6/08/02  life

 What is the driving force to living life? Surely there is something deeper in all of humanity than just survivorship, leaving offspring, and  personal achievement.  We are thinking beings who have surpassed instinct when it comes to choosing life over death.  This is not referring to a moment of jeopardy or of a life threatening situation where instinct will inevitable prevail.  I'm talking about times of idleness when the mind is allowed to reflect, not react.  Is hope the answer to our wanting to live? What is hope -  a mindset that deludes you to a future of merriment and elated times (whatever your merriment is defined as) or an attitude that renders opportunities due to an open mind and flexible creativity, or a thought that time will submit to your control of the present. 

If you chose not to hope, not to have a sight of the future - be that sight an illusion or a feasible goal - why live?  This does not only pertain to the thinking human being.  Aside from logic and reason, an emotion can drive, a passion can drive, but the thinking steers.  A life still wanton by pure emotion is surely errant and haphazard but it still presses on.  That kind of life can drive in circles, forward and backward, with even jumps and summersaults, but it still has velocity and acceleration to get to a destination.  Even the suicidal live for his or her own goal.  They live for death.  The merriment and the elated moments are not foreseen as they wish it to be.  And they are the ones who refuse to dream, to even paint a fictitious scenery and hold on to it as if it were a lottery ticket that has 5 out of 6 correct numbers and the power to the TV went off before you could hear the last number.  To live is to be guaranteed delayed gratification, but the waiting is shorter and more joyful with hope.

Catholicism    So what's the difference

Here is just a breif difference between Catholicism and Protestantism. By no means am I proclaiming one to be better than the other; just pointing out differences.  We (Catholics and Protestants) all believe in the same God and acknowledge the death and resurrections of Christ.  Being the oldest Christian religion still practiced today, Catholics engage in Traditional practices.  There is an hierarchy to preserve the Church's Tradition, including ancient thematical interpretations of the Bible. The Church aims to incorporate Church (covenant), Tradition, and Scripture emphasizing more on Church, then Tradition, and then Scripture.  A better way to describe Tradition would be living the word of God - making lessons a lifestyle, glorifying God through actions and sacraments to deepen our relationship with Him.  

Some Traditions include the Assumption of Mary and the Immaculate Conception of Mary, as well as the Holy Trinity.  All of these topics are not explicitly mentioned in the Bible and yet with Tradition, they are still acknowledged.  Even the intercessory prayers to the Saints is a Tradition long established before Christianity was formed (Col 1:9, 2Th 1:11 &3:1, Jas 5:16).  Intercessory prayer is similar to asking someone, alive, if they can pray for you about a concern of yours.  The only difference is the Saints are physically deceased.  But we are all alive in Christ (Corinthians 15:22) . But make no mistake only Jesus Christ can bridge man to God.  The saints just help construct the bridge. 

The Eucharistic Prayer, Sacrifice, and Communion are replayed at every mass.  This is done to have a higher appreciation for an awesome event one divine being did for all of humanity.  What better way to appreciate than to experience the sacrifice?  The priest in persona Christi speaks the words uttered by Jesus in the Last Supper as if we were there.  We witness Jesus' compassion and love, and when we receive Communion, the bond between believer and Christ is strengthened.  And like the Jews, the meal is a sacred event that requires thanksgiving and bonds those who dine together, the congregation.  Unlike Protestants, Communion can only be taken under a state of grace, after the readings and the teachings of the Gospel.  

The Catholic Bible has seven more books in it than the Protestant Bible.  Depending on where the Jews lived, two different Bibles were used.  The Greek speaking Jews who lived outside of Palestine used the Scripture with the seven books while the Hebrew speaking Jews who lived in Palestine used the Scripture absent of the seven books.  St. Jerome translated the Greek Septuagint (Bible with seven extra books) into Latin for the common people of Europe.  This Latin version is called the Latin Vulgate, used by the Catholic Church.  In the Middle Ages, around 1400 when  Protestants came about following Martin Luther, they translated the Palestinian canon, absent of the seven books.  But even then Luther did not care for Hebrews, James, Jude, and Revelation. Those additional seven other books (also in the Apocrypha) are: Tobit, Judith, Maccabees1, Maccabees 2, Wisdom, Sirach, and Baruch.  Versions of the English Catholic Bible: Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and Revised Standard Version.