True God & True Man

This blogging thing is easy when the topics are easy. I don't think any protestant would argue that Jesus is fully God and fully Man. I think one of the neatest things about Jesus is that since He was fully man, He could choose to follow His own will. However, His human will was to follow His divine will. Isn't that neat? He inspires me to follow my divine will - that is - the will my Heavenly Father has planned for me.

Now, there are 4 types of heresies that have come up about this topic and are still around in some contexts:

• Jesus is not human
• Jesus is not fully human
• Jesus is not divine - Jehovah Witnesses teach that Jesus is not God but rather a created angelic being, Unitarians deny the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus, Christian Scientists fall under this category as well.
  
• Jesus is not fully divine - Mormonism teaches that even God the Father was once not divine, and that we humans can ourselves aspire to the same kind of divinity "achieved" by God the Father of Jesus.

Why is this important? Denying Jesus' humanity makes it impossible for us to see him as our model of holiness - he would not be one of us. Denying Jesus' divinity undermines his entire life and message. I choose to believe in fully God and fully man. I don't understand it, but I don't have to... all we need is faith.

The Trinity

Ok... I touched on the Trinity in the last post, but its the next topic that we discussed in RCIA. I think Fr. Ross started with easy topics for the same reason that I like to start with easy topics! :)

The Trinity - The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit - is something that has always been around, but it was revealed slowly. The Nicene Creed states this fact: "...We believe in ONE Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God ETERNALLY BEGOTTEN of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, NOT MADE, ONE in being with the Father..."

Personal Reflection: Sometimes I forget that I can turn to the Nicene Creed to focus on what Christians believe. It was great that Fr. Ross used this document to help us in RCIA. I know the Trinity is a mystery. It's something I can't understand because I'm a human, but because of faith, I can believe it is true. I grew up knowing about and believing in the Trinity. So, now we've had two topics and two things that Protestants and Catholics have in common. :)

Sign of the Cross

Ok... I'm starting off easy. If you see someone make the sign of the cross you know exactly what religion he/she follows. The sign of the cross has become an outward symbol of Catholicism. However, its an easy place to start because it's not something that has to be exclusive to the Catholic church - for instance, anyone in my Baptist background could make the sign of the cross too.

The sign of the cross is simply invoking the trinity - the father, the son, the holy spirit. It's a way to make ordinary tasks (meal time, sleep, trips, meetings, etc) a holy one. Many times Catholics will make the sign of the cross before praying, receiving a blessing, entering/exiting a church, etc. But as you can see its a practice that any protestant believing in the trinity could make their own. I find it is a good way to remind myself of how awesome God really is. How can He be 3 persons/beings/states in one? It's AMAZING!

Now, there is another aspect of the sign of the cross that occurs during the Mass. Before reading the gospel, each Catholic traces a small sign of the cross on their forehead, lips, and heart. While making the three crosses a silent prayer is given, "Oh Lord bless my mind, my speech, and my heart that I may worthily hear your Word and proclaim it." I had never heard of the prayer, but instead took the purpose of this act is to remind myself that I need God to protect my mind, my lips (what I say), and my heart against the devil. I guess I wasn't too far off.

Personal Reflection: I don't have a problem with the sign of the cross. I think it is a neat way to remind myself of God's greatness, but I tend to forget about it. :) I remember at Mass because everyone else is doing it, but its not something that has become a daily habit for me. I guess this will come over time. I wonder if others who did not grow up Catholic found it hard to remember to make the sign of the cross too. (If anyone who fits this category would like to make a comment or e-mail me, I'd appreciate it)

Testing Testing

Ok... Here it goes... I'm going to try to keep this blog as a way of communication with everyone about RCIA. I began this journey not wanting to talk about what I'm learning. I still don't want to talk about it, but I feel a need to express myself.

I'm going to try to blog about what I'm learning and what I'm feeling. I will welcome comments to help me understand (or if you just want to give me a bit of encouragement... hint hint... Just Kidding) anything that I'm going through.

Blogging is the easiest way because then people can check it when they want to, but can ignore if it they don't want to be bothered too.