Harlot's Child

1.  From the start of the story, we have an unexpected man intruding upon a woman's sleep.  The man's daughter was about to give birth soon.  When the woman, Sadie, gets ready to leave and help the daughter, her son begins to fill us in on the details.  We learn that the daughter is a young unmarried girl, something the son does not take kindly.  However, Sadie, gives the girl her best and does not judge her.  When the daughter says that she is a bad person, Sadie is quick to refute her and never once asks for a reward for her troubles.
2.  After spending copious amounts of time trying to bring the baby into life, Sadie succeeds and wastes no time in baptizing the infant.  After the baby is baptized, he or she dies and is placed in a makeshift coffin from a wardrobe.  The saving act from the midwife is the baptism.  Baptism is meant to cleanse us from original sin and make it possible for us to be considered as children of God.  Babies are incapable of sin but they have original sin.  Therefore, the baby in this story, born with sin, had it erased before he could pass on into the next life.
3.  Twice during the story, Sadie makes two four mile long treks.  The first is very late night, up a steep hill, and very foggy- which on a steep hill with tors and ledges could be very dangerous.  The second is a less dangerous, and due to the "God's blessing" of a sunrise, portrayed as quite pleasant.  This could be seen as symbolic of the baby's unclean spirit progressing into a clean heaven-bound one.  These journeys are important in describing the woman because there is much emphasis on God and how much she trusts in Him to help her live as Jesus did.

Confirmation Homework I Didn't Know About

1.  I see the gifts of the Holy Spirit every time someone performs a selfless act.  Confirmation is likened to combat where being confirmed is like enlisting into an army.  Another example has confirmation act as the branding of cattle, where the signs of the Holy Spirit are the brand.  The gifts are shown to me anytime someone does as Jesus would do, and disregard their benefit or gain so that someone may prosper.  These selfless acts are lighthouses in a sea of selfishness and immorality.  The leader of this army is Christ himself and the confirmed soldiers all meet in the church to become strengthened so that they may further carry out God's will. 
In my personal life, I volunteer every so often at a food pantry and I see adults that volunteer lots of their time to run this thing and they wear these shirts that display their church.  I forget the name of the church and to be honest, I don't care, but they have all been confirmed and display the gift of piety because they are all humble and willing to serve their fellow man like Jesus Christ.  These men and women understand that they are soldiers carrying out the "Commander in Chief's" will.

2.  I cannot think of one of the Holy Spirit's gifts that I essentially need in my life right now.  In minimalistic terms I display almost all of them.  There is one, however, that I would like to be stronger than the rest.  That is my fear of God.  I grew up thinking that God is my friend and that Jesus was a pal that would play soccer with kids like in the picture hung up at St. Columba.  This has greatly affected my more matured prayer life.  I find it almost impossible to ask Jesus Christ, Soccer Megastar, to help one of my friends overcome her depression and anxiety and walk out of her hospital bed.  I've tried multiple times to envision the lord as a humbling power.  For some reason, I have had great success in imagining huge castle doors that reach into space or a large planet-like ball of blue plasma.  And then other times, I fail utterly and imagine George Washington.  These tangents, distract greatly from focusing on the true nature of what my prayers are dealing with.  So all in all, I need a more prevalent fear of God to aid me in my prayers and intentions.

Distanced Learning The Third

1.  Ludwig thinks that grace is an exclusive gift to Catholics that is given by the sacraments.  He is a Protestant and believes a different definition of grace- that doing kind acts without reward are rewarded with grace.
2.  The Church does not want Sacraments viewed as a "join or die" requirement to get into heaven.  This means it does not want to force these sacraments onto people.
3.  Sacraments should be seen as a relationship with God.  They will further the bond between, however God will love us no matter what we do.  It is then placed in our hands to either choose Heaven or Hell.
4.  God asks us to believe in Him and gives us the freedom to believe or disbelieve.  We choose whether we receive his grace through the Sacraments or not.
5.  The Incarnation shows that rather than force belief in Him, God attempts to communicate his love for us through his son and offer us salvation.
6.  God uses symbols so much but only ever communicates himself through matter.  These "gobs" are attempting to ruin the message by saying that there are no symbols in matter and that everything should be taken literally.
7.  God used matter to prove his points and further deepen the meaning of his symbols.  For example, Jesus rising again is symbolic of when we will live again.
8.  Everything about us will be redeemed, not just our spiritual body.
9.  Though the symbols have meaning, there is a spiritual gift given by the sacraments- grace.
10.  Sacraments are a way for us to channel God's infinite love into something tangible.  Like putting an ocean in a glass of water.
11. Grace saves us.

The Second Day of Learning

Introduction: Fulton describes a sacrament as something with two faces.  One is the physical aspect which we encounter in the real world, like pouring water over a baby's head.  The second is the spiritual aspect which is not readily available for perception, like original sin being washed away.  So in order to fully understand sacraments, we have to have a divine sense of humor and be able to take things in different manners.
Bible: The Bible is very much like sacraments.  There are two separate interpretations to be made.  There is the blunt story component of the Bible that acts a story.  However the stories all contain symbols which contribute to a deeper spiritual meaning.  The reason why the Bible is written that way is to more easily communicate the symbols by using tangible and relative stories.
Sacraments and Man:  In life, there are three planes of thinking.  The lowest plane is one of ignorance.  On this plane people are content with their everyday routine.  The next plane contains people that recognize reason and purpose in everything.  They are free of any bindings that the lower plane has.  The highest plane is for people who have reached a spiritual union with God.  These people are completely free and have/need only their faith.  We can reach the third plane through God's Grace, which is given to us through the Sacraments.
Conditions of Life: As humans, we have to be able to maintain ourselves physically and sociably, if living amongst others.  This is withheld through basic necessary actions, like eating and keeping healthy.  There are also some guidelines to being spiritually healthy, which include the Sacraments- ultimately, grace.
Efficacy: Blood is a good sign of the Sacraments because it is what gives us life.  It can be shared with another to promote their life.  Because blood is essential to life, it is as important as the Sacraments giving us grace.
Application: Sacraments give grace only if grace is sought.  Even then, grace can work in different ways.  Depending on our situation, God's grace will impact us very differently to suit our current needs.
Sheen: The Divine Sense of Humor is needed to fulfill man's desires.  We all want to be happy and in order to do that, we must reach the third plane of thinking.  This can only be done by understanding the sacraments with a sense of humor and being able to understand the symbols and signs and receive God's grace.  This will free us and allow us to be happy with a broad spiritual understanding of the world.

The Curious Case of Harry

1987- Harry's implied suicide is justified in this statement.  He thought that he would find the Kingdom through Baptism and his unshakable faith led him to implicitly drown himself looking for the Lord.  Basically, the sin of suicide becomes a path to God.
1988- Harry wanted to be in the Kingdom of God, and by killing himself, a sin, he will be reborn in heaven because of his faith.
1989- Suicide, in this case, is justified because Harry was being "neglected" at home because of his parent's alcoholism and smoking- Harry wanted something more in life- like the Kingdom of God.
1990- This implies that Harry's life would be made better because of his neglect at home- he shall be healed by the Holy Spirit.
1991- Harry was unafraid to accept death because his want of a better life was  justified, therefore his walking into the river was a sign of his acceptance of what God had planned for him.
1992- Bevel had compared the river to Jesus' blood, shed for the forgiveness of our sins.  As stated earlier, Harry used Jesus' blood to justify his actions and be received by God and the powers of the Holy Spirit.
1993- This is almost a flawless retelling of what happened to Harry.  He willingly went out to meet the Lord in the river.  After a few unsuccessful tries, he still hold faith and pushes himself to find the Lord.  The Holy Spirit then takes him to the Lord because of his persistence.
1994- The boy that uses his ailment to collect money could be considered wicked.  This boy does not try to meet God like Harry did so his reward is being withheld from him.
1995- When Harry got away from his house.  He became "free" from his mom and dad's oppression, which in this case was their neglect.
1996- Harry told Bevel that he wanted to be baptized because he would not have to return home.  God's grace is the gifts that Baptism promised the boy.
1997- Bevel tells Harry that he would begin to count.  What this means is that Harry counted how long he was underwater and that he was now given an "option" to justify himself- he had never noticed it (never counted before).
1998- Normally, a boy drowning himself in a river seems outlandish to us.  However, when God is brought in, the action seems normal, and almost beautiful.  The boy had no place at home and wished to make a new home with God.
1999- Harry did not feel loved at his house.  Being Baptized showed him that there was another house that he could go to- the house of the Lord.
2000- God's grace was giving Harry a pathway out of his horrible home.  Harry wanted nothing more and was able to use God's grace to deliver himself to God by way of drowning.
2001- This could be seen as Harry's parent's neglect was a sign of grace as it opened up Harry to willingly want to be embraced by the love of the Holy Spirit and God.
2002- Man's free response is Harry's walking into the water.  He recognized the gift God was offerring to give and willingly received it.
2003- The gift of the Holy Spirit was Bevel's ability to communicate very effectively and make Harry see God's grace.  
2004- The grace of state was Ms. Connin who was the one to take up Harry with open arms.  She did not push him aside like his parents do and loved him like he had never been loved- thus providing the groundwork for the events to follow.
2005- The grace was present in Harry because he knew that he wanted something greater.  Each time the river pushed his head above water, he put it right back under and only wanted the Kingdom of God more.