(1) Is your life building in-complete? Means as at present are you worried or Happy.
(2)Is maturity increase with age?.
(3)Have you gather knowledge more than what you learned from your school?
(4)What are the methods of gathering more knowledge about Catholicism?
(5)What is mortal sin?
(6) How to manage 7 deadly sin in your life nd become matured catholic?
Are prepared to spend about 10 minutes(0.7%) out of 1440 minutes of today. Then pl watch!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Today church Invite us to analyze, about how to become matured Catholic
Maturity; is a ability to face life in an appropriate manner. This response is generally learned rather than instinctive.
Maturity changes with age,but it is not necessary that it increases with age.
You may be born Catholic,have you advance about knowing Holy Trinity/Mary&saints, beyond the knowledge,that you have acquired from school?.
Specialist doctor has learned biology at school. Will that be enough for him to practice as a matured professional?
Similarly,you have to increase maturity of Catholicism Otherwise you are similar to a man,who lay foundation for a building &unable to finish the work.
Church has basically organize for you to gather such knowledge in 3yr cycle(each yr/5 seasons)of sundayreadings
Let's go thru' today's readings:
1st reading:
Wisdom: 9:13-18 says' Human Wisdom acquired by study, needs to be fortified by the gift of divine wisdom
2 nd reading:
Paul (Phim 9-10,12-17) says paul plead for Christ like treatment for a slave he is sending back to the owner, Philemon
Gospel Lk 14:25-33 says' Jesus lays down conditions for being his followers.
From the readings, one can immediately wonder What should have been the reaction from Jews,how terrible His words must have sounded to them, for whom the family meant everything. He goes on to say that they have to take up your cross and follow Him. The cross is the most despised symbol in all Israel, for it was on a cross that the hated Romans executed troublesome Jews.
Readings are clear,if you want to become Jesus follower, you have to surrender your life to HIM, with no divided loyalties
In order to further analyze this, we have to first check, what Jesus has asked us to do.
When you go against his wishes, you say it is Sin means avoiding bad habits in your life. Mortal SIN is any act or thought of yours,that turns away from God,embracing something else in place. IT IS DEADLY TO LIFE OF GRACE,B'COS IT INSULT THE HONOR OF GOD,& INJURES your SOUL.
3 conditions are needed for a sin to be mortal.
(1)GRAVE Matter -act itself is intrinsically evil &immoral:ex murder/rape/incest/perjury/adu
(2)FULL KNOWLEDGE: you should know your action is evil& immoral
(3)DELIBRATE CONSENT: you should freely choose to commit the act or plan to do it.
VENIAL sins only meet 1or2 conditions of MORTAL SIN,& is less serious,and aren't deadly to your life,it does not kill grace within:
Avoidng sin means, that you lead your life with good habits and avoid bad habits.
Church maintained that 7 vices in particular lead to break one or more10 commandments
These particular bad habits are called the 7 deadly sins because, according to Catholicism, they are mortal sins- sins that kills the sanctifing grace. When you commit a mortal sin, you forfeit heaven and opt for hell by your own free will and actions.
Let's analyze 7 deadly sins I.e Pride, Envy, lust,anger,gluttony,greed and sloth. and remedial acton that you have to take for each
Sin of pride is an inordinate love of self: a super confidence and high esteem in your own abilities, which exagerate your abilities,gifts and talents and ignores your weaknesses, and imperfections.
Pride is key to all other sins, because after you believe that you are more important than you actually are, you compensate for it when others don't agree with your judgment. by lying,cheating, stealing,insulting, ignoring etc. Although acknowledging your converted talents to energy is good, but be clear all these are coming from God.
Humility is best remedy for pride. Pride fools you into thinking that you are the source of your own greatness.
Envy: start demanding,"WHY SHOULD NOT I HAVE EVERY THING THAT OTHERS HAVE?". We are envious of another's goods and jealous of our own. DEEPLY ROUTED JEALOUSY CAN LEAD TO LOSE HEALTH BOTH PHYSICAL AND SPIRITUAL. Paul says Love is not jealious or envious.In order to counter envy, you should develop Meakness and kindness in your life. Pl refer genesis 37-47 about Joseph and his brothers
Lust;it is normal and healthy to be attracted to and to appreciate the opposite sex. That is not lust, and it is not considered a sin. Lust is looking at, imagining and even treating others as mere sex objects to serve your own physical pleasures,rather than an individuals made in the image and likeness of God. Hence it is dis orientated love that seeks not the other but personal individualistic pleasure and satisfaction in everything we do,hence excludes all personal consideration for the sake of sensate experience.
Chastity which moderate desire, is the best remedy for lust. Without chastity,human become like animals that copulate when in heat. Animals have sex with instincts, but human have the gift of reason and can choose when and with whom to be intimate.
Anger: you have no control over what angers you, but you do have control over what you do after you become angry. The deadly sin of anger is the sudden outburst of emotion-namely hostility-sustaining thoughts about the desire for revenge.
Developing patience, is the virtue that allows you to adopt and endure evil, without harboring any destructive feelings, is the best countermeasure. For anger. When you give yourself the time and opportunity to cool off, anger dissipates and more practical concerns come to the front line.
Gluttony: is immoderate eating or drinking too much alcohol. Enjoying delightful dinner is not a sin. Gluttony is freely choosing to over-consume and is voluntary,and merely requires self control and moderation. Periodic fasting,restricting the amount of food you eat and abstinence,avoiding meat or some favorite food is the best defense against gluttony. Unlike dieting where the goal is to lose weight, fasting and abstinence, purify the soul by controlling, desires of the body. Occasionally giving up favorite food and beverages promotes self control and temperance.
Greed:
Inordinate love of desire for earthly possessions. Sometimes this is called as avarice. Gospel refers such a greedy rich man dieing in the same night.. Pl refer LK 12:16-21.
Greed apex of selfishness has ruined marriages,families and friendships.
Generosity is the best weapon against greed freely given some your possessions away, specially to those less fortunate is considered the perfect solution to greed and avarice. Generosity promotes detachment for material things, which come and go. They can be replaced but people can't.
Sloth is laziness, particularly when it concerns prayer and spiritual life. It centers on doing nothing or trivial things. SLOTH ALWAYS WANTING TO REST AND RELAX, with no desire or intentions of making a sacrifice or doing something for others. It is an aversion to work- physical,mental, and spiritual. Sloth breeds indifference, which prevents joy from ever being experienced. Church says that evil habit of being physically present but not consciously participating or being careless in fulfilling your religious duties is also a sin of sloth. You will get some idea if you go thru' Proverb 24:30-34;
Spiritual laziness can only be overcome by practicing the virtue of diligence, which is a habit of keeping focused and paying attention to the work at hand- be it the work of employment or the work of God.Diligence in all things ensures that you don't become idle and start daydreaming leaving reality for fantasy island.
Catholics like all other human beings, are asked to practice virtue and avoid vice.
It generally advce to be God centered in all your actions.
In Conclusion
Today readings challenges every one of us; who claim to be catholics,we have to stand up and to be counted. The world is full of people who called as Christians. But how many are committed to Jesus? How many actually live this Gospel?. How many have tried to place their lives & future in the hands of God or in His care?.
In addition to knowing and practicing to live with 10 commandments with love and pardoning, one has to be vigilant not to attract the 7 deadly sins, to be a matured catholic.
Hence,you avoid pride,Envy, lust, anger,gluttony,greed,sloth,wit
God Bless you.
For more pl visit:
http://weeklycatholicreflectio
http://www.sundayreading.net/
Or
http://holymaryreflection.blog
