Meditation%20Monday%20Fruits%20from%20God

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• Meditation Monday Fruits from God
• In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love,
  joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity,
  faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against
  such there is no law.  Gal.5.22-23
• God is Spirit and He is bringing fruits to your
  life! When you spend time in His presence praying
  and meditating when you read the Holy Scriptures
  or go to the mass when you take communion - his
  Spirit is working in you, bringing wonderful
  fruits to you life.
• There are many different fruits you can bring in
  the Kingdom of God. Those described above are the
  fruits of your internal transformation. God is
  changing you when you spend time with Him! His
  Holy Word is filling your soul when you read it. 
• How in short we can describe those fruits? They
  are features of Gods character. If you are
  changed and people can see those fruits in your
  life, they can see God in you! As children of God
  we should manifest his character!
• It is one of our main aims to be like Him! And
  it is possible my dear! It is possible for the
  least important lay person, not only for
  religious people! It is possible for you and me.
  You can resemble Gods character, because God
  said so!

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Thinking Thursday

• If you can get down off a duck, can you get down
  off an elephant?

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Thinking Thursday (extra for Jacob)

• Two fathers and their two sons go fishing
  together. They each catch one fish to take home
  with them. They do not lose any fish, and yet
  when they arrive at home they only have three
  fish. How can this be?
• There are just three people grandfather, father,
  son.

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The Fullness of Time
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• Christians of the first centuries said, "The
  world was created for the sake of the Church.
  God created the world for the sake of communion
  with his divine life, a communion brought about
  by the "convocation" of men in Christ, and this
  "convocation" is the Church. the Church is the
  goal of all things, and God permitted such
  painful upheavals as the angels' fall and man's
  sin only as occasions and means for displaying
  all the power of his arm and the whole measure of
  the love he wanted to give the world
• Just as God's will is creation and is called "the
  world," so his intention is the salvation of men,
  and it is called "the Church. (CCC 760)

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General Timeline of the Church

• Beginning of Creation
• Israelites
• Greeks
• Romans
• Jesus
• Christendom
• Global Church (present)
• End of time (Parousia)

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Beginning of Creation

• Big Bang (or creation) occurred 13.7 billion
  years ago
• The Church has always been a part of Gods plan
  from the beginning.

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The Israelites God Prepares His People

• God establishes His covenant with Abraham almost
  2000 years before Christ
• 1000s of years of God preparing us for the
  Messiah
• The remote preparation for this gathering
  together of the People of God begins when he
  calls Abraham and promises that he will become
  the father of a great people. (CCC 762)

• In the Exodus God saves his people from slavery
  in Egypt in 1450 B.C.
• Establishing the nation of Israelites.
• Kingdom of Israel (Saul, David, Solomon.)
• Prophets called the Jews to holiness and rebuked
  their breaking of the covenant with God.

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Greeks God prepares the Mind

• Logos- or Word (Remember Christ is Logos (Jn 11)
• Universal Greek language
• Greek translations of Old Testament-Septuagint
• Greek Philosophy searched for the truth, the Old
  God and life after death Aristotle, Socrates,
  Plato all prepared the pagan world for the
  possibility of a God w/o knowing that
  Christianity was coming to Greece.

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1.Socrates- Executed in 399 B.C. Founder of
Western Philosophy
2. Plato- Wrote The Republic Studied under
Socrates and taught Aristotle
3. Aristotle- 335 B.C. founded the Lycium in
Athens.
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Roman Empire- God prepares the Stage

• Rome is established in 753 B.C. by Romulus.
• Roman Empire begins 27 B.C., ruled by Augustus.
  (previously Rome was a Republic).
• Pax Romana Roman Peace, marked the 200 year
  period of peacetime within the Empire.

The Pax Romana is important because it is the
culture in which Christianity was introduced.
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Roman Pagan Cults

• Polytheistic
• Romans borrowed and used Greek gods and
  mythology.
• Religion provided political and ideological unity
  for Roman citizenry.
• Romans placated their gods through sacrifice,
  this kind of worship is called pietas.
• Romans held public festivals of debauchery and
  hedonism.

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Roman Empire- How the Stage was set

• Cons
• Disregard of human life.
• Lack of Morals
• Hedonism
• Lame Pagan gods.

• Pros
• Road system
• Universal language Latin
• Lack of war and outside conflict

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Jews in the Roman Empire

• Remember Jesus was a Jew
• Heavily influenced by Greek and Roman culture-
  Hellenized Jews.
• Hellenization- process by which Greek cultural
  attributes were transplanted to the East.
• Seen as second class citizens within the Empire.
• Sadducees and Pharisees- Conservative and
  Progressive respectively.
• Diaspora Greek for dispersion. Jews were
  spread out all over the Roman Empire.

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So What?!

• The Roman Empire set the stage for a new
  uplifting, life filled, spiritually satisfying
  Religion CHRISTIANITY
• Greek and Jewish cultures exists and influence
  the world into which the Church was born.
• The Incarnation is purposefully placed within
  this time period.