Meditation to pray, and to know better our religion, to increase our faith, end become better catholics.
miércoles, 24 de julio de 2013
BIOGRAPHY OF THE HOLY FATHER
FRANCIS
The first Pope of the Americas Jorge Mario Bergoglio hails from Argentina. The 76-year-old Jesuit Archbishop of Buenos Aires is a prominent figure throughout the continent, yet remains a simple pastor who is deeply loved by his diocese, throughout which he has travelled extensively on the underground and by bus during the 15 years of his episcopal ministry.
“My people are poor and I am one of them”, he has said more than once, explaining his decision to live in an apartment and cook his own supper. He has always advised his priests to show mercy and apostolic courage and to keep their doors open to everyone. The worst thing that could happen to the Church, he has said on various occasions, “is what de Lubac called spiritual worldliness”, which means, “being self-centred”. And when he speaks of social justice, he calls people first of all to pick up the Catechism, to rediscover the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes. His project is simple: if you follow Christ, you understand that “trampling upon a person’s dignity is a serious sin”.
Despite his reserved character — his official biography consists of only a few lines, at least until his appointment as Archbishop of Buenos Aires — he became a reference point because of the strong stances he took during the dramatic financial crisis that overwhelmed the country in 2001.
He was born in Buenos Aires on 17 December 1936, the son of Italian immigrants. His father Mario was an accountant employed by the railways and his mother Regina Sivori was a committed wife dedicated to raising their five children. He graduated as a chemical technician and then chose the path of the priesthood, entering the Diocesan Seminary of Villa Devoto. On 11 March 1958 he entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus. He completed his studies of the humanities in Chile and returned to Argentina in 1963 to graduate with a degree in philosophy from the Colegio de San José in San Miguel. From 1964 to 1965 he taught literature and psychology at Immaculate Conception College in Santa Fé and in 1966 he taught the same subject at the Colegio del Salvatore in Buenos Aires. From 1967-70 he studied theology and obtained a degree from the Colegio of San José.
On 13 December 1969 he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Ramón José Castellano. He continued his training between 1970 and 1971 at the University of Alcalá de Henares, Spain, and on 22 April 1973 made his final profession with the Jesuits. Back in Argentina, he was novice master at Villa Barilari, San Miguel; professor at the Faculty of Theology of San Miguel; consultor to the Province of the Society of Jesus and also Rector of the Colegio Máximo of the Faculty of Philosophy and Theology.
On 31 July 1973 he was appointed Provincial of the Jesuits in Argentina, an office he held for six years. He then resumed his work in the university sector and from 1980 to 1986 served once again as Rector of the Colegio de San José, as well as parish priest, again in San Miguel. In March 1986 he went to Germany to finish his doctoral thesis; his superiors then sent him to the Colegio del Salvador in Buenos Aires and next to the Jesuit Church in the city of Córdoba as spiritual director and confessor.
It was Cardinal Antonio Quarracino, Archbishop of Buenos Aires, who wanted him as a close collaborator. So, on 20 May 1992 Pope John Paul II appointed him titular Bishop of Auca and Auxiliary of Buenos Aires. On 27 May he received episcopal ordination from the Cardinal in the cathedral. He chose as his episcopal motto, miserando atque eligendo, and on his coat of arms inserted the ihs, the symbol of the Society of Jesus.
He gave his first interview as a bishop to a parish newsletter, Estrellita de Belém. He was immediately appointed Episcopal Vicar of the Flores district and on 21 December 1993 was also entrusted with the office of Vicar General of the Archdiocese. Thus it came as no surprise when, on 3 June 1997, he was raised to the dignity of Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires. Not even nine months had passed when, upon the death of Cardinal Quarracino, he succeeded him on 28 February 1998, as Archbishop, Primate of Argentina and Ordinary for Eastern-rite faithful in Argentina who have no Ordinary of their own rite.
Three years later at the Consistory of 21 February 2001, John Paul ii created him Cardinal, assigning him the title of San Roberto Bellarmino. He asked the faithful not to come to Rome to celebrate his creation as Cardinal but rather to donate to the poor what they would have spent on the journey. As Grand Chancellor of the Catholic University of Argentina, he is the author of the books: Meditaciones para religiosos (1982), Reflexiones sobre la vida apostólica (1992) and Reflexiones de esperanza (1992).
In October 2001 he was appointed General Relator to the 10th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the Episcopal Ministry. This task was entrusted to him at the last minute to replace Cardinal Edward Michael Egan, Archbishop of New York, who was obliged to stay in his homeland because of the terrorist attacks on September 11th. At the Synod he placed particular emphasis on “the prophetic mission of the bishop”, his being a “prophet of justice”, his duty to “preach ceaselessly” the social doctrine of the Church and also “to express an authentic judgement in matters of faith and morals”.
All the while Cardinal Bergoglio was becoming ever more popular in Latin America. Despite this, he never relaxed his sober approach or his strict lifestyle, which some have defined as almost “ascetic”. In this spirit of poverty, he declined to be appointed as President of the Argentine Bishops’ Conference in 2002, but three years later he was elected and then, in 2008, reconfirmed for a further three-year mandate. Meanwhile in April 2005 he took part in the Conclave in which Pope Benedict XVI was elected.
As Archbishop of Buenos Aires — a diocese with more than three million inhabitants — he conceived of a missionary project based on communion and evangelization. He had four main goals: open and brotherly communities, an informed laity playing a lead role, evangelization efforts addressed to every inhabitant of the city, and assistance to the poor and the sick. He aimed to reevangelize Buenos Aires, “taking into account those who live there, its structure and its history”. He asked priests and lay people to work together. In September 2009 he launched the solidarity campaign for the bicentenary of the Independence of the country. Two hundred charitable agencies are to be set up by 2016. And on a continental scale, he expected much from the impact of the message of the Aparecida Conference in 2007, to the point of describing it as the “Evangelii Nuntiandi of Latin America”.
Until the beginning of the recent sede vacante, he was a member of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the Congregation for the Clergy, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Pontifical Council for the Family and the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
Here is the translation of Pope Francis' homily at Mass for the Solemnity of Pentecost which was celebrated this morning at St. Peter's Square.
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Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today we contemplate and re-live in the liturgy the outpouring of the Holy Spirit sent by the risen Christ upon his Church; an event of grace which filled the Upper Room in Jerusalem and then spread throughout the world.
But what happened on that day, so distant from us and yet so close as to touch the very depths of our hearts? Luke gives us the answer in the passage of the Acts of the Apostles which we have heard (2:1-11). The evangelist brings us back to Jerusalem, to the Upper Room where the apostles were gathered. The first element which draws our attention is the sound which suddenly came from heaven like the rush of a violent wind, and filled the house; then the tongues as of fire which divided and came to rest on each of the apostles. Sound and tongues of fire: these are clear, concrete signs which touch the apostles not only from without but also within: deep in their minds and hearts. As a result, all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, who unleashed his irresistible power with amazing consequences: they all began to speak in different languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. A completely unexpected scene opens up before our eyes: a great crowd gathers, astonished because each one heard the apostles speaking in his own language. They all experience something new, something which had never happened before: We hear them, each of us, speaking our own language. And what is it that they are they speaking about? Gods deeds of power.
In the light of this passage from Acts, I would like to reflect on three words linked to the working of the Holy Spirit: newness, harmony and mission.
1. Newness always makes us a bit fearful, because we feel more secure if we have everything under control, if we are the ones who build, programme and plan our lives in accordance with our own ideas, our own comfort, our own preferences. This is also the case when it comes to God. Often we follow him, we accept him, but only up to a certain point. It is hard to abandon ourselves to him with complete trust, allowing the Holy Spirit to be the soul and guide of our lives in our every decision. We fear that God may force us to strike out on new paths and leave behind our all too narrow, closed and selfish horizons in order to become open to his own. Yet throughout the history of salvation, whenever God reveals himself, he brings newness and change, and demands our complete trust: Noah, mocked by all, builds an ark and is saved; Abram leaves his land with only a promise in hand; Moses stands up to the might of Pharaoh and leads his people to freedom; the apostles, huddled fearfully in the Upper Room, go forth with courage to proclaim the Gospel. This is not a question of novelty for noveltys sake, the search for something new to relieve our boredom, as is so often the case in our own day. The newness which God brings into our life is something that actually brings fulfilment, that gives true joy, true serenity, because God loves us and desires only our good. Let us ask ourselves: Are we open to Gods surprises? Or are we closed and fearful before the newness of the Holy Spirit? Do we have the courage to strike out along the new paths which Gods newness sets before us, or do we resist, barricaded in transient structures which have lost their capacity for openness to what is new?
2. A second thought: the Holy Spirit would appear to create disorder in the Church, since he brings the diversity of charisms and gifts; yet all this, by his working, is a great source of wealth, for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of unity, which does not mean uniformity, but which leads everything back to harmony. In the Church, it is the Holy Spirit who creates harmony. One of Fathers of the Church has an expression which I love: the Holy Spirit himself is harmony Ipse harmonia est. Only the Spirit can awaken diversity, plurality and multiplicity, while at the same time building unity. Here too, when we are the ones who try to create diversity and close ourselves up in what makes us different and other, we bring division. When we are the ones who want to build unity in accordance with our human plans, we end up creating uniformity, standardization. But if instead we let ourselve be guided by the Spirit, richness, variety and diversity never become a source of conflict, because he impels us to experience variety within the communion of the Church. Journeying together in the Church, under the guidance of her pastors who possess a special charism and ministry, is a sign of the working of the Holy Spirit. Having a sense of the Church is something fundamental for every Christian, every community and every movement. It is the Church which brings Christ to me, and me to Christ; parallel journeys are dangerous! When we venture beyond (proagon) the Churchs teaching and community, and do not remain in them, we are not one with the God of Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Jn 9). So let us ask ourselves: Am I open to the harmony of the Holy Spirit, overcoming every form of exclusivity? Do I let myself be guided by him, living in the Church and with the Church?
3. A final point. The older theologians used to say that the soul is a kind of sailboat, the Holy Spirit is the wind which fills its sails and drives it forward, and the gusts of wind are the gifts of the Spirit. Lacking his impulse and his grace, we do not go forward. The Holy Spirit draws us into the mystery of the living God and saves us from the threat of a Church which is gnostic and self-referential, closed in on herself; he impels us to open the doors and go forth to proclaim and bear witness to the good news of the Gospel, to communicate the joy of faith, the encounter with Christ. The Holy Spirit is the soul of mission. The events that took place in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago are not something far removed from us; they are events which affect us and become a lived experience in each of us. The Pentecost of the Upper Room in Jerusalem is the beginning, a beginning which endures. The Holy Spirit is the supreme gift of the risen Christ to his apostles, yet he wants that gift to reach everyone. As we heard in the Gospel, Jesus says: I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to remain with you forever (Jn 14:16). It is the Paraclete Spirit, the Comforter, who grants us the courage to take to the streets of the world, bringing the Gospel! The Holy Spirit makes us look to the horizon and drive us to the very outskirts of existence in order to proclaim life in Jesus Christ. Let us ask ourselves: do we tend to stay closed in on ourselves, on our group, or do we let the Holy Spirit open us to mission?
Todays liturgy is a great prayer which the Church, in union with Jesus, raises up to the Father, asking him to renew the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. May each of us, and every group and movement, in the harmony of the Church, cry out to the Father and implore this gift. Today too, as at her origins, the Church, in union with Mary, cries out:Veni, Sancte Spiritus! Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love! Amen.
In these three readings, I see a common element: that of movement. In the first reading, it is the movement of a journey; in the second reading, the movement of building the Church; in the third, in the Gospel, the movement involved in professing the faith. Journeying, building, professing.
Journeying. "O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord" (Is 2:5). This is the first thing that God said to Abraham: Walk in my presence and live blamelessly. Journeying: our life is a journey, and when we stop moving, things go wrong. Always journeying, in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with the blamelessness that God asked of Abraham in his promise.
Building. Building the Church. We speak of stones: stones are solid; but living stones, stones anointed by the Holy Spirit. Building the Church, the Bride of Christ, on the cornerstone that is the Lord himself. This is another kind of movement in our lives: building.
Thirdly, professing. We can walk as much as we want, we can build many things, but if we do not profess Jesus Christ, things go wrong. We may become a charitable NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of the Lord. When we are not walking, we stop moving. When we are not building on the stones, what happens? The same thing that happens to children on the beach when they build sandcastles: everything is swept away, there is no solidity. When we do not profess Jesus Christ, the saying of Léon Bloy comes to mind: "Anyone who does not pray to the Lord prays to the devil." When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.
Journeying, building, professing. But things are not so straightforward, because in journeying, building, professing, there can sometimes be jolts, movements that are not properly part of the journey: movements that pull us back.
This Gospel continues with a situation of a particular kind. The same Peter who professed Jesus Christ, now says to him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. I will follow you, but let us not speak of the Cross. That has nothing to do with it. I will follow you on other terms, but without the Cross. When we journey without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord, we are worldly: we may be bishops, priests, cardinals, popes, but not disciples of the Lord.
My wish is that all of us, after these days of grace, will have the courage, yes, the courage, to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the Lord’s Cross; to build the Church on the Lord’s blood which was poured out on the Cross; and to profess the one glory: Christ crucified. And in this way, the Church will go forward.
My prayer for all of us is that the Holy Spirit, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother, will grant us this grace: to walk, to build, to profess Jesus Christ crucified. Amen.
ROME, MARCH 3, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is the translation of a commentary by Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, Pontifical Household preacher, on the Gospel of the first Sunday of Lent.
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First Sunday of Lent (cycle B)
(Genesis 9:8-15; Peter 3:18-22; Mark 1:12-15)
With Jesus in the Desert
Let us concentrate on the first phrase of the Gospel: "The Spirit drove Jesus to the desert." It contains an important appeal at the beginning of Lent. Jesus had just received the messianic investiture in the Jordan, to take the Good News to the poor, heal afflicted hearts, preach the Kingdom. But he is not in haste to do any of these things. On the contrary, obeying an impulse of the Holy Spirit, he withdraws to the desert where he remains for 40 days, fasting, praying, meditating and struggling. All this in profound solitude and silence.
There have been in history legions of men and women who have chosen to imitate Jesus in his withdrawal to the desert. In the East, beginning with St. Anthony Abbot, they withdrew to the deserts of Egypt or Palestine; in the West, where there was no deserts of sand, they withdrew to solitary places, remote mountains and valleys.
But the invitation to follow Jesus in the desert is addressed to all. Monks and hermits chose a site in the desert; we must at least choose a time in the desert. To spend some time in the desert means to empty ourselves and be immersed in silence, rediscover the way of our heart, remove ourselves from the exterior racket and pressures to come into contact with the most profound sources of our being.
Well lived, Lent is a kind of cure of the poisoning of the soul. In fact, there is not only the contamination of carbon monoxide; there is also acoustic and luminous contamination. We are all somewhat inebriated with noise and externals. Man sends his waves to the periphery of the solar system, but in the majority of cases ignores what is in his own heart. To escape, to relax, to amuse oneself -- are words that mean to come out of oneself, to remove oneself from reality.
There are "escape" shows (the TV provides them in avalanche), "escape" literature. They are called, significantly, fiction. We prefer to live in fiction than in reality. Today there is much talk of "aliens," but aliens or alienated we already are by our own doing in our own planet, without the need of others coming from outside.
Young people are the most exposed to this inebriation with noise. "Let heavier work be laid upon the men that they may labor at it," Pharaoh said to his taskmasters, "and not listen to the words of Moses and not think of breaking out of slavery" (Exodus 5:9). Today's "Pharaohs" say, in a more tacit but no less peremptory way: "Increase the racket over these young people, so that they will be reckless and not think, not decide on their own, but follow the fashion, buy what we want them to buy, and consume the products we tell them to."
What can we do? Being unable to go to the desert, we must create a bit of desert within ourselves. In this regard, St. Francis of Assisi gives us a practical suggestion. "We have," he said, "a hermitage always with us; wherever we go and whenever we wish it we can enclose ourselves in it as hermits. The hermitage is our body and the soul is the hermit within!" We can go into this "portable" hermitage without being seen by anyone, even while we are traveling on a very crowded bus. It all consists in knowing how to "go into ourselves" every now and then.
May the Spirit that "drove Jesus to the desert" lead us also, help us in the struggle against evil and prepare us to celebrate Easter renewed in the spirit!
Our soul opens to receive with efficacy the Divine Grace from the Holy Spirit.
The good quality is enforced by the action (inspiration) from the Holy Spirit that we should consider “the sweet host of our soul”, and treat us with its seven Gifts of:Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord.This gives us peace and gladness, the joy of happiness, with these Gifts we will never sink, they are the most great strength.
In order to obtain the previous, that are supernatural virtues it is the practice of the human virtues what gives their foundation, not only the possession of them, but its enforced practice, the facts of: sincerity, veracity, equanimity, seriousness, patience,temperance; this is the armour of the good Christian.
We should remember that every thing in live is transitory, and when things appear to be sinking around us the important issue is to be in Christ, with Christ that we have its inhabitation in our soul, God in usand us in God, this is our stronghold. The Grace of God is so rich that it cannot be compared to any thing, being in grace means that we are in the road to eternal salvation, and that is what we have to look for trough our dealing with God, the frequent Sacraments of Confession and Communion. The means are always at hand. Grace of God is a gift that in the last analysis is that our love of God and our will is with us, receiving Absolution and if it is completed with receiving the Eucharist lets us receive Grace in super abundant way.
State of Grace is being without Mortal Sin not pardoned by the Sacrament of Penance, it is the most perfect way of life for a catholic person it is a must that we see our miseries and look for ourpurification in front of God, that knows us better than ourselves, keeping in mind the promises that He has given us, of a happy eternal existence, it the theological Virtue of Hope that enables us to persecute the State of Grace once we have fallenfrom Gods Grace due to mortal Sin. It is raising again and again due to our fallen nature, we have two inclinations in human nature,one to the bad the ugly, sinful behavior and other of good intentions and love of God´s will, so when we commit a mortal sin, it is our most urgent issue to get God´s pardon trough confession, and recovering State of Grace, that should be the appropriate catholic way of life.And other matter of great importance is that in order to receive the Sacrament of communion we must be n State of Grace. Receiving God with its Divinity, its Body and Soul and sacramental y reside in Him, and that is what communion is, can only be donewhen we are in State of Grace, otherwise we commit a mortal sin called Sacrilege. It is inescapable to receive the Sacrament of Eucharist to be in State of Grace.
As we can appreciate being, living in State of Grace is not an easy issue, and that is the reason by which we must wrestlewith virility since it is a state in which we must endure. The promises of God and the Virtue of Hope are our best allies in this struggle. We cannot be liberated from the goad, tells us St. Paul, but we will always be able to fight it and God provides us with the weapons needed to protect us , and never the force of evil will be greater of our capacity of defend. To get the permanent State of Grace what we need is precisely the Grace of God, so we have to prey for it, ask that we are given it since itis needed to stay in it. We will never be free of the goad but we will be able to fight permanently and win. That is what a good catholic is supposed to do. It is in the middle of this contest that we find Jesus Christ and our cherish for Him increases. Reject of Mortal Sin is an attitude that confirms us in our love of God, it is in the use of our freedom and free will that God expects us to behave following his example, in such a way that we become temples of the Holy Trinity. Not only in the loneliness of a monastic cell is where we can sanctify our life, but also trough living in State of Grace, in the middle of the world, doing our daily duties, professional, family, sport, rest,leisure, etc.
God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, came to this world as a man to teach us human kind those things that God Father, the first person of the Holy Trinity, wanted to reveal to us humans. This was ilumunation, ligtht, and without it our world would not be what it is, it would be chaos.
And if we ignore this light we get near to catastrophe; as the moral theology teach, beingit´s objective to show us the way of salvation trough to proper behavior according to Gods will, that tells us, we need this light to assure that our way is adequate to Gods salvation plan.
We have to keep in mind that our faith is not only our believes, of course they are part of our faith but it is living our faith that is important, our faith has to be operative, this is that we have lo live according to our believes, and if we are conscious of Gods will and act accordingly we are in the safe way of salvation. Nothing is more important than this, in our mind it is necessary that we are sure that Gods will is being served by us.
Serving God as he expects us to do it, includes that we have a clear knowledge of our obligations, and norms, that is to have the information that,given our faith, since it is mandatory that the faith exists, in order to be able to profit from catholic education.
There are three foundations, that sustained in our faith, let usclearlybelieve without doubt whatsoever, all what is related to the Holy Trinity, and Jesus´ Doctrine: A)the Cannon of the Holy Scriptures, specially the New Testament, B) the Holy Tradition, and C) the Ministry of the Church, lets examineeach of this issues:
A.-HOLY SCRIPTURES, SPECIALLY THE NEW TESTAMENT, are for the Old Testament a” corpus” of books that started to be written in the time of “Moises” , after the Exodus, They start withthe Genesis and end with a short book written as disputes, by ” Malaquias”, a prophet of Jesus Christ, probably in the last quarter of the V century before Christ. All these books were inspired to the authors (“hagiógrafos”) by the Holy Spirit, so they come directly from God. They are free of errors, and try to teach the way of eternal salvation. The contents of the NEW TESTAMENT, is an other “ corpus “of books that along with the other corpus form the one and single book called the Bible, this second “corpus” contains part of the direct Revelation, self made by Jesus Christ to his Apostles, and reveled to S. Paul, in a very special manner, along with a historical book of the acts of the Apostles, after the death and Resuscitation of Jesus. Jesus Christ never wrote himself and not all that He teached was written.
B.-HOLY TRADITION, many of the teachings of Christ were not written, they were transmitted oraly, as a matter of fact all of the Gospels, were TRADITION before they were written, these teaching, not written was transmitted oraly from person to person to all generations. So the apostolic teaching and Revelation of Jesus Christ is not only the written word, it is also the TRADITIONthat is the oral word brought and kept in the TRADITION.
C.-THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH,by Ministry of the Church we have to consider two aspects, one is the hole of the hierarchy of the church, that is, all its bishops in good relation with the Pope, head of the church in all the world, considered as a corporation, andthe other aspect is the contents of its official teaching , here we have to remember and consider that they are assisted by the Holy Spirit who until the end of times will be its guardian and inspiration, the teaching of the Ministry of the Church is focusedto all human beings , not only Christians, but to all mankind. This is the way that guaranties the purity, the fidelity and conservation of the word of Christ as it was spoken to his apostles, and is transmited to us. The existence and work of the Ministry is of great necessity and service, to assure that what was told directly by Jesus Christ to his apostles, is the same that the past, the actual and the future bishops get. This is the reason of the “sinodos” and councils that take place in different parts of the world, that assisted by the Holy Spirit interpret the doctrine of Christ.
The conclusions of this gatherings are transmitted to the diocesan priests, Catholics in general, and in documents that are intended for all mankind, there fore, the sermons of priests and bishops, and the ample catechize that the Catholic Church practices, assures that the knowledge is of benefit. “Enciclicas” and pastoral letters are published in ample diffuseness, in media, including Internet.
If on the contrary,in place of the specialistsassisted by the Holy Spirit, and this was the promise and offer of Jesus Christ, the interpretation is left to the lay person, misinterpretation will occur and the extravagant profusion of sects happen, (there are more than 36,000 different sects). It is imperative that the promise and offer of Jesus that was done to his only and one church, be remembered and recognized.
Its well known that the highest summits of thought that the human race has reached were in the times of Socrates , Plato and Aristotle. But since they were pre-Christian they lacked the knowledge contained in the Divine Revelation, specially the one that Jesus himself left to us personally, so let´s meditate only in a few issues from this Divine Revelation that could not be thought by humans, and only came to our knowledge, thanks to the word of Jesus. As examples we can mention God´s trinity of persons in one Divine Nature, and the creation of all humans as image and resemble of God.
In a similar way we can mention the creation by the sole God´s will an it´s providence that not only creates but preserves the order of the universe. Creation is not only what we can see or imagine and that is related to matter , or not, andit includesissues like the existence of entities due to the need to “invent”existence itself, also time had to be created, sincebefore time existed, there could notbe time at all. Every thing we know is subject to time and existence, except God who created them, and is, not only exists, as He Himself said. He is who He is. Creation includes heaven, hell and universe, the good angels and the bad ones the traitors and disrespectful of God, that suffer in eternity. And among this all manhood is created as a person with a material body and a spiritual soul, a flesh that will follow the laws of matter and an eternal spirit created for each and every one of the conceived persons of humanity, !created at the moment of conception! Is this not amazing? “”God acting in the creation of a new soul at the moment of the creation of a new human being by it´s parents, God and mankind acting together.””Humans are, due to their spiritual soul, created for eternity,
One of the most difficult things to be understood, even by scientists without faith is that mankind is the only creature besides the angels in heaven, that exist with reason and freedom, we have a notion of the enormous size of the universe, and it seems that given our size, humans are too small,in our earth, and even our galaxy to be the only intelligent life in that immensity. What n has to be understood is that the huge universe is enormous to us, but size is no problem for God creator, we must remember that he created (invented) sizes not only in the big stars and planets etc. but in microscopic life.
The influence of Christianity in philosophy and in general of the cultures and knowledge of the west world was definitive. Christian Morality from the third century on,has a great incidence in the customs and concepts of family, marriage, the human person and its dignity, improving them in a strong manner, and with the discovery of the New World the colonies brought Christianity to most of the territories. This influence permeated every thing, the forms of government, education, religion included. God is since the third century for all the West Worldpersonal and benevolent we have a true theology and a religion that unites us to the Divinity. The faith, the morality, the love of God and its creatures along with true knowledge of our destiny and precedence is extended.
