This week's questions

[Preachers12]

Brethren in Christ, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Thanks for the wonderful responses to last week's questions from my Sacramental Preparation students! I drew from your responses in preparing my responses and the kids were amazed that people whom they didn't even know were so interested in their learning and were so desiring to help. It gave them that sense that this is all much bigger than just them.

This really worked great for me as I have been stressing to them our need to act as a unified body. One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We are still preparing cards for intercessory prayers, which is working well too.

Here were their questions for this week. Please feel free to respond if you like:

1. What's the difference between Jesus and God?

2. Exactly what religion was Mary and Joseph and did Joseph make it to heaven?

3. When the people are in heaven, will all their family be with them or only some of their family?

4. Would my aunt stop being mean to her sister by telling her children are better than hers? (Hmmm.... Maybe she got her prayer request card mixed up with her question card?)

5. Why are babies born with Original Sin if they are innocent? And if they aren't baptized and suddenly die, will they go to hell?

6. Why is the presence of God so great? (this question I think stemmed from a conversation where we talked about heaven being so wonderful because we were in the presence of God - so I think what this student is basically asking is why is that so great?)

Once again, these kids amaze me with their questions!

Did I already say how much I love this job??

God Bless,
P12

 

[MariaRegina]

What is the age range of your students?

 

[Preachers12]

What is the age range of your students?

Chanter, Peace be with you.

They are between the 6th and 11th grade. The oldest is 16.

God Bless,
P12

 

[marciadietrich]

1. What's the difference between Jesus and God?

Hmm, well not an easy one to answer and not get complex or drift into problems.

God is eternal with no beginning or end. God is one being with a three-ness, that is the Trinity. Part one is God the Father, part two is God the Son and part three is God the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the second 'person' (out of the three-ness) who came and became man. Mary was Jesus' mother, so Jesus has a beginning in time. But Jesus is still God the 2nd part. That is a truth that is hard to understand so it is a mystery. That doesn't mean it is a secret, just that it can't be totally explained.


2. Exactly what religion was Mary and Joseph and did Joseph make it to heaven?
Joseph and Mary were raised as Jews. Joseph and Mary were also early Christians, first believers that Jesus was the Son of God and the Messiah. Joseph died before Jesus finished his work, before Jesus died and was resurrected. He would have been in a place waiting for that after his death until after Jesus' sacrifice. Then he went to heaven and is there with Mary and Jesus now.

3. When the people are in heaven, will all their family be with them or only some of their family?

No one knows for certain, but we can hope that all their family will be together. There might be some who won't have their whole family and some all. But only God knows for sure because God decides who goes to heaven.

4. Would my aunt stop being mean to her sister by telling her children are better than hers? (Hmmm.... Maybe she got her prayer request card mixed up with her question card?)

Oh my! I think you're right that is a prayer request, and probably best to just say we should pray for their aunt.

5. Why are babies born with Original Sin if they are innocent? And if they aren't baptized and suddenly die, will they go to hell?

Original sin isn't a sin that we do. You can't confess original sin. Original sin is just the way we are as people who can't help but want to sin or actually sin sometimes because of Adam and Eve's sin in the garden of Eden. Baptism takes away what is called the stain of original sin, but we still feel like we want to sin sometimes. A baby who isn't baptized doesn't go to hell, but they might not go to heaven (we don't know for certain, but I wouldn't be surprised if God let's them in anyhow because he loves them) and perhaps they might just be kept safe and happy in a different place from heaven.

6. Why is the presence of God so great? (this question I think stemmed from a conversation where we talked about heaven being so wonderful because we were in the presence of God - so I think what this student is basically asking is why is that so great?)

Because we'll always be happy, healthy and loved and with people we love who will also be happy, healthy and loved.

 

[nyj]

2. Exactly what religion was Mary and Joseph and did Joseph make it to heaven?

Mary and Joseph were both Jewish. We know this because they observed Passover in Jerusalem (Luke 2).

Is Joseph in Heaven? Yes, he is. Along with Saint Peter, he is the Patron of the Catholic Church and he is rightly given the title of Saint. That means that he is in Heaven, for the Church only gives the designation Saint (capital S) to those who God has revealed to be in His presence.

 

[marciadietrich]

Chanter, Peace be with you.

They are between the 6th and 11th grade. The oldest is 16.

God Bless,
P12

Oops, keyed my replies to more like 4 -6th or so ... sorry. Guess could add on if I had to.

Marcia

 

[MariaRegina]

What is the difference between Jesus and God.

Jesus is God.

The Triune God is indivisible - there are no parts in God. He is incomprehensible -- we cannot describe Him.

The best description for our finite minds is St. Patrick's shamrock. The shamrock is one leaf in three. Our God is one God in Three Divine Persons: God the Father, God the Incarnate Son, and God the All-Holy Spirit.

The Father is equal to the Son. The Son is equal to the Father. The Holy Spirit is equal to the Father. And Holy Spirit is equal to Christ the Son.

Jesus Christ assumed our human nature by being born. He was incarnated by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. He became a baby so that we could behold God in the flesh. This is the miracle of Christmas. He became man so that He could save us from our sins by dying on the Cross for us. This shows the greatness of God's love for us -- that He died for us sinners. By His holy Resurrection, Christ opened Heaven for us.

Glory to Jesus Christ; Glory to Him forever.

 

[sklippstein]

Brethren in Christ, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Thanks for the wonderful responses to last week's questions from my Sacramental Preparation students! I drew from your responses in preparing my responses and the kids were amazed that people whom they didn't even know were so interested in their learning and were so desiring to help. It gave them that sense that this is all much bigger than just them.

This really worked great for me as I have been stressing to them our need to act as a unified body. One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We are still preparing cards for intercessory prayers, which is working well too.

Here were their questions for this week. Please feel free to respond if you like:

1. What's the difference between Jesus and God?

2. Exactly what religion was Mary and Joseph and did Joseph make it to heaven?

3. When the people are in heaven, will all their family be with them or only some of their family?

4. Would my aunt stop being mean to her sister by telling her children are better than hers? (Hmmm.... Maybe she got her prayer request card mixed up with her question card?)

5. Why are babies born with Original Sin if they are innocent? And if they aren't baptized and suddenly die, will they go to hell?

6. Why is the presence of God so great? (this question I think stemmed from a conversation where we talked about heaven being so wonderful because we were in the presence of God - so I think what this student is basically asking is why is that so great?)

Once again, these kids amaze me with their questions!

Did I already say how much I love this job??

God Bless,
P12

Would it be ok if I added one more question to your list? My 3 year old ask me this all the time.......Why can't I see Jesus? (she doesn't understand why she can not see him when he sees her)