Distance Learning II

    Bishop Fulton J. Sheen discribes sacraments as symbols that are both seen and unseen. He then refers to handshake as a form of a sacrament. There is a visible sign of people shaking hands but there is also an invisible sign that is friendship. He also says that people who understand the sacraments have a divine sense of humor. This means that they can see the sacrament for what is really is. They don't only see the physical side of the sacrament but also the symbolic side. People with a divine sense of humor also see this every day. They see it in sunsets and every part of the day.
    Bishop Fulton J. Sheen also wrote about Seven Conditions of Life. 1. In order to live, one must be born. 2. He must nourish himself. 3. He must grow in maturnity. 4. He must have his wounds bound and healed. 5. If he has a disease, the disease must be driven out. 6. He must live in government and justice in human relationships. 7. He is called to propagate the human species. Bishop Fulton J. Sheen then goes on to explain the seven conditions to live a spiritual life. The seven conditions are the seven sacraments and how they are present in our lives. the sacraments derive their power and efficacy from the Passion, Death, and Ressurection of Christ. The outcome of the sacraments all depends on the person that is recieving it. If the person in open to the sacraments and understands it then it will be effective. If the person does not understand the sacraments then it will be worthless. The word "sacrament" in Greek means "mystery,"
and Christ has been called by St. Paul, the mystery hidden from the ages. "If man were only a biological organism, then he would be content to eat and to sleep and to die like a cow." The sacraments bring divine life or grace. Christ's reason for taking upon Himself a human nature was to pay for sin by death on the cross and to bring us a higher life. Man may live at three different levels: the sensate, the intellectual, and the divine. The sensate level represents those who deny any other reality except the pleasures that come from the flesh. The intelectual level of existence, that of the scientist, the historian, the journalist,
the humanist; the man who has brought to a peak all of the powers of human reason and human will. This is a much more comfortable kind of existence, and far more satisfying to the human spirit. The divine level or level of grace, by which the human heart is illumined by truthswhich reason cannot know; by which the will is strengthened by a power quite beyond all psychological aids, and the heart is entranced with the love which never fails; which gives a peace that cannot be found on the two lower levels.
    The Divine Sense of Humor is a way of seeing the world. People with a divine sense of humor can see things in two ways. The first way is the way that it is physically or the way most people see it. Like a sun set. People see the sun set as the day ending or just red and orange light. Someone with a divine sense of humor sees deeper into that sun set. They see God at work in the sun set. The divine sense of humor can be directly linked with sacraments. Sacraments have two sides. The physical side and the spiritual side. The physical side is water being poared onto someones head for baptism. The spiritual side is that person entering a relationship with God. The sign is the physical part. People see it as it is and don't look any deeper. The symbol is the deeper level that the physical side could represent.