Unit 3 AOS 1 DP#7 Flashcards
Beliefs about suffering in the RCT:
Believes that human suffering finds its origins in the sacred story depicting ‘the fall’ of Adam and Eve in choosing to disobey God and damage the friendship between God and humanity. Sin results in suffering, it damages the ability of individuals to live in Gods image and can lead to decisions which negatively affect the self and others.
Through Jesus the church expresses the belief in the redemptive value of suffering, (That is that individuals and groups can unite their suffering with Christ’s suffering at his crucifixion and be united with him in a deeper way in very difficult circumstances.
Suffering can also produce good in the world by prompting other people to act in order to alleviate it and improve the situation of others.
Sacred stories/Texts:
Genesis 3:19 This passage explains the human condition as one of suffering, caused by sin and affecting the human race from the beginning - Adam and Eve are referred to symbolically as humanity’s first parents’:
By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread. – Staying alive will require continuous effort.
Until you return to the ground for out of it you were taken. –Death will be a part of the human experience.
you are dust, and dust you shall return’. –No possibility of eternal life (union with God) expects through the passage of death.
Texts: Catechism of the catholic church
57 If God is omnipotent and provident, then why does evil exist?To this question, as painful and mysterious as it is, only the whole of Christian faith can constitute a response. God is not in any way - directly or indirectly - the cause of evil. He illuminates the mystery of evil in his Son Jesus Christ who died and rose in order to vanquish that great moral evil, human sin, which is at the root of all other evils.
#58 Why does God permit evil? Faith gives us the certainty that God would not permit evil if he did not cause a good to come from that very evil. This was realized in a wondrous way by God in the death and resurrection of Christ. In fact, from the greatest of all moral evils (the murder of his Son) he has brought forth the greatest of all goods (the glorification of Christ and our redemption).
#76 What is Original Sin? Original sin, in which all human beings are born, is the state of deprivation of original holiness and justice. It is a sin “contracted” by us not “committed”; it is a state of birth and not a personal act. Because of the original unity of all human beings, it is transmitted to the descendants of Adam “not by imitation, but by propagation”. This transmission remains a mystery which we cannot fully understand.
#77 What other consequences derive from Original Sin? In consequence of original sin human nature, without being totally corrupted, is wounded in its natural powers. It is subject to ignorance, to suffering, and to the dominion of death and is inclined toward sin. This inclination is called concupiscence.
#78 After the first sin, what did God do? After the first sin the world was inundated with sin but God did not abandon man to the power of death. Rather, he foretold in a mysterious way in the “Protoevangelium” (Genesis3:15) that evil would be conquered and that man would be lifted up from his fall. This was the first proclamation of the Messiah and Redeemer. Therefore, the fall would be called in the future a “happy fault” because it “gained for us so great a Redeemer” (Liturgy of the Easter Vigil).
Rituals/Texts: The anointing of the sick
‘The ritual of the Anointing of the Sick ‘commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that he may raise them up and save them. And indeed she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of Christ.’ CCC #1499
Rituals and Times: Easter Liturgy
Excerpt from the Exultet:
O happy fault
that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!
