Of Grace and Faith

Sources of Grace - Our Lady's Scapular

2015-08-07T04:06:00.002-07:00

Soon after the feast day of Our Lady of Mount Carmel (July 16) I was preparing for prayers at the local nursing home chapel. Those prayers always include an inspirational story, and one of the best sources of them is the Ave Maria magazine that comes out 4 times a year from PO Box 118, Midland WA 6936. Annual subscriptions for Australians are $15, and for the rest of the world $20.

It was a busy morning, so I just grabbed the magazine (Jul Aug Sep 2014 Issue) and knew I'd find something good to share from it. When the time came I opened it up at random, and found two stories about Our Lady's Brown Scapular. Both of them were good.

But then the thought came, 'I wonder if I have ever included the Scapular in the Sources of Grace series?' I should do something about that. So here we are:

The first story was about a series of apparitions of Our Lady to Estelle Faguette in 1876. At the time Estelle was aged 32 and had been ill for 10 years and knew that death wasn't far off. However she knew that her family members would suffer dire poverty after her death because the little income she received was keeping them all afloat. So she prayed with her heart, and wrote out a letter to Our Lady and asked a friend to take the letter to a local shrine dedicated to the Mother of Jesus.

Some weeks later the Devil appeared at the foot of her bed terrifying her. Immediately Our Lady appeared and told the evil one, 'What brings you here? Do you not see that she is wearing my livery and that of my Son?' Upon that he disappeared. Our Lady then gave Estelle a special grace of contrition for all her sins and promised her that she would soon either obtain her cure or take her straight to heaven.

Due to Estelle's humble resignation to the will of God, a cure was granted to her that she might promote devotion to Our Lady through the scapular. In one of the apparitions Our Lady came wearing a white scapular and invited her to kiss it. As she did so the Sacred Heart of Jesus appeared upon it, and beneath that loving Heart Estelle was aware of the beating of Our Lady's heart. Into Estelle was infused the knowledge that the scapular is a devotion of union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus through consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

For more information about these apparitions which were approved by the Church in 1983 visit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Our_Lady_of_Pellevoisin
http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/pellevoisin/index.html
http://www.marypages.com/PellevoisinEng1.htm

The second story happened more recently near Melbourne, Australia, although a date wasn't given in the Ave Maria magazine account. A family decided to have a post-Christmas holiday near Dromana on Port Phillip Bay, and let the grandparents take the children on ahead with the parents following some hours later. It was there usual holiday place and the children had made friends there. One grandson, named Paul, was given permission to go and play with one of his young friends. They elected to give the small dinghy the friend had been given for Christmas a spin on the water. Both boys had a whale of a time, but didn't notice how strong the current was and how far out to deep water they had drifted. Rough waves changed that, so rough they tipped the dinghy over and the boys had to cling to the overturned boat. In danger of drowning Paul knew what to do because his parents had taught him well. He prayed the Act of Contrition, and helped his friend pray it too. Paul also noticed that for some reason he was wearing two brown scapulars instead of one, and put the other one over his friend's neck. Heaven was listening, and inspired a youngster playing with a new telescope to notice that the boys in trouble and notify the police who sent out a beach patrol boat. The beach patrol got there in time, and the boys and their families were saved from a dreadful tragedy. Paul and his family were full of gratitude to God and to Our Lady for showing them how well she keeps her Brown Scapular promises.

A third story comes from the early annals of the Church in Australia. In the 1850s Archbishop Polding, (the first Catholic bishop to be sent to Australia) and his vicar-general were returning to Sydney by sea. A heavy storm came upon the ship and the passengers were all worried about surviving the strong winds and high waves. Knowing that they needed heavenly help, Archbishop Polding turned to prayer and was inspired to seek the intercession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Turning to his vicar general, he inquired whether he was wearing his scapular. When he heard a 'yes', Archbishop Polding invited his co-worker to join him in throwing his scapular overboard as an act of faith in Our Lady's intercession and promising that if they survived the ordeal that a church dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel would be built on a hill near the city of Sydney. By 1859 the parish of Waterloo, walking distance from St Mary's Cathedral, had a parish church dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and Archbishop Polding went on living and serving God's people until his death in 1877.

You can read other accounts of this event here:
https://www.sydneycatholic.org/news/latest_news/2009/2009918_900.shtml
http://www.catholicweekly.com.au/02/apr/28/06.html

And what are the promises of Our Lady to those who wear her scapular?

On 16 July 1251 she told St Simon Stock, 'Take this Scapular, it shall be a sign of salvation, a protection in danger and a pledge of peace. Whosoever dies wearing this Scapular shall not suffer eternal fire. Wear the Scapular devoutly and perseveringly. It is my garment. To be clothed in it means you are continually thinking of me, and I in turn, am always thinking of you and helping you to secure eternal life.'

In 1910, Pope St Pius X permitted the same promises to avail if a person wore a scapular medal instead of the cloth scapular. The medal has an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus on the front and an image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on the back.

These are promises worth pondering with seriousness.
Avail yourself of this source of grace and you will not regret it.

Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.
St Simon Stock, pray for us.

Sources of Grace - Reading Scripture

2015-05-14T22:20:00.001-07:00

Reading Scripture is a Source of Grace that needs to be a daily part of our lives.

Listening to the Old Testament, the Psalms, the New Testament and the Gospel in the readings at Mass is essential for us. We need to hear it with our ears, 'So faith comes from what is preached, and what is preached comes from the word of Christ.' Romans 10:17

But we also need to take time to ponder it, and learn from it, just like Mary, the Mother of Jesus did. 'As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.' Luke 2:19

There are many ways of doing this. Try them out and find one that suits you.

Reading sequential chucks

Widen your daily prayer time to include reading a segment or a chapter of scripture every day. If you haven't done this before, then start with the Acts of the Apostles or another New Testament book. Starting at Genesis is only OK if you have enough love of God's Word to get you through Numbers and Leviticus, because most people get bogged down there and never finish. When you read sequentially a lot of things make more sense than if you open the bible at random and read a portion of scripture.

If you do this, I promise you that you will be astonished at how often you find yourself saying, 'Really? I was only reading something about that last night. Let me share it with you'.

Reading scripture gets our minds back to reality better than anything else. As soon as we read it, we are reminded that He is God, that His ways are different, higher and more perfect than ours are, and that He is real. That puts all of our day to day concerns into perspective quite quickly.

Reading scripture as a prayer starter

This way you read a sentence of scripture and stop. Then you talk to God about it. Express your emotions about it. Ask any questions that come to mind about it. (Why did Zacchaeus climb a sycamore tree and not another kind of tree?). Then you need the next sentence of scripture and stop, and talk to God about it. Repeat as necessary.

Reading scripture with a study guide

Purchase a study guide for a book of scripture. Read a passage of scripture. Then read the study guide about that passage. Follow any footnotes in your bible that relate to that passage. Look up any references/footnotes the study guide provided.

Reading scripture with your creative side engaged

Read your passage of scripture, and then if the passage contains characters, imagine what it would have been like to be that character, or watch that scene as a bystander. If you were a movie director, what shots would you need to tell the story? Pick up a pencil and draw. What would a treasure in an earthen vessel look like? What would God's farm look like? Re-tell the passage in your own words. Re-tell the passage as a poem.

Reading scripture with lectio divina

This is an ancient monastic way of praying the scriptures. Ask the Holy Spirit for help first. Then read through the passage of scripture once to get familiar with it. Allow a little time for silence. Then read it again, noticing any words or phrases that resonate with you. Allow a little more time for silence and pay attention to what you most remember about that passage. Then read it for a third time and sit in silence for a little while. Now talk to God about that word or phrase or thought that has been the strongest with you. Ponder what message might be contained in it for your life right now. Offer thanksgiving to God, and then recall that word, phrase or thought several times in the next 24 hours.

To learn more visit http://ocarm.org/en/content/lectio/what-lectio-divina and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lectio_Divina

The more we learn about God from His Word, the more we will understand and love Him, and easier it will be for us to conform our lives to His teaching.

Holy Mother Church is well aware what a source of grace the Holy Scriptures are, and in order to encourage her children to partake of this source of grace she has decreed indulgences for all those who do:

"A partial indulgence is granted the Christian faithful who read sacred scripture with the veneration due God's word and as a form of spiritual reading. The indulgence will be a plenary one when such reading is done for at least one half hour." The Handbook of Indulgences, Norms and Grants 50

Holy Mary, Mother of God, please help us take hold of this precious source of grace and obtain for us a hunger for God's word which will make a daily commitment easy. Amen.

Rebuilding Parish Life

2015-01-12T05:18:00.000-08:00

Our Of Grace and Faith study group continued through 2014 on a monthly basis, and has already had its first meeting of 2015. Each month we are going through 2 pages worth of Evangelii Gaudium, the Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Francis which presents his vision for each of us to become missionary disciples.

The hard part has been working out how to that in the context of ordinary parish life. So when I heard that the Proclaim 2014 Conference was going to tackle this very issue I became very keen to attend. Learning that the key note speakers had experience in tripling their weekend Mass attendance over a five year period was another draw-card for me. In preparation I read both books they had written, Rebuilt and Tools for Rebuilding, and then investigated their website and blog as well.

The three day Conference in August 2014 was a very special experience of Church, being gathered together with bishops, priests, religious and laity from all over Australia and New Zealand. Even our Apostolic Nuncio attended some of it.

The first part of the conference was like an examination of conscience. Becoming aware of just how inward focused parish life currently is was a big eye-opener. Thinking about how welcoming our parish facilities are from the viewpoint of an outsider had never crossed my mind before. Taking stock about whether the things we are putting our energies into had any chance of helping people become better followers of Jesus was revolutionary, too.

The second part of the conference gave us a bit of hope for turning our parishes around. We learned that at least one out of every 7 people in our pews are naturally gifted evangelists who could be extraordinarily effective with just a little bit of training and growth in confidence. For the first time we also had a bit of data on what type of person is most likely to be open to an invitation to take Catholicism seriously (40-something female, married, educated, employed and with children).

As one might expect the last part of the conference contained opportunities to talk with others about what could be done in our own parish and diocesan contexts.

But even this brief summary sells it short.

The Conference website has made available via video, podcast and Powerpoint presentations the key note speeches as well as the majority of the workshops.

During the Conference I took my usual copious amount of notes. These I gradually typed up over a 4 month period and sent out to family, friends and some new friends I met at the Conference.

Sitting down for an extended time to watch a video or listen to a podcast is not the usual way I digest religious content. I much prefer to read. If that resonates with you, then you might be interested in the Kindle version of those typed Conference notes. www.amazon.com/dp/B00RUGHHK8

As if to underline how important this change of thinking about parish really is, some weeks after the Conference I was waiting in the church during the lull between the end of Saturday morning Mass and the start of lunch time Confessions when a woman walked in off the street. She wasn't a known face for me, but she was certainly switched on about how secular the parents and families at our Catholic primary schools had become over the last 20 years or so. If she had met me before the Conference I would have happily bemoaned the problem and gone on my way unaffected. Now post-Conference I knew that the fault actually lays quite heavily upon the parish itself - because apart from the 3-4 times a year Sunday Mass where the primary school children sing, read, take up the gifts etc there has been no widespread planned engagement of parishioners with the life of the school. No outreach. No clarion call to outreach and to get involved in school activities as witnesses to Gospel joy. If engagement does happen it happens at a parish council level or at a tentative unresourced grass roots level on the initiative of one or two mothers who have feet in both camps.

That's only one example of why rebuilding parish life and getting as many as possible engaged in some form of outreach and acting as missionary disciples needs to be an urgent priority.

Sources of Grace - The Fatima Prayers

2014-01-22T04:59:00.001-08:00

Some months ago a gent walked up to the local piety shop and asked for something with the seven Fatima prayers on it. As a result I went looking for all the prayers associated with the apparitions of Our Lady of the Rosary at Fatima. While I knew 5 of these prayers very well, I wasn't familiar with the two of them which pray for specific countries as well as the whole world. The gent's visit was providential, because now I am praying them daily rather than weekly.

To download an A4 page with 4 copies of these prayers, click here.

Ever since the conclave was announced - almost a year ago - I have been visiting the website called Locutions to the World, http://www.locutions.org/read-the-locutions/ , once in a while. Those messages (which we are perfectly free to accept or ignore) indicate that the revelations at Fatima have yet to have their full impact.

So it is worthwhile having a deeper think about the Fatima prayer we pray the most often, the one we add to the end of each decade of the Rosary. Every prayer of heavenly origin has a lot to teach us and is an effective conduit of grace for ourselves and for others.

O my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell.
Bring all souls to heaven, especially those most in need of Your Mercy.

O my Jesus
Praying this phrase presupposes that the person praying it has a good relationship with Jesus, our Saviour and the Lord of all things. Those who have experienced His saving help in their lives will naturally pray those words with more fervour.

Forgive us our sins
In this prayer Our Lady shows us what the most important petition of our hearts should be, and what we stand in need of most - the forgiveness of our sins. We can't earn it, only a Saviour God can grant it to us. Because we pray 'our' and not 'my', Our Lady teaches us that we need to ask for God's mercy not only for ourselves but also for others, and to pray it communally. Not only our personal sins need forgiveness, but also the collective sins our communities have been a part of. These words echo the very similar words in the Our Father. Sin is real, its consequences are real, and our only Saviour is Jesus. Here we admit that we are sinners and that we need a Saviour.

Save us from the fires of hell
With these words we acknowledge that hell is real, and that we don't want to go there and that we don't want others to go there either. At the same time we humbly acknowledge that it is only Jesus, through His Cross, Passion, Death, Wounds and Precious Blood, who can save us from such eternal horror. This is a plea that everyone can pray from the bottom of their hearts. Praying this part of the prayer reminds us of the vision of hell that Our Lady showed to the three children of Fatima, and which made such a deep impression on them and lead them to such heroic sacrifices on behalf of the souls of others.

Bring all souls to heaven
With these words we acknowledge that heaven, too, is real, and admit what an utter tragedy it is if any soul spends eternity in hell. This prayer assists not only those on earth, but also those in purgatory. The prayer reminds us through the word 'bring' that the process of becoming worthy to enter heaven is a long one and that it requires copious divine help. In giving us this prayer Our Lady reminds us that attaining heaven is by no means a certainty, and that we need to frequently ask Jesus to give us the necessary graces. When we pray this prayer we share in the deepest desires of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary for each and every human being.

Especially those most in need of Your Mercy
In these words Our Lady leads us further into her heart and into the Heart of Jesus, and shows us how ardently God desires even the worst, most despicable sinners to be saved. How these words should encourage us to pray for those special ones in our lives who are far away from God, and to hope and to trust that the Mercy of Jesus wants their eternal salvation even more than we do, and to never give up praying for them until that Mercy is victorious. This part of the prayer invites us to grow in compassion for all souls, and especially for the dying, for the unrepentant, and for those who have perpetrated dreadful crimes.

May the holy children of Fatima, Ven. Lucia, Bl. Francisco and Bl Jacinta intercede for us, that we might take the messages and prayers of Fatima more seriously in our lives.

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.
Our Lady of the Rosary, pray for us.

Changes

2013-08-08T18:37:00.002-07:00

It has been quite a long time since there was a new blog-post here, and many apologies are offered. Of late the tyranny of the urgent over the important has held sway. Hopefully the good Lord will provide the time necessary to resume blog-posts soon, but when they resume they will be different.

Even though the blog-posts haven't been arriving, the off-line study group has continued week by week. Yesterday we completed what the Catechism had to teach us about Prayer, and next week we will begin to study the Life in Christ section. It has been an enormous blessing to learn what the Church has to teach us about prayer, and about praying the Our Father in particular. All of us agreed that we would pray the Our Father differently from now on.

So what will be different? The Part C blog-posts were extraordinarily time consuming, and daunting, so for the section on Prayer onwards they won't happen. Instead of Part A, Part B and Part C there will be a Part I and a Part II, and they will be much shorter. Generally they will both be more like Part A has been, perhaps with a little Part B thrown in.

It is hoped that the Part A, Part B and Part C blog-posts on Funerals will eventually be done, but the priority will be getting the new-style Part I and Part II blog-posts done. Your prayers will help! (Any encouragement would help, too.) The art-work alone for the section on Prayer is well worth experiencing.

On Sacramentals, CCC 1667-1679, Part C

2013-05-21T07:01:00.002-07:00

On Sacramentals, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1667 - 1679, Part C

Question 5 : Do you have any pictures that illustrate this segment of the Catechism?

Sacred Images :

At the On Sacramentals CCC 1667-1679 Part A blog post you will find a picture inspired by CCC 1668, showing the Sign of the Cross, sprinkling with holy water, being prayed over, and being prayed for.

Just a few of the many blessings that are available from the hands of ordained priests, CCC 1669: blessing of the waters, papal blessings, blessings upon the children in the womb, blessings of animals, blessings of taxis (and other vehicles), blessing of the fleet. There are countless others.

The Sign of the Cross is mentioned as a sacramental in CCC 1671. This one name can refer to any Cross or Crucifix; it can refer to tracing the Sign of the Cross over the forehead of a person; it can refer to the cruciform gesture of blessing that a priest makes over objects and people to bless them; and it can refer to prayer 'In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen' with its accompanying gestures. For this latter one there are three images, one for children, one using altar boys together with the words, one using teenage boys together with the words. Bert Ghezzi's book on the Sign of the Cross is worth reading (and it is short), as is this article he wrote.

CCC 1674 mentions some of the time tested forms of piety found in Catholic life, many of which make use of sacramentals : the veneration of relics (of the life of Jesus, of the Saints and Martyrs), processions (Eucharistic, Marian, for local feast days), pilgrimages to holy places (in Rome, in the Holy Land, to Marian shrines, places associated with the Saints), praying the Stations of the Cross, praying the Holy Rosary, making use of blessed medals and holy pictures, with 'etc' covering the long list of the rest of them.

Our artist chose CCC 1674 as inspiration for this picture. In the middle are people visiting a Marian shrine where they would pray the Rosary. To the bottom left others are praying the Stations of the Cross, and to the bottom right someone is on pilgrimage to the holy places of Jerusalem.

Question 6 : What do you know about the Saints whose writings are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? What do you know about the Popes, papal documents and Council documents that are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? (some segments might quote from one group more than the other)

Saints :

What does the Code of Canon Law have to say with respect to exorcisms (which are mentioned in CCC 1674)? Not a lot, but that which is essential:
Canon 1172 (1) No one may lawfully exorcise the possessed without the special and express permission of the local Ordinary. (2) This permission is to be granted by the local Ordinary only to a priest who is endowed with piety, knowledge, prudence and integrity of life.

CCC 1674 talks about some of the ways believers have fruitfully expressed their faith through various forms of piety and popular devotions. The footnote to CCC 1674 makes reference to what the Council of Nicea II, in 787, had to say about the use of sacred images - which is well worthwhile reproducing in full (DS 601):
'For, how much more frequently through the imaginal formation they are seen, so much more quickly are those who contemplate these, raised to the memory and desire of the originals of these, to kiss and to render honourable adoration to them, not however, to grant true latria according to our faith, which is proper to the divine nature alone; but just as to the figure of the revered and life-giving Cross and to the holy Gospels, and to the other sacred monuments, let an oblation of incense and lights be made to give honour to these as was the pious custom of the ancients. "For the honour of the image passes to the original"; and he who shows reverence to the image, shows reference to the substance of Him depicted on it.'

In the same footnote to CCC 1674 is a reference to what the Council of Trent (1563) DS 1822 taught about the veneration of relics: (since it is all one sentence, you might need to read it more than once to get the full gist of it)
'That the holy bodies of the Saints and also of the Martyrs and of others living with Christ, who were living "members of Christ and the temple of the Holy Spirit", which are to be awakened by Him to eternal life and to be glorified, are to be venerated by the faithful, through which many benefits are bestowed by God on men, so that those who affirm that veneration and honour are not due to the relics of the Saints, or that these and other memorials are honoured by the faithful without profit, and that the places dedicated to the memory of the Saints for the purpose of obtaining their help are visited in vain, let these be altogether condemned, just as the Church has for a long time condemned and now condemns them again.'

CCC 1676 makes reference to Blessed Pope John Paul II's Catechesi Tradendae, an apostolic exhortation written very early in his pontificate. All those who have an abiding concern that many of those in our schools and sitting with us in the pews do not have sufficient knowledge of the truths necessary for salvation should take up this document and read the papal wisdom it contains for rectifying this situation. Running to 39 pages, including footnotes, section 54 which deals with how helpful popular devotions can be in helping the faithful digest the truths of the Faith and make them their own. It includes this : "Underlying most of these prayers and practices ... are elements....which, if they were properly used, could serve very well to help people advance towards knowledge of the mystery of Christ and of His message, the love and mercy of God, the Incarnation of Christ, His redeeming Cross and Resurrection, the activity of the Spirit in each Christian and in the Church, the mystery of there hereafter, the evangelical virtues to be practiced, the presence of the Christian in the world etc."

Another inspiring document that CCC 1676 makes reference to is Venerable Pope Paul VI's apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, section 48. Here is an excerpt :
"Popular piety if it is prudently directed and especially when it is directed along the path and according to the methods of evangelization, it may be productive of great good. For it does indicate a certain thirst for God such as only those who are simple and poor in spirit can exercise. It can arose in men a capacity for self-dedication and for the exercise of heroism when there is question of professing the faith...When it is wisely directed popular piety of this kind can make a constantly increasing contribution toward bringing the masses of our people into contact with God in Jesus Christ."

Over to you..

Do you have links for any favourite sacred images which illustrate parts of this segment of the Catechism that you would like to share?
Are there any other quotations you would like to add background information to?

On Sacramentals, CCC 1667-1679, Part B

2013-04-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

On Sacramentals, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1667 -1679, Part B.

Question 3 : Does anything in this segment of the Catechism remind you of a time in the past when God's Grace touched your life?

Reflecting upon sacramentals caused our older study group members to reminisce about the Catholic culture they grew up in. Especially at school they were taught to pray the morning offering, and various other prayers through out the whole day : grace before meals, the angelus etc. Then at home the rosary would be prayed as a family, together with other devotions like litanies. All of us were concerned for the youngsters of today who aren't growing up with the same benefits and spiritual helps that we received, and who rarely get taught about the value of sacramentals and prayers which have stood the test of centuries.

One of our members who was born in Ireland, spoke fondly of her family - particularly of her parents and grandparents - who rarely had a conversation without naturally mentioning Jesus in it. Only from a faith-shaped culture, where each day has its rhythms of devotions and use of sacramentals could such lovely fruit come. Contrast that with the diocesan 'Faith and Grace in everyday life - a conversation with Micheal Leunig and Fr David Ranson' morning on 13 Apr 2013, where the name of Jesus wasn't mentioned at all, and God was only mentioned rarely and more as a concept than as a person.

Someone else had gone through a miscarriage, and recalled just how much receiving the prayers and blessing for that situation from the priest really helped. It actually helped, more than anything else during that difficult time, to bring that member a measure of peace and acceptance.

Back in 2007 our new Church was blessed and dedicated, and all of the study group members were there for the occasion. In addition to this, the three bells in the bell tower were also blessed and named.

One of our members can still recall the tangible difference in the whole atmosphere, when, at a pastoral training school for youngish Catholics the priest began the week with prayer, and then went around the auditorium splashing holy water around thus calling upon the grace and protection of God to be with us and for all evil influences to be banished. God most certainly answered those prayers, and it was an excellent beginning to a memorable week of Grace.

During the past few years there have been opportunities to venerate the relics of Saints, which in decades past were very rare occasions indeed. Unlike other nations, Australia only has one canonized Saint, St Mary of the Cross McKillop. The relics of St Therese of Lisieux were a river of grace as they toured the nation, as were the relics of St Francis Xavier which visited in the latter part of 2012. It is one thing to read the lives of the Saints, and quite another to have evidence of the reality of their lives and their bodies before your very eyes. They seem to say to us, 'Yes, I am like you, and you can be like me if you say 'yes' to God always in your life.'

To list all of the Graces members have received through the Rosary, novenas, statues, holy pictures, blessed medals, holy water, blessed salt, green and brown scapulars, blessings of homes, blessings of cars, blessings of pilgrims, and much more, we'd never finish. Be assured that we are grateful to God for all the wonderful benefits which have comes to us through these simple means of sacramentals, which He has arranged for His children in His abundant providence.

Praying the Stations of the Cross is one of the forms of popular piety mentioned in CCC 1674. This one is a picture of the 5th Station where Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry His Cross. These beautiful life sized statues are at the Marian Valley retreat centre in Queensland.

Question 4 : Since last session where have you most noticed the action of God's Grace in your life?

On a short holiday to Tasmania one of our members was able to visit Port Arthur, the site of an early convict prison. She was impressed with the natural beauty of the place, and with how this prison had gone to lengths in helping its inmates reform their lives together with incentives for progress made (in better living conditions and privileges). But most of all she was filled with gratitude for being able to visit a nearby chapel, and to pray there and to be inspired by the faith which had built and decorated this ancient-by-Australian-standards church.

A member's child had a painful ingrown toe nail, and an extraordinarily busy week, but the good God provided a talented podiatrist (for whom it is very hard to get an appointment) and just enough time to squeeze the appointment in and still fulfil other prior commitments. When the good Lord arranges our days, He does so with a perfection beyond our wildest expectations. May He be praised and thanked.

We have a Pope! After all the prayers we prayed, God has granted us someone extraordinary in Pope Francis. May the good Lord guide him as He learns how to be Pope! Certainly he captured all of our hearts with his initial greetings and seeking our prayers before he gave us his first papal blessing. What a Grace we have all been given in this new Pope, and what a challenge he has issued us in showing us how to go out of ourselves more in extending practical love to others!

Another blessing for a member was having one of the children being prepared for First Holy Communion pay far more attention to the lesson than usual.

For someone else, there was the blessing of an 'out-of-the-blue' contact by someone related through a 3x great-grandfather who could shed a little light on many family mysteries.

Over to you...

Have your experiences of God's Grace been similar to these?
Have they been different?
Does reading from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1667 - 1679 remind you of any of them?

On Sacramentals, CCC 1667-1679, Part A

2013-04-18T06:54:00.002-07:00

On Sacramentals, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1667 -1679, Part A.

So what is a sacramental? A source of grace which is not a sacrament. The efficacy of a sacrament is guaranteed by God, and doesn't depend on the holiness (or lack thereof) of the person administering the sacrament. The efficacy of a sacramental depends upon the faith, devotion and holiness of the person using it, which in turn attracts God's grace. For example, a person who believes that holy water is the liquid form of the prayers and intercession of the whole Church is going to receive vastly different answers to prayer when using holy water than a person who views holy water as a quaint way for people to be reminded of their baptism during the introductory rites at Mass.

Question 1 : Was there something in this segment of the Catechism that you don't recall noticing before?

CCC 1667 tells us that sacramentals are a way of making the parts of daily life holy, and thereby making us more receptive to the grace of the sacraments (inculcating better dispositions for receiving the sacraments). For example, someone who has recently prayed the Stations of the Cross - meditating upon the sufferings of Jesus during His Passion - is more likely to have had his / her heart readied to make a better confession than someone who hasn't prayed them.

There are so many types of blessings

Blessings of Persons include blessings of a new abbot or abbess, blessings upon those making vows of virginity, blessings of pilgrims, of mothers, fathers, children, couples celebrating wedding anniversaries, blessings upon catechists and fishermen etc

Blessings of meals: the usual ones being Grace before Meals and Grace after Meals.

Blessings of objects : these include blessings of bells, oils, salt, cars, medals, holy pictures, rosary beads, vestments and altars etc. The annual blessing of the fleet would fall into this category as would blessings of a workman's tools.

Blessings of places: homes, schools, Churches, cemeteries, graves, hospitals, nursing homes etc.

When touched by the love of God the human heart needs to respond, and what is called popular piety is a collection of creative responses the human heart has found satisfying and useful, and which has attracted the blessing and encouragement of the Church. Included in this category would be going on pilgrimage, Eucharistic adoration, erecting chapels by the way-side for passers-by to pray at, novenas, fiestas and processions for patronal saints days and a myriad of other responses. CCC 1675 says 'These expressions of piety extend the liturgical life of the Church, but do nor replace it.' They are a way Christians find help in learning to pray always ( 1 Tim 5:17) and of bringing the matters of faith into everyday life.

Our artist chose for his inspiration CCC 1668. Sacramentals...'always include a prayer, often accompanied by a specific sign, such as the laying on of hands, the sign of the cross, or the sprinkling of holy water'. At the bottom of the picture we have prayers, in the middle we have the laying on of hands, at the top left the sign of the cross is being made and at the top right there is sprinkling with holy water. All of these sources of Grace are coming through the ministry and prayer leadership of the priest. Let us thank God for all the gifts, graces and benefits He has given to us through such means.

Question 2 : What did you learn about this aspect of the Church's faith and teaching that surprised you?

This segment of the Catechism only gives a top level summary of the myriad kinds of sacramentals. Where can you find out more? Try the Ritual edition of the Book of Blessings, a PDF copy of The Raccolta (list of indulgenced prayers), a PDF copy of the Enchridion of Indulgences, the Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy, or the Handbook of Indulgences - Norms and Grants .

So the short answer to 'Is there a prayer for ...........?' is : There sure is! Whenever a member of the Church is inspired with a good prayer or blessing, holy Mother Church treasures them and preserves them for future generations to use. Thus there are official blessings for couples desiring to conceive, blessings to send and welcome home pilgrims with, St Blaise's blessing against ailments of the throat, prayers for job seekers, prayers for someone who has suffered a miscarriage, prayers seeking God's blessing upon the harvest etc etc etc. It would be unusual to not find a copy of the Book of Blessings in the average priest's vesting sacristy. So at an opportune moment, ask your priest if you could have a brief look at the Book of Blessings. One of the major reasons why people don't ask for these special blessings is that they don't know that they are available nor that they are available for the asking.

Here's a surprise, 'Through baptism we are all called to be a blessing and to bless' , CCC 1669. This means that we always need to be ready to help those in need and to be a channel through which God can send good things to others. We can bless others through a simple 'God bless you', by initiating Grace before meals, and parents blessing their children with the sign of the cross and/ or holy water.

'There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot thus be directed towards the sanctification of man and the praise of God', CCC 1670. The Monday passage from the 'Daily Pilgrimage to Purgatory' novena of prayers says the same thing in a slightly different way, "My fortune, my health, my talent, my position in the world, the influence I had, my relatives, my servants, in a word, everything could have been of spiritual benefit to me if only I had known how to use them for the greater honour of the divine Heart."

Exorcisms are sacramentals too, CCC 1673. Any exorcism, other than the one done as part of the rite of Baptism, requires the permission of a bishop and can only be performed by a priest or bishop. For an excellent source of information, Bishop Julian Porteous's book, 'Manual of Minor Exorcisms' is the place to go (see Amazon or St Pauls. At the back of the book there are some prayers approved for use by lay people.

Over to you...

Did you have similar answers to these Questions?
Did you have totally different answers to these Questions?

On Marriage, CCC 1639-1658, Part C

2013-04-12T07:14:00.002-07:00

On Marriage, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1639 - 1658, Part C

Question 5 : Do you have any pictures that illustrate this segment of the Catechism?

Sacred Images :

At the On Marriage CCC 1639-1658 Part A blog-post is an image inspired by Tertullian's quote on Christian marriage (see question 6).

'The marriage bond has been established by God Himself' CCC 1640. Expressing this idea in imagery isn't easy, so mostly we use hands with wedding rings, a united couple or a marriage ceremony to do it with. To show a 'covenant guaranteed by God's fidelity' we would turn to similar images.

Christ encounters Christian spouses through the sacrament of marriage, CCC 1642, in all of the solemn moments, special moments, ordinary moments and sad moments of life together.

The unity of marriage demands that it be indissoluble, faithful, and fertile, CCC 1643, and at the service of life CCC 1653. An example of that kind of love is found in Saints Joachim and Anne, and in the life of St Gianna Beretta Molla.

Each Christian family flowing from the grace of a sacramental marriage becomes an ecclesia domestica, CCC 1656, a 'domestic church', an image of the Church in microcosm. Towards the Holy Family, our model in family life, we look for encouragement, for support and inspiration.

Our artist took CCC 1658 as his inspiration for this picture. United and inspired by the Cross of Jesus each Christian couple shows the hospitality of the Church to the young, to the old, to the poor and to the burdened. 'The doors of homes, the 'domestic churches', and of the great family which is the Church must be open to all of them. 'No one is without family in this world : the Church is a home and family for everyone, especially those who 'labour and are heavy laden.''

Question 6 : What do you know about the Saints whose writings are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? What do you know about the Popes, papal documents and Council documents that are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? (some segments might quote from one group more than the other)

Saints :

Familiaris Consortio, On the Role of the Christian family in the Modern World, was written by Blessed John Paul II in 1981 during the early years of his pontificate. In this segment of the Catechism it is quoted several times. For anyone wanting to enter into God's vision for marriage and family life, this is the place to go to find out what it is and how to do it. While not quoted directly in CCC 1643-1645, these passages from sections 13 and 19 are illuminating.

From section 13: "By virtue of the sacramentality of their marriage, spouses are bound to one another in the most profoundly indissoluble manner. Their belonging to each other is the real representation, by means of the sacramental sign, of the very relationship of Christ with the Church. Spouses are therefore the permanent reminder to the Church of what happened on the Cross; they are for one another and for the children witnesses to the salvation in which the sacrament makes them sharers. Of this salvation event marriage, like every sacrament, is a memorial, actuation and prophecy: "As a memorial, the sacrament gives them the grace and duty of commemorating the great works of God and of bearing witness to them before their children. As actuation, it gives them the grace and duty of putting into practice in the present, towards each other and their children, the demands of a love which forgives and redeems. As prophecy, it gives them the grace and duty of living and bearing witness to the hope of the future encounter with Christ." "

From section 19: "This conjugal communion sinks its roots in the natural complementarity that exists between man and woman, and is nurtured through the personal willingness of the spouses to share their entire life-project, what they have and what they are: for this reason such communion is the fruit and the sign of a profoundly human need. But in the Lord Christ God takes up this human need, confirms it, purifies it and elevates it, leading it to perfection through the sacrament of matrimony: the Holy Spirit who is poured out in the sacramental celebration offers Christian couples the gift of a new communion of love that is the living and real image of that unique unity which makes of the Church the indivisible Mystical Body of the Lord Jesus."

In CCC 1642 a beautiful passage from Tertullian is quoted, about the true happiness of Christian spouses. It comes from the second of two books he wrote to his wife, which covered many of the questions about marriage in that day and age - many which still hold true today. This link will take you to where the CCC 1642 passage comes from, and this other link will take you to the start of Book 1 (both at the CCEL website). Here are the few inspiring lines which follow on from the CCC 1642 quotation on Christian marriage:

" Together they pray, together prostrate themselves, together perform their fasts ; mutually teaching, mutually exhorting, mutually sustaining. Equally they are both found in the Church of God; equally at the banquet of God; equally in straits, in persecutions, in refreshments. Neither hides anything from the other; neither shuns the other; neither is troublesome to the other. .... Between the two echo psalms and hymns; and they mutually challenge each other which shall better chant to their Lord. Such things when Christ sees and hears, He joys. To these He sends His own peace. Where two are, there withal is He Himself. Where He is, there the evil one is not."

In saying that 'Parents are the principal and first educators of their children' CCC 1653 quotes from section 3 of Gravissimum Educationis (Declaration on Christian Education), and the paragraph it comes from is worth sharing in full. (The whole document is only 10 pages long).

"Since parents have given children their life, they are bound by the most serious obligation to educate their offspring and therefore must be recognised as the primary and principal educators. This role in education is so important that only with difficulty can it be supplied where it is lacking. Parents are the ones who must create a family atmosphere animated by love and respect for God and man, in which the well-rounded personal and social education of children is fostered. Hence the family is the first school of the social virtues that every society needs. It is particularly in the Christian family, enriched by the grace and office of the sacrament of matrimony, that children should be taught from their early years to have a knowledge of God according to the faith received in Baptism, to worship Him, and to love their neighbour. Here, too, they find their first experience of a wholesome human society and of the Church. Finally, it is through the family that they are gradually led to a companionship with their fellowmen and with the people of God. Let parents, then, recognise the inestimable importance a truly Christian family has for the life and progress of God's own people."

CCC 1649 addresses the many situations in which there may be a need for the married couple to live separately. In all those cases the Church ardently desires the reunion of the spouses at the earliest opportunity. Reading what the wisdom of the Code of Canon Law has to say on this matter is really instructive and since most of us have never had the opportunity to learn about it - here are the relevant canons 1151 - 1155:

Canon 1151 Spouses have the obligation and the right to maintain their common conjugal life, unless a lawful reason excuses them.

Canon 1152 §1 It is earnestly recommended that a spouse, motivated by Christian charity and solicitous for the good of the family, should not refuse to pardon an adulterous partner and should not sunder the conjugal life. Nevertheless, if that spouse has not either expressly or tacitly condoned the other’s fault, he or she has the right to sever the common conjugal life, provided he or she has not consented to the adultery, nor been the cause of it, nor also committed adultery.

§2 Tacit condonation occurs if the innocent spouse, after becoming aware of the adultery, has willingly engaged in a marital relationship with the other spouse; it is presumed, however, if the innocent spouse has maintained the common conjugal life for six months, and has not had recourse to ecclesiastical or to civil authority.

§3 Within six months of having spontaneously terminated the common conjugal life, the innocent spouse is to bring a case for separation to the competent ecclesiastical authority. Having examined all the circumstances, this authority is to consider whether the innocent spouse can be brought to condone the fault and not prolong the separation permanently.

Canon 1153 §1 A spouse who occasions grave danger of soul or body to the other or to the

children, or otherwise makes the common life unduly difficult, provides the other spouse with a reason to leave, either by a decree of the local Ordinary or, if there is danger in delay, even on his or her own authority.

§2 In all cases, when the reason for separation ceases, the common conjugal life is to be

restored, unless otherwise provided by ecclesiastical authority.

Canon 1154 When a separation of spouses has taken place, provision is always, and in good time, to be made for the due maintenance and upbringing of the children.

Canon 1155 The innocent spouse may laudably readmit the other spouse to the conjugal life, in which case he or she renounces the right to separation .

Over to you..

Do you have links for any favourite sacred images which illustrate parts of this segment of the Catechism that you would like to share?
Are there any other quotations you would like to add background information to?

On Marriage, CCC 1639-1658, Part B

2013-04-07T13:04:00.001-07:00

On Marriage, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1639 - 1658, Part B.

Question 3 : Does anything in this segment of the Catechism remind you of a time in the past when God's Grace touched your life?

One of our members was sharing a household with a woman and her family in days gone by. This woman had been separated from her husband for several years. Only when the news of her annulment came through did this woman ever talk about it, and that only over a meal with special friends. One might have thought that there would be dancing on the rooftops at this news, but sorrow mixed with the joy because the woman had to come to grips with the fact that in the Church's eyes she had never been truly married. Did this mean that the children were illegitimate? - no, it didn't. So what kind of relationship had she truly had with her former husband? For this woman the whole thing felt surreal. Through it our member learned a valuable lesson, that going through an annulment process is a quite challenging thing even if the verdict is that you are free to contract a sacramental marriage.

Another member was privileged to hear a couple share about their decision to take the Church's narrow path. Both of them were civilly married, and obviously were still very much in love with each other. Through the grace of God they had both undergone a profound conversion experience, and now wanted to follow God's ways wholeheartedly. So they took that very difficult step of living as brother and sister while waiting to hear the results of both annulment processes. On the positive side they found that their love grew, because they were more attentive to each other in other ways. Living out that godly commitment was far from easy. When both annulments came through, all who knew them shared their joy and took great delight in attending their sacramental marriage.

A story was also shared about a couple who used to live in the parish. God's Grace came to them through befriending one of the priests of the parish. Over the occasional dinner the priest got to know them both, and also had the courage and the loving concern to ask when he learned that they were on their second marriages whether they had ever got their situation sorted out by the Church. With his gentle encouragement and guidance they began the annulment processes, which took much longer than the curate's stay in the parish. At least one of our members was present on that happy day when they renewed their vows and received God's sacramental blessing upon their marriage. When asked was their relationship any different after their sacramental marriage, they answered with a positively emphatic 'Oh yes!' with shining smiles.

Surprisingly God can and does call people from marriage to religious life. When St Bernard of Clairvaux was gathering friends and relatives to enter the monastery with him, some of them were married. You can read about how God called some of the married ones in 'The Family that overtook Christ' by M. Raymond. In the life of St Nicholas of Flue (Switzerland), his wife gave permission for him to leave her and all his children in order to follow God's call as a hermit. Likewise some of the Holy Servite Founders were married when God called their prayer group to become a religious order.

During a period of infertility one of our members came across a book which really helped her grow in trust that God knows what He is doing. It is called, 'Blessed Events - Christian couples share their experiences of God's blessing through natural parenting, adoption and infertility' by Debra Evans. (see Google and Amazon). Some stories were about how conceptions happened after prayer, others were about how people were led to adopt children, and still others - perhaps the most important ones - were about how couples came to terms with the fact that they would never have their own children and were led by God into special ministries for which they were ideally suited.

CCC 1653 teaches us that 'the fruitfulness of conjugal love extends to the fruits of the moral, spiritual and supernatural life that parents hand on to their children by education'. So this image of a family bringing their youngest to the Church for baptism, and beginning their education of this little one in the spiritual life and supernatural life of God's children is rather appropriate.

Question 4 : Since last session where have you most noticed the action of God's Grace in your life?

Regular readers might have noticed that we are now behind schedule on our Catechism study plan. What happened was that the funeral for someone we all had great respect for fell on a Thursday and at the same time the study group would normally meet. It is rare these days to go to a funeral where those who don't know how to participate in a funeral Mass are in the minority, and this was one of those rare times. Alan was someone who was far more interested in doing good than talking about it. Even though he was in his 80s, he was still going on St Vincent de Paul visits right up until the day he went in for surgery. Every day he was at Mass without fail, praying for all of his sons, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Proof of the efficacy of those prayers was in the sheer number of his grandsons at that Mass who are actively involved in their Catholic faith.

Another member, whose health hasn't been too good recently, was beginning to get worried about how she was going to get a number of small household repairs done. For her the good Lord had a solution. Out of the blue she received a few visitors who were long-time friends. In conversation they asked if there was anything they could do to help her. When she gratefully showed them the things which had been worrying her, out came a toolbox and they were all fixed quickly and efficiently and with an absolute minimum of fuss. How good God is, to send us the best people to help us when we are in need!

Some of our members have been attending a two-part parish book study on Richard Leonard's 'Where the hell is God?'. By all accounts it has been well attended, and everybody, including our members, has been getting a lot out of it.

One of our members took a journey to Forbes, in far central west NSW, to be present at the Baptism of a great- grandchild. To what can we compare the Grace of Baptism? It is the beginning of all good things. For such a Grace given to this little one, and by extension to the whole family, we give thanks. Rightly do we travel to be present at such an occasion.

Sometimes a gift has not only an earthly but also a heavenly donor. During the week one of our members was given the gift of holy water from the holy well at Gougane Barra where St Finbarr, an Irish Saint, used to dwell when he withdrew from the world to pray more earnestly. He is important enough to be listed as an optional memorial on the Church Universal's calendar. Our member was greatly touched and encouraged by such a gift, and this gentle invitation to grow in greater devotion to St Finbarr.

For Lent our Parish held an on-site retreat day, which was attended by several study group members. A Jesuit priest introduced attendees to a few different ways of praying through scripture passages in the Ignatian tradition. Everyone was grateful for the opportunity to have some extended prayer time with this guidance.

God is always listening to us, and even to our stray thoughts. As our member was going about her business, she did a bit of internal complaining about how very slow sales of religious cards had been, and how discouraging it all was. Within 2 or 3 days of this the good God answered, and unexpectedly opened up a sales opportunity which was rather generously responded to. So if He can arrange things like that, obviously it is worthwhile trusting Him more and leaving the results of our efforts completely in His hands.

The time is drawing close for the RCIA candidates in our parish to enter the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil, and one of our members who has been helping some of them with their preparation shares their excitement. Eagerly anticipating a Grace like this brings with it additional Graces, because the good Lord likes to encourage our good desires. Our prayers go with these 'middle mums' that they may receive all that the Lord Jesus has for them, and that they would be ever faithful to His call in their lives.

Over to you...

Have your experiences of God's Grace been similar to these?
Have they been different?
Does reading from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1639 - 1658 remind you of any of them?

On Marriage, CCC 1639-1658, Part A

2013-04-03T05:47:00.000-07:00

On Marriage, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1639 - 1658, Part A.

Question 1 : Was there something in this segment of the Catechism that you don't recall noticing before?

CCC 1641 tells us that the grace of the sacrament of Marriage is intended to perfect and to strengthen in unity the love which the spouses share. The purpose of this grace is to help one another to attain holiness. How often do we think of marriage as a way for both spouses to attain holiness? Given this truth, we should consciously aim for it. The pursuit of married holiness should then be something which guides all the decision making of a married couple. It is a bit of a wake-up call ! Have I prayed for my wife / husband today? Is there something he or she is struggling with in their spiritual life for which I could offer up a few sacrifices. Will this holiday, this purchase, this choice of school for our children etc bring us closer to God or take us further away from Him?

Jesus our Saviour, CCC 1642, spouse of the Church encounters Christian spouses through the sacrament of marriage. In the mutual love of spouses Jesus dwells and invites them to follow Him on the path towards greater love. He is always encouraging us with His grace to forgive, to endure the more difficult times, to remain faithful and to deepen our tenderness for each other. It is in those times where we renew our decision to love our spouse that His grace falls on us and helps us stretch ourselves to that level of love (Yes, I will forgive this, too ; Yes, I will let go of my desire for sleep and help my spouse on this project of his/hers : Yes, I will do whatever it takes to patch up this argument ; Yes, I will accept that apology and not hold a grudge ; Yes, I will go and get another cold drink from the fridge etc).

According to CCC 1643 the purpose of marriage is to form the spouses into one heart and one soul. This is a far cry from the cult of individuality that is so prevalent in our era. Once we realise that God's whole purpose is to bring us all into complete unity with Him, it makes sense that you need to start small with couples of one man and one woman. If a husband and wife glimpse the gift of God-given unity in their own lives, then they have the tools and the experience to help connect the family in unity and the families around them in unity. For unity to work you need the diversity of gifts in male and female to make it happen, so that sharing each other's special strengths the spouses discover how much they need each other, and continue to need each other.

This road to human communion between spouses in marriage is made easier the more the couple is in communion with Jesus Christ, CCC 1644. Living lives of shared faith in God, worshipping Him together and receiving Him in Holy Communion all greatly assist this communion of mind, heart and flesh to grow.So the more a married couple lets God into their lives and into their marriage, the more union they will discover between them.

All of the study group agreed that it was good to see in print, CCC 1646, that love cannot be an 'arrangement until future notice', otherwise it isn't love because true love makes a complete and total gift of self to the other - anything else is holding something back from that totality. For this reason, pre-nuptial agreements which basically say, 'I'll give you this much of myself, but not all of myself" set an intended marriage up for failure. For this reason, too, living together without marriage is like holding a 'get out of this relationship easy' card and not giving the complete gift of all that I am now and all that I will be until death do us part. This living together also says, 'I'll give you this much of myself, but not all of myself." Receiving and giving a complete gift of self to a spouse in marriage ennobles both husband and wife. Anything less than this demeans both lovers and leaves them unsatisfied.

CCC 1650 re-affirms the Church's teaching based on that of Jesus in Mark 10:11-12 that remarriage after divorce is adultery - unless the first marriage was annulled. Sadly there are a lot of people in this situation, particularly those who have spent years living worldly lives before re-discovering the reality of God's love. Going through an annulment process isn't easy, because it requires a close examination of the degree of freedom with which both spouses consented to the marriage - which in turn requires those close to the couple at the time of the marriage to give evidence. Obviously the earlier a person goes through the process, the more living witnesses there are likely to be (parents, best friends, priests etc) and the greater the chance of a resolved (yes there was a marriage / no there wasn't a marriage) rather than an unresolved verdict (we haven't got enough evidence to say whether there was a marriage or not). If people remember the words of Jesus in Matt 7:14 'It is a narrow gate and a hard road that leads to life, and only a few find it.' this will help them live out the consequences of their divorce and remarriage in a heroic way. That path involves living without conjugal relations until either an annulment is granted and a sacramental marriage contracted or until the other spouse of the first marriage dies and a sacramental marriage is contracted with the new spouse. That path also involves not taking on ministries in the Church (eg parish council, taking holy communion to the sick, etc) until you are living in a sacramental marriage, lest scandal be given to others. That path also requires a person to refrain from receiving Holy Communion until there is certainty that they are living in a sacramental marriage. While this is a most difficult path, those who have the humility and the obedience to travel on it find that through these crosses they grow very close to God indeed.

In this context CCC 1651 is a ray of light and a huge encouragement. People not living in a sacramental marriage are invited to participate in the life of the Church as much as possible - except in Holy Communion and ministry. For them going to Mass, praying, going to the sacrament of Penance, being charitable towards others in need, growing in self-denial and educating their children in faith are their lifelines of Grace, and God will truly be generous with those Graces if they remain faithful to Him in this way. While sacramental communion isn't possible, the practice of spiritual communion should be encouraged.

The situation in CCC 1649 is different again. Where there is separation of spouses (for whatever reason) and no remarriage, a person participates in the full sacramental life of the Church. Persons in such a situation should not seek friendship and more with a person of the opposite gender until an annulment of the first marriage is granted. Topping the list of reasons for separations would be spousal abuse and the myriad kinds of addictions, but there are others where one spouse has to live in an institution (nursing home, asylum, penitentiary) or for work reasons has to spend long periods from home (military, mining) and there are also cases where God calls a spouse to the religious life (with the consent of the other spouse). In all these cases fidelity is a challenge to maintain, but with God's Grace it is more than possible. Where a 'lack of safety to life and limb' situation doesn't exist, all attempts at reconciliation of spouses should be encouraged and supported by the prayers of the Christian community.

Another painful situation the Catechism addresses in CCC 1654 is childlessness. For married couples who experience infertility it can take them many years to discern God's plan in this situation, and they need prayer support. The very last thing they need is people asking them when are they going to have children and asking uninvited questions about the medical state of their fertility. As CCC 1654 says, marriages which haven't been blessed with children can with God's Grace and guidance become incredibly fruitful in works of charity, hospitality and in sacrificial service.

For those needing a bit of encouragement, CCC 1656 is a gem : 'In our own time, in a world often alien and even hostile to faith, believing families are of primary importance as centres of living, radiant faith.' These are oases of life, love and hope and the very best witness of the reality of the Gospel to others.

CCC 1658 is a reminder to all of us that everyone, no matter who they are, needs family and hospitality and that they should be able to find in the families of the Church a place to experience what being a part of God's family is all about. With particular solicitude the Church reminds us that unmarried persons, whatever their age, have a special need to experience the love and care of family through Christian families who open up their hearts and their lives to them.

For this picture our artist chose the quotation from Tertullian in CCC 1642b as inspiration. "How can I ever express the happiness of a marriage joined by the Church, strengthened by an offering, sealed by a blessing, announced by angels and ratified by the Father?' In the picture the hands of the newly-weds are joined, the priest represents both the Church and gives the blessing, the offering is the Eucharist of the nuptial Mass, the angels announce the news to the citizens of Heaven, and the Father ratifies it all through the Cross of His Son Jesus. Happy indeed is the one who responds to God's call to marriage with the spouse He has specially chosen for him or her.

Question 2 : What did you learn about this aspect of the Church's faith and teaching that surprised you?

CCC 1639 elicited a 'Wow!' from all of us, when we read 'Authentic married love is caught up into divine love'. How strange it is that we forget that 'God is love and anyone who lives in love lives in God and God lives in him' and that this applies in a special way to married love!

Did you know that marriage is a 'covenant guaranteed by God's fidelity'? CCC 1640. It is because marriage is God's idea, His invention, and because through human marriage we are granted a glimpse of the faithfulness and ardour of God's love for us. As Ven. Fulton Sheen says, it takes Three To Get Married, a groom, a bride and God. We also say, 'What God has joined, let no man put asunder' ; persons whom God joins in marriage are guaranteed of His help in living out their marital consent. In Ecclesiasticus 25:1 we read that one of three things delightful to both God and man, and the best of them all is 'a wife and husband who live happily together'. So whenever the troubles in married life that St Paul speaks of in 1 Cor 7:28 come your way, remember to ask God for all that is needed to overcome them because He is more than willing to provide such aid.

Did you know that by sharing faithfully through marriage in God's own love that married couples 'proclaim the Good News that God loves us with a definitive and irrevocable love', that we become witnesses of His love to others? CCC 1648. This is such a high calling, and the Church rightly praises those who give this witness of faithful married love in very difficult conditions. We all owe them a great debt of gratitude, particularly those spouses who stand by their other halves through long term degenerative illnesses and those who stand by those accused of crimes, those who have had long periods of unemployment and those who are mentally unstable.

Again the Church proclaims the truth that the world doesn't want to hear, 'Children are the supreme gift of marriage and contribute greatly to the good of the parents themselves', CCC 1652. Firstly that a child is a gift from His hand, and not a right to be grasped by any available means. Secondly that children are always, but always, but always, a blessing. When the good Lord gives you a little lamb, He also gives you the pasture it needs - so don't listen to the eco-warriors who say that children pollute the planet and don't listen to the doom merchants who talk about the high costs of rearing and educating children and don't listen to the fools who say that children will ruin your life. Listen to God : children are the supreme blessing He can give, second only to the gift of a vocation to marriage or consecrated life. If He gives you a child He will give you the means to look after that child. Trust Him.

CCC 1653 teaches us that 'Parents are the principal and first educators of their children', not professional teachers, not schools, not parishes, not even priests, but parents. Ponder this statement for a while and the more the truth of it and the revolutionariness of it will become clear. With great wisdom God entrusts each child to specific parents, so let us trust Him on this too. This is the primary reason why home schooling works - parents are taking on their role of principal and first educators more seriously. To find out a bit more about educating at home, the Home Education Association of Australia (HEA) is a good place to start.

In the home of the family is where we find 'the first school of Christian life'. Here a person learns to pray, learns to worship, learns to forgive, and most importantly learns to love, CCC 1657. It is within the Christian family that a person learns how to live and act in a manner pleasing to God. All of the most important lessons in life - the ones with eternal consequences - are all learned within the context of family life. May the good Lord grant His Grace to all legislators throughout the world, so that all the laws they enact will always protect the family.

Over to you...

Did you have similar answers to these Questions?
Did you have totally different answers to these Questions?

On Marriage, CCC 1621-1638, Part C

2013-03-26T06:26:00.002-07:00

On Marriage, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1621 - 1638, Part C

Question 5 : Do you have any pictures that illustrate this segment of the Catechism?

Sacred Images :

At the On Marriage CCC 1621-1638 Part A blog-post you can view an image inspired by CCC 1630 which shows a priest in God's name blessing the marital consent of two spouses.

CCC 1623 speaks of the beautiful Eastern tradition of the crowning of the newly married spouses. Here are some images that show some of that tradition : the more elaborate crowns will either be borrowed from the church or handed down through the generations, the simpler ones will belong to the couple and be treasured throughout their married life.

In CCC 1632 the Church affirms the prime importance of marriage preparation. A good marriage preparation course will help intended spouses learn how to communicate those things to each other which are more difficult to say, and how to work through disagreements without leaving residual resentments to fester. This cartoon contains examples of those things which are more difficult to say, and this other cartoon is a graphic reminder that marriages will have ups and downs. Importantly the downs are where love really gets stretched and grows - so with God's help persevere through those times and the wonderful times will return.

Mixed marriages are the subject of CCC 1633-1637. Anecdotally in local Australian conditions only about 1 in 10 of the marriages that a Catholic priest officiates at are contracted within a nuptial Mass. For that to happen you need to have a bride and groom who both take their Catholic faith seriously and who are willing to pay the extra costs for bridal car hire due to the extra half hour a nuptial Mass adds. Despite the source, the statistics for inter-faith marriages in America in 2009 are quite interesting.

CCC 1632 also speaks about the dignity of married love, and the gift of total commitment one to another is one of the sources of that dignity. No higher gift between persons can be given except where one person accepts death so that another might live. This picture reminds us that marriage should lead to the holiness of both husband and wife, and it comes from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and from a web-page full of good teaching about marriage.

Our artist has taken CCC 1637 as his inspiration, showing how a believing spouse can help an unbelieving spouse to turn away from things displeasing to God and to enter onto the path of complete conversion. Here is what CCC 1637 says : '... For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband. (1 Cor 7:14) It is a great joy for the Christian spouse and for the Church if this "consecration" should lead to the free conversion of the other spouse to the Christian faith. Sincere married love, the humble and patient practice of the family virtues, and perseverance in prayer can prepare the non-believing spouse to accept the grace of conversion.'

Question 6 : What do you know about the Saints whose writings are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? What do you know about the Popes, papal documents and Council documents that are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? (some segments might quote from one group more than the other)

Saints :

CCC 1622 quotes from that wonderful Apostolic Exhortation by Blessed John Paul II : Familiaris Consortio, passage 67, which is about the role of the Christian family in the modern world. If you haven't read it yet, now is the time because in order to safeguard the family from the various political/secular attacks upon it (eg those who would call marriage a union between two persons of any gender) we need to have clarity about what God's vision is for the family. In passage 67 guidelines for the liturgical celebration of a marriage are given, noting that the rites ensure that everything is done properly and validly and that there is room within those guidelines for particular cultural expressions as long as they are not incompatible with the Gospel. Hope is expressed that each ceremony of Christian marriage would be a witness to faith in God and and an experience of the living Body of Christ.

CCC 1627 refers to the Ordo Celebrandi Matrimonium (Order for the celebration of marriage), but it doesn't appear to be available online. In searching for that a rather good homily on marriage by Archbishop Brady of Saint Paul was found instead, which goes for a little less than two pages. Here are two short excerpts from it to whet your appetite with : 'This is an unbreakable union in marriage. See to it that in little things there are no fractures of charity and in big things no divisions of hearts.' 'There is a special sacredness in marriage because God has willed it so. Kneel often before God in thankfulness for your union. Speak often to God for the helps you will need. Pray often to God in gratitude for His gifts, not the least for today's gift of this husband or this wife.'

This segment of the Catechism quotes from the Code of Canon Law quite a bit. To find where the Code starts talking about the sacrament of marriage, go to Canon 1055. Of interest is Canon 1060 '...the validity of a marriage must be pheld until the contrary is proven.' and these beautiful thoughts from Canon 1063, '..spouses manifest, and participate in, the mystery of the unity and fruitful love between Christ and the Church' and '...so that by faithfully observing and protecting their conjugal covenant, they may achieve a holier and fuller family life.'

The reference to the Council of Trent (1563) DS 1813-1816 given in CCC 1631 is rather interesting because it speaks about clandestine marriages (elopements etc). As long as the consent of the spouses is free and the sacramental ceremony conducted according to the norms of the Church and in the presence of a priest authorised by the parish priest or local bishop, then the marriage is valid. It was at that time, in order to prevent bigamy, that the Church decreed that public notice of the intention to marry be given (wedding banns) unless there was cause to suspect that someone wanted to maliciously hinder the marriage.

Guadium et Spes 49 is referred to in CCC 1632 with regard to how the best way to prepare young people for marriage is through the instruction of their parents and the experience of growing up in holy families. However this passage 49 contains other gems as well, eg: 'Married love God has judged worthy of special gifts, healing, perfecting and exalting gifts of grace and charity. Such love, merging the human with the divine, leads the spouses to a free and mutual gift of themselves, a gift providing itself by gentle affection and by deed, such love pervades the whole of their lives : indeed by its busy generosity it grows better and grows greater. Therefore it excels mere erotic inclination, which, selfishly pursued, soon enough fades wretchedly away.' and 'Firmly established by the Lord, the unity of marriage will radiate from the equal personal dignity of wife and husband, a dignity acknowledged by mutual and total love. The constant fulfillment of the duties of this Christian vocation demands notable virtue. For this reason, strengthened by grace for holiness of life, the couple will painstakingly cultivate and pray for steadfastness of love, large heartedness and the spirit of sacrifice.'

Over to you..

Do you have links for any favourite sacred images which illustrate parts of this segment of the Catechism that you would like to share?
Are there any other quotations you would like to add background information to?

On Marriage, CCC 1621-1638, Part B

2013-03-20T06:33:00.002-07:00

On Marriage, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1621 - 1638, Part B.

Question 3 : Does anything in this segment of the Catechism remind you of a time in the past when God's Grace touched your life?

CCC 1622 speaks about how spouses should prepare for the sacrament of marriage, particularly by receiving the sacrament of penance. Some many years ago one of our members was deeply inspired by an engaged couple who, desiring to be the very best gift they could be to each other, both decided to do as much as they could to grow in holiness before their wedding day. What wisdom God gave them, that they knew that to be the best husband and the best wife that they needed to remove as much sin from their lives as possible and to seek to be filled with more of God's love!

From her own experience one of our members wanted to add a bit to the Catechism parts on mixed marriages. So often the preparation for marriage in such cases is geared towards helping the non-Catholic understand the moral choices the Church expects of the Catholic spouse (fidelity, no contraception, no abortion, baptism of children, the duty to bring the children up in the Catholic faith etc) and doesn't ascertain the actual faith level of the intended Catholic spouse. In her case because she had been to Sunday School she was well versed in who Jesus is and what He has done for us, which was the majority of the subject matter the priest set before her, but her husband-to-be was a Catholic who hadn't been catechised, and in fact needed the marriage preparation sessions more than she did. Hopefully these days both bride and groom attend the marriage preparation courses together.

The majority of our study group members have been blessed with marriages where both spouses are Catholic. Among our families there have been several great-grandparents, aunts etc who when they married into the family, for the sake of the marriage and for the sake of the children to come, took the step of receiving instruction in the Catholic faith and being received into the Church just prior to their weddings. At this time we take a moment to honour them, because what they sacrificed permitted a unified family life to grow and because they became exemplary Catholics. We also honour those who have made a mixed marriage work, because it is so hard to share your whole life when you can't share THE most important part - the fulness of your relationship with God. In our parish we are blessed to know a married couple where both of them are very active in their respective churches, and who support each other in those ministries and by attending social occasions in both parishes together. Their example shows us what is possible with God's grace.

One of our members had an English grandfather and an Irish grandmother. All the family would go to church with the Catholic grandmother, but the grandfather didn't go to church at all. Puzzled by this our member, when she was a girl, asked him why he didn't go to church with the rest of them, but never really got a good answer. However, at around the age of 70 her grandfather became convinced that the claims of the Catholic Church were true, and became a Catholic to the rejoicing of all the family.

Another member found CCC 1621 and CCC 1622 really interesting to see in print what she had understood through the guidance of faith. For her to be married within the context of the Mass was only normal and natural. Who could possibly want to be married without a Nuptial Mass if they are believers? Going to the sacrament of Penance prior to the wedding was also a no-brainer. Who could possibly want to receive such an important sacrament without being interiorly clean and thus more capable of receiving and retaining the graces to be given? A couple this member knew went even a step further than this, and wanting to give each other the very best gift of self possible worked just as hard on growing in holiness for the sake of the other as they did on all the minutiae of the practical arrangements.

A marriage, as Bishop Fulton Sheen put it, always takes three : the bride, the groom and God. Acting as God's representative, the priest provides a visible and tangible reminder of God's involvement in the marriage, because it is from God's love that married couples draw the love, mercy and fidelity they need to live out their matrimonial consent 'until death do us part'.

Question 4 : Since last session where have you most noticed the action of God's Grace in your life?

One of our members had been to visit family and friends in Melbourne. On previous visits they had often wanted to see a live show (Melbourne has staged a lot of top notch musicals in recent years), but each time there were no shows on offer or all the tickets were sold out. This time as they were taking a stroll along the river bank they came across a theatre where 'Warhorse' was being shown and a few remaining tickets were available. Thankful for God's providence, they had a wonderful time at this memorable show.

Another member had the joy of a visit from one of her grandsons who brought a young lass with him. Recently they have become engaged, and this was a lovely opportunity to meet this newly intended member of the family. To our member's great joy this young lass was modest in dress and demeanour and a delight to be with.

Sometimes the good Lord sends us ideas for new ways of evangelisation. In this case, it was an idea that probably needs the resources of more than one parish to bring it into being. Our member is very grateful to God's providence because an opportunity to share that idea with the most appropriate person to bring it about happened the evening that the idea coalesced, and our member didn't have to carry the burden for a long time.

During the week one of our members attended the funeral of a mother of a priest. Founded on prayer - especially the Rosary - and the sacraments, her life was extraordinarily fruitful in good works. She used the cooking and organisational talents God had given her in fund raising for Catholic schools and loved to spend time with disabled children. Generously she gave of her time to her family, particularly when a family member went through deep grief. Above all her life was characterised by that cheerfulness which those who walk closely in God's ways have. Our member considers herself richly blessed to have known this holy woman.

Two of our members had been for different medical tests, and had recently received the news that the test results were good, with nothing to be concerned about. All of us were very happy to hear this, because they are both extraordinary blessings to us.

Rejoicing continued with the news of the safe arrival of a new great grandchild for one of our members. What a gift from God it is to be able to see and to welcome into this world the children of our children's children!

Many of our members also serve as catechists in the state schools and are back at work teaching groups of children about faith in God. Apparently this year they have all received an excellent bunch of children, who are open and hungry for more about God. Together with this blessing, our catechists have become more aware of the privilege and responsibility that is theirs in bringing Jesus to these youngsters.

Over to you...

Have your experiences of God's Grace been similar to these?
Have they been different?
Does reading from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1621 - 1638 remind you of any of them?

On Marriage, CCC 1621-1638, Part A

2013-03-18T06:33:00.002-07:00

On Marriage, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1621 - 1638, Part A.

Question 1 : Was there something in this segment of the Catechism that you don't recall noticing before?

One of our members wondered why CCC 1624 says that the bride usually receives more blessing prayers at a marriage liturgy than the groom. The first reason we came up with was that there are many more passages in the Scriptures about being a good wife than there are about being a good husband, so there is far more 'raw material' to construct the liturgical prayers with. Secondly, up until modern times the risk of a woman dying in childbirth was considerable; that, together with the sadly default assumption that if a couple can't have children that there must be something wrong with the wife, would produce prayers for the safe delivery of children over the bride.

CCC 1623 speaks about the marriage rites of the Eastern liturgies and about the ceremonial crowning of the newly married couple. To those of us in the Latin rite it is a completely foreign concept, but one well worth trying to understand. Unless one member had been following Bernard and Jane Toutounji's journey from engagement to marriage in the Catholic Weekly and at http://proposaltomarriage.com/ she would never have heard about the crowning before. Partly this crowning shows that the new spouses are now the king and queen of the new family that God will bring into being through them, they are to rule over it in His name and with His authority and in full co-operation with Him. Partly they recall that in the early Church several martyrs who prior to their fial sufferings were shown by God the crown of martyrdom waiting for them in heaven as an encouragement to persevere until death. So likewise these crowns acknowledge the dying to self that is necessary in order to lay down one's life for the good of the spouse and the good of the family. Later on in the ceremony the crowned spouses are led in procession around the altar three times as an acknowledgement that to fulfill God's plan for their marriage that they need to be united in revolving around Jesus Christ as the centre of their lives.

The passages about matrimonial consent (CCC 1625-1629) generated a lot of discussion.

Firstly we talked about arranged marriages, and how as long as there was no coercion a bride and groom entering into an arranged marriage could have far more clarity about what they are consenting to in marriage than a couple 'in love' whose hormonal response to each other is clouding their judgement.

Secondly we talked about 'shot-gun' marriages, where the bride is pregnant and the pregnancy seems to be the prime reason for getting married. Just about everyone had a family story about how most of these shot-gun marriages didn't work out very well. The ones that did work, had a wise person sit down with the couple and carefully talk through the reasons they had for marriage other than the baby, telling them that as long as the father provides for the child, they were free to choose to part or to choose to marry.

We all nodded our heads when CCC 1632 said that preparation for marriage is of prime importance. In times past most of this preparation was done within the family through good example and sharing the wisdom of the generations, accompanied by longer engagements. With so many of our young people disconnected from their parents and extended family, and getting their vision for married life not from sacramental couples but from television, movies and their peers, most of them are woefully unprepared for what it takes to live out the vocation of marriage for a lifetime. Indeed the best marriage preparation courses these days provide opportunities for engaged couples to listen to the life experiences of married couples who have varying levels of years of marriage under their belts (some married a few years, some married around 10 years, some married 20+ years).

CCC 1634 spoke about the difficulties married couples face when a Catholic marries someone from another Christian religion. To not be able to share the deepest part of yourself - your faith and worship of God - with your spouse is a very painful situation to be in. Success requires a lot of patient understanding, mutual respect and excellent communication. As CCC 1634 says, the outcome can be sharing in the pain of the separations between Christians (like what Kimberly Hahn went through in the years between Scott's conversion and her own conversion to Catholicism, written about in 'Rome Sweet Home') or drifting into religious indifference (as so many stories on EWTN's 'Journey Home' tell, rather than choose his church or her church many drift into choosing no church).

In CCC 1637 the situation where there is a disparity of cult between the spouses was spoken of, and 1 Cor 7:14 was quoted. 'For the unbelieving husband is consecrated through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is consecrated through her husband.' Because the two have become one, the unbelieving spouse shares in the holiness of the believing spouse. Often the fidelity, love and good example of the believing spouse is the most eloquent witness to God's reality for the unbelieving spouse, and this can lead to the conversion of the unbelieving spouse. Because our study group had heard of cases where one spouse underwent a major conversion and the other one didn't experience this, leading to separation and worse, it is worthwhile recalling St Paul's advice in 1 Cor 7:12b: 'If a brother believer has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she is content to live with him, he must not send her away; and if a woman has an unbeliever for her husband, and he is content to live with her, she must not leave him.' Whenever separation occurs, the risk of committing adultery increases rather dramatically, and no one should expose another to the possibility of committing mortal sin.

Our artist took CCC 1630 as the inspiration for this picture. Since marriage is an ecclesial reality, that truth is expressed in the exchange of vows taking place before the presence of the Church's ministerial representatives. With this marriage a new domestic Church is born, and holy mother Church rightly oversees and blesses this new beginning.

Question 2 : What did you learn about this aspect of the Church's faith and teaching that surprised you?

Because marriage is a solemn liturgical act raised to the dignity of a sacrament, CCC 1631, a couple intending to marry cannot write their own marriage vows and need to comply with the ecclesiastical form of the vows provided by the Church - thus ensuring that it is a sacrament they contract with each other. There needs to be respect for the ritual and prayer and vow formats which have developed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit over the Christian centuries.

Out of solicitude for her children, the Church requires special permissions to be obtained prior to a Catholic marrying a non-Catholic and especially if a Catholic wishes to marry a non-Christian. CCC 1635. These permissions are needed to ensure the validity of the marriage in the eyes of the Church and to make sure that both parties are aware of the Catholic's obligation to bring up any children given them by God in the Catholic faith. Because it is so easy for couples to skirt around their faith intentions for their children-to-come, this is a golden opportunity to talk it all out.

Chastity is valuable, so says the Guadium et Spes quotation in CCC 1632. How good it is to see that in print! As the Catechism points out, chastity leads to honourable courtship and the ability to commit to marriage. A chaste person is in control of their sexual impulses, a quality which is needed to resist sexual temptation prior to marriage and to cope with those times in a married life when conjugal relations need to be postponed (eg the latter stages of pregnancy, when one spouse is seriously ill, or out of respect for the ebb and flow of the wife's cycle or fertility). A chaste person engenders trust and security in a relationship. A chaste person is also able to let a courtship relationship develop naturally and at its own pace, allowing communication to grow without jumping ahead to the physical expression of total commitment. This allows for much easier discernment of whether this is the person God wants me to marry or not, and for the gift of valuing the other as a uniquely valuable person and not as a ready source of sexual gratification.

Over to you...

Did you have similar answers to these Questions?
Did you have totally different answers to these Questions?

On Marriage, CCC 1601-1620, Part C

2013-03-10T07:12:00.001-07:00

On Marriage, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1601 - 1620, Part C

Question 5 : Do you have any pictures that illustrate this segment of the Catechism?

Sacred Images :

The picture from the On Marriage CCC 1601-1620 Part A blog-post, was inspired by CCC 1605 and by the words in Genesis 2:24

A covenant is more than a contract, because it is more than a business arrangement due to the personal commitment of both parties ; i.e. there is a degree of self-giving in addition to the giving of good and mutual service. By nature covenants tend to be long term. Hence we can talk about the matrimonial covenant in CCC 1601, and the nuptial covenant in CCC 1612, which are the greatest form of covenants. These pictures tell us a bit more about the covenant of marriage : In the lighting of one candle from two candles we see a visible concept of two merging into one. This next image depicts the love between Our Lady's parents, Saints Joachim and Anne. In this stained glass image the priestly stole wrapped around the hands of the intended spouses symbolises the binding of their lives together by God. Indeed young love is beautiful, but even more beautiful is the love between a husband and wife who have been faithful to their marriage covenant for decades. Visibly symbolising the covenant are the wedding rings, and under the newly-wed's couple's hands are the marriage certificate signed and witnessed. To end with we have a bride and groom humbly seeking the blessing of God, gazing on the extent to which God fulfilled His covenant to Abraham, Isaac and Moses on the Cross.

CCC 1604 reminds us of God's command, which we can trust because He commanded it, 'Be fruitful and multiply'. To illustrate this, the first picture is of a family with several children, and the second one is of a family tree.

CCC 1610 speaks of the unity and indissolubility of marriage in God's plan. For this concept, these three images are useful. The first one is of a married couple whose fidelity to each other over a long period of time radiates from them. The second one is of two hearts and two rings united in the Cross of Jesus. The last one is a stained glass image which portrays the permanence of marriage.

In CCC 1617 teaches us that marriage is a sign of the covenant of love between Christ and the Church. Finding a picture which expresses this spousal love of Jesus for His Church is not an easy matter. Again we attempt to what was can with what we could find. This love was expressed mot magnificently upon the Cross, which this image from the movie, 'The Passion of the Christ' shows. The next two images are ones of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which always remind us of His love. The first one is more traditional, the second one is more stylised. As proof of the ardency of the love of Christ, we have a photograph of the amazing statue in the church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome of St Teresa of Avila in ecstasy due to the ardour of His love.

Virginity for the sake of the Kingdom, mentioned in CCC 1619, is a very spiritually fruitful calling. In choosing Jesus as spouse above all others, a person making such vows declares His reality and the reality of Heaven before the world. We can never underestimate the value of such witness, such as these three women gave in making their vows.

Our artist was inspired by CCC 1615 for this image, particularly the line which goes, "It is by following Christ, renouncing themselves, and taking up their crosses that spouses will be able to 'receive' the original meaning of marriage and live it with the help of Christ. This grace of Christian marriage is a fruit of Christ's Cross, the source of all Christian life." As husband and wife carrying our crosses together we can get further along the road of holiness than we could on our own, with each one encouraging the other, and those crosses in our lives draw us both closer to each other and closer to God. How sad it is when spouses abandon each other when the going gets a little tougher! - because that is where the purification of love begins, so that it can become more like the love Jesus showed us how to live.

Question 6 : What do you know about the Saints whose writings are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? What do you know about the Popes, papal documents and Council documents that are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? (some segments might quote from one group more than the other)

Saints :

The vast majority of references in this section of the Catechism came from the Bible. In part this can be explained because up until the modern era marriage hasn't been called into question. References for celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom abound because priests and religious have needed to reflect upon their own callings and to instruct others in how to understand and remain faithful to those callings from God. Due to the political attacks upon the nature of marriage, and the Church's need to re-proclaim that marriage is between one man and one woman until death they do part, we are likely to see papal documents being issued on marriage and the family in the next decade or so. Historically we seem to only get around to defining the truths we believe in when they come under major attack from heresies.

The passages 22, 47 and 48 from Guadium et Spes have been referred to previously in the Catechism segments which we have looked at in weeks past. In passage 22, referred to in CCC 1612 we find the luminous words which Blessed Pope John Paul II made every effort to transmit to the world, "The truth is that only in the mystery of the incarnate Word does the mystery of man take on light...Christ... fully reveals man to man himself and makes his supreme calling clear." Passage 47 is referred to twice in CCC 1603, speaking about how sins disfigure God's plan for marriage and how the well-being of individuals and societies rests on the health of marriages and families.

Beginning from passage 48, quoted in CCC 1601 and 1603, and going up to the end of passage 52, the Second Vatican Council Fathers present to us God's vision for married and family life clearly and succinctly. If you need a bit of encouragement and inspiration in living out the unfolding of your married or family life, this is the best place to get it. As with so many things in God's economy, it is those seemingly ordinary things like marriage which become extraordinarily wonderful and profound when viewed from His perspective.

For some reason St John Chrysostom's treatise On Virginity (De Virginitate) doesn't seem to be available online in English. It would have been good to have seen this rather eye-opening quote in context, but that isn't possible now - hopefully this situation will change in the years to come. Linking the health of consecrated life directly to the health of married life in a society explains why vocations to the religious life appear to be few and far between in a society where both divorce and co-habitation are common.

Thankfully Blessed John Paul II goes further in Familiaris Consortio 16 to explain in greater detail how the vocations to marriage and the vocations to celibacy / virginity relate to each other, and how each one enriches the other.

Over to you..

Do you have links for any favourite sacred images which illustrate parts of this segment of the Catechism that you would like to share?
Are there any other quotations you would like to add background information to?

Om Marriage, CCC 1601-1620, Part B

2013-03-05T21:38:00.003-08:00

On Marriage, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1601 - 1620, Part B.

Question 3 : Does anything in this segment of the Catechism remind you of a time in the past when God's Grace touched your life?

At the study group we all took time to share our own stories of marriage, and we all learnt a lot from each other.

One ex-Navy man described being sent to a Scottish base during WW2, and for lack of anything better to do went to the weekly dance at the parish hall in the village. While there he met a nice lassie and they only saw each other a few times before he was deployed elsewhere in the North Sea. They corresponded by letter as much as was possible, and when he returned to base the courtship continued with him living next door with the local copper's family. When he asked advice of his CEO, this gent said, 'God be with you' - and indeed He was. Together they had 58 years, 4 months and a few days of marriage before God called her home. Having asked her father's blessing, he obtained it, despite the lassie being the family housekeeper and the certainty that at some point she would go to Australia to live.

Another member's first marriage wasn't so happy. Like him, she too married before she was 21. Because her husband was in the music industry, he was away from home for periods at a time; and with success and celebrity there were many temptations to infidelity which he succumbed to. With three small children they were too busy and too immature at that time to be able to work things out between them. Nevertheless she still has a good friendship with him, and always appreciates him as the father of their children.

In contrast, another member also married at age 19, and had a very happy marriage with a faith-filled husband. Widowed later on in life, God gave her the gift of another husband - again a very faith-filled man. She feels doubly blessed, even though both are now enjoying their eternal rewards. On her second wedding day, one of her sons said, 'We thank you, Mum, for giving us a second Dad.'

A further member had been through an annulment process. From the age of 15 she was the girl friend of her future husband. Being shy and timid at that time, she wasn't able to speak up for herself when her boyfriend wanted to marry her to escape the griefs and pressures of his home life and her mother -who lived in straighted circumstances - wanted to see her settled. The pre-marriage preparation she did was the priest was geared more to preparing her for life with a Catholic spouse and making sure she understood some of the tenets of Catholic dogma than with preparing her for marriage. Because they only married in the Church due to family pressure - he rarely going to Church - and she having no faith at all, the foundation wasn't good. So scarred by life, even at that age, her husband lived by two mantras, 'I don't give a stuff about anyone' and 'no one tells me what to do'. With such inability to love, relationship counselling broke down, and when the children were old enough they separated. Because of the lack of free consent at the beginning of the marriage, the annulment process was a very simple one and quickly concluded. Since then he has contracted another marriage, which seems to be a happy one.

Mind you, it is not easy in our era if you are a woman of marriageable age who would like to marry an equally faith-filled husband. In our parishes we don't see too many of either age group, and those men who have had adult conversion experiences are often not good marriage material. Beset with this problem our member prayed, and prayed. In time God graciously informed her that He had timetable for answering her prayers. This knowledge gave her the confidence, when the time arrived, to try a few ways well outside her comfort zone of meeting marriageable blokes. Most of those ways proved fruitless until she was inspired to place an entry in a newspaper column where in a few lines you could say a little about yourself and a little about the kind of person you wanted to meet. How long it would take to see the entry in print was unknown - but God knew. He arranged for it to be published on the very day a year-long novena of prayer concluded. On this day, her future husband, who had been reading the column for a bit of a giggle and for an insight into human nature, read it and could not stop thinking about it. The Holy Spirit wouldn't leave him alone until he had written a response and posted it. When the first face-to-face meeting happened, everything moved on from there quite swiftly. Our member is so very grateful for the certainty God gave her that this was His choice for her. To make one's marriage vows with this confidence is a very wonderful thing, and one that she would wish for every couple intending to marry.

One member counts herself fortunate in being able to attend an Engaged Encounter weekend prior to her marriage. When courting, couples tend to gloss over areas which might cause friction (religion, finances, children) because they wish to remain attractive to the other person. The process whereby a few couples shared their own experiences as input and then sent everyone off to write about their own ideas and opinions before giving them to their future spouse to read was a good one. Then there was time to for couples to discuss where they shared outlooks and how to deal with those cases where they had differing opinions. For our member it was a weekend where God continually confirmed that He wanted the two of them to marry. To be able to look forward to life together after having talked through all of those hard topics and having gained greater confidence was a huge blessing. Of course, it would have been as equally a great blessing if two intendeds decided that a life together wouldn't ever work and went their separate ways.

One concerned grandfather spoke about his 14 adult grandchildren. Of these 14, only one is officially married with several of the rest cohabiting with a significant other. Some of them are doing OK and others are having their troubles. To this grandfather's mind, he can see that the major cause of the troubles is where one or both of them is putting 'I' before 'we'. In order to survive happily they need to deliberately change their way of thinking from 'what is best for me' to 'what is best for us' and to be far more concerned with 'we' and 'us' than with 'me and 'mine''.

Rightly do we celebrate when a bride and a groom give the complete gift of themselves to each other in the sacrament of marriage. In the midst of the celebrations it is good to recall what CCC 1603 teaches, " 'The intimate community of life and love which constitutes the married state has been established by the Creator and endowed by Him with its own proper laws... God Himself is the author of marriage.' The vocation to marriage is written in the very nature of man and woman as they came from the hand of the Creator. Marriage is not a purely human institution."

Question 4 : Since last session where have you most noticed the action of God's Grace in your life?

One of our members went to a wedding recently, and while waiting for the ceremony to begin observed the two young couples sitting in the pew in front of her. From some of the conversation it appeared that they were either married or engaged. What struck our member were grace inspired thoughts. Each of them was a unique, precious and exquisite child of God, and what a humbling privilege it would be for the husband to be entrusted with the totality of being of the wife and vice versa. Being aware of this total gift would make you want to cherish the other and to be proved worthy of such trust. Our member was grateful for God's reminder, because after a few years of marriage sometimes we can take the wonder of the gift of each other for granted.

Another member went to a celebration of a siblings's 50th wedding anniversary. What she couldn't get over was the contrast between the life of this sibling celebrating his wedding anniversary and her other brother who was on to his third wife. The first brother had faith in God and went to Church regularly, and the loving tenderness and mutual gratitude between the spouses was a beautiful sight. The other brother didn't have any room in his life for God, and despite the third wife, was an intensely unhappy man. Of the two, one was living out God's plan for marriage, and the other wasn't, and the contrast could not have been clearer.

On her way down the shops another of our members came across one of our parishioners who has very poor eyesight. Standing still was unusual for her, and the dog was standing quietly, too. It soon became apparent that the dog had done quite a lot of 'business' on the concrete and this woman was having trouble locating the stuff to put it into her doggy-doo bags. Our member was so grateful for being in the right place at the right time to became to help this woman.

Sometimes the good Lord gives us the opportunity to grow in appreciation of His gifts by making them 'go missing' occasionally. Such was the case with one of our member's children going out for an educational course at night. Not being one to make a lot of noise, you would have thought that it would make little difference not having this child around, but instead what a gaping hole was left behind! What a gift the good Lord gives us in the earthly cherubs He sends us, and how good it is to be reminded of the magnitude of those gifts!

Over to you...

Have your experiences of God's Grace been similar to these?
Have they been different?
Does reading from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1601 - 1620 remind you of any of them?

On Marriage, CCC 1601-1620, Part A

2013-03-04T05:45:00.004-08:00

On Marriage, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1601 - 1620, Part A.

Question 1 : Was there something in this segment of the Catechism that you don't recall noticing before?

CCC 1601 tells us that 'the matrimonial covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament'. So this means that a sacramental marriage is far more than a legal promise of fidelity and has been made not only life-giving but supernatural-life / grace giving. Just as someone ordained to Holy Orders becomes a source of grace for the whole Church, and in particular for the parish and diocese in which he serves, so sacramental marriage in being given the power to image the relationship between Christ and the Church brings grace to the whole Church but primarily to the spouses, children, extended family and parish community.

Quoted in CCC 1603 is a line of great truth, which comes from Guadium et Spes 47, 'The well-being of the individual person and of both human and Christian society is closely bound up with the healthy state of conjugal and family life'. Reading through many Christian conversion stories the correlation between the start of a life of crime and a broken home is very high. Growing up in a household where the relationship between parents has been damaged by serious sin has a negative impact on children which can last for a few generations.

As with the rest of this segment of the Catechism, it shines a clear light on human marital relationships. Disorders like 'domination, infidelity, jealousy and conflicts' CCC 1606 are not due to the 'nature of man or woman nor from the nature of their relationships' CCC 1607 'but from sin'. So the good news is that the more we strive to be pleasing to God, the better our marriages will be.

Even though God's original plan for marriage has been damaged by sin, CCC 1609, much good still comes from it. Married love is designed to help the spouses grow in holiness, and by overcoming all the various forms of self-centredness to help them grow in virtue, in self-giving and in mutual service.

Never ever was divorce between spouses in God's plan, CCC 1614 and 1615. Jesus was very clear about that in Matthew 19:3-9. It still isn't. With the help of God's grace flowing from the Cross of Jesus married fidelity and mutual growth in holiness is possible.

Some are not called to marriage with an earthly spouse, CCC 1618, but to witness the supremacy of God's love over any human love through a life of virginity for the sake of the Kingdom. In doing this these witnesses remind us that our homeland is in heaven, and that we are but pilgrims here. When someone responds to this special call from God, He can use that person powerfully for the good of others; whether that is though prayer and intercession, works of charity, works of evangelisation or a combination of these.

Our artist took CCC 1605 as his inspiration for this picture, which in turn quotes from holy Scripture (Genesis 2:24 and Matt 19:6) where it says, " 'Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.' The Lord Himself shows that this signifies an unbreakable union of their two lives by recalling what the plan of the Creator had been 'in the beginning' : 'So they are no longer two, but one flesh.' "

Question 2 : What did you learn about this aspect of the Church's faith and teaching that surprised you?

In CCC 1602 we get a glimpse of just how important marriage is in God's eyes, because the Bible begins with Adam and Eve and ends with the wedding feast of the Lord Jesus and His bride the Church. Put in that context we get a sense of God's wonderful plan and purpose for marriage. Without God, the author of marriage, in the equation a marriage will fall far short of what He intended it to be in the beginning.

Isn't it just wonderful, how God desires our married love to image the absolute and unfailing love of God for His people? CCC 1604. This modern notion of sticking around only while I feel that I'm receiving the 'better' and not working through and patiently enduring the 'worse' is not in God's plan at all - He designed marriage to be an unbreakable union of the two lives of wife and husband. CCC 1605.

Without God's grace, sourced from the Cross of Jesus, it is not possible to live out the level of unity God had in mind for spouses 'from the beginning' CCC 1608. Again this is Good News for us, because we are not left orphans, God is always willing to give us all the grace and strength we need to keep on living out our marriage vows.

Thinking about sacramental marriage as a fruit of the Cross of Christ, CCC 1615, is something we are not used to doing, but that is exactly what God's truth tells us that it is. The dying to self and taking up of the crosses that come to us in conjugal and family life are a major way we become living images of the love that Christ has for His church - because He loved us so much He carried the cross to Calvary and there died for us upon it to win redemption for a1l.

CCC 1620 contains another 'both / and' statement. In answer to God's call both marriage and virginity are ways of following His Son Jesus. What is really interesting is that St John Chrysostom sees these two states of life as having a very strong correlation of fruitfulness : when marriage is esteemed vocations to the priesthood and religious life flourish. Our era definitely shows that when a culture abounds in de facto relationships then vocations to the priesthood and religious life are very few and far between indeed.

Over to you...

Did you have similar answers to these Questions?
Did you have totally different answers to these Questions?

On Holy Orders, CCC 1572-1589, Part C

2013-02-26T19:13:00.004-08:00

On Holy Orders, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1572 - 1589, Part C

Question 5 : Do you have any pictures that illustrate this segment of the Catechism?

Sacred Images :

In the On Holy Orders CCC 1572-1589, Part A blog-post, our artist provided a picture showing all the symbolic gifts which go with each degree of ordination, bishop, priest and deacon.

CCC 1577 speaks about the college of bishops. As bishops they serve the unity of the Church, and work towards that unity when they get together as members of state or national bishops conferences, synods of bishops, on ad limina visits to Rome, and when Councils are called. This first image is of a group of cardinals, so similar in dress and yet so individual. The second image is of a group of American bishops praying together at the tomb of St Paul while on an ad limina visit to Rome. The collegiate relationship between bishops is not confined just to the Latin rite, but extends between all bishops united under the Pope whatever their liturgical rite happens to be, as this third image shows. Together Pope and bishops all work together for the good of the whole Church.

To be willing to embrace celibacy for the sake of the kingdom, CCC 1579, a person has to have not only an all encompassing love for Jesus but also an all encompassing love for His bride, the Church. These three images, first, second, third, help us understand that spousal love between Christ and His Church which those in consecrated celibacy enter into in one way, and which married couples enter into in another way. To be consecrated in celibacy to Jesus is to live with your heart set on the new and eternal Jerusalem, and on the fulfilment of all the promises of Jesus, much like this picture.

In CCC 1589 St Gregory of Nazianzen talked about God's greatness and man's weakness. This photograph of a liturgy at St Peter's basilica with the Pope and people so small compared to the grandeur and size of the statue of St Helen and the huge Bernini columns gives us a glimpse of that disparity.

An ordained priest is one who shares in Christ's priesthood, CCC 1589. Finding images to express this isn't easy, but these three are going in the right direction. The first one shows an ordination ceremony with Christ bearing the symbols of ordination (stole, paten, chalice, Gospel) and giving His blessing in union with the bishop's. The second one shows Jesus as priest about to distribute Holy Communion. The last one shows the unity between the priestly offering of Christ on the Cross with the offering of the consecrated host.

Our artist took St John Vianney's quotation in CCC 1589 as his inspiration for this picture, "The priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus." So flowing from the wounded Heart of Jesus are His gifts of priests to His bride the Church. Two of the priests are at prayer, the others carry the symbols of priestly duties, the chalice, the paten and the book of the Gospels.

Question 6 : What do you know about the Saints whose writings are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? What do you know about the Popes, papal documents and Council documents that are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? (some segments might quote from one group more than the other)

Saints :

The book about St John Vianney by Abbot Bernard Nodet from which the quotation in CCC 1589 was taken is not available on the internet, unless it is in French. However St John Vianney's catechesis on the priesthood is, and here are two excerpts which convey similar sentiments to the given quotation:

"Go to confession to the Blessed Virgin, or to an angel; will they absolve you? No. Will they give you the Body and Blood of Our Lord? No. The Holy Virgin cannot make her Divine Son descend into the Host. You might have two hundred angels there, but they could not absolve you. A priest, however simple he may be, can do it; he can say to you, "Go in peace; I pardon you. " Oh, how great is a priest! The priest will not understand the greatness of his office till he is in Heaven. If he understood it on earth, he would die, not of fear, but of love. The other benefits of God would be of no avail to us without the priest. What would be the use of a house full of gold, if you had nobody to open you the door! The priest has the key of the heavenly treasures; it is he who opens the door; he is the steward of the good God, the distributor of His wealth. Without the priest, the Death and Passion of Our Lord would be of no avail. Look at the heathens: what has it availed them that Our Lord has died? Alas! they can have no share in the blessings of Redemption, while they have no priests to apply His Blood to their souls!"

"What joy did the Apostles feel after the Resurrection of Our Lord, at seeing the Master whom they had loved so much! The priest must feel the same joy, at seeing Our Lord whom he holds in his hands. Great value is attached to objects which have been laid in the drinking cup of the Blessed Virgin and of the Child Jesus, at Loretto. But the fingers of the priest, that have touched the adorable Flesh of Jesus Christ, that have been plunged into the chalice which contained His Blood, into the pyx where His Body has lain, are they not still more precious? The priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus. When you see the priest, think of Our Lord Jesus Christ."

That amazing quotation from St Gregory Nazianzen given in CCC 1589, which talks about the urgent need he feels as a priest for greater personal conversion so that he may be more effective in helping other souls, comes from his Second Oration, passages 71-74. What timeless words they contain of a soul's response to the awe-inspiring grace of ordination! The whole document only goes for 24 pages and the most relevant stuff is in the second half. Any priest or seminarian who has been feeling a bit lonely in his vocation would find a new friend for life in reading this Oration II from St Gregory Nazianzen.

The quotation from St Augustine in CCC 1584, which explains how it is possible for God's sacramental graces to reach souls uncontaminated by the faults and sins of the priest who ministers those sacraments, comes from the 15th passage of his 5th Tractate on the Gospel of St John (9 pages in length). Discussed in that Tractate is John 1:33 which contains the testimony of St John the Baptist to Jesus. In it St Augustine points out that this is possible because Baptism comes from Him and not from the priest.

You would be forgiven for wondering why a quotation from Bl John Paul II's Mulieris Dignitatem (On the dignity and vocation of women) appears in the Catechism references about the priesthood. CCC 1577. In the context of explaining the spousal nature of the relationship of Christ to the Church and how central that understanding is to the Eucharist, it makes sense. This is a little of what Bl John Paul II had to say : (At 36 pages, it isn't too lengthy, and anyone who hasn't read it yet hasn't read the most life changing document of the 20th century).

"Against the broad background of the "great mystery" expressed in the spousal relationship between Christ and the Church, it is possible to understand adequately the calling of the "Twelve". In calling only men as His Apostles, Christ acted in a completely free and sovereign manner. In doing so, He exercised the same freedom with which, in all His behaviour, He emphasised the dignity and the vocation of women, without conforming to the prevailing customs and to the traditions sanctioned by the legislation of the time. Consequently, the assumption that He called men to be apostles in order to conform with the widespread mentality of His times, does not at all correspond to Christ's way of acting."

St Clement of Rome is referred to in CCC 1577, from his Letter to the Corinthians, (passages 42 and 44) which runs for some 20 pages. Since St Clement was a successor of St Peter towards the end of the first century he speaks with authority about the actions and reasonings of the Apostles when they carefully chose bishops to succeed them.

In CCC 1573 talks about the essence of the rite of ordination. Apparently there had been a slight difference between the Roman tradition and the Greek tradition for ordination, and there had been discussion about whether imposition of hands alone, or imposition of hands together with the giving of the paten and chalice was necessary for ordination (together with the official prayers, of course). Pope Pius XII cleared this up in his 2 page 1947 document, 'Sacramentum Ordinis' and certified that ordination required the imposition of hands together with the official consecratory prayers. While still a normal part of the rite, the giving of the paten and chalice becomes one of those symbols which explains what has been going on - much like the lighted candle and white garment of Baptism compared with the baptism with water accompanied by the official words.

For an excellent reflection on priestly celibacy and the reasons why the Latin Church has found this spiritual discipline so fruitful for the Church and for her priests, read passage 16 of Presbyterorum Ordinis, which is referred to in both CCC 1579 and CCC 1580. At only 25 pages in length, this Vatican II document could be read in a single sitting (no pun intended).

Over to you..

Do you have links for any favourite sacred images which illustrate parts of this segment of the Catechism that you would like to share?
Are there any other quotations you would like to add background information to?

On Holy Orders, CCC 1572-1589, Part B

2013-02-24T04:46:00.002-08:00

On Holy Orders, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1572 - 1589, Part B.

Question 3 : Does anything in this segment of the Catechism remind you of a time in the past when God's Grace touched your life?

All of us offered thanksgiving to God for all of those men who have said yes to God's call as ordained deacons, priests and bishops. We owe them incalculable gratitude. From their giving over of their whole selves to God we receive through the power of the Holy Spirit the infinite treasures of the sacraments.

When the study group conversation veered for some reason a little off topic, one of our members shared this story. It was post WW2, and in this particular government department many women had been doing work at a higher pay grade level due to the absence of the men - however the women had not been paid at the higher level. In due course our member noticed this injustice and spoke to the head of department about it. This was viewed as impertinence and earned him a 6 year stint in out-of-favour jobs. However when this department head retired, our member's promotions up the ranks were swift.

Another member was grateful for the Grace given to her to accept the Church's teaching about the ordination of women. CCC 1577. In the Church there are plenty of other tasks and ministries more suited to the genius of women. Reading the wonderful apostolic letter of Blessed John Paul II, Mulieris Dignitatem, helped too. This is one of those areas where we need to trust in God's divine wisdom, because under Moses only men became priests and with Jesus only men were chosen as His Apostles, even though priestesses were a feature of other religions in those eras.

When reading CCC 1579, how those consecrated to God are enabled through to serve Him with an undivided heart, it reminded one of our members of the change that happened in her working life when she got married. Prior to marriage she was able to concentrate with her whole mind and heart at the office tasks at hand, and after marriage the job wasn't nearly as important as taking care of a loving husband and making a home. Experiencing that came as a big surprise, and this experience of a divided heart has helped her understand why the Latin Church has insisted on celibacy for its priests - because a person serves with greater happiness and dedication when they don't suffer from a divided heart.

Quite some time ago one of our members had been praying consistently that those with calls to the priestly vocation would answer them. For a family function this member had to travel to a country NSW parish. At that time the parish had one of the NET teams ministering to the young people of that parish, so the youngsters were more on fire with their faith than usual. One young red-headed chap, Matthew, was giving out Holy Communion with such joy and taking special care with the infants who came up in their parent's arms that it was easy to see that a life serving God's people in that way was just meant for him. Only God knows if he ever responded to that call. When we see men like that it is our duty to ask them to prayerfully consider whether God is calling them to follow Him in the priesthood or not. How many are there who have never considered a vocation because no one ever invited them to? How many are there who have begun to suspect such a call, but who need the recognition of that call by others in order to give them the courage to take the next step on that vocational path?

From there the study group started talking about various married men they knew who had once been seminarians. All of them had gone on to live lives of exceptional service to their families and to the Church. When you think about it, that's what seminary is for : to help men discern whether they do have a call to the priesthood or not. God knows what He is about - perhaps those men needed that extra training in the teaching of the Apostles in order to fulfil the lay vocation God had for them later on in life. Far better it is to leave seminary and to explore other ways of serving God than for fear of public opinion to remain and to take on a vocation for which you have not been called by God. So we should keep all seminarians and future seminarians in our prayers, asking that God would make His path clear to them.

This photograph of a statue of Blessed Pope John Paul II was taken at Marian Valley, QLD. In CCC 1586 we read that the grace of ordination gives a bishop the ability to 'guide and defend His Church with strength and prudence as a father and pastor, with gratuitous love for all and a preferential love for the poor, the sick, and the needy. This grace impels him to proclaim the Gospel to all, to be a model for his flock, to go before it on the way of sanctification by identifying himself in the Eucharist with Christ the priest and victim, not fearing to give his life for his sheep.' In Blessed John Paul the Great we have certainly seen this grace of episcopal ordination in action.

Question 4 : Since last session where have you most noticed the action of God's Grace in your life?

One of our members has been reading through a chapter of the prophet Jeremiah each evening. Many beautiful passages from Jeremiah are regularly read in the Lectionary, but we don't normally read the many calls to repentance with which that prophetic book is filled. So far gone in sin were the leaders in Judah at that time that the only way God could wake them up to the seriousness of their sins, and their consequences, was to promise them disasters and deportation to Babylon if they didn't change their ways. A promise He kept. For our member the Grace has been listening to patient persistence of God and the loving insistence with which He calls them all back to Him and His ways. How sad it would be if our world goes down the same path that Judah did!

God's kindness came through for our members yet again, and when they rang to confirm their place in the second TAFE course, they got through on the first ring and were thrilled at getting a place. Marvelling at God's providence again they were, because the book keeping course at the other TAFE was MYOB only, (Mind Your Own Business software) and this one is manual book keeping and exactly what they need right now.

The Grace of the week for one of our members was a one page reflection on 'dying to self' which she was given by a friend, and exactly what she needed at that time. Here are two excerpts from it : "When your brother prospers and has all his needs met and you can rejoice with him in the spirit and feel no envy, nor question God : 'Why him and not me?' that is DYING TO SELF .... When you are content with your location, the climate, society, the solitude and loneliness of the backside of the desert, and are willing to have all your plans changed or interrupted by the will of God at any moment or in any circumstance that is DYING TO SELF."

Another member was able to attend an SRE reflection day, (Special Religious Education - normally the way those who take the Gospel into secondary schools are named). It had great input, and she found it very beneficial spiritually.

Full of thanks was another study group member for the generosity of all those who have gone out of their way to help her son, separated from his wife, set up a place to live with a microwave oven, blankets etc. In addition to this God has also provided for him a good male lodger to help pay the rent who is in similar circumstances.

A further member reflected upon the great blessing of being a part of a good family as well as part of the universal family of faith, and for the gift of respect for women which was instilled in him by his parents from boyhood onwards.

Over to you...

Have your experiences of God's Grace been similar to these?
Have they been different?
Does reading from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1572 - 1589 remind you of any of them?

On Holy Orders, CCC 1572-1589, Part A

2013-02-22T20:21:00.003-08:00

On Holy Orders, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1572 - 1589, Part A.

Question 1 : Was there something in this segment of the Catechism that you don't recall noticing before?

In CCC 1572 mention is made of the importance each ordination has for a particular Church, and how because of this arrangements should be made so that as many people as possible are able to attend. However, in practice, due to the limited number of seats in a cathedral each parish gets allocated a number of attendance tickets - especially for episcopal ordinations. When we pause and think of the sheer amount of grace that each bishop, priest and deacon releases on behalf of souls each day through preaching, prayer, blessings and the sacraments and the individual charisms they have been given, we can begin to understand how important each ordination really is.

CCC 1574 tells us that of the special rites which accompany the ordination of a priest or bishop there is an anointing with holy chrism. For a priest this takes place on the back of his hands. For a bishop this takes place through the pouring of chrism over his head. The reason for this can be traced back to the way the people of Israel consecrated their high priests, Lev 8:12, Psalm 132(133):2.

We can offer up thanksgiving that the Lord Jesus has never abandoned His flock, and that the Apostles in heaven make special constant intercession for the Church - for her protection, guidance and welfare. CCC 1575. On earth, He watches over us, guides and protects us through the bishops, successors to the Apostles. Sadly we don't tend to think of the constant work of the Apostles on our behalf, nor seek their specific intercession often enough when needs and troubles arise in the Church. May this part of the Catechism always remind us to do so.

In the Catholic Church there is a very strong understanding that no one has a right to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders. CCC 1578. As stewards of the sacraments and representatives of the Lord Jesus, the call to this ministry must come from God. Because our separated brethren in the Protestant churches don't have this understanding, and because largely their clergy preach and do pastoral work, it seems that anyone who has the time, commitment and funds to attend the various Protestant seminaries is accepted, and if they last the course, their version of ordination follows. The sacrament of ordination in the Catholic Church is only conferred after years of discernment by the ordinand, the faithful and the clergy and bishop.

Configuring a person to Jesus our Saviour is what all the sacraments do, and the special likeness to Jesus that Holy Orders gives is configuration to Jesus as priest (offering sacrifice and intercession), prophet (proclaiming God's truth) and king (providing for those in need, the sick, the widows, orphans etc). CCC 1581. The sacrament of Holy Orders also enables the ordained man to act as a representative of Christ. Powerful people send their representatives on various missions all the time, and that representative tends to be a close family member (like the Queen for her Jubilee sending her children to visit Commonwealth countries on her behalf) or someone who works very closely with the powerful person and knows their mind, their vision for the task at hand, and is in very frequent communication with him or her (like a President sending his vice president, or a politician his spokesman or secretary). What an awesome responsibility an ordained person takes on! And what a close relationship with Jesus is needed to be truly effective as His representative!

Because the sacrament of Holy Orders confers an indelible spiritual character, CCC 1582, just like Baptism and Confirmation do, once ordained a man can never be 'un-ordained'. Of course an ordained man can retire, have his faculties for conducting the sacraments removed, or undergo the laicisation process. CCC 1583. However, even then, should an emergency situation crop up, (generally if a person is dying and no other ordained priest is available) they can still validly administer the sacraments.

All of the study group members really liked the quotation from St Augustine in CCC 1584 which explained so well how the grace of the sacraments can flow perfectly despite the unworthiness of the priestly vessel through which they pass. No matter how dirty and defiled a conduit, light will pass through it with its purity unchanged.

Our artist chose CCC 1574 for his inspiration. In the picture you can see the symbols of office which are presented at ordination to a bishop, a priest and a deacon. A deacon is given a copy of the book of the Gospels, because their special ministry is preaching. A priest is given a paten and chalice, with which he will offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass. A bishop is given the book of the Gospels, a ring as a sign of his fidelity to Christ and to His Church, and the mitre and crosier because he is appointed the chief shepherd of a portion of the flock of the Lord.

Question 2 : What did you learn about this aspect of the Church's faith and teaching that surprised you?

Ending this whole teaching on the sacrament of Holy Orders was a quotation from St John Vianney (the Cure of Ars) which all the study group members loved : 'The priest continues the work of redemption on earth... If we really understood the priest on earth, we would die not of fright but of love... The Priesthood is the love of the Heart of Jesus.' CCC 1589 Each day we should thank the Lord for giving us the gift of His priests, and in gratitude we should pray for them that they be given the grace to live out the fullness of their calling.

So great is that calling that St Gregory of Nazianzus, who lived many centuries ago, expressed on behalf of all priests the depth of the response needed to fulfil that calling. CCC 1589. In order to be able to serve as a priest, he saw quite clearly how necessary it was for him to be thoroughly converted himself because we can only give from what we ourselves have received. Reading his words explained why the process of becoming a priest takes so long (around 7 years) because they have to learn as much intellectually, and spiritually as they can in order to be able to guide others closer to God.

For all the ink that has been spilled over the issue of women priests, it came as a bit of a surprise that it took the Catechism only one short clear paragraph to deal with why the Church can't ever ordain women. The argument is really that simple and that effective. CCC 1577. In the times that Jesus lived there were several neighbouring cultures which had priestesses, yet He deliberately only chose men to be His Apostles and His close collaborators in ministry. Because Jesus only chose men, we follow His lead and trust in His divine wisdom. How very much harder it would be for us to see the full person of Jesus in the priest if the priest was a woman! The masculinity of Jesus is intrinsic to His personhood.

'Accepted with a joyous heart celibacy radiantly proclaims the Reign of God'. So teaches CCC 1579, and it is worth pondering this surprising truth. Celibacy sets a person free to devote all of their time, talents and resources to the service of God's people. Choosing the love of Jesus instead of the love of a spouse and the love of a parent proclaims that God is real and well worth giving your whole life to. Those who have chosen to live in celibacy for the sake of the Kingdom of God remind us all that the goal of life's journey is being welcomed by God into the eternal happiness of Heaven. Grace-filled celibacy enables a person to shower God's love down upon many, many people instead of the relative few that marriage commits a person to.

Over to you...

Did you have similar answers to these Questions?
Did you have totally different answers to these Questions?

On Holy Orders, CCC 1552-1571, Part C

2013-02-17T05:51:00.004-08:00

On Holy Orders, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1552 - 1571, Part C

Question 5 : Do you have any pictures that illustrate this segment of the Catechism?

Sacred Images :

At the On Holy Orders, CCC 1552-1571, Part A blog-post you can find a picture of the three major roles of a bishop as set out in CCC 1558, priest, shepherd and teacher.

CCC 1555 speaks of bishops as being transmitters of the apostolic line. This picture is a useful aid to explaining apostolic succession (even though it comes from a website with a negative view). In the picture we have Jesus on the left, the 12 Apostles to His right and then they pass the apostolic charism on from bishop to bishop. Such a negative view point fades to nothing when faced with the pictorial record of all the Popes in an unbroken line from St Peter at the basilica of St Pauls Outside the Walls. The top line shows St Peter, St Linus and St Cletus the first bishops of Rome, and the bottom line shows the most recent bishops of Rome, John Paul I, John Paul II and Benedict XVI, each with a Latin inscription of how long his pontificate lasted. Here is another section of the pictorial record.

Other symbols of episcopal consecration, in addition to the laying on of hands, are the pouring of consecrated chrism over the head of the new bishop, the presentation of the mitre, the presentation of the crosier, the presentation of the ring, and the kiss of peace.

A good question is 'How do you tell from a photograph what kind of ordination is taking place?' It all depends on what the ordinand (person to be ordained) is wearing. If it is just a white alb, it is the ordination of a deacon. If there is an alb plus a stole going diagonally over the shoulder, it is a priestly ordination. If there is a chasuble, then it is the ordination of a bishop.

CCC 1566 talks about 'the unique sacrifice of the new Testament, that namely of Christ offering himself once for all a spotless victim to the Father.' Some images which help with this concept of a pure, holy, perfect and spotless victim, worthy to offer in sacrifice o the Father are these : the first is an unusual depiction of the Crucified, drawing attention to the wound suffered in His Heart for love of us; the second one is a depiction of the apparition at Knock, Ireland, with Jesus shown as the spotless lamb on the altar surrounded by the angels ; the third one is an image of the Holy Trinity, with God the Father holding up the Cross - overshadowed by the Holy Spirit - upon which His beloved Son hangs in sacrifice, and surrounded by adoring angels.

Sacerdotal college is a term used in CCC 1567 to refer to a group of priests with their bishop acting in unity for the good of the Church. We also talk about the college of bishops (episcopal college) and the college of cardinals. In doing so we emphasise the unity of mission and fraternal love and the bond that only those who share the same ministry to the People of God can have, in each of these groups, because at no time does an ordained member of the Church act for himself alone. He has to act in communion with his fellow priests, with his bishop and with the Pope, because such communion is born of the Eucharist and enabled and strengthened by the Eucharist. In this first picture we have priests praying together. In the next one we have an outdoor Mass where many clergy have come together to concelebrate. The last image also has several clergy come together to celebrate the liturgy for a specific purpose. In all the images care has been taken so that the unity has a visible element in matching vestments.

Finding pictures of deacons in their ministries of preaching, conducting marriages, baptisms, and funerals, in their roles at Holy Mass and undertaking works of charity, CCC 1570, proved elusive. To find out more about deacons the website of the National Association of Deacons : Catholic Deacons in Australia is the best place to go. www.ausdeacons.org.au At this website there are several profiles of active deacons, articles and downloads of church documents relating to deacons and of assistance in carrying out their ministry.

Our artist chose to work with CCC 1554 for this picture, "The divinely instituted ecclesiastical ministry is exercised in difference degrees by those who even from ancient times have been called bishops, priests and deacons." At the top is Jesus, the source and power behind all vocational calls to the ordained ministry. Beneath him is a bishop, to the left holding the Gospels is the priest and to the left a deacon is holding the thurible for the incense.

Question 6 : What do you know about the Saints whose writings are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? What do you know about the Popes, papal documents and Council documents that are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? (some segments might quote from one group more than the other)

Saints :

Quoted in CCC 1554 is an excerpt from St Ignatius of Antioch's Letter to the Trallians, inhabitants of the city of Tralles which was a city on his route to martyrdom. Letters bring out a person's personality, and this Letter is no exception. At only 3 pages long, it is well worth a read in order to hear what the concerns of the leaders of the Church were at the beginning of the second century. As usual St Ignatius clearly points out how essential the roles of bishop, priest and deacon are for the Church and goes so far as to say that 'without these three orders no church has any right to the name.

Pope Pius XII wrote 'Fidei Donum' on the present conditions of the Catholic missions, especially in Africa. CCC 1560 quotes from passage 42 which talks about how each local bishop shares in the apostolic mission of the whole Church. At only 12 pages in length it shows the depths of Pius XII's anxiety for the welfare of the Church, particularly in Africa, and his encouragement to the local churches to assist each other. Making the words of St Augustine his own, he wrote, 'Extend your charity to all the world, if you would love Christ, because Christ's members are found all over the world.'

In CCC 1569 the Apostolic Tradition of St Hippolytus is referred to, with regard to the consecration of a deacon. At http://www.chronicon.net/chroniconfiles/Burton_Scott_Easton_-_The_Apostolic_Tradition_of_Hippolytus_(1934).pdf you will find the whole document, beginning around page 40. So important is the tradition of how ordained ministers were consecrated that it is the very first set of liturgical rubrics he deals with. Bearing in mind that this was written very early in the third century, it remains mind blowing just how early the liturgy of the Eucharist and the other sacraments was well defined and so very close to the liturgy we worship with today that we could go back 1800 years and fully participate in it. Firstly St Hippolytus deals with the ordination of a bishop, then with the ritual for various offerings, followed by the prayers and actions for the ordination of a priest and then of a deacon. That's just the first 6 pages!

CCC 1570 refers to a passage in St Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians. Here is what the first paragraph of passage 5 has to say about deacons : "We know that God is not mocked, and therefore we owe it to Him to behave in a manner worthy of His precepts and His glory. By the same token, our deacons must never be open to any reproach at the bar of His righteousness, remembering that they are ministers of God and Christ and not of men. There must be no traducing of others, no paltering with the truth, no itching palms ; they must be men utterly self-disciplined, humane and hard-working, who pass their lives in the true spirit of the Lord Who came to be the servant of us all. To please Him in thus present world is to earn the world to come, for we have His promise that He will raise us up from the grave; and if we prove ourselves good citizens of His here, we shall reign with Him hereafter, if we have faith."

The document from Vatican II entitled 'Christus Dominus', was all about the pastoral office of bishops in the Church, and is referred to in CCC 1558, 1560 and 1569. At 18 pages long it will give the reader a clear vision for the role of a bishop in the Church. The references to passages 4, 15, 36 and 37are mostly about how bishops collaborate together in Synods and episcopal conferences and the tasks which are most essential in caring for the flock entrusted to them by Christ Jesus.

Over to you..

Do you have links for any favourite sacred images which illustrate parts of this segment of the Catechism that you would like to share?
Are there any other quotations you would like to add background information to?

On Holy Orders, CCC 1552-1571, Part B

2013-02-14T05:54:00.000-08:00

On Holy Orders, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1552 - 1571, Part B.

Question 3 : Does anything in this segment of the Catechism remind you of a time in the past when God's Grace touched your life?

One of our members recalls as a youngster of around 8 years old coming home after serving Mass as an altar boy and complaining to his mother about the character defects of the priests that day. Gently his mother took him aside and told her son that the responsibilities of a priest were many and heavy and that a whole host of worries and health problems could have been causing the crankiness he had experienced. Telling her son that at his age he was unlikely to be told nor understand the issues the priest was dealing with, it was his job to be patient and kind and instead of using his energy to grizzle he should use it instead to pray for this priest. This was a lesson her son took to heart for the rest of his life.

Another member recalls one of her first experiences of having a bishop preside over a regular parish Sunday Mass. Even today such experiences are rare, because bishops tend to preside over major liturgical events at cathedrals and most Confirmations don't happen at regular parish Sunday Masses. This particular day Bishop Robinson was presiding, and because he was there the sense of being united with the bishop in praying for his whole diocese and for the Church universal was palpable. So when CCC 1561 was read out, 'The above considerations explain why the Eucharist celebrated by the bishop has a quite special significance as an expression of the Church gathered around the altar, with the one who represents Christ, the Good Shepherd and Head of His Church, presiding.', our member knew exactly what the Catechism was talking about.

CCC 1565 speaks about how each priest shares in the God-given mission to preach the Gospel everywhere. Knowing this makes it easier to understand how God can call priests into national and global ministries. Some modern examples include Fr John Flynn who is the hard working priest at www.xt3.com providing answers to 'Ask a Priest'; Fr Mitch Pacwa S.J. who reaches a global audience through the Eternal Word Television Network www.ewtn.com ; Fr Kevin Scallon c.m. who travels around with Sr Breige McKenna ministering to priests and inviting laity to experience the power of the Eucharist; Fr Thomas Green S.J. now deceased who wrote many excellent books on growth in prayer; Fr Augustine Vallooran V.C. with a travelling healing ministry. Through out the history of the Church there have been priests raised up by God to preach from place to place like St Vincent Ferrer and St Anthony of Padua, many of whom were given papal approval for that purpose. They also serve, the priests who stay at home in their parishes and include the needs of the Church and of all humanity in their heart felt prayers.

Back in 1996 the diocese of Wollongong was vacant, as was our member's home diocese. On a short holiday our member went to church at Kiama and obtained a copy of the prayer card the diocese of Wollongong had produced to aid its members to pray for a really good new bishop. Our member's home diocese at that time did nothing as enlightened as that. In due course the apostolic nuncio appointed Bishop Philip Wilson to Wollongong and all kinds of wonderful things started happening down there, like a diocesan Marian Year and promotion of Eucharistic adoration. Nothing like that happened in our member's diocese. The moral of the story? You get the bishop you pray for. With the universal Church preparing for conclave following the regrettable resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, we need to pray that the Lord Jesus grants us the very best possible successor to this holy Pope. For a Prayer for the Election of a new Pope click here.

CCC 1555 reminds us that bishops are 'transmitters of the apostolic line' which began with the 11 Apostles, with that transmission starting when St Matthias was chosen to take the place left vacant by Judas. In the picture above our artist has given his impression of St John the Apostle. As with all Apostles he points us to Jesus, and in a special way St John points us to the hour when Jesus won redemption for us on the Cross and when Jesus gave us His sorrowful Mother as our Mother. St John is holding a chalice, which on the one hand is a reminder of how God's grace saved him from poisoning and on the other hand a reminder of the Eucharist. At his feet there is an eagle, the traditional symbol associated with St John the Apostle.

Question 4 : Since last session where have you most noticed the action of God's Grace in your life?

God has graciously been continuing the inner healing of one of our members. In recent times things long hidden in the past concerning her family have come to light, and thankfully only now when she is strong enough in faith and God's love to be able to cope with such revelations. So while the whole process has been difficult and painful, it is bearing fruit in greater wholeness and health of spirit. All of us can see how many shadows have gone from her face and how much more of God's light is shining through.

How wonderful it is when God provides us with experiences before we knew we needed them! Last week one of our members went off to a funeral at Palmdale crematorium, and found that a deacon was conducting the funeral. Given that the deceased woman in question had Catholic faith and that her progeny appeared to have none, this was an excellent compromise. It was, without a doubt, one of the best non-Mass funerals our member had ever been to, largely because all of the prayers of the Catholic funeral rite were still there, because the deacon was acting under the authority of the Church and under the Grace of ordination and because it could start and end with the Sign of the Cross. Then at the next study group meeting the passages in the Catechism on the role of a deacon were studied. Now our member could comprehend these passages much better, having seen a deacon in action.

One of our members had been concerned about confirming a place in a TAFE course to start soon. In order to confirm that place in the class, our member had to ring the TAFE between 9am and 12 noon on a certain day. Because our member on that day only had a window of one of those hours in which to make the call, our member was rather concerned about getting through since at the information day everyone had been told that putting a message on the answering machine was risky due to the answering machine being listened to only after all the phone calls had been received. Many prayers of gratitude were offered when our member got through to the co-ordinator on the first ring and found out that a position in the class had been secured.

Relationship puzzles galore were stretching the mind of one of our members as she sat quietly in Church recently. As she sat there trying to pray through these puzzles suddenly the presence of God beside her was palpable. Within that presence of Love she also discerned the presence of her deceased parents and siblings who died at a young age. The message from the Lord Jesus and from these family members was the same, 'You are not alone. We are always with you.', and God's peace seeped in. From such an unexpected gift from God our member received great encouragement and was filled with gratitude.

Words of wisdom (God's gift to us) again dripped from the lips of one of our members. He reminded us that the troubles and worries we go through give value to life. Consider that if the life of Jesus had been plain sailing, we definitely would not have received so great a salvation.

One of our members expressed his gratitude for the study group in this way. At school he learned the old penny catechism really well - but it was like the bones of a skeleton. And now, working through the Catechism of the Catholic Church is putting much-needed flesh onto those bones, by providing deeper understanding and appreciation of the faith we share.

Over to you...

Have your experiences of God's Grace been similar to these?
Have they been different?
Does reading from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1552 - 1571 remind you of any of them?

On Holy Orders, CCC 1552-1571, Part A

2013-02-12T04:41:00.001-08:00

On Holy Orders, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1552 - 1571, Part A.

Question 1 : Was there something in this segment of the Catechism that you don't recall noticing before?

We often don't think of a priest as wearing twin hats - at the same time he represents the person of Jesus AND the whole Church - but he does. Normally we only think of one aspect in this circumstance, and the other aspect in that circumstance, but rarely simultaneously. Only because the priest is called to represent Christ before the assembly of the faithful, can he then represent the Church, much like a man speaks for himself, but can also legitimately speak for and on behalf of his wife. As CCC 1553 teaches 'It is because the ministerial priesthood represents Christ that it can represent the Church.' So they can never be thought of a as a delegate of the community, but can most definitely be thought of as ambassadors for Christ and of his Church.

CCC 1558 talks about the special tasks of a bishop : that of sanctifying, teaching and ruling, or put another way - the roles of priest, teacher and shepherd. Each is done in the power of the Holy Spirit's gifting and for the good of the Church. Perhaps we more often think of our bishops as ruling a diocese and praying for her welfare and not enough of their teaching role - probably because apart from a public message at the start of Lent and Advent, and articles in a monthly diocesan magazine, we rarely get to see a bishop teaching on a regular basis unless one of them is media savvy enough to issue press releases in defence of Church teaching.

From the time of Jesus the Apostles held a very special place in the life of the community of believers. As they went from place to place they appointed reputable men to lead local communities and set them apart for this service to God's people through the laying on of hands. These in turn passed the apostolic consecration on to others and thus in an unbroken chain each validly ordained bishop in the Catholic Church can trace a chain of episcopal consecrations back to one of the Apostles. Have a look at this Catholic Hierarchy page on the late Bishop William Brennan, and see how important the Church values this succession. This particular list only goes back to the 1500s, but there would be records offline that go well beyond this date. Because of this unbroken succession, bishops are regarded as transmitters of the the apostolic line. CCC 1555.

Ordinations of deacons, priests and bishops differ in several ways, but the most important difference is seen in who does the ordaining. For a deacon, only a bishop will lay hands on the candidate CCC 1569. For a priest, after the bishop has laid his hands, other priests will impose their hands too CCC 1568. For a bishop, several bishops will participate in the consecration and special permission from the Pope is required before any episcopal ordination is performed CCC 1559. Two things are needed to become a bishop, the sacramental consecration and hierarchical communion with the head (Pope) and members of the college (all other bishops). After reading through what the Catechism teaches about the sacrament of the Eucharist this makes perfect sense, because this unity and hierarchical communion is essential for a valid Mass.

CCC 1564 gives a rather succinct summary of the purpose of the priesthood : to preach the Gospel, to shepherd the faithful and to celebrate divine worship (the Mass, the Sacraments and the Liturgy of the Hours.)

The priests of a diocese co-operate with the bishop , and under his leadership, in fulfilling the duties entrusted to his episcopal authority. CCC 1567. So some priests will serve as vicars general, liaison to the schools office, as deans of deaneries, as vocation directors, as members of the marriage tribunal, as the ecumenical liaison, as exorcists, as canon lawyers, as World Youth Day co-ordinators, as hospital chaplains etc.

Our artist took CCC 1558 as his inspiration for this picture, which shows the roles of a bishop. The first role is that of priest, the second that of shepherd, and the third that of teacher. Being consecrated a bishop means taking on these roles that follow so closely in the footsteps of Jesus and becoming in a special way His representative on earth.

Question 2 : What did you learn about this aspect of the Church's faith and teaching that surprised you?

The quotation at the end of CCC 1554 comes from St Ignatius of Antioch.
"It is for you to hold the deacons in as great respect as Jesus Christ ; just as you also look on the bishop as a type of the Father, and the clergy as the Apostolic Circle forming His council ; for without these three orders no church has any right to its name."With these words St Ignatius reminds us to show reverence towards those who serve as deacons, priests and bishops because they take the place of Jesus, God the Father and the Apostles for us. However, it is a rather big statement to say that without the deacons, priests and bishops 'we cannot speak of the church', so it is a thought which requires much pondering. Without them we don't have the Eucharist and without them we do not have the unity which the Eucharist both pres-supposes and deepens.

In CCC 1560 and CCC 1565 we learn that the ordained ministry has both a local aspect and a global aspect. Bishops have the care of a particular diocese, but also share responsibility for the spiritual welfare of the whole Church. For priests, their desire for the salvation of souls - which comes from the Heart of Jesus - has to be as universal as His. Knowing that sometimes the Lord calls a priest to minister well beyond the confines of his own parish or diocese the Church has ways of giving them the freedom to do that. Some write books and blogs, produce TV shows, travel as guest speakers, or have particular charisms of healing, teaching and preaching etc.

According to CCC 1563 the power of the sacrament of ordination 'configures a man to Christ the Priest in such a way that he is able to act in the person of Christ the head.' The more we think about this, the more amazingly powerful this sacrament becomes. CCC 1563 also says that the anointing if ordination marks a priest with a special character. Those who have the gift of discernment or who are very close to God are able to sense whether a man has been ordained or not because of this special spiritual character.

Of great interest was the teaching in CCC 1566. Priests exercise the sacred office of priesthood to a supreme degrees when offering up the holy sacrifice of the Mass. Offering up the Mass is the most important thing a priest can do. From the offering of 'this unique sacrifice of the Mass the whole of a man's priestly ministry draws its strength. This means that a priest should always be seeking more opportunities for saying Mass and not less, because this is the source of his strength. No wonder our priests have been weakened by this notion of being 'over Mass-ified' and our communities weakened when the grace of daily Mass is no longer available. Try finding a Saturday morning Mass in the Brisbane archdiocese - its really, really hard to do! There's one at St Stephen's Cathedral, and some places have one on a first Saturday only. Being able to offer the Mass is an extraordinary privilege, To be on fire for Jesus and for souls you have to be continually close to the source of that fire - the Eucharist - and not warming up one day and cooling down the next.

When you read the Catechism you expect to learn, but you don't expect to get homework. Reading CCC 1571 issues an implied challenge that we should think about the men in our local area and in our families who are living lives of exemplary Christian service and who have a desire to bring the Gospel to others, and to encourage them to discern a call to the diaconate. Why do so? Because the works of service the good Lord has already called them into would be rendered even more fruitful through the grace of ordination to the diaconate.

Over to you...

Did you have similar answers to these Questions?
Did you have totally different answers to these Questions?

On Holy Orders, CCC 1533-1551, Part C

2013-02-10T05:20:00.003-08:00

On Holy Orders, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1533 - 1551, Part C

Question 5 : Do you have any pictures that illustrate this segment of the Catechism?

Sacred Images :

The sacrament of Holy Orders has three degrees : bishop, priest and deacon. CCC 1536. So how do you tell them apart visually? The bishop will have a mitre, crosier, skull cap, special ring and pectoral cross. The priest will have a stole and a chasuble, the chasuble will normally have a special straight line of brocade or patterning down the middle and down the back. The deacon will have a stole going diagonally from shoulder to opposite waist, or a chasuable with two straight lines of brocade or patterning coming down from the shoulders. To help you, here are some images: The first one is a line drawing with the bishop holding a crosier, the priest holding a chalice and the deacon holding the book of the Gospels. The second one has a priest on the left, a bishop in the middle and a deacon on the right. From the looks of things the weather must have been cold when the picture was taken. The last one has a priest on the left, a deacon in the middle and a bishop on the right.

Investiture is a word used in secular circles as well as religious ones. Secularly it refers to when someone is inducted into a special club or award, which usually involves some kind of badge and/or special clothing. is used to. Religiously it can refer to when a religious first receives a habit, be that of novice, fully professed etc or to the dressing of the newly ordained priest, deacon or bishop. CCC 1538 says that ordination is a 'setting apart and an investiture by Christ Himself for His Church'. The first image is of a bishop being received into the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, which has special regalia. The second image is of the investiture / clothing of a newly ordained priest within a Tridentine Mass, note that the chasuble is being unfolded around him. Should you scroll down a rather long way at the website for this image, you will find a series of photographs showing the whole ordination process.

Perhaps you, too, were intrigued by the Greek word 'taxeis' used in CCC 1537. This information about the army of Alexander the Great, speaks of a taxis (singular) being the equivalent of a regiment. So extending the metaphor, those who are ordained into the priesthood of Jesus Christ are His front line troops.

Some images to aid the understanding of what the Levitical priesthood was in biblical times should be helpful, since it is mentioned in CCC 1539, 1540, 1543 and 1544. The first one shows an array of Levitical priests, and gives an inkling about the various duties they performed. The second one gives a detailed explanation of each piece of a high priest's regalia. This next one shows the attitude of reverence and prayer with which the Levitical priests carried out their duties. With this next image is an artist's impression of how the tabernacle tent was organised. While I don't recommend the next website at all, the picture is particularly good for showing the love of the Levitical priesthood for the Word of God. The last one is an image of a high priest tending the altar of incense.

CCC 1544 talks about the priesthood of Melchizedek as being 'a prefiguration of the priesthood of Christ'. Now this is mostly because unlike the vast majority of people in the early books of the Bible this priest doesn't have a beginning, or an origin, or an end, and secondly because Abraham (and through him all of Abraham's descendants) offered to God through Melchizedek a tenth of everything he had and received God's blessing. In the first image Abraham is receiving the blessing, with Melchizedek and his servants already in possession of the bread and wine. The second is a very old icon of Melchizedek offering the bread to God. In the third image, a portion of mosaic, Melchizedek is humbly offering the bread to God.

In CCC 1547 mention is made of the hierarchical priesthood. Lest we think that layers of priestly leadership is something just confined to the Christian world, it is good to remember that the Egyptian temples also had a hierarchy of priests, and that the military and corporate business find in the hierarchical model the most efficient way of bringing a large group of people into a common purpose. The first two images are hierarchical charts, one is simpler, the other contains more information. Lastly, this image shows a local church gathered together as a hierarchy, with laity, deacons-to-be laying prostrate, plenty of priests and standing at the presidential chair - a bishop.

This very simple drawing captures what acting 'in persona Christi capitis' (in the person of Christ the Head) is all about, with the Lord Jesus confirming and empowering all the priestly actions of His minister.

Our artist was inspired this time by CCC 1538b, 'Ordination is also called consecratio, for it is a setting apart and an investiture by Christ Himself for His Church, the laying on of hands by the bishop, with the consecratory prayer, constitutes the visible sign of this ordination.' So in our picture we have a deacon being ordained to the priesthood by the bishop and receiving the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Question 6 : What do you know about the Saints whose writings are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? What do you know about the Popes, papal documents and Council documents that are quoted in this segment of the Catechism? (some segments might quote from one group more than the other)

Saints :

In CCC 1548 St Thomas Aquinas is quoted, from the third part of the Summa Theologica, Part 22, Article 4: where he explains that although the priesthood of Christ was prefigured in the Old Testament it goes much further. The Old Law priests offered sacrifice both for themselves and for others, but the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross was offered solely for us. For a good introduction to the format and content of the Summa visit http://www.iep.utm.edu/aquinas/

Quoted in CCC 1549 is a small portion from St Ignatius of Antioch's short Letter to the Trallians. The Letter itself only runs to 2 and a half pages, but it is full of advice from St Ignatius about how to persevere in unity, how to avoid error and how essential the bishop, priests and deacons are: 'Let us all reverence the deacons as an appointment of Jesus Christ, an the bishop as Jesus Christ, who is the Son of the Father, and the presbyters as the Sanhedrin of God, and assemble of the apostles. Apart from these, there is no Church'.

St John Chrysostom wrote a document On the Priesthood in the format of a dialogue between himself and St Basil, another Doctor of the Church. Book 2 runs to 8 pages. CCC 1551 says that 'The Lord said clearly that concern for His flock was proof of love for Him'. Saying the same thing slightly differently, St John Chrysostom writes : "The words of Jesus to Peter were, 'Peter, do you love Me more than these?' Yet He might have said to him, 'If you love Me practice fasting, sleeping on the ground, prolonged vigils, defend the wronged, be as a father to orphans, and supply the place of a husband to their mother.' But as a matter of fact, setting aside all these things, what does He say? 'Tend My sheep.' "

From CCC 1548 we learn that the sacrament of Holy Orders enables a priest to act the person of Christ the Head (in persona Christi capitis). The Vatican II document Presbyterorum Ordinis fleshes out this understanding in passages 2 and 6. (To print the whole document would take 25 pages) These few lines come from passage 2 : 'The priesthood, while indeed it presupposes the sacraments of Christian initiation, is conferred by that special sacrament ; through it priests, by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, are signed with a special character and are conformed to Christ the Priest in such a way that they can act in the person of Christ the Head....Their priestly ministry ... derives its power and force from the sacrifice of Christ. Its aim is that 'the entire commonwealth of the redeemed and the society of the saints be offered to God through the High Priest who offered Himself also for us in His Passion that we might be the body of so great a Head.'

Over to you..

Do you have links for any favourite sacred images which illustrate parts of this segment of the Catechism that you would like to share?
Are there any other quotations you would like to add background information to?

On Holy Orders, CCC 1533-1551, Part B

2013-02-06T05:09:00.001-08:00

On Holy Orders, Catechism of the Catholic Church 1533 - 1551, Part B.

Question 3 : Does anything in this segment of the Catechism remind you of a time in the past when God's Grace touched your life?

Waking in the middle of the night, some time ago, one of our members was seized with the thought that her daughter needed her. To get there required a three hour drive, but she obeyed that impulse from above and arrived. Indeed she was needed. Her daughter had given a friend in desperate circumstances what little financial assistance she had, and now was in need of funds herself. As it turned out, her mother had exactly the right amount of cash to get the daughter out of the pickle. The good God provides, and He blesses those who imitate His generosity.

With all of the negative press surrounding the priesthood at present, one of our members wanted to balance the scales and tell us about one of his parish priests of the past. According to our member, this dedicated priest had no time to get lonely. Just about every night of the week he had meetings to attend (St Vincent de Paul, fund raising meetings, marriage preparation, youth group, school meetings, and so on). In his long experience most of the priests he has come across have been extraordinarily dedicated and wholesome men of God.

Of all the times that priests have ministered to one of our members in the sacrament of Penance, one time stands out more than the others. At the time our member was in her mid-twenties and going through all the usual agonies upon reaching that age and not having a future spouse in sight. Kindly the priest advised that these things cannot be forced, and left her with a helpful metaphor : 'The butterfly is only going to land when there is no turmoil. Place your trust in God and be patient, and don't fret about it.' Our member has always remembered this with gratitude, because it brought peace and calmed her right down with God's Grace. For all of the service we have received from Your priests, O Lord, we are very grateful.

Talking about the priesthood reminded another member of all the ordinations to the priesthood that she has been privileged to attend. What got to her the most was the action at the beginning of the ordination where the candidates to be ordained lay themselves completely face-down on the floor. In doing so they lay down their lives completely at the feet of Jesus, humbly seeking that He will accept them as His ministers and will receive this profound oblation of themselves. Such a gift of self for others and for God takes tremendous courage, and we should be so grateful for all those who have answered God's call to lay down their lives in service in this way.

As the study group conversation drifted into discussion about priestly celibacy (see the 'It's time to actually think things through' post at www.catholicdaily.net/societyofsaints/ ), one member shared his own experiences of being torn between needs at home and Christian service of others outside the home. Those times when he left the house to go to a St Vincent de Paul Society meeting, or to participate in a visitation to the needy, and he left when his children were squabbling - leaving his wife to sort things out made him feel like a real heel. Being torn as a man between external service and family service is no joke, and he wouldn't wish that on any priest.

To be able to serve as a priest, a candidate for priesthood needs to know deep in his bones that this is God's call upon his life. Without that conviction, the trials and difficulties that come in priestly life can sink a man's soul. To answer the question, 'where do you see yourself in 5 years time?' 'Well I could probably see myself as a priest' just isn't enough to sustain a vocation through thick and thin over a period of several decades of life. Talking about the priesthood reminded a member of a true story where a young man presented himself to an Irish seminary and told the rector that he wanted to be a priest. The stern answer was, 'You are not ready yet.' The man went away, and returned some time later and again said, 'I want to become a priest, please let me in', and the wise rector steadfastly refused. Disgruntled the young man went away, probably 'going off the rails' a bit. In the midst of the disappointment the young man began to deepen his relationship with God in prayer. Time passed. At length, for the third time the young man went to visit the rector saying, 'Why He should choose me after all I've done I don't know, but I just can't shake this conviction in my heart that God wants me to become a priest, please help me to follow God's call'. Smiling the rector opened his arms, 'Now you're ready, my boy, now you're ready.'

This photograph is of a particularly nice statue of St Patrick. Should you visit the chapel at Mount St, North Sydney where St Mary of the Cross McKillop is buried, you should be able to find it in one of the back corners of the chapel. In the photograph you can see the mitre (pointy hat) and the crosier (shepherd's crook) which distinguish a bishop. Since St Patrick was also an archbishop he is wearing the pallium, a strip of white wool with crosses that goes around his shoulders and down his front. Ordination to the episcopate is the highest degree of the sacrament of Holy Orders. CCC 1536. St Patrick carries a shamrock in memory of how he explained the doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish, and he stands on a snake in memory of the time his prayers expelled all snakes from Ireland.

Question 4 : Since last session where have you most noticed the action of God's Grace in your life?

Sometimes Grace takes hold of us in unexpected ways. Singing the hymn, 'Holy God we praise Thy name' is done with some frequency at Saturday morning Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. This same well known hymn, on CD, was played at the nursing home. Arranged with choir and orchestra the hymn transported our member, the listener, to where the whole heavenly host was singing the same hymn before the throne of God and every word of that hymn was more appropriate for that situation than our member had ever considered before. There is obviously a reason why the words of the Te Deum have stood the test of many centuries of time, and our member now knew why.

During the week some of our members attended the TAFE Outreach information days. The big worry was whether the courses they wanted to do would be on days and at times they could attend. In answering to their prayers, the courses were indeed available. Thank you God! Now they just have to wait to see whether they have been accepted into those courses, and continue to depend upon God's good providence to arrange that.

Another member had a big culture shock over the weekend. Attending an important family function she was amazed at how many of the wider family were much more interested in having photographs taken of themselves all dressed up than in taking photographs of the event they had gathered for. How sad it was to see these family members part of the 'me, me, me' scene, thinking that attracting attention would make them happy. By and large they weren't happy people as all, and they weren't seeking the source of true happiness by going to Church, praying etc. Our member came away so thankful that the Grace of God has shown her that the path to happiness is in Him, and that it largely consists of doing things for others and being of service.

In the front yard of one of our member's homes is an unregistered car needing both repairs and petrol. Recently our member was prompted to pray, 'Lord, if you want me to use this car ever again, you'll have to provide the funds to get it on the road.' Not too long after that prayer she received a phone call from someone who had been a true godsend to her in the past (working each day for four weeks to pack up and help her move house) asking that she come down to visit him. This particular chap was having issues with anger and knew that our member could give him God's help in dealing with it. As soon as he clapped eyes on her and saw the state of her footwear he took her off to get some quality shoes that she would never be able to afford, and later on a cheque that covered all of the 'getting the car useable' expenses. To him this was the least he could do, because he was infused with the understanding that St Thomas Aquinas had, 'The benefit of a single grace is greater than all the material value of the whole world'. We thank God sincerely for men like this one who have the means, and generously use those means to further God's plans. May the good Lord bless him and answer all of his prayers abundantly.

Affordable accommodation for a single person is notoriously hard to find, so many prayers of thanks are being given to God for finding one of our member's sons a place of live in the local area.

Happiness isn't found in possessions either. The daughter of one of our members has separated from her husband. Having the nice house, car, boat etc didn't bring any real happiness, but has proved to be very important to her husband because he has left her with nothing - and the little she wants isn't worth pursuing because legal fees would eat it all up. How this man can live with himself following these actions is a puzzle to us. Thankfully there are no children. Meanwhile the daughter has absolutely nothing (except God who is everything and can supply everything) and now free to go where ever God sends her finds that she is happy, happier than she has ever been.

Our television screens have been filled with pictures of the floods in Queensland, and in particular of the flood tragedies in North Bundaberg. So many people have been left without homes. One day they had all these things and the next day they didn't. How people are coping with these losses has really been making the rest of us think about what is important in life and what is truly necessary. Sad situations like these are not all bad news because working together to put things back together build relationships in communities and elicits generosity from many others. As one member recalled, it was sand-bagging together as the flood waters rose in the early 1950s which drew her grandfather and another man into a much valued friendship lasting 40 years and at least 3 generations.

Over to you...

Have your experiences of God's Grace been similar to these?
Have they been different?
Does reading from the Catechism of the Catholic Church 1533 - 1551 remind you of any of them?