A GREATER PERSPECTIVE

Quite often, people seem to forget what is truly important. We often overlook things because they have become routine and our priorities get screwed up. In this essay, I hope to remind you of the most important thing in our lives. I hope that you’ll take the time to read and internalize what I will say here, as it may be the difference of eternal suffering and perfect joy.

As you may have figured out by now, the topic of this essay is God, specifically, the importance of God in your lives. Sound like a boring homily? Well, maybe so, but really, think about this: God created everything. EVERYTHING. From this statement alone, we should know that God deserves all the praise and glory we can give him. Without God, nothing would exist. No matter what you may think about God being unfair or even sadistic, no matter how much you think He has tortured you or cursed you, you still owe everything to Him, you owe God your life, your family, your friends, your reality. God owes you nothing, you owe God everything.

Now then, how might we be able to show our gratitude to God? Simple, we must worship Him, love Him and obey Him.

Confused?

For a more concrete explanation, read on.

THOU SHALT NOT PUT FALSE GODS BEFORE ME!

Surely, you recognize the above statement, as you probably memorized it in elementary as the first commandment. Following this commandment is the first and most fundamental step to pleasing God.

It is important that we understand that God is supremely perfect and above all things. This should be clear to us, as otherwise, He would not be God. God is exclusively all-powerful; worshipping anyone else would be an insult to Him. This exclusive and supreme adoration is called “Latria”.

Anyway, to practice the first commandment actively, you must realize that we derive three virtues from it: Faith, Hope and Charity. Faith is the unconditional belief in God. Hope is the undying trust in God’s divine providence. Charity is the love for fellow man because of our love for God. Practice these virtues, and you are one step closer to being a good Catholic and a grateful follower of Christ.

Now, while it is important that you practice these virtues, it is also imperative that you avoid the sins that go against them. I will now discuss seven of these sins. To start of, there is the sin of superstition. Superstition is defined as the deviation of religious feeling and practices. Examples of this include the knocking of wood when good things happen and the belief that black cats are unlucky. Religious belief in such practices deviates from the glory and honor that God should receive exclusively.

Another sin that I find important to mention is the sin of idolatry. Idolatry is simply the worshipping of false gods or objects. This sin is similar to superstition in that it is also a deviation of our worship.

Also, there are the sins of atheism and agnosticism which both deal with a person’s perception of God. Atheism is the denial of God’s existence. It is clear that denying His very existence goes against our obligation of worshipping God. Agnosticism on the other hand is the belief that God is at knowable by man. It is the idea that we can never know God, His intentions nor His will. Agnosticism denies our obligation of worship and treats God as a simple unimportant concept.

Finally, I thought it important to discuss two more sins, despair and irreligion, which are often related. Despair is defined as the loss of hope and trust in the Holy Spirit. It often leads to suicide or the cursing of God, which leads us to the sin of irreligion. Acts against religion and God are categorized under irreligion. Perhaps the most prominent example of irreligion is the cursing of God, which is, as mentioned, a result of despair.

THOU SHALT NOT USE THE LORD’S NAME IN VAIN!

The second commandment deals with respect for God. It should be clear to you as to why God expects us to respect Him. He is after all, supremely powerful and perfect, making us infinitely inferior to Him. The observance of this commandment is primarily just the avoidance of two grave sins, blasphemy and sacrilege.

Blasphemy (a.k.a. the sin of the tongue) is the uttering against God with words of hatred, reproach and defiance. Well, you might think that blasphemy is some really serious sin which you’ve never committed and never will. I don’t blame you as it sounds so farfetched, yet you should be warned that there is a certain type of blasphemy that is easily committed. This easily committed type of blasphemy is called material heresy, which is the making fun of God. This is often done as a joke. However, you must understand that God, our Creator and Provider, is not someone to joke about. Mocking His greatness or taking Him lightly is clearly a form of disrespect.

The other main sin against the second sacrament is the sin of sacrilege, which is defined as the defilement or violation of sacred things. Just like blasphemy, sacrilege sounds like a sin that is not easily committed. However, sacrilege too has a rather common and overlooked subcategory. This subcategory is referred to as sacramental sacrilege. Sacramental sacrilege is the lack of respect for a holy sacrament. It is a grave sin, as it insults the legacy that Jesus Christ has left us. Perhaps the most common type of sacramental sacrilege is the defilement of the Holy Eucharist. This occurs when a person in the state of mortal sin receive communion. To be in the state of sin and receive the body of our Savior and Lord is truly disrespectful.

THOU SHALL KEEP HOLY THE SABBATH DAY!

Before discussing the third commandment properly, I think it important that I clarify the term “Sabbath day”. In olden days (Old Testament), the traditional Sabbath day has been the seventh day of the week, Saturday, as God had rested on the seventh day of creation. However, this changed with the new covenant of Christ, when the Christ fulfilled the scriptures and came back to life on Sunday, moving the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday. (Interestingly enough, Jews still consider Saturday the Sabbath day.) Also, the sacrament has been expanded by the Catholic Church to certain days which must also be kept holy, called holy days of obligation. These holy days include Christmas, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the Feast of Mary Mother of God.

Anyway, with that out of the way, we can move on to discuss the entire commandment, particularly the phrase “keep holy the Sabbath day”. What exactly does “keep holy” mean? Well, the keeping holy of Sabbath day is a task that can be broken down into two things, the refraining from certain types of work and the attendance of the mass.

In my opinion, the more important of these is the attendance of mass, as the mass is a time wherein we can truly devote ourselves to God. It is for this reason you are probably more familiar with this requirement. Now, I often hear people complaining that the mass is boring or too long. These complaints stem only from ignorance and under appreciation. Recall again that you owe everything to God, that God is your reason for living, and that without Him you would be absolutely nothing… suddenly, one hour of mass doesn’t seem too much of a big deal. In reality, you should be giving so much more to God. Also, you must realize what is actually happening in the mass. Every Sunday, as you kneel there, possibly with a wandering mind, a miracle occurs at the altar. A miracle! Understand that the bread and wine that the priest holds up becomes the actual body and actual blood of Jesus Christ. In effect, you are witnessing the miracle of the Last Supper. If you were attending the Last Supper with Jesus Christ, wouldn’t you pay attention?

As mentioned earlier, the second requirement of this commandment is that we refrain from certain types of work. Before going into which types of work should be avoided, I think it important that each type of work is defined.

1. Servile Work – primarily physical work, such as carpentry.

2. Cultural Work – intellectual work done for the development of the mind, such as reading.

3. Ordinary Work – work done for the daily sustenance of the body, such as eating food.

4. Judicial/Commercial Work – work done in courts and public trading.

Now that the types of work are clear, we can discuss which types of work are to be avoided. Simply put, all servile, judicial and commercial work is forbidden, while cultural and ordinary work is permissible. Why should we refrain from work on holy days? We refrain from work as a way of showing out respect for God. It is our way of giving one day of each week to God, as we forget about our insignificant work, and take a day to rest and worship our creator. Once again, is it too much for God to ask for just one day out of every seven?

Finally, you might be wondering if any special circumstances might excuse you from keeping the Sabbath day holy. Here are some simple guidelines to follow:

On Mass: You’re intention for going it important. You really should try to go on days of obligation. However, you are excused in the light of physical or moral impossibility. Also, necessity, charity and duty are valid excuses.

On Work: You really should try to avoid work, as it is a simple way of showing respect and love for God. However, if you must work to support yourself or another, then do so. Remember, God is just. He understands that under certain circumstances, these rules should not be applied normally.

CONCLUSION

Hopefully, through this essay, you have come to realize the importance of our devotion to God. I hope too that you now have a better understanding on how you can practice this devotion actively. I leave you with a quote to ponder upon from none other than Jesus Christ himself:

“Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.”

Hello reader!

In this blog entry, I will try to explain the notion of CHANGE. I hope to answer the following questions:

1. What is change?

2. How do the different Greek philosophers explain change? Which are wrong? Which is right?

3. What are the types of change?

So, let’s begin with some everyday examples of change: a slice of bread becoming stale, some water freezing, a grenade exploding, a person standing up, a dog dying, black hair becoming white. All of these are examples of change. In each of the examples, something became different somehow, whether it is its position, its state of matter, its color, its taste or even what it is. This is the very definition of change, the process by which something becomes different.

Change is something that we see everyday in the world around us. It affects us constantly, whether we want it to or not. For this reason, it is important that we strive understand it. This was clear to several Greek philosophers of ancient times, namely Heraclitus, Parmenides and Aristotle. Each of these philosophers came up with his own explanation to change. However, only one of them was right. Now, I shall explain each of the three explanations, revealing the flaws in the two incorrect ones.

HERACLITUS

He based his philosophy on his senses. To explain the phenomenon of change, he simply looked at things, felt things, tasted things, listened to things and smelled things. Through observation of the world around him, he deduced that everything is changing, all the time. He stated that change is constant in all things, giving rise to the expression “nothing is constant, except change”. This implied that no thing can remain the same thing, except in one point in time, denying the existence of any sort of permanence. For example, if I had a bowl of hot soup now, two seconds from now, it is no longer the same bowl of hot soup. It has cooled (albeit just a bit), and is therefore different soup. Morally, it meant that there is no permanent standard for right and wrong, that what is wrong today may be right tomorrow. What Heraclitus failed to see is that his philosophy disproved itself. If everything were indeed changing constantly, than even his philosophy has no permanence. Heraclitus failed to use his reason and based everything solely on his senses, and this was the downfall of his philosophy.

PARMENIDES

We can say that he was the complete opposite of Heraclitus, in perspective and in philosophy. Rather than approach things using his senses, he denied his senses. He claimed that our senses deceive us. Thus, he used purely his reason in explaining things. He began his philosophy with the universally accepted idea that nothing comes from nothing. Parmenides explained that because something cannot come from nothing, all reality must have always been there. He then went on saying that the notion of change implies new attributes of in things arising out of nothing. For example, when black hair becomes white, the new white color must have come out of nothing. It is this idea of something out of nothing that led Parmenides to conclude that change is an illusion. He stated that change is logically impossible, and is therefore false. However, Parmenides’ philosophy was unreasonable, and missing in its analysis. It was missing because of the fact that it excluded the senses. It is through the senses that we perceive reality, ignoring them and basing everything on reason is (ironically) irrational.

ARISTOTLE

Now that the two wrong philosophies have been set aside, I will explain the correct philosophy. Aristotle struck a balance between Parmenides and Heraclitus, between reason and the senses. His philosophy acknowledged the fact that something cannot come from nothing. He explained that the new attributes in things after change has occurred have actually always been there. Aristotle says that while we are not able to perceive these new attributes in things before change, they are there in potency. Thus, going back to the hair example, while the black hair does not really have white in it; it has the potency to become white. In contrast to the notion of potency, Aristotle said that the attributes a thing has in the present are in act, as they have been actualized. Aristotle’s philosophy meant that permanence is possible, as certain parts of a thing may change, without making something a whole new thing. Thus, the black hair, after turning white, is still the same hair, but with a change in color. The thing that stays what it is (the hair in the example) is what Aristotle called the subject.

TYPES OF CHANGE

Now that I have explained the phenomenon of change, I go on to explain the two types of change.

Following Aristotle’s philosophy on change, we see that a thing can change without becoming a totally different thing. This is the more common type of change. It is called accidental change. Examples of this include: the change in position of a car as it moves, the change of color in a picture as it fades and the change of form of ice as it melts. In each of these examples, the thing remains to be what it was. The car is still a car, the picture still a picture and the water still water.

The other type of change is the change wherein a certain thing becomes a whole new thing. This change is called substantial change. Here are a few examples: a paper burning and becoming ash, a tree being cut down and made a table and a grenade exploding. These are substantial because in each example, something becomes something else. The paper is now ash, the tree is now a table and the grenade is now shrapnel.

CONCLUSION

Change is a very interesting phenomenon. It has caused great confusion and debate among philosophers for centuries. It is my hope that through this blog, you have come to understand more the true nature of change. I leave you to ponder on a quote from Aristotle himself:

“Change in all things is sweet.”