“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible. ” “A man who works with his hands is a laborer; a man who works with his hands and his mind is a craftsman; but a man who works with his hands and his brain and his heart is an artist. ” ~St. Thomas Aquinas To summarize St. Thomas Aquinas is saying that when you believe in something you do not need validation, but without faith nothing can validate your life, emotions and experiences.
This quote resides with me because in my life faith isn’t something that I have always embraced, I find religion to sound unreal that Jesus magically healed people, I have always thought very black and white that without proof I question the parables and stories within the bible. This quote inspires me to remember to embrace my faith because God will validate my worries and skepticism.
The second quote also resides with me because a person can be an artist in whatever activity or profession they do, a neurosurgeon performing a craniotomy, an artist painting a portrait, a plumber fixing pipes, an accountant balancing a business or any other activity. This quote inspires me to not only be a laborer or a craftsman but to put my heart, mind and hands into every task I do whether it be in university, medical school, in the future as a doctor or with my family when I am older. My favourite part of the Christ and Culture religion course was the class trip to The Refuge in Oshawa, ON.
This was my favourite part because I have always had an interest in helping others and now I know where I can go to help local teens adjust to living without a home. I enjoyed learning from Meghan Hickey about where a homeless teen can go, how they live and struggles they face, but it was also nice hearing how Katie, a girl who lived in a Canadian Tire shed ended up after all of her hard work. We focused a unit on poverty in our own area and in general and this trip helped me to create new opinions about homeless people.
The trip allowed me to reflect better on people living below the poverty line and the trip was also a life lesson of how one unfortunate event, one bad hand of cards or a bad choice can affect you for years to come. This course was a great validation of all of my questions and concerns regarding Catholicism however, everything in life can improve in some ways. One way that I would improve the course would be to check note books weekly, although a hassle I found that when a teacher checks my work I tend to do it.
If you check the books majority of students will read the daily handouts and answer the questions allowing them to better understand what we learn ach day and to be able to relate the topics to their lives. Overall, I think this course was taught terrifically and hope to have you as a teacher in the future. I want to give myself two separate marks, one regarding the work I have completed and one for what I have learned about myself as well as topics. I have learned an immense amount of information about Bible stories, parables, The Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes.
I reviewed the Nativity story and bible stories; although this information is valuable I feel that the more important part is what I learned about myself and my faith. After reflecting on the course I had majority of my questions answered about my faith, although I still remain leery it is a good feeling being about to say proudly that I am Catholic. I also made a few great friendships in this class and I believe this is because of the environment of your class; I would give myself a 100% for what I learned about myself and my faith.
I completed all of the assigned questions and handouts for this class and I completed majority of my projects in the high eighties, with that in mind I would give myself a final grade of high eighties to low nineties. If I had to choose a lesson learned in the class that is most significant to me I would choose the Parable of the Good Samaritan, although I have previously heard the parable it has always remained one that I remembered.
The Parable of the Good Samaritan is something I will take away from the course because it tells a story of something who was dealt the wrong hand and how no one helped until the good Samaritan, I think this story is in my life in a few ways the main one being that I love volunteering and helping at Brunchkins(a non-profit organization dedicated to feeding children breakfast and lunch for school), soon The Refuge, St. Vincent De Paul and other places. People all dealt the wrong hand with no one helping until they come to each of these places where they receive a helping hand.
Now that I now all the information I learned about religion and about myself I am going to use it to benefit others, the poverty unit was the most enjoyable unit for me because now I have the information and connections I need to help local people in poverty. Now that I have realized faith is not necessarily something to be ashamed of I can practice my faith without worrying about others opinions. Although I will still think of what others think I am more confident in my beliefs then I was five months ago. Thank you for an awesome semester, you are a great teacher! All the best in your future endeavors!