WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT RELIGION ?
- Some believe that religion is pure superstition or a projection of the human longings.
- Karl Marx called religion “The Opium of the People” because he thought it led people to focus on life after death and ignore the very real problems of day to day living.
- Others feel that religion is important because it provides society with basic rules for civil conduct and interaction.
- Religion has to do with life. The word religion means to “bind together, to link or put together”. Religion enables its followers put together a way of explaining the meaning and purpose of life and answer the most important questions about life so that it makes sense even in the face of suffering and death.
- The Great Religions provides a way for people to acknowledge that there is some greater power and to face the joys and sorrows of life with hope and peace.
WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT CHRISTIANITY ?
- Some think that all religions are essentially the same
- Worshipping the same God, and
- Teaching their followers to “treat others as they would want to be treated”.
- Doesn’t every religion teach its members to be honest with and nice to others?
- Christianity is fundamentally different from every other religion in that Christians, the followers of Jesus Christ, believe that
- that there are Three Divine Persons but only One God
- The Second Divine Person became fully human and is known as Jesus, the Christ. He is the Son of God and the Son of Mary.
- Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. (Lk 6:27)
- Love one another as I have loved you. (Jn 13:14 and Jn 15:12)
- I am the Resurrection and the Life. (Jn 11:25)
- I and the Father are one. (Jn 10:30)
- Go and make disciples of all nations. (Matt 28:19)
3. Christianity has given rise to Western Science and Western Democracy because
of its teachings on the nature of the universe, the dignity of the human person and
the importance of the common good.
WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT CATHOLICISM ?
- Some wonder whether Catholicism is really Biblically based or truly Christ centered or actually Christian.
- Others believe that Catholicism has too many man made rules.
- Catholics share many elements of belief, worship and living a virtuous life with other Christian denominations, e.g.
- In Belief (about the Trinitarian nature of God, the Divine and Human nature of Jesus, God’s gift of the Spirit, that there should be one Church, etc.)
- In Worship (about Baptism, the importance of the Bible, etc.)
- In a Life of Virtue ( about the primacy of God’s grace, about virtue, about sin and the need for repentance
2. The particular way in which Catholicism puts together and emphasizes these
and other aspects of being a disciple of Christ is unique.
3. Catholicism is unique in the way it
- understands God to be present in the world (sacramentality);
- uses both reason and faith (uniting human and divine); and
- understands its mission (universal service to promote life for all people).
I'M TOO BUSY TO BE BOTHERED WITH belonging to a CHURCH.
In one sense, choosing to belong to a Church community can feel restrictive. But every person on the journey of life, including Robinson Crusoe, wants to have companions. True companions,friends, double the joy and half the sorrow that is inevitable on the journey of life.
To belong to a Church community does not mean just belonging to the community which gathers in the local Church building down the street or even with like minded people in the world today. The full Church community consists of the people in our day and all those who have lived as faithful people of God. It is the community which will welcome us on the day of our death, on that day when we pass over from this world into God's new world.
Now is the time to learn how to live with our neighbors in love. Belonging to and participating in the Church community is the best way to meet our life-long companions and become the best person that we ourselves can possibly be.
To belong to a Church community does not mean just belonging to the community which gathers in the local Church building down the street or even with like minded people in the world today. The full Church community consists of the people in our day and all those who have lived as faithful people of God. It is the community which will welcome us on the day of our death, on that day when we pass over from this world into God's new world.
Now is the time to learn how to live with our neighbors in love. Belonging to and participating in the Church community is the best way to meet our life-long companions and become the best person that we ourselves can possibly be.
Summary:
- Choosing to belong to a Church is way of saying, “I not only want but need companions on the journey of life.”
- In belonging to a Church community, I realize I am not the center of life. Everything does not revolve around me.
- From the day, Jesus called his twelve disciples, representing the twelve tribes of Israel, to the gatherings of Jesus' first followers, it has been clear that Jesus expects and wants his disciples to be a member of a community.
The Church- the Catholic Mass - is boring and irrelevant.
The world we live in conditions us to receive instant feedback. We expect lights to go on when we flip the switch or walk into a room. We expect planes to take off and land on time. We buy “instant” food because we want it “now”.
The Mass is a ritual like the celebration of a birthday party. Rituals do not give us instant results. But ever so slowly, ever so gently they renew us. As we celebrate the Eucharist, Christ’s Spirit gradually transforms us so that we come to think, speak and act more and more as Jesus did.
As a ritual, the Mass can seem repetitive but it is only the framwork that is the same. Like a Bithday party or a Thanksgiving dinner the pattern is the same but the content differs.
Through the structure of the Mass all of creation is united in praise of God, the Father and Almighty Creator. Firmly planted in the earth, the cross points upward to the cosmos, and beyond to the God who is both outside of all of creation, and is simultaneously present to all that happens in our world and the universe. The arms of the crucified Jesus extend outward to embrace all who would turn to him and ask for his life-giving presence and mercy. He gladly and graciously forgives each one of their wrongdoing and sins and gives them the gift of life - himself.
In the Mass the bread and wine, representing all the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands, is at once our gift to God and God’s gift to us.
We do not come to Mass to get something out of it. We come to Mass because we humans, are the only one who can give voice in thanking and praising God for all things but especially for God’s gift of life: the life of this world, our life and the promise of life yet to come.
Because each person is unique, no one can take their place in giving God praise and thanks (worship). True we do not get instant results, but to worship God is why we have been created, chosen and called in Baptism.
Participating in Worship is like being on a cruise ship making its way to port. Sunday worship is meant to be a time of rest and renewal. It is a time for re-calculating where we are and where we want to go. It is in fact the most important activity we can participate in and it prepares us, when we arrive at our final destination, to be ready and able to join with the Angels and Saints in singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty”. (Rev. 4:8) In doing so we will fulfill the very purpose of our life.
When we intentionally and consciously participate in the Mass each Sunday (or at the Saturday vigil) we are giving witness to the reality that we have placed God first in our life, even though doing so can sometimes call for a sacrifice on our part.
As a ritual, the Mass can seem repetitive but it is only the framwork that is the same. Like a Bithday party or a Thanksgiving dinner the pattern is the same but the content differs.
Through the structure of the Mass all of creation is united in praise of God, the Father and Almighty Creator. Firmly planted in the earth, the cross points upward to the cosmos, and beyond to the God who is both outside of all of creation, and is simultaneously present to all that happens in our world and the universe. The arms of the crucified Jesus extend outward to embrace all who would turn to him and ask for his life-giving presence and mercy. He gladly and graciously forgives each one of their wrongdoing and sins and gives them the gift of life - himself.
In the Mass the bread and wine, representing all the fruit of the earth and the work of human hands, is at once our gift to God and God’s gift to us.
We do not come to Mass to get something out of it. We come to Mass because we humans, are the only one who can give voice in thanking and praising God for all things but especially for God’s gift of life: the life of this world, our life and the promise of life yet to come.
Because each person is unique, no one can take their place in giving God praise and thanks (worship). True we do not get instant results, but to worship God is why we have been created, chosen and called in Baptism.
Participating in Worship is like being on a cruise ship making its way to port. Sunday worship is meant to be a time of rest and renewal. It is a time for re-calculating where we are and where we want to go. It is in fact the most important activity we can participate in and it prepares us, when we arrive at our final destination, to be ready and able to join with the Angels and Saints in singing, “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty”. (Rev. 4:8) In doing so we will fulfill the very purpose of our life.
When we intentionally and consciously participate in the Mass each Sunday (or at the Saturday vigil) we are giving witness to the reality that we have placed God first in our life, even though doing so can sometimes call for a sacrifice on our part.
- Just as we cannot look directly at the sun so it is difficult to fully grasp what it means to participate in the Mass.
- Participating in the Mass unites a person to Jesus Christ in his dying and rising. It is this event which makes him Lord of the entire world, the cosmos and all time.
- It is so real and rich that we can only understand it in a symbolic ritual, which means we are truly united with Jesus but in a spiritual and sacramental way. It is as if we were putting on "sacramental glasses" to help us realize what is happening and be renewed in mind, heart and spirit.