The Final Three Moments of Our Lives

Consider well how terrible is the hour of death, and how appalling the remembrance of our evil deeds will be at that time. For the spirits of darkness will recall all the harm they have done us, and remind us of the sins which we have committed at their instigation. They will not go to the death bed of the godless only, but they will be present with the elect, striving to discover something sinful whereof to accuse them. Alas ! how will it fare with us hapless mortals in that hour, and what can we say for ourselves, seeing how innumerable are the sins to be laid to our charge? What can we answer to our adversaries, when they place all our sins before us, with the object of reducing us to despair? – St. Gregory

Each of us will face three final moments at the hour of our death.  These moments will seem like centuries yet last less than a second, even less.

The first will be an awakening of the understanding of the Omnipotence of God Almighty.  In this awakening, all will be revealed to us.  The mysteries of the universe will come before us in all of their splendor and simplicity.  It will be so simple that we will instantly realize how close it was to us all of our lives, yet, we were unable to see it.  All will be revealed and all will be understood. 

We will experience unspeakable wonder– an intolerable form of the most intense wonder we have ever had on earth: a first kiss; a wedding day; the birth of a child; their first day of school; Christenings, First Communions, First Reconciliation; receiving a driver’s license, high school diploma, college degree; the first paying job after graduation; the first car and the first home; the birth of a grandchild.

The next moment will be one of full and complete, but dire, self-awareness.  Having now the complete understanding of Our Maker, the creator of the Universe, the Three Persons in One, we now see before us, our true lived life as God sees it – and we are terrified!  We are terrified to realize that what we thought were of those most mundane and insignificant of offenses (we never thought to think of them in this way during our life) were truly horrible offenses to God. We are completely ashamed now with our new knowledge. And it is now the arrival of the last one whom we think we would see – Satan himself! 

It is now Satan’s moment where we experience the greatest temptation ever. We will now know, if we haven’t ever thought of it before, what temptation really, really is and what sin, truly, truly, is. If we’ve never turned from temptation in the past, we are doomed.

Horrified, we realize we can’t do this on our own. We now wonder who will come to our aid at this most crucial moment. This is not the moment to have a reasonable hope that all men will be saved.  Will we ourselves be in a state of grace which will arm us against the onslaught of Satan’s last all-out-attempt to transgress us into temptation?  Will Jesus Himself come to your aid as a result of a loved one praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet at our bedside?

The final moment is one of eternity.  It’s a moment of either eternal abandonment or eternal victory.  It’s a moment of love or misery. There will be no guesswork about it.  We will know which way we are going.  There is no love in Hell; none.  It is pure, unadulterated, misery, self-pity, and woe.  In Purgatory, its intense suffering with hope.  In Heaven, unspeakable joy!

Where will we find ourselves in this final moment?

Calling All "EMs" - Resign!

In a previous post, I wrote how I stopped receiving Holy Communion in the hand about five years ago. I also receive Holy Communion only from a priest or deacon. And around the same time, I also stopped being a Eucharistic Minister, more properly known as "Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion."  “Extraordinary” is the key term because “the ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are the Bishop, the Priest and the Deacon ("Redemptionis Sacramentum," Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2004 (154)).”

Just as receiving Holy Communion in the hand is an abuse of an exception to the norm, so is the regular use of Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion.

Circumstances for assistance of the distribution of Holy Communion must indeed be "extraordinary:”

When the size of the congregation or the incapacity of the bishop, priest, or deacon requires it, the celebrant may be assisted by other bishops, priests, or deacons. If such ordinary ministers of Holy Communion are not present, "the priest may call upon extraordinary ministers to assist him, i.e., duly instituted acolytes or even other faithful who have been deputed for this purpose. In case of necessity, the priest may also depute suitable faithful for this single occasion (emphasis added) (GIRM 162).

And from “Redemptionis Sacramentum,"

Indeed, the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion may administer Communion only when the Priest and Deacon are lacking, when the Priest is prevented by weakness or advanced age or some other genuine reason, or when the number of faithful coming to Communion is so great that the very celebration of Mass would be unduly prolonged.[259]This, however, is to be understood in such a way that a brief prolongation, considering the circumstances and culture of the place, is not at all a sufficient reason.

Finally:

To touch the sacred species and to distribute them with their own hands is a privilege of the ordained, one which indicates an active participation in the ministry of the Eucharist." ~Pope St. John Paul II, "Dominicae Cenae"

No one with unconsecrated hands has any business touching our Blessed Lord under the appearance of unleavened bread.  The tremendous reverence given by a priest during the consecration is evidence alone.  Do we then really believe in the Real Presence if we ourselves are touching the consecrated host the during reception or distribution of Holy Communion?

What if there is always a single priest with a large congregation you may ask?  What is the rush?  Is the use of laity then simply to move things along for the sake of time?

I remember as Extraordinary Ministry of Holy Communion feeling privileged and honored to serve this ministry.  I was often in awe as my fellow parishioners came to me to receive.  But you know what, that was a feeling. Our Catholic faith is not based on “feelings” – this is Protestantism. Our faith is based on challenging our intellect. This is the basis to Our Lord for instructing the Apostles to not tell anyone of the miracles he performed.  “Who do you say that I am?” This question requires each of us to respond intellectually.

I was recently asked to be an Extraordinary Minister of Holy Communion at a local Catholic hospital.  The abuse I speak of here does not apply in this circumstance.  However, I still do not feel it proper for me to do so.  Again, I have no business to be touching a consecrated host with my unconsecrated hands.  Priests and deacons need to be encouraged to serve the sick at home and at hospitals.

Catholicism: The Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End

 

Religious pluralism, that is the principle of allowing a peoples with different religious beliefs, without penalty or favoritism from its government, to coexist in a civil society, is a principle that honors each and everyone's will to their own religious beliefs.  However, theologically, there is no such thing as religious pluralism.

First, to believe that all religions are equal or that the true complete revelation of Jesus Christ exists in some totality of all Christianity is contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church.  First, the declaration put forth by the Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith Dominus Iesus - On The Unicity and Salvific Universality of Jesus Christ and the Church (DI) declares

Furthermore, “Jesus Christ, therefore, the Word made flesh, sent ‘as a man to men', ‘speaks the words of God' (Jn 3:34), and completes the work of salvation which his Father gave him to do (cf. Jn 5:36; 17:4). To see Jesus is to see his Father (cf. Jn 14:9). For this reason, Jesus perfected revelation by fulfilling it through his whole work of making himself present and manifesting himself: through his words and deeds, his signs and wonders, but especially through his death and glorious resurrection from the dead and finally with the sending of the Spirit of truth, he completed and perfected revelation and confirmed it with divine testimony... The Christian dispensation, therefore, as the new and definitive covenant, will never pass away, and we now await no further new public revelation before the glorious manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Tim 6:14 and Tit 2:13)”. (DI, 5)

This means that the revelation of Jesus Christ is complete and no new revelation is coming or should be expected.  Surely, the saints, the doctors of the Church and the Church itself through the Magisterium has and will continue to broaden our intellectual understanding of this complete revelation.  But "new revelation" is exactly what other non-Catholic, Christian and non-Christian religions is being proclaimed.

Second, any reduction of the Catholic faith then in of itself tries to supply an "additional revelation" which the Catholic church tells us is not compatible with the Catholic faith. Protestantism is a reduction of the Catholic faith. Dominus Iesus says that Protestantism and many other religions, which may contain universal truths, are considered paths to the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church - the Catholic church.

Therefore, these separated Churches and communities as such, though we believe they suffer from defects, have by no means been deprived of significance and importance in the mystery of salvation. For the spirit of Christ has not refrained from using them as means of salvation which derive their efficacy from the very fullness of grace and truth entrusted to the Catholic Church. The lack of unity among Christians is certainly a wound for the Church; not in the sense that she is deprived of her unity, but “in that it hinders the complete fulfillment of her universality in history. (DI, 17)

Third, to me it is logical that the Catholic Church is the true path to salvation.  For fifteen hundred years only the Catholic Church existed.  While the term "catholic" first appeared in the year 107 A.D. when St. Ignatius of Antioch used the term in his Letter to the Smyrnaeans that he wrote to Christians in Smyrna (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_to_the_Smyrnaeans), its use described the set of beliefs in place up until that time, as well as for all perpetuity.

Fourth, 

Just as there is one Christ, so there exists a single body of Christ, a single Bride of Christ: “a single Catholic and apostolic Church." Furthermore, the promises of the Lord that he would not abandon his Church (cf. Mt 16:18; 28:20) and that he would guide her by his Spirit (cf. Jn 16:13) mean, according to Catholic faith, that the unicity and the unity of the Church — like everything that belongs to the Church's integrity — will never be lacking. (DI, 16)

To say then that the fullness of truth is a collection of all beliefs would mean that there are many "brides" of Christ -and that would make no sense whatsoever!  Also, to admit to the inclusion of non-Catholic Christianity in the full deposit of faith would mean that Christ abandoned his Church.

Fifth, the Catholic Church has something that no other Christian church has - the full legitimate set of Sacraments. The "sacraments are outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification." (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13295a.htm) I mean, bring on that grace!  Who couldn't use more of that supernatural help to get us past our failures and our sufferings?

Sixth, no book can interpret itself. If you have every written anything that someone else has read, you know this to be true. My first experience of this was when I was in college and had to write a short story for an English class. The name of the short story was The Potted Plant and it was a semi-biographical story of my immaturity and my alcoholic mother. The story was the first selected by the professor to be read aloud in class. I listened with astonishment to the many interpretations of my story which were far from my intention.

Only the author of a story can truly interpret it completely and accurately. The Holy Bible can only be properly interpreted by its Author. To claim that the Holy Bible is not so hard that it can be self-interpreted is over-generalizing and reducing the glory of God.  The Catholic Church has a single teaching source to guide us through the proper interpretation of the Holy Bible - "the ordinary and universal Magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him teach the faithful the truth to believe, the charity to practice, the beatitude to hope for." (CCC, 2034)

In closing, "the Catholic faithful are required to profess that there is an historical continuity — rooted in the apostolic succession— between the Church founded by Christ and the Catholic Church.  This is the single Church of Christ... which our Saviour, after his resurrection, entrusted to Peter's pastoral care (cf. Jn 21:17) (16)... Therefore, there exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him." (DI, 17)

No One Should Die Alone

My Uncle Marcel was my mother's only sibling. He earned three degrees, was a member of the US Peace Corps in the early 1960s serving in the Philippines, was a tenured Associate Professor of Biology, and upon his retirement, was named professor Emeritus.

Uncle Marcel was one of those relatives who would pull you aside and ask you "what are you doing?"  As a late teenager I would look at him quizzically and ask what he meant.  He would repeat the question until I understood what he was really asking - what are you doing with your life?  His question was appropriate at the time, having dropped out of college to work at a local supermarket chain.  I can certainly credit him with helping me return to college and get myself on track for a career in computer science.

But later in life, my uncle was elusive.  He didn't attend any family events and did not stay in contact with his only sister after my grandparents passed away.  It was years before I heard from one of his best friends, a fellow colleague and professor, that he had fallen ill and wanted to see me.  His illness was brief and for a very short time, I visited him on several occasions.  But his elusiveness returned and it had been a few years between that time and the time I learned of him suffering a major heart attack just recently.

Along with my mother and my sister, we visited my uncle in the ICU.  We learned that he also suffered a massive stroke, most likely associated with his heart attack.  He was not doing well.  He seemed to slightly respond to our voices when we visited him but was generally unresponsive.  I was then contacted by an associate of his that was his Power of Attorney.  He was able to get arrange a discussion with the ICU doctor where we learned that he would not survive a day without his breathing tube.  My uncle had a do not resuscitate order, which we honored.  His breathing tube was removed and he passed away peacefully some ninety minutes later.

My uncle was a baptized and confirmed Catholic.  He stepped away from his faith calling himself an atheist shortly after receiving his PhD in Biology.  After we learned of his condition, we arranged for a priest to administer the Anointing of the Sick.  On the first night we saw him, we prayed a Divine Mercy Chaplet over him.  After they removed his breathing tube, I stayed with my uncle until he passed away.  No one should die alone.  I prayed a Rosary for him while I was with him before he passed.

Praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet at the hour of death can bring many special graces:

"My daughter, encourage souls to say the chaplet which I have given to you. It pleases Me to grant everything they ask of Me by saying the chaplet. ... Write that when they say this chaplet in the presence of the dying, I will stand between My Father and the dying person, not as the just Judge but as the merciful Savior (Diary, 1541).

"At the hour of their death, I defend as My own glory every soul that will say this chaplet; or when others say it for a dying person, the indulgence is the same" (Diary, 811).

I pray that God's mercy was granted to my Uncle.

Eternal rest grant to him O Lord and let perpetual light shine upon him.  

May he rest in peace. 

Amen.

Please Call a Sin a Sin

In between my attempts to earn an undergraduate degree, I worked full-time for a New England supermarket chain.  There was a manager there who I admired for his hard-work and more importantly, his hard-hitting truth-telling.  I would fume over his words and comments about my work ethic and attitude.  But then, after getting over my self-centered and pouting self, I would understand what he was saying and began to think it made sense. I would hate him one moment and then love him the next.

My favorite teachers, colleagues, and relatives are those that humble me and make me think.  My Uncle Marcel was two of these: a relative and Associate Professor.  But that's another post for later.

I find myself starving for this hard-hitting and humbling experience at Mass. But I really struggle.  I hear the same spiritual cliches repackaged over and over again during most homilies.  It takes some serious concentration for me during Mass to find the nugget where God is speaking to me.  I am a sinner and often tune out or get distracted.  Perhaps this is the point where God is trying to reach me.

But there are very few hand-clapping, foot-stomping, standing ovations for most homilies I hear (of which by the way, these reactions if I had reason to do them would be irreverent at Mass - yet another post).  I get it: to call contraception, pre-marital sex, cohabitation, homosexuality, and same-sex marriage sins would collectively strike the hearts of nearly every Catholic in one or more ways.  It would hurt and anger all of us. I would guess that many would walk out of Mass right then and there; many others would never return. But it is the truth and we must hear it.  Instead, we hear safe and non-controversial messages, while in and of themselves are true, are not creating life-long Catholics that are confessing their sins nor adoring Our Lord in Eucharistic Adoration.

Matthew Kelly puts it very well when he talks about the Seven Levels Of Intimacy.  We are stuck in cliches and facts. We are fearful of expressing opinions, of being judged, and of not being accepted. We are afraid if people really knew us, they wouldn't love us.  We are also afraid of submitting ourselves to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church and accepting its authority about how is the best way to live.

It's not easy for us though on many levels. We face progressive and modernist priest and deacons that won't call or acknowledge a sin as a sin; parishes with protestant-like hand gestures at the words "And with your spirit" or hand-holding during the Lord's Prayer; parishes with ecumenical work camps and ecumenical vacation bible schools; and parishes with youth ministry programs that still use barbecues, ice cream socials, and mountain hikes as a means of raising life-long Catholics.  None of these things work - the Pew Research Studies that show that adults who self-identify as Catholic is declining and those who identify as "nones" is increasing, Declining Mass attendance, use of the Sacraments, and empty pews prove it.

Let's stop staying safe with the small talk. Let's learn and be eager to be engaged with the hard-hitting, intellectual high ground. Let's ask more of ourselves, our family, and our parish.  And most of all, let's step up and call a sin a sin, seek God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Penance, and accept the authority of the Catholic Church.  

Youth Ministry Shouldn't Be What It Used To Be

I answered the call to youth ministry from the pastor of my parish back in 1990.  I tried to meet kids where they were at by organizing youth group meetings, planning fun events, holding retreats, and by just listening.  At the time, Holy Hour, Eucharistic Adoration, the Sacrament of Confession, and the Rosary were far from my planning worksheets. I was worried I would turn kids off and lose them if I threw that "holy" stuff at them. I didn't want them to get bored or tune out (in fact, these things were far from my own common practices - the real reason).  In essence, I was trying to carve out some social time with youth away from their stressful lives with some caring adults in a church hall.  Not a bad idea I suppose. 

Later on, years later, in fact twenty years later, when researching for an evangelization effort for my last parish, I came across some very interesting information.   The Dynamic Catholic Institute and the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate released findings from their recent studies:[1] 

• 6.4 percent of registered parishioners contribute 80 percent of the volunteer hours in a parish.
• 6.8 percent of registered parishioners donate 80 percent of financial contributions.
• There is an 84 percent overlap between the previous two points. 
• A little more than three in ten adult Catholics (31.4 percent) are estimated to be attending Mass in any given week.
• While a majority of adult Catholics, 57 percent, say their belief about the Eucharist is reflected best by the statement “Jesus Christ is really present in the bread and wine of the Eucharist,” There are still 43 percent who said their belief is best reflected in the statement, “Bread and wine are symbols of Jesus, but Jesus is not really present.”
• Sixty-two percent of Catholics agree “somewhat” or “strongly” with the statement, “I can be a good Catholic without celebrating the sacrament of Reconciliation at least once a year” (33 percent agree “strongly”). Even 54 percent of weekly Mass attendees agree at least “somewhat” with this statement.
• About a third of respondents (34 percent) agree “strongly” with the statement, “I can be a good Catholic without going to Mass every Sunday.” More than two-thirds (68 percent) agree with this statement at least “somewhat.
• 80% of youth who are confirmed leave the church by the time they are 30. Yikes!

The adults among this data are the typical youth of my youth ministry days. At least for me, I concluded that what I was doing didn't work at some level. Isn't this what this means? I'm not saying that anything I did didn't work. I mean, I was following my youth ministry training as well as the advice of some of my favorite Catholic-industry youth ministry resources.  What could go wrong with that? Saving one sheep for the sake of the ninety-nine - that's how the parable goes, right? 

There are lots of contributing factors that have led to these statistics. But, how can we be happy with this current state and continue the path of icebreakers, barbecues, ice cream socials, and youth masses on mountain tops?  

I've concluded that youth ministry has to be more evangelization than social time. Evangelization is what leads to life-long Catholics, not game nights. Youth ministry evangelization efforts need to be split (that's 50-50 of our time, planning, and resources) between youth and their parents.  

But here's the thing: the primordial act of evangelization is answering a deep, deep call to holiness. Answering this call emerges from personal participation in prayer, the Eucharist, and Penance which are the “infallible and indispensable means for living the truth of love that God has inscribed in the theology of our bodies.”[2]  The call to holiness extends to all – parishioners, staff, and volunteers. We must commit ourselves to immerse ourselves into a deeper relationship with God, Jesus Christ, Mary the Mother of God, and the communion of saints through the Sacraments and prayer; it is only then that we can begin in total and complete earnest to gain Catholic families to join us.

Blaise Pascal, the French mathematician and Catholic apologist (did you know this about him?) concluded  “there exist three basic types of people: Those who seek God and find him, those who are seeking God but have not yet found him, and those who neither seek nor find.”   Our social-infested means of catechizing to youth is producing adults that stop seeking and finding. Then later as adults, we can't come to terms about our sin.  We may be filled with guilt; we may be bitter of those who have done us wrong; we may be enjoying our current sins too much to give them up. The data proves it and we need to take responsibility. 

Let's remind ourselves that the Sacrament of Confirmation gives us "the special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross" (CCC 1303),   The long-last effects of youth ministry that we are seeking is rooted in the call to holiness.  This call to holiness includes the ability to come to terms with our sins and formulate the uniqueness of Catholicism within Christianity and the ability to defend the Catholic Church from the great heresies of our time. How do we best prepare youth for this sacrament?  Every event or retreat or meeting should do the following:

• Teach them to pray: the Rosary, the Divine Office, the Animus Christi, the Divine Mercy Chaplet just to name some of my favorites and the most important few.
• Study the lives of the saints:  subscribe to The Catholic Company's Your Morning Offering to get a brief biography of the saint of the day - amazing, amazing people!
• Teach them to be silent and reflective: our Catholic faith is unique in its appeal to our intellect, instead of our emotions (the center of a Catholic Church is the altar; the center of a Protestant church is a stage). Eucharist Adoration is a wonderful means for teaching this.
• Reinforce the use of the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Reconciliation: remember the “infallible and indispensable means for living the truth"

How do we best evangelize to parents (and ourselves)? Either as a goal of a youth ministry program itself or a parish-wide effort:

• Remind them how to pray
• Help them pursue the adult study of Catholicism (Lighthouse Catholic Media's Formed.org, DynamicCatholic.com, ChurchMilitant.com serve as a few examples)
• Remind them how to be silent and reflective
• Reinforce the use of the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Reconciliation

It can't be business as usual.  The data proves that we are not producing life-long Catholics.

So let us press on toward the future God has envisioned for us and for the Church. It is time for us to become a people of possibility again. Too much of what we do is governed by a very limited way of thinking. We gravitate toward what is manageable, rather than imagining what is possible. We have lost touch with best practices and settle for the way things have always been done. Now is the time for us to reimagine what incredible things are possible if we walk with God. Now is the time for Catholics to become a people of possibility. Imagine what sixty-seven million American Catholics are capable of. Imagine what more than a billion Catholics worldwide are capable of.

One thing is certain: Whatever we do or do not do will determine the future of humanity and the world. - Matthew Kelly, Rediscover Catholicism.

[1] Compiled from research conducted by Dynamic Catholic appearing in The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic, 2012, by Matthew Kelly and the 2008 USCCB-sponsored study conducted by Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate “Sacraments Today: Belief and Practice among U.S. Catholics” (http://cara.georgetown.edu/sacramentsreport.pdf).

[2] Blessed Pope John Paul II, TOB 126:5.

After Friday, It's No Longer Business As Usual

Not a word was said at Mass today about the SCOTUS decision to legalize same-sex marriage across the country on Friday, June 26, 2015.  It was business as usual.  Reacting to news on Friday has its challenges. But plenty of Catholic bishops reacted.  Did yours?  What does your diocesan's web site home page look like this morning?  Let's take a look at a few:

My own diocese - nothing.

Diocese of Manchester: catholicchurch.org

Archdiocese of Boston, in the ground-zero state; see red circle - sort of lame:

Archdiocese of Boston: BostonCatholic.org

USCCB's - same lame-ness, although two references:

USCCB: USCCB.org

Now, www.marriageuniqueforareason.org is an initiative of the USCCB: Nothing on the home page, but I did find this:

http://www.marriageuniqueforareason.org/2015/06/26/usccb-statement-on-marriage-ruling/

Now, here are some mainstream media (MSM) newspaper front pages on Saturday, June 27, 2015:

The differences are shocking are they not?  The Catholic Church is not keeping up.  Michael Voris from ChurchMilitant.com sumamrizes it well.

The Vortex - American Rome

We should test the fairness of the MSM coverage of this issue by publishing full-page ads of this image from /www.marriageuniqueforareason.org in the New York Times and Washington Post, to name a few.

On the Tongue and From A Priest

In fact, the faithful regarded themselves as guilty, and rightly so as Origen recalls, if, after they had received the body of the Lord and kept it with all reverence and caution, some part of it were to fall to the ground through negligence. (para. 58, Mysterium Fidei, http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-vi_enc_03091965_mysterium.html)

I stopped receiving Holy Communion in the hand about 5 years ago.  Around the same time, I stopped being an Euchartistic Minister.  I typically will not receive the Precious Blood.  And almost always, I will receive Holy Communion only from a priest (I do make exceptions for a deacon).

Mother Theresa
www.motherteresa.org

I can recall at least two of a few things that have brought me to this point.  The first is the outstanding series from ChurchMilitant.com series "Sleight of Hand: The Reception Deception (http://www.churchmilitant.com/video/series/shrd/section?video_section=reception-deception).  The second is my experience as an adult altar server.

I learned from the ChurchMilitant.com series that from Pope Paul VI, to Saint Pope John Paul II, to Pope Benedict XVI, and to Pope Francis, receiving Holy Communion in the hand was and is not a favorable practice to them.  In fact, none of them recommended it.  If you attend a Papal Mass in Rome, you can only receive Holy Communion on the tongue from the Pope or (only) a priest (there's plenty of footage of Papal Masses on YouTube that you can see for yourself). The practice of receiving only on the tongue at Papal Masses is not meant to showcase the steep tradition of receiving Holy Communion on the tongue only in Rome.  It is meant to show the entire Holy Church how it should be done.

The abuse of receiving Holy Communion in the hand started after Vatican II, during the time of Pope Paul VI.  It started in Germany and in the Netherlands.  This abuse was not new - it was used by Protestants centuries earlier to protest their beliefs that our Blessed Lord did not mean literally what he said in John 6 and at the Lord's Supper.  

Of the 16 official documents that were released as part of Vatican II, only one, Sacrosanctum Concilium, pertained to the liturgy.  There was no mention of changing the manner in which one was to receive Holy Communion in this document. In fact, the document called for "Latin to be retained and Gregorian chant to be given a place of preference in the liturgy."

http://maniplesmatter.blogspot.ca/2013/01/keep-those-fingers-together-message-to.html

Pope Paul VI asked his fellow bishops what they thought of the reception of Holy Communion in the hand - the majority of the bishops were not in favor of the practice.  From this survey of bishops arose three ways to handle the current abuse: no concessions, the practice must stop; allow both forms of receiving Holy Communion; allow a concession only where the abuse had started and was difficult to stop.  The bishops were in favor of the first option; Pope Paul VI chose the last. Through a series of other attempts to find a balance between cease-and-desist and conciliatory approaches, reception of Holy Communion in the hand was approved by the then NCCB (USCCB) in 1977, through the use of a very narrow exception to Rome's petition process.

I recall my time as an adult altar server where I assisted the deacon with preparing the altar.  The altar was prepared with reverence and care.  At one particular Mass, I observed the priest putting down the chalice using his middle, ring, and pinky fingers, while keeping his index finger and thumb together.  This is to prevent particles of the Precious Host from falling!  

If so much care is given to handling of a consecrated host by the priest, what business do I or anyone have as a lay person touching the host for its reception or distribution?

St. Joseph Was Quite A Guy

 

Let's set aside any doubt about Mary's vow of perpetual virginity for the moment.

To be "bethrothed" meant a state of marriage without cohabitation¹.  Only a formal divorce could dissolve a bethrothal. So, Joseph would have known about Mary's vow of perpetual virginity.  There's no way that Mary would have kept that from him. Yet, he "married" her anyway!  This obviously implies Joseph's own vow of perpetual virginity!

When Joseph learned that Mary was pregnant (St. Matthew 1:19-20), part of his dismay was based on her vow of perpetual virginity - "Mary! What do you mean you're pregnant?  I thought you took a vow to be a virgin for life? I was planning to do this along with you!"

Getting back to Mary, when she "said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?" (St. Luke 1:34, DRB), Mary was stating not only her present condition of virginity, but her intention of her future state (the Greek present tense of "know" implies current and future).²

Truly indeed this couple was planning a remarkable marriage!

¹http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3229-betrothal
²http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?t=737470

November Cemetery Visits for the Souls In Purgatory

Appleton Cemetery, Deering, NH

I'm not sure exactly when it was that I started to find cemeteries to be peaceful places.  They are filled with so much hope!  My feelings were only reinforced after reading Hungry Souls: Supernatural Visits, Messages, and Warnings from Purgatory by Gerard J.M. Van Den Aardweg. I finished reading it at the end of October this year, just before the All Soul's Day.

This book is a fascinating read of the supernatural with one remarkable difference - the stories in this book are verified by the Catholic Church.  It talks about the differences between demons and "poor souls" - souls in Purgatory permitted by God to visit people on earth.  The book reveals that many, many well-known saints were often visited by poor souls. The modern-day Saint Padre Pio (who died in 1968) once said that "there were more souls of the dead who came up that road [the road leading to the monastery] then souls of the living (Hungry Souls, pg. 109)." The book details the items on exhibit in the Little Museum of  Purgatory in the Sacred Heart of Suffrage Church in Rome, a collection of "objects bearing visible, physical traces left by the souls in Purgatory (Hungry Souls, pg. 45)".

This year was the second year I was able to complete the Octave of All Saints - eight days of visiting area cemeteries and praying for the souls in Purgatory.  Beginning on November 1st, I visited eight area cemeteries and prayed:

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

Mount Calvary Cemetery, Manchester, NH

There are prayers for the faithful departed for each day of the week.  I prayed the appropriate prayer for the day, an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and the following concluding prayer:

O Lord, who art ever merciful and bounteous with Thy gifts, look down upon the suffering souls in purgatory. Remember not their offenses and negligence, but be mindful of Thy loving mercy, which is from all eternity. Cleanse them of their sins and fulfill their ardent desires that they may be made worthy to behold Thee face to face in Thy glory. May they soon be united with Thee and hear those blessed words which will call them to their heavenly home: "Come, blessed of My Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."

St. Joseph Cemetery, Chelmsford, MA

 On the eighth and last day, I visited my Dad's grave. I spent some time at the cemetery searching for my paternal grandparent's grave which I found, and my maternal grandparent's grave, which I did not find.  Interestingly enough, my father's parents grave was marked with a monument making it easier to find. My mother's parent's grave was not marked by a monument but by only a veteran's marker. Even with information about the grave site, searching for it was really difficult in November with the ground covered in leaves.

My mother does not know where her parents are buried in this cemetery. This saddens me.  Perhaps several years ago it would not have saddened me.  By by the grace of God, who has blessed me with knowledge of Heaven, Hell, Death, and Judgment, I vow to find their grave as well as forever remember where it is.

Catholic New Evangelization Running Amok

This statement below was posted and then quickly removed from the Archdiocese of Washington's website on September 3rd, 2014.

Thank you Msgr. Pope!

Time to End the St. Patrick's Day Parade and the Al Smith Dinner?

By: Msgr. Charles Pope 

The time for happy-clappy, lighthearted engagement of our culture may be nearing an end. Sometimes it takes a while to understand that what used to work no longer works. Let me get more specific.

Decades ago the “Al Smith Dinner” was a time for Republicans and Democrats to bury the hatchet (even if only temporarily) and come together to raise money for the poor and to emphasize what unites us rather than what divides us. But in the old days the death of 50 million infants was not what divided us. We were divided about lesser things such as how much of the budget should go to defense and how much to social spending. Reasonable men might differ over that.

But now we are being asked to raise toasts and to enjoy a night of frivolity with those who think it is acceptable to abort children by the millions each year, with those who think anal sex is to be celebrated as an expression of love and that LGBTQIA… (I=intersexual, A= Asexual) is actually a form of sanity to which we should tip our hat, and with those who stand four-square against us over religious liberty.

Now the St. Patrick’s Parade is becoming of parade of disorder, chaos, and fake unity. Let’s be honest: St. Patrick’s Day nationally has become a disgraceful display of drunkenness and foolishness in the middle of Lent that more often embarrasses the memory of Patrick than honors it.

In New York City in particular, the “parade” is devolving into a farcical and hateful ridicule of the faith that St. Patrick preached.

It’s time to cancel the St. Patrick’s Day Parade and the Al Smith Dinner and all the other “Catholic” traditions that have been hijacked by the world. Better for Catholics to enter their churches and get down on their knees on St. Patrick’s Day to pray in reparation for the foolishness, and to pray for this confused world to return to its senses. Let’s do adoration and pray the rosary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet unceasingly for this poor old world.

But don’t go to the parade; stay away from the Al Smith Dinner and all that “old school” stuff that hangs on in a darkened world. And as for St Patrick’s Day, it’s time to stop wearin’ the green and instead take up the purple of Lent and mean it. Enough of the celebration of stupidity, frivolity, and drunkenness that St Paddy’s day has become. We need penance now, not foolishness. We don’t need parades and dinner with people who scoff at our teachings, insist we compromise, use us for publicity, and make money off of us. We’re being played for (and are?) fools.

End the St Patrick’s parade. End the Al Smith Dinner and all other such compromised events. Enough now, back to Church! Wear the purple of Lent and if there is going to be a procession, let it be Eucharistic and penitential for the sins of this age.

For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world!

How say you?

Homily Annotations from A Laymen - Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:An%C3%B3nimo_-_Inferno_(ca._1520).jpg

Jesus said to his disciples:“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field,which a person finds and hides again,and out of joy goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price,he goes and sells all that he has and buys it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,which collects fish of every kind. When it is full they haul it ashore and sit down to put what is good into buckets. What is bad they throw away. Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace,  where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. (MT 13:44-52)

When the priest at the Mass I attended that week repeated this Gospel reading as a preface to his homily, he ended with a paraphrase "will be cast aside/off" and then skipped the last four lines above about the "fiery furnace."

Keeping with my personal opinion that the general Catholic population lacks a serious understanding of sin - that is connecting their behaviors with the Commandments and the Gospel - or ignores Catholic teachings about sin and penance,  it was a huge mistake to not mention the "fiery furnace."  The fiery furnace is real folks!  Catholics could do with a lot less pandering of the faithful in this regard.

I think I understand where the typical middle-of-the-road, indirect manner of preaching comes from. First,

In his infinite goodness he desired the free love of humanity over forced obedience to his will. For love cannot be forced, it must be given by desire and choice. (http://www.saintaquinas.com/belief_in_God.html)

This notion is pervasive throughout Catholicism.  In a question I asked Ask A Priest about why the Catholic Church only required confession once-a-year, here was his response:

[Your "Ask a Priest" Question has been answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC.  God bless, RC Spirituality Center]

Dear Dan, The requirement for once-a-year confession and communion is a minimum standard. The ideal, as you mentioned, is for frequent confession and frequent communion. But it’s one thing to hold out an ideal, and another to require it. Put another way, the Church isn’t contradicting itself by recommending frequent confession and communion on one hand, but only legislating their reception once a year on the other. The Church in effect is leaving room for the faithful to voluntarily choose to make frequent use of the sacraments. Things done voluntarily are usually done with more genuine piety (not always, but often enough). I pray that you make frequent use of these great sacraments. God bless.  

I think the thinking goes like this: It's hard to try to bring someone to a closer understanding, to seek a deeper meaning, or to voluntarily chose to make more frequent use of the Sacraments when you are more direct - you might scare them off.

You might ask, can't you be more direct without scaring them off?  I think so, but, here's the real concern I think behind this soft-peddling of the faith: pastors are concerned about parishioners leaving the parish.  This is a very real concern. For so long what I would call a indirect, middle-of-the-road, soft-peddling of the faith approach has been taken. Suddenly or even if it was done over a period of time (with a warning) a more direct, calling-a-sin-a-sin (especially sins of the flesh) homiletic approach is taken.  People will leave in droves! But I think eventually people will come back - in droves!  We have Jesus ministerial approach to leverage.

Lastly,

There are two types of men, those who are afraid to lose God, and those who are afraid that they might find Him… --Blaise Pascal, philosopher and scientist

Homily Annotations from A Laymen - Corpus Christi

In no way by these periodic posts of "Homily Annotations from A Laymen" is it my intention to disparage any Catholic priest or deacon.  I merely want to add some prayerful thoughts to the homilies presented to me.

While my experience with Sunday homilies are mostly local, I have attended Mass at enough parishes in many locations in this country to feel that the homily structures are very similar across the United States, mostly because our Catholic church suffers from modernistic and liberal approaches to saving souls.

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi), June 22, 2014

I was happy to hear our newly ordained Deacon speak about how the Feast of Corpus Christi was first established as well as referring to the Eucharistic Miracle that occurred in Lanciano, Italy in the 8th Century A.D.

He also made reference to a recent survey about Catholics belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. I found this chart on the to substantiate what he said.

I believe that there are several factors that contribute to the results of this survey:

• While the Memorial of the Real Presence is celebrated each week at Mass, points made at today's homily are really repeated throughout the year.

• The elimination of the communion rail which affords the reverence of kneeling has resulted in the loss of faith in the Real Presence.

• Most importantly - receiving Communion in the hand has resulted in a HUGE loss of faith in the Real Presence.

As noted by Michael Voris of ChurchMilitant.tv's excellent series Sleight of Hand - Reception Deception, "Pope Benedict started distributing Christ's Body exclusively in this manner, directly on the tongue, since 2009 on the Feast of Corpus." 

Back in the early 60's when the abuse of communion in the hand was beginning in Europe, Pope Paul VI in Memorial Domini (Par 10) says:

...this practice [receiving Holy Communion on the tongue]... ensures more effectively that Holy Communion is distributed with all due respect, decorum, and dignity, so that the danger of profanation of the Eucharistic species is prevented, in which in a unique way, Christ, God and man, is present whole and entire, substantially and continually, so that finally the diligent care is preserved, which the Church always recommended regarding the fragments of the consecrated bread: What you have allowed to fall, think of it as though one of your own members were amputated.

These points should have been stated in his homily.  However, to do so would put himself in conflict with his Pastor and his Bishop.

I urge you to study Memorial Domini and return to receiving Communion on the tongue.

God bless.

Thinking Beyond The Bare Minimum During Lent

I recently read a pastor's comments on the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Communion.  His comments reflected the Catholic Church's once-a-year requirement for both.

Why only ONCE a YEAR?  I don't know about you, but I can walk out of a confessional and see a beautiful woman in line, and have to immediately turn around and go back to confession.  I can also be cut off by a fellow parishioner while trying to leave the church parking lot and have to turn around and go back. Lastly, I can get home, get into an argument with my wife and have to turn around and go back to confession.

So, I decided to look it up and found this within the Canon Law:

Can. 920 p. 1. After being initiated into the Most Holy Eucharist, each of the faithful is obliged to receive holy communion at least once a year.
Can. 989. After having reached the age of discretion, each member  the faithful is obliged to confess faithfully his or her grave sins at least once a year.

p. 2. This precept must be fulfilled during the Easter season [Ash Wednesday through Trinity Sunday] unless it is fulfilled for a just cause at another time during the year.

Still curious about what Canon Law states the bare minimum, I "Asked a Priest" at www.RCSpirituality.com. Here's the response I received:

[Your "Ask a Priest" Question has been answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC.  God bless, RC Spirituality Center]

Dear Dan, The requirement for once-a-year confession and communion is a minimum standard. The ideal, as you mentioned, is for frequent confession and frequent communion. But it’s one thing to hold out an ideal, and another to require it. Put another way, the Church isn’t contradicting itself by recommending frequent confession and communion on one hand, but only legislating their reception once a year on the other. The Church in effect is leaving room for the faithful to voluntarily choose to make frequent use of the sacraments. Things done voluntarily are usually done with more genuine piety (not always, but often enough). I pray that you make frequent use of these great sacraments. God bless.  

The key here is "it’s one thing to hold out an ideal, and another to require it." 

Pope John Paull II said in his groundbreaking work "Theology of the Body" that "prayer, Eucharist, and Penance. These, he says, are the 'infallible and indispensable' means for living the truth of love that God has inscribed in the theology of our bodies (see TOB 126:5)."1 This is the reason why I try to take advantage of the Sacraments of Penance and Holy Eucharist, especially Confession.  It is the best self-improvement plan on earth!

1 http://www.tobinstitute.org/newsItem.asp?NewsID=88

Year of Faith Resources Missed the Mark

Heavenly Father,

Pour forth your Holy Spirit to inspire me with these words from Holy Scripture.
Stir in my soul the desire to renew my faith and deepen my relationship with your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ so that I might truly believe in and live the Good News.   
Open my heart to hear the Gospel and grant me the confidence to proclaim the Good News to others.
Pour out your Spirit, so that I might be strengthened to go forth and witness to the Gospel in my everyday life through my words and actions.  
In moments of hesitation, remind me:
If not me, then who will proclaim the Gospel?
If not now, then when will the Gospel be proclaimed?
If not the truth of the Gospel, then what shall I proclaim?
God, our Father, I pray that through the Holy Spirit I might hear the call of the New Evangelization to deepen my faith, grow in confidence to proclaim the Gospel and boldly witness to the saving grace of your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.  

Prayer of New Evangelization, http://www.usccb.org/prayer-and-worship/prayers/new-evangelization-prayer.cfm

We have completely lost our understanding of sin.  We look at the Ten Commandments and justify our behavior to meet our own made-up criteria for Heaven.  When I half-jokingly make references to the Sacrament of Confession to family and friends, the responses I hear are "Hey, I haven't killed anybody" or "I think I'm fine."

Over the past year during the Year of Faith, priests in the churches I have attended have had numerous occasions to more completely define sin in our modern culture.  I was rooting them on.  Many times they would get close - I was ready to stand and applaud! But, alas, they would back off, and I found myself shrinking in the pew.  I'm hungry to hear it.  I'm anxious for all of us to hear it.

Read carefully the Prayer of New Evangelization from the USCCB's web site above. There are plenty of theological truths that are worthy praying for.  But there's no mention of a better understanding of sin.  This is a huge, huge oversight.  In fact, it strongly demonstrates how progressive relativism has cannonball-ed into parishes and most unfortunately chanceries.

Sex  before marriage (fornication), co-habitation, adultery (looking lustfully at another is committing adultery in the heart; see Matt 5:28), contraception, abortion, drunkenness, poor church attendance, taking Jesus Christ's name in vain (blasphemy),  lying, cheating, and stealing (we all do it usually in very small ways) - do we ever, ever hear a priest remind us of these sins, with practical examples?

We are all lying, cheating, blaspheming, fornicating, drunken adulterers. We are raising our children this way.  We are catechizing this way.  We have to vigilantly present, be presented with, and be reminded of the realities of death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell.  And not our own made up definitions but the truths from the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.  Amen!
 

Sign of No Peace

I absolutely cringe at the Sign of Peace.  Next to the "meet-and-greet" social before Mass starts (see General Instruction of the Roman Missal (GIRM)  paragraph 45: http://catholicsensibility.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/girm-45-silence/),  it is the most Protestant part of the Mass.  It seems to come at the worst time - just after the Doxology and the Our Father and right before the Lamb of God - solemn prayers at most solemn points.  I experience very little eye contact and flabby handshakes.  I get the occasional two-finger peace sign from folks who don't want to bother leaning forward or claim to have a cold.  I also get ignored. It's awkward and out of place.

GIRM 84 leaves it to the Conferences of Bishops to establish, in accordance with the culture and customs of the peoples, the manner in which the sign of peace is given.  Recall how during some of the worst flu seasons in the past where the handshake was suspended during the Rite of Peace?  How peaceful that was.

Over-matched by Democrat "Poll Observers" on Election Day

I was over-matched, unprepared, and overcome as a Republican poll observer last Tuesday.  Along with two others, while we were working Project Orca for Romney, our Democrat "poll-observing" counterparts ignored the rules, kibitzed with voters, and even attested signatures on voter registration forms with their own signature.

I volunteered to work as a Republican poll observer for the Romney campaign.  I was trained to use a web-based application from my smartphone which tracked which supporter or independent had voted.  From my position behind ballot inspectors, I was to check off the names of voters as they stated their name - when I could here them.  Most voters handed the inspectors their license when approaching them.  When they did state their name, most of them leaned forward so only the inspector could hear.  The inspectors would repeat their name, but because they had their back to us, often times we couldn't hear them.

We were supposed to use the Project Orca website to log voter's names, but the website never became available.  Alternately, we had printed copies of the lists in order to check off names.  We would phone in the results throughout the day.

Our Democrat poll-observing counterparts sat with us but often left the poll-observing designated area to stand among themselves off to the side by the entrance to the polling place.  We later learned that our counterparts were all lawyers.  We wondered why and later got our answer.

One lawyer was profiling voters as they entered.  If a voter looked Hispanic or Latino and had a glazed look on their face when they walked in, she got up, approached the voter, and began to speak Spanish.  When we cried foul, she would sit down, but only briefly.

Around 6:00 p.m. the line to register to vote was very long (NH allows people to register to vote on the day of an election). Because the line was so long, there was significant concern among poll workers that they would not be able to register everyone in line. This is when our lawyer friends jumped into action.  They requested that they be deputized to be city clerks to assist with new voter registration.   Democrats were worried that people would either not bother to register because the line was so long or that they would leave the line.  The city's head clerk arrived and asked that everyone help.  Not wanting to leave the job entirely to the Democrats, we all joined in.  Next thing you know, I'm working for the city helping with voter registration handing out applications and pens.

The application required name, address, and either a NH driver's license or the last four digits of your social security number - no proof of citizenship. It also required three signatures: one by the application, another by a witness that the applicant's signature was theirs, and another by the city.   I was standing by the table where voters were being processed when I heard a city worker ask a Democrat poll observer where they were supposed to sign since he signed the line witnessing the applicant's signature.  Wait a minute!  Why was a city worker asking a Democrat-poll-observing-lawyer-now-deputized-to-process-voter-registrations where to sign?  I joined a discussion on the other side of the room and asked why was this guy signing voter registration forms?  I was told he was speeding up the process.  Really?  How?  By having all the paperwork signed when registrants were being processed.  I said that this guy has no business signing anything.  I didn't think signing up to help meant that someone could sign voter registration forms.

Then, a representative from the state's Attorney General's office arrived to sort out what city workers were to do with applications that were signed by this lawyer.  After making a few calls, she advised city workers to sign the line approving that voters be added to the checklist.

City workers were delighted that the the line wait went down from thirty minutes to fifteen minutes, and to no waiting around 7:40 p.m.  The poll closed promptly at 8:00 p.m.  The moderator was happy, city workers were happy, voters were happy, and the Democrat poll observers were no where to be found.  I then went back to become a poll observer - I guess.

During the initial training, we were advised to call a phone number where we could report any potential irregularities.  I made several calls during the day.  Overall, I was totally unprepared and completely over-matched.  While us Republican poll observers were checking off names so that potential supporters who had yet to vote could be called to urge to get to the polls, Democrats stretched (broke?) the rules, took advantage of  the chaos, and worked the voter crowd.  From a strategic perspective, it was a much better "plan."  This is what happened in one ward in one city in NH.  Imagine what was going on in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Florida.

Republicans must figure out a way to counter this strategy.  Otherwise, they will be out-matched on election day for the foreseeable future.

The Scarcity Mentality

There's a subplot at work in the world.  It's whether we have too much or not enough; whether we have all that we need or that we haven't got enough

Politically speaking, Democrats subscribe to the Scarcity Mentality while Republicans subscribe to the Abundance Mentality. Democrats think that stewardship means we need to limit ourselves because their isn't enough.  Republicans believe that stewardship is for protecting abundance.

Any policy that does not help people become "the best version of themselves" is a scarcity mentality. Saving trees and puppies is a scarcity mentality.  Developing resources, creating opportunities, and saving the unborn is the abundance mentality.

"Saving the middle class" is scarcity.  Ensuring that the middle class has access to the same opportunity as all Americans is abundance.

Entitlement is scarcity; accountability is abundance.

Universal healthcare is scarcity; a multiple-payer, market and value-based healthcare is abundance.

"Buy gold" is scarcity; investment in currency is abundance.

"I'll try" is scarcity' "I will" is abundance.

"Whatever" is scarcity; "Why not?" is abundance.

"They say" is scarcity;  "Says who?" is abundance.

This fall, listen to where each candidate is coming from.  Will they protect scarcity or abundance?