Food for the Journey

We must nourish our body as well as our soul. Let us steward well the temple God has given us! 

*Recipe of the Week*
Ingredients

• ▢ 1 ½ cups almond flour, 6.3 oz.
• ▢ ½ cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa powder, 2.3 oz.
• ▢ ½ cup coconut oil, melted and cooled
• ▢ 1 ⅓ cups maple syrup, at room temperature
• ▢ 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped & divided

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8X8 square baking pan with parchment paper.
• Mix together almond flour and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl until no lumps remain.
• Add in coconut oil, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla extract and whisk until fully incorporated.
• Fold in half a cup of the nuts.
• Transfer batter to the parchment lined pan and spread it throughout the pan using a spatula.
• Sprinkle it with the rest of the walnuts.
• Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (or with a few tiny crumbs). 

Our Highlighted Reflection Of The Week

Moral Theology-A Living Science

Moral Theology provides foundational groundwork of what it means to live a life that is good, true, and beautiful. God has made man in His image and likeness in His divine wisdom and love. He calls His creation good, as a Creator that is Truth and Beauty Itself. Understanding Moral Theology is critical is understanding what is means to live a life in imitation of God's own divine wisdom and love, which seeks the salvation and dignity and every soul. Moral Theology is firmly rooted in the Eternal Law of God, as well as Scripture, Tradition, Magisterial Teaching and even Natural Law. Sound morals and ethics promotes a lifestyle and course of action that seeks the dignity of man and love of God. Due to original sin, concupiscence, as well as a fallen intellect, will, and appetites the fortification of a moral life is crucial in living in a way that is virtuous, rational, and objectively good, true, and beautiful.
Moral Theology is not a matter of being intellectually or emotionally superior to mankind or modernity; rather, it is a rightly ordered understanding of Christ's ministry, teachings, and sacred dignity towards all.

Moral Theology is a living science because it cannot be classified as a personal philosophy or lifestyle choice. More so, it means to live in a life-giving manner. Morality is a compass meant for engaging with reason, faith, other subjects, ethical issues, social and political dilemmas, and cultural norms. Moral Theology is an activity of reason illuminated by faith because it seeks to rise above the limited and fallen perspectives and motives of mankind. Rather, moral theology seeks the common good and dignity every man is objectively due as established in God's Eternal Law. Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium all play a significant role in the development and fortification of Moral Theology.

Jesus's own life and words, as seen in the beautiful witness of the Gospels, provide a real-life human example of how God desires us to live. Christ was moral in all His conversations and actions. The values and lessons of the Gospels bear significant importance in knowing how to challenge the common laws of expected standards of modern society. Within the Scriptures, we see the beauty of the ten commandments which contradict widely accepted and justified social behaviors, such as divorce, adultery, assisted suicide, abortion, and many other grave evils. Contrary to immorality, Scripture beautifully highlights how to practically and faithfully love God and neighbor in a way that does not trespass on the natural dignity of man who is created in God's image and likeness. The Beatitudes, for instance, in the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5, exemplify how we are to live. With humility, mercy, peacefulness, meekness, and purity of intention. Such values and actions are never self-seeking, but they do give proper dignity and morally upright action towards all. 

Scripture works in alignment with Tradition to fortify our understanding and embodiment of a morally upright life. The Catholic Church possess the rich history and treasure of hundreds of holy men and women who have not just taught about Moral Theology, but who have also lived heroically moral lives-even amid great persecution and hardships. Saints who refused to worship pagan gods, refused to sacrifice their virginity, and even gave their lives for others. Theologians who worked tirelessly to produce writings and teachings on how to shape and live morally upright lives in every time, place, and land. Even the Church has devoted countless councils, doctrines, encyclicals, and ecclesial efforts to correcting incorrect dogma and addressing the moral evils found in society. 

The Moral Life is ultimately consistent with living an ethically upright life because morality gives appropriate justice to God and man. One finds true happiness not in self-preservation but in self-gift. Upholding the natural right and intrinsic dignity of our brothers and sisters in Christ, also upholds our own dignity and natural rights. The Church has consistently taught that God's law is woven into the very fiber of man's human nature. This natural law, written on the heart of man, is the interior moral compass to discern what is objectively good from that which is not. Through the gift of reason, natural law provides practical communication between the navigation of our human conscience and Divine law. There are universal truths which exist for every human being, which in turn means we have a moral responsibility to behave and respond toward one another as Christ Himself would. Moral theology is all the moreso consistent with living an ethical life because morality is virtuous and to be virtuous means to maintain the firm and habitual disposition to choose the good, not just for us but for others. We then must always strive to live as Christ would, to lay down our lives, both in word and actions so that above all else we may imitators of HIs Divine Love.