| Ask the Chaplain |
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School Chaplain Father Guy Selvester is available to answer questions about the Church, the Priesthood, and life. Please submit your questions in the drop box outside the principal's office or email them to: |
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A girl in Grade 4 asks:
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A Student in Grade 7 asks:
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A Student in Grade 1 asks:
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A boy in grade 6 asks:
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"What do you like to do in your spare time? Do you like to go bowling?" |
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A boy from grade 1 asks:
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Answers:
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First let's say that most people who do not believe in God do not believe in heaven either so they probably aren't thinking about whether or not they will go there. Despite this the Church teaches that all those who live their lives doing good and actually living according to the teachings of God (even if they don't know that they're doing it or don't realize that there is a God) will go to heaven. Not believing in God doesn't necessarily "disqualify" you from heaven because God is merciful and forgiving. ( back to top )
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It is NOT possible to enter heaven from hell. Once the determination has been made whether or not a person is going to heaven or to hell that judgment is FINAL. ( back to top )
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"Baptized in Blood" is an expression that refers to people who did not receive the Sacrament of Baptism but who are considered part of the Body of Christ (the Church) because they shed their blood (either willingly or unwillingly) for the faith. So, a person who believes in Jesus Christ as the Messiah but who is martyred for the faith even if they were not Baptized is considered to be Baptized in Blood. Also, we use this expression when speaking about those children who were denied the right to Life because of abortion. They are Baptized in Blood too. ( back to top )
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In order to be a server you must currently be in the 4th grade AND you must already be tall enough and strong enough to perform all the duties of an altar server. For example, you have to be able to light the altar candles without help and strong enough to hold the book for the priest as well as put it up onto the altar without assistance. If you are a 4th grader AND can do all the duties of a server you are eligible to become one. If you are in the 4th grade but may not be tall enough or strong enough yet to do all the things servers do you can always become one next year. Servers are usually recruited in November each year. Watch the bulletin for announcements. ( back to top )
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We use incense in the Church for two reasons. The smoke rising up represents our prayers rising up to God and is also a symbol of offering a sacrifice because the mass is a sacrifice. Also, the perfume-like smell represents our prayers being “sweet” to God. ( back to top )
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God made everything that exists. But, it is important to remember that while God made the Devil (whose name is Lucifer which means "the bringer of light") God did NOT make him evil. Instead God made him to be good. But, Lucifer decided he did not want to obey God or worship Him. Lucifer said that it would be "better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven". So, St. Michael and the other angels fought a battle and expelled Lucifer and his followers from heaven. That's how he wound up in his own kingdom in hell. That's also when he stopped being called "Lucifer" and started being called "Satan" ( a name which means "a liar"). Satan always lies to try and get people to follow him. That's why he lied to Eve and Adam to get them to sin against God. Since Satan didn't want to serve the Lord and thought he didn't need God he tempted others in the same way. So, the answer to your question is that God made everything so He originally made an angel named Lucifer. But, God cannot do anything evil because He never goes against Himself, who is all good. So, Lucifer made himself into a Devil by choosing to do evil and he transformed himself from Lucifer ( a bringer of light) to Satan (the Prince of Darkness).
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We really don't know. We know that God is the Creator of everything and that He existed before time began. There was never anything before God existed because there is no such thing as time before God. Nothing created God because He created everything in the Universe. So, there is no possible way for us to know where God came from because our human minds can't fully understand God. He has always existed. ( back to top )
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We aren't entirely sure. ALL people who live lives where they try to be good and may, in fact, live according to the teachings of the Gospel (even though they don't intend to) can go to heaven too. This is what we call being an "Anonymous Christian". God is merciful and loving towards all his creatures. However, Jesus also taught us the necessity of having faith and being Baptized. If someone is an Atheist because they are hostile to the idea of God and they are adamant in their rejection of all God's teachings because they think there is no God will likely end up spending eternity separated from God. To spend all eternity separated from God and His love (because YOU have chosen to reject it) is what we consider to be hell. ( back to top )
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God created man and woman to be free and with the ability to choose between good and evil. This is because He wants us to offer our love, our obedience and our worship to Him freely by our own choice. The Devil is a LIAR. We always have to remember that. So, he tricked Eve into thinking that if she ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil then she would be just like God. Then the Devil told her that she wouldn't need God. He also told her that God didn't want her to eat this fruit and be like Him because He was jealous. But, God wasn't jealous. The Devil was lying! So, by lying (which is ALWAYS a bad idea) the Devil was able to trick Eve into believing him. That's why she listened to him. ( back to top )
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"What do you like to do in your spare time? Do you like to go bowling?" |
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In my spare time I like to read or listen to music. I also love going to the movies (always by myself and always during the day).
I am also interested in a thing called "heraldry" which is the designing and painting of coats of arms. In fact, I designed the coat of arms of our parish, our bishop and I also did the artwork for the coat of arms of our diocese, the Diocese of Metuchen. You can see the parish coat of arms on the front of the bulletin that you get at mass every Sunday and the diocese's coat of arms can be seen right now in the sign that is hanging on the side of our church telling people about the Bishop's Annual appeal. Sometimes, on my day off I will get together with friends. One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is to sleep in. I have never liked getting up early so on my day off I usually stay in bed until 8:30 or 9:00! I tried bowling a few times when I was young but I'm not very good at it so, no, I don't really like to go bowling. ( back to top )
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| God can do anything. But, it is also important to remember that we do not believe that the Bible should be taken literally. That means that some people believe everything in the Bible word for word.
Catholics do not see it that way. We believe that the stories in the Bible are there to teach us important truths and sometimes the stories are written in a way that helps us understand the truth but we don't have to believe it exactly as the story says it. When the Bible says God created the world in 7 days that doesn't mean that it took 7 days as we understand a day. We call a day a 24-hour-long period of time.
Maybe for God a "day" means 1,000 years or 1 million years! When the Bible says it took 7 days it is trying to teach us two important things about God. The first thing is that we believe that God is, in fact, the source of everything that exists. He really did make everything. How did he do it? We're not really sure but we are sure that God is the source of it all. The second thing we learn is that creating everything was easy for God. He simply said "Let there be light" and there was light! We're not sure exactly how it happened but we know that it did happen because God said that it should happen. ( back to top )
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