Pilgrimages

Over the past 8 weeks I have learned so much, both specifically and generally. Specifically, one thing I learned about which I think is very interesting is the four greek levels of love: storge, philia, eros, and apague. Storge is a word meaning affection that one might have for a family member. Philia is more of a friendship, a loyalty to friends and family or the love one has for a city or nation. Eros is more of a passionate love, not just of someone physically, but also emotionally. Lastly, apague is a selfless love that you have for another. You would do anything for that person, even if it meant giving up your life. I really liked learning about these different levels of love, because in our society I feel like we use the word "love" so loosely and it is nice to have levels that differentiate it. 

In VHS, I have also learned general life lessons which will be helpful in the future. In a way, this class has taught me that I need to chill out! With senior year comes a lot of stress and frustration. I know that I will be getting rejected from different colleges and accepted into others, but in the end it really does not matter. Either way, no matter where I end up going, I will get a good education and I will enjoy the next four years of my life. Even if I do not get into my first choice school, I am so lucky that I even have the opportunity to go in the first place, because a lot of people do not even have that. I am not planning on having a huge senior slide or anything (yet) but I have learned that school is not everything and I need to enjoy myself because you are only a senior in high school once. I need to spend time with friends, family, and everyone or everything else that I care about and have an equal balance.

Marriage and Vatican II

There are several similarities and differences between the teachings on marriage from Vatican II and current trends in marriage. In the article, they call marriage a "vocation" and I believe that the saying has less meaning in current day marriages than it once did. It used to be that a husband and a wife would almost never get divorced, and now it is much more common. There are different celebrities getting divorced almost every single day. The article also mentions that the Church benefits from the love in marriages. This is probably because the husband and wife will hopefully have kids and raise their children in a good environment with the church and follow Jesus as an example. "The call to love reaches beyond the home, to the extended family, the neighborhood, and the larger community." When Pope Benedict spoke about marital love and family life, he mentioned that marriage is not fleeting, but rather a life long project. When two people are married, they should spend the rest of their lives together- even if problems arise, current day society advocates trying to work through all problems. Although this does not happen a good amount of the time, I believe that it is still thought to be the right thing to do. The article also says that the bond between husband and wife will "grow and ripen" over time. I definitely believe this is true, because the more you go through life with someone, the closer the bond you will have with them. Although there may be some current trends that don't exactly go along with Vatican II, there are many principles that still remain intact.