Sunday 4/25/2010 - Divinity of Christ

In the words of Pope John Paul II (8/4/2004), “Easter, therefore, is the solemn Epiphany of the divinity of Christ, which is at first concealed by his condition as a servant and a mortal”. This week we discussed the divinity and attributes of Christ. In the process of doing the research for this talk I discovered a new friend, another Doctor of the Church, St. Anselm of Canterbury, a Benedictine monk who lived from 1033-1109, mostly in England. His exploration of the existence of God took a path I had never seen before. I was attracted to his approach because it logically extends into a consideration of the attributes of divinity.

While I start from Philosophy, my real focus is how we participate in the attributes of Christ's divinity. I also include a short consideration of the historical heresies about Jesus' Divinity. My interest isn't so much in the heresies themselves, but how Leo the Great dealt with them because I am seeing the same errors being re-introduced through Wikipedia and various Gnostic websites.

In summary, (JPII audience 11/13/1985) “St Augustine who, in his Commentary on the Gospel according to St John (Commento al Vangelo di San Giovanni)…: ‘Christ, though his nature was divine, did not jealously keep his equality with God to himself'. What would have become of us, here below in the abyss, weak and attached to the earth, hence, incapable of reaching God? Could we have been left to ourselves? Absolutely not. He 'emptied himself, taking the form of a servant', but without abandoning his divine form. Consequently, He who was God, made Himself man, taking on what He was not without losing what He was; thus, God became man. Here, on the one hand, you find help in your weakness, and on the other, you find what you need to attain perfection. Christ raises you up by virtue of His humanity, he guides you by virtue of His human divinity and leads you to his divinity. All Christian preaching, O brothers, and the economy of salvation centered on Christ is summed up in this and in nothing else: in the resurrection of souls and the resurrection of bodies.”

Some specific topics we discussed were:

• How do we know God exists? (St. Anselm of Canterbury, d. 1109)

• What are some of the attributes of divinity?

• How do we participate in these attributes?

• What are some of the common errors about Jesus' Divinity? Drawn mostly from St Leo the Great, and some commentary on Leo from Popes John Paul II and Pius XII. Included in this is the Vatican Curia's response to a recent heresy from 2004. Finally, I also have included some short synopses of what other religions have to say about the divinity of Christ. 

Link to full content of talk: stmarys_ccd_ife_100425_divinity.doc

Sunday 3/14/2010 - Conversion

This week we talked about Conversion. Last week, Peter talked about how the Lord is kind and merciful. … From Fr. Andy’s blog [ref. Fr Andy C], “If there is one key characteristic, one description, that Jesus tells us about the Father, it’s that the Father is full of compassion, forgiveness, and mercy.” As we shall see, it is this recognition of God’s kindness and mercy that is the root of conversion.

In summary, conversion is necessary to our salvation. It is not necessarily a big emotional experience. Even if it does start out with a bang, it will last a lifetime. God brings the Grace (and His Church). We bring our wills. And the gates of Hell will not stand against us. Ref.[Mt 16: 18].

Some specific topics we covered were:

• The connection between Mercy, kindness, forgiveness, conversion and Faith

• Is conversion a one time act of belief (“eternal security”)

• What is the process of conversion like?

• What happens after conversion

Link to full content of talk: stmarys_ccd_ife_100314_conversionv1a.doc