Communion/Eucharist

The Cardinal Virtues

The Cardinal, or general virtues, are virtues of great importance, that should be followed be all people. Unlike the theological virtues, they are not purely specific to Christian faith. They still are very important.

There are four cardinal virtues.

Fortitude
Justice
Prudence
Temperance

Temperance

Temperance is the virtue, by which we do all of the things we do within the right context and amount. We do not drink too much alcohol, or any if we are underage. We do not eat too much, or enjoy expensive food, to the exclusion of God.

Justice

Justice is the virtue given, whereby we render (give to) others, their due. For justice, we arrest criminals, for justice, we honor the honorable.

For justice, we are to appose unjust societal systems, and work for their destruction.
For justice, also, we do so, via Godly actions, and not by evil methods.

Fortitude

Fortitude, sometimes called courage- is the persistence, and boldness, and courage- to continue to do right, and obey God, despite of persecution, or opposition.

Prudence

We should not judge, by the standards of the world- by wealth, or fame, or low esteem. We should, however judge situations, and avoid getting into spiritual or (sometimes) physical danger, as best we can.


The virtue, that God gives us, to make wise, prudent, discerning decisions, is Prudence.

The Theological Virtues

The Holy Catholic Church lists 3 theological Virtues, these are

Hope,
Faith,
And Love

Love

Hope is one of the three things remaining at the end (I Corinthians 13).
Without faith, we are very unlikely to gain salvation, without Hope, how can we ever act on faith? Surely, these are vital, but as the Apostle notes of much- when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. Hope is only needed until it is realized. We hope for salvation, because we are not pure yet. We hope for purgatory, for sinlessness, because we are not yet sinless. When we are perfected, we will have all that we need. We will no longer need hope. When We know God, as He is, we will no longer have to believe in the unseen, because we will see it face to face. Of the three remainders, one remains.

Of Faith, we know- it is great, and vital, yet
is not as great as love. No act we can do is worth anything without Love. God is Love. Love is wonderfully described in I Corinthians 13, by God's apostle.

"² And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains-if I am without love, I am nothing."
"¹⁰ but once perfection comes, all imperfect things will be done away with. "
"¹² Now we see only reflections in a mirror, mere riddles, but then we shall be seeing face to face. Now I can know only imperfectly; but then I shall know just as fully as I am myself known."
"¹³ As it is, these remain: faith, hope and love, the three of them; and the greatest of them is love."
I Corinthians 13 New Jerusalem bible


http://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=46&bible_chapter=13 24 October 2007

See Also

Necessity of Baptism
Catholic Equation
God of love, God of Purgatory
God of Love

Hope

Hope is believing that something may happen, and longing for it.
Hope is welcoming from the distance, that that is not yet.
Hope is the emotion we attach to things we want to happen.

Hope is one of the three things remaining at the end (I Corinthians 13).

It is not as great as love.
Faith is also worthless without love. "² And though I have the power of prophecy, to penetrate all mysteries and knowledge, and though I have all the faith necessary to move mountains-if I am without love, I am nothing." I Corinthians 13 New Jerusalem bible http://www.catholic.org/bible/book.php?id=46 24 October 2007

And so, faith, and hope play a part, but neither should be overestimated. Faith is believing in the unseen on God's authority. Hope is hoping for the realization of the promises of God. When the unseen, unheard, waited for become real, then... Is there any need left for Faith or hope? Hope, therefore is vital to salvation. The purpose of hope is to save us, in trusting the words of faith, in love, and hope.

Faith

Faith is very important in Christianty, but how does one reconcile "Faith that saves us" and "Faith without deeds is dead". The answer is this, the bible we read, is not the real bible. The real bible was written in hebrew, greek and aramaic. The Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew, but all Hebrew copies were lost. (This is why Catholics point to that You are Peter verse- God was literally saying - you are rock and on this rock I build my church). Unfortunately, with Mattew, and many texts, we only have the greek translation, and not the original Hebrew. The Gospel of John, however was written in greek. In the given language, the word believe is pisteuo (see reference) which means not only to give mental assent, as in th modern sense of the word, but to also trust, and perhaps obey.

The antonym (direct opposite) of pisteuo (believe) is apeitheo (to disobey).

Faith therefore hints at more than belief. It is to hear, and to obey the voice of God. For, "my sheep recognize my voice" and we are his sheep. To believe the speaker, is to obey his message. Belief, is to consent something as real, because of who said something to you. We believe God, because of his nature, because of who we are, and because of his power. We, like Abraham are credited as righteous, because we act on this belief and obey the Holy Catholic Church, where demanded, and in believing, we accept, and perform our baptism, an illogical act of belief. For this trust, this act of belief, God gives us saving grace.

God of Love- God of Purgatory

Many mistake Purgatory for what it is not. Purgatory, is a cleansing process. We all know, that nothing impure with enter heaven. The wise man disciplins his son. Also, we know that our troubles on earth are for our benefit. God gives us trials to produce patience. He gave the Hebrews trials, to teach them, and disciplin him. "He who is not disciplined, is not a true son, but a bastard child." If God purifies us on earth, how much more after life. His son went to the cross, to teach us how to die to self, and live for God. Purgatory, is where we are made perfect. We should not dread it, but look to it with great joy. Remember, medication often makes us feel bad, but it is the type of pain we lean into, and even enjoy, because it purifies us. When going through a detox, we feel uncomfortable, but lean into it, knowing it is good. We do not enjoy eating certain foods, but knowing their benefit, we eat them. We do not enjoy being at the dentist, but he does us great good. A child or a dog going to the dentist, or vet, does not know the good that is being done. We should not presume we are wiser than God. What we want is not always best for us. He will not hand us drugs, or a car we cannot drive. That is the Devil's job. Likewise, we should not be ashamed, when God sees that we need to be made perfect, with the good scrubbing and flames of Purgatory, and should not cringe, but embrace the heavenly gift.

Copyright 2007. Marc Aupiais. All Rights Reserved.

God is Love

"God is love, he had no form when he created the world. I often think, that - as to sin, is to violate Charity (Catholic Love), that the original sin was the first to violate charity. We therefore, could have been made as loving, but distorted our love into evil, by sin. Evil is not the opposite of good. Evil focuses on what is good- power (which can help), control, freedom. Therefore, Evil is reliant on good to exist, for it once was good, but perverted it. That is why we believe that the devil is a fallen angel. Love, in the pure form, is noted as not stealing or committing adultery, and of certain sins, Paul says - Those who live as such, will not see the kingdom of heaven. Thus, love- obeys the meaning of the old law, while not the circumstantial commands of the old system, which have been replaced by sacraments, church law and the Law of freedom- treat others as you'd have them treat you- with love and respect. Each person is another self. As God is Love, and Love is not happy with wrong, but is happy with truth, God punishes us for evil, and fights it. As Love rejoices (is happy) with truth, God wants us to research the truth. After all, baptism of desire saves those who seek the truth and obey God as best they know him. Surely, to do so is to love. God is love, therefore, grace is of love. Every grace given is an act of love. God is love. Love saves us. "Love believes all things" 1 Corinthians 13. We do not believe all things, but we believe the one we love. And in John 3, we hear that all who believe, shall not be lost, but have eternal life. The Greek word hints at trust, and at obedience, both symptoms of love. The opposite of belief in the Greek of such, is not best translated as doubt, but disobedience. Love is our shared attribute with God. We have faith in love, we hope in Love, we obey in Love. Our God is Love. We are being conformed to God's image."
Marc Aupiais

Reconciliation / The Sacrament of Confession

Reconciliation is the sacrament in which we are forgiven of sins, which violate Charity so absolutely as to absolutely separate us from saving grace. Without grace, we cannot be saved. God therefore gave some the authority to forgive, if certain procedures are followed.

"Jesus Instituted Reconciliation in John 20 v 23

This sacrament takes the blemish/stain of mortal sin from our souls, reuniting us with God.

People avoid it, because it is awkward to tell a priest how you’ve messed up, when they have given up everything for God. The very fact that it is awkward makes this sacrament effective in conquering sin." Marc Aupiais

Baptism

Baptism is the sacrament that opens the door to all other Sacraments. Via baptism, we are accepted into the church, and by baptism we are saved, in this act of obedience.

See also

http://kindstuff.googlepages.com/(bibleonbaptism)