CCTD004 Great Expectations
Great Expectations [34:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Guide to "Great Expectations", which includes references, prayers, and reflections: DownloadThe Good News about human destiny can fill us with great expectations all of the days of our lives — lives which are God-created, or seeded for eternity, using the phrase from our last conversation. This podcast is the second in a series of three which correspond with the St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, in Holladay, Utah. People who are interested in knowing more about Catholicism were welcomed recently at the parish and this conversation addresses two aspects of human destiny implied during that Welcome Session; first, human happiness, and then, second, its vital link with human freedom.
The destiny of eternal happiness is in the seed of eternity, as was discussed in the first part of this conversation. It is our God-given heart’s-desire. And only God can satisfy the longing of our human heart.
True human happiness, for Catholics, is described in the little list we call the Beatitudes. These Beatitudes can be seen as a summation of Jesus’ teaching. They appear in the Gospels according to Matthew and Luke. Living life following the patterns laid out here leads to bliss, to gladness of heart, to beatitude. Living life following the patterns laid out here is why God made us — to know the divine heart, to love as the Spirit leads us to, and to serve in the manner of Christ, which is without limit. As we do this, we inherit eternal life.
The pattern we establish while we are alive is the pattern we take with us after death into the rest of eternal life. We can either grow and mature, following God’s path to truth and goodness, or remain stuck in immaturity, clinging to false gods instead. The truth is that when we choose good, over and over again, we become more and more free.
Beatitude living isn’t something we achieve. It is an entirely free gift from God, flowing from the energy of love, and it is grace, pure grace. The happiness we are promised, however, requires of us that we choose carefully what is right and just and good. We shape our lives by our free will. So we better understand what true freedom is all about.
Catholics believe that, God created us with the ability to know and understand — our intellect, and the ability to choose — our will. With these two, we are able to make free choices, and thus able to love. Because we are able to make free choices, each of us literally determines our own eternal destiny; and the destiny of every human being is to be with God forever –this is our faith!
Musical Interlude
“My Own Chains” by Frontline05
http://www.garageband.com/artist/Frontline4life
Recommended Reading
Proclaim Jubilee! A Spirituality for the Twenty-First Century, Maria Harris
Westminster John Know Press, 1996, ISBN 0-664-25661-9
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Moment by Moment, a Retreat in Everyday Life,
Carol Ann Smith, SHCJ; Eugene F. Merz, SJ
Ave Maria Press, 2000, ISBN 0-87793-945-4
3 Responses to 'CCTD004 Great Expectations'
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on February 2nd, 2007 at 12:16 am
Again, A-men!
~Deserae
on March 5th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
We would exchange links if your site links to something of interest and value to our Catholic audiance.
on March 5th, 2007 at 2:56 pm
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