Tag Archives: Catholic

Consummatum Est: Eucharist As Marital Act

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When a man and woman marry each other in the Church, they are not joined sacramentally until the marriage is consummated, that is, until they partake of sexual intercourse. Most people think of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony as only being administered once. I believe they are mistaken. The sacrament is enacted every time a married couple makes love. A husband’s seed is given to his wife, in whom it might "take root" and grow into another human being, another member of the domestic church.

Christ is the bridegroom of the Church. The marriage was not consummated until Christ died on the cross for our sins. Some people think that this sacrifice was manifested only once. I believe they are mistaken. The sacrifice is enacted every time a member of the Church receives the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. God’s seed, grace, is given to members of the Church, in whom it might take root and grow into faith, a faith that enables us to go and make new disciples, new members of the Universal Church.

Fulfilling Your Sunday Obligation

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On Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22, 2005, a Total Catholic Education Conference, will be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center, in downtown Pittsburgh. The conference is directed at at those who share in the teaching mission of the Church, including CCD catechists, campus ministers, priests, religious and other Catholic laity. The registration guidebook is impressive in terms of both content and packaging, and sessions feature heavy hitters like Bishop Bradley, Michael Aquilina, and Kimberly and Scott Hahn.

However, the full-page announcement for Eucharistic Liturgy on Saturday at 3.30 pm, features the legend, "This Mass fulfills your Sunday obligation" and that little line was more informative to me, than all the rest of the impressive text. The late Fr. John Baptist "JB" Fernandes, S.J., impressed upon me that ‘fulfilling an obligation’ is one of the least appropriate of reasons to go to Sunday Mass. The Lord wants us to attend Mass because He loves us, and we ought to be going, because we love Him. Surely the participating Catholic educators should understand this perspective. I dearly hope so, because it would be a shame if those in their charge, were only taught the ‘obligatory’ perspective.

Would it kill the participants to attend Mass on Sunday as well? Some, if not many, may actually do so, for reasons just highlighted. That begs the question, what is the understanding of the people organizing this conference, as regards Sunday Mass? Do they think of it primarily as an obligation? Further, do they believe, that the question of ‘whether or not the obligation is fulfilled’ would be uppermost in most participants’ minds? With the surfeit of contact information available in the guidebook, whoever (and I sincerely hope that would be, if not zero, a really small number) was concerned about that, could have find out that information for themselves. Maybe the organizers were anticipating a flood of emails/phonecalls and therefore decided to be proactive – pragmatism trumped spirituality.

We Are ChurchHeresy

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"Oct. 04 (CWNews.com) – The international dissident movement ‘We Are Church‘ is issuing an appeal to the Catholic bishops, gathered in Rome for the Synod, to confront the ‘real’ problems relating to the Eucharist. At an October 4 press conference in Rome, the dissident group called for reconsideration of the key Catholic doctrine on the transubstantiation, an end to the ‘hierarchical monopoly’ on the sacraments, and approval of shared communion with other Christian denominations."

….

"Specifically, the dissident group called for abandoning the notion that the Eucharist is a sacrifice, and instead saying that the mass is ‘in memory of the entire life of Jesus.’ The group called for ‘full freedom of philosophical and theological interpretation of that mystery.’ We Are Church argued that the dogma of the transubstantiation– the teaching that the bread and wine at Mass are transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ– is unacceptable to Protestants, and thus impedes ecumenical unity. The group decried traditional forms of Catholic piety, such as Eucharistic adoration and processions, as tending to make an ‘idol’ of the Blessed Sacrament."

*rolls eyes* This is infuriating and comical at the same time. To paraphrase the Big Lebowski:

"Your revolution is over, Ms. Heizer et. al. Condolences. The heretics lost. My advice is to do what your intellectual forebears did; become Protestants, folks. The heretics will always lose."

Purgatory Pickle Redux

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A fellow by the name of Charles recently commented on an old purgatory post of mine that has long since sunken below the horizon. He says:

“Why do Catholics use 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 to prove Purgatory? It couldn’t be plainer in the text that the fire will reveal all works on ‘the Day’. The Day of Christ at judgment. ‘ The Day’ is too obvious but surprisingly overlooked by Catholics.”

My first reaction would be to say that Catholics believe in two judgments, personal and universal. We are faced with personal judgment when we die. The universal comes when Christ returns to Earth to judge all of mankind. On “the Day”, that is the day of our judgment, our works are tested by fire. That fire is not literal, of course, but suffering of some kind is implied. I see no contradiction whatsoever regarding purgation and judgment.

What are your thoughts?

Forgiveness and Anger are NOT Mutually Exclusive

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Would one of my astute readers please tell Adrian why Blink is wrong?

[ireneQ:] ‘How can God not be angry when we sin? He hates sin!’

[Blink:] ‘When Jesus died on the cross, He took upon Him the consequences of sin. One of those consequences is God’s anger. Therefore God cannot be angry with us any more.’

I like this Blink guy……

Here’s some starter material from the Catechism.

"1849 Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as ‘an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.’"

"1850 Sin is an offense against God: ‘Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight.’ Sin sets itself against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become ‘like gods,’ knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus ‘love of oneself even to contempt of God.’ In this proud self- exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.125 "