' argument based on Contingency:

What is theology?

HOMEWORK FOR NEXT CLASS: Read Harcourt, pp. 2-15 and take notes.
Class Notes for 9/10 January 2012:
All theology starts from human experience. It asks what experience means and how it shapes our responses to the people, places, circumstance, events and situations that surround us. Therefore, "religion can be defined as a set of beliefs, practices, and symbols through which human beings, as groups or as individuals, relate to the spiritual dimensions of reality."

"Theology" comes from two Greek words: theos, meaning "God" or "the divine," and logos, meaning "discourse," "story," "study," "knowledge," or "word." Therefore, theology is the study of God. St. Anselm [d. 1109] defined Christian theology as "faith seeking understanding."

Various -Isms you might hear in class:
Monotheism: one God (e.g., Christianity, Judaism, Islam).
Polytheism: many gods (e.g., Hinduism, Shintoism, and many tribal religions).
Agnostic: unsure about the existence of a God and/or gods.
Atheism: denies God or gods exist at all.
Deism: human reason and observation of the natural world demonstrates that there is an all-powerful 'being' or 'force,' but this being does not intervene in human affairs.
Pantheism: the Universe (or nature, creation, etc.) and God (or the divine) are the same things. God isn't a personal God... God is in the cosmos or sacredness of the Universe. Always remember that there are varying degrees of agnosticism, deism, and pantheism.

Seven Dimensions of Religion:
1. Experience/Emotion: we have experiences in life that impact who we are; e.g., natural or supernatural forces that cause us to wonder, think about our existence and relationships with others, etc.
2. Social/Institutional: we share those experiencs with others and form groups. These groups become organized.
3. Narrative/Mythic: in the groups people pass on their experiences in stories; e.g., Jewish and Christian Scriptures.
4. Doctrinal/Philosophical: people ask rational questions about their experiences and try to explain them using reason.
5. Practical/Ritual: we develop liturgies or methods of worship that help us relate to the world beyond us.
6. Ethical/Legal: we decide what actions and ways of life are appropriate to our experiences and beliefs. We develop laws to govern our communities.
7. Materials/Art: we produce things that replicate or express our experiences.

Christmas in NYC

St. Patrick's Cathedral, NYC.