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Q u i c k Q u e s t i o n s
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This Rock
Volume 14, Number 2
 February 2003 
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Our Self, Who Art in Heaven?
Q: My brother recently converted to Islam, in part because he no longer believes that Jesus was God. If he was, he argues, why did he pray to himself all the time? Why especially in Gethsemane when he was suffering so greatly?
A: Your brother fails to understand the doctrine of the Trinity. God is one Being who is three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Because these are three distinct persons, it is not unusual for one of the Persons to speak to one of the other Persons. In such a case, as with Christ praying to the Father, he isn’t talking to himself because he is talking to another person.
Q: I recently went to confession, received absolution, and did my penance. Subsequently I remembered something I did years ago that I never confessed. Am I absolved of that one as well? If the sin was mortal, does that need to be addressed specifically?
A: So long as you intended to confess all your mortal sins and otherwise make a good confession, then the sacrament was valid, and you were forgiven all your mortal sins. The fact that afterward you remembered another one does not mean that you are in a state of mortal sin.
The Code of Canon Law states, "A member of the Christian faithful is obliged to confess in kind and in number all grave sins committed after baptism and not yet directly remitted through the keys of the Church nor acknowledged in individual confession, of which one is conscious after diligent examination of conscience" (CIC 988:1). Since you remembered this grave sin, you should mention it in your next confession.
Q: Can Catholics be cremated? I was brought up to believe that cremation is a pagan ritual and is forbidden.
A: Early Christians opposed cremation because pagans often cremated their dead as a sign of disdain for the Christians’ belief in the physical resurrection of the body. To protect belief in this doctrine of faith, the Church forbade cremation. That prohibition was lifted in 1963. The Church still recommends that the faithful be buried, but Catholics may be cremated so long as cremation does not demonstrate a denial of belief in the resurrection of the body (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2301).
Q: If Jesus was really God, why did Satan try to tempt him? Doesn’t he know that God can’t sin?
A: Of course he does—that’s why he tried to tempt him. If Jesus had succumbed, the devil would have known that Jesus wasn’t the real Messiah.
Remember, the devil isn’t God—he isn’t omniscient or infallible and so doesn’t know everything. He can make mistakes. As Thomas Aquinas put it, "The minds of demons are utterly perverted from the divine wisdom; they at times form their opinion of things simply according to the natural conditions of the same. Nor are they ever deceived as to the natural properties of anything, but they can be misled with regard to supernatural matters. For example, on seeing a dead man they may suppose that he will not rise again, or, on beholding Christ, they may judge him not to be God" (ST 1:58:5).
Q: May sick persons who are unable to swallow solid food receive Communion under the form of wine alone?
A: Yes, and so may anyone. The U.S. bishops’ document This Holy and Living Sacrifice, which was approved by the Holy See, says, "Sick people who are unable to receive Communion under the form of bread may receive it under the form of wine alone. If the wine is consecrated at a Mass not celebrated in the presence of the sick person, the blood of the Lord is kept in a properly covered vessel and is placed in the tabernacle after Communion. The precious blood should be carried to the sick in a vessel that is closed in such a way as to eliminate all danger of spilling. If some of the precious blood remains, it should be consumed by the minister, who should also see to it that the vessel is properly purified" (HLS 37).
The only time the precious blood may be reserved is when it is to be taken to the sick. It should also be noted that there is no obligation, even if one is not sick, to receive under the form of bread. When both forms are offered, one may receive under the form of wine alone.
Q: Someone I know claims that the Catholic Church divided from the "Christian church" around A.D. 900. I know he is incorrect, but how do I explain it to him?
A: Tell him to go find a serious book on Church history and read it. There is no basis for what he is claiming. Not only were there no significant splits around A.D. 900, there were no splits anywhere near this period that resulted in a surviving group that was called "the Christian Church."
The claim is so preposterous that one suspects your acquaintance has gotten something garbled somewhere along the line. If you really want to engage him on this subject, get more detail about what he is claiming. Insist that he give a source for the info, then research the claims made by that source.
Q: A friend of mine believes that God created everything—including things like diseases in order to punish us and things like pornography in order to test us. How do I respond?
A: God doesn’t do evil to anyone. Those things spoken of in Scripture as punishments from God are things God has allowed rather than caused to happen as a result of people’s sins. God does test people in the sense that he allows them to encounter temptation or adversity, but he himself does not cause these things. "Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one; but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire" (Jas. 5:13–14).
Q: God promised the Jews that they would attain heaven if they kept their covenant (the Old Covenant) with him. Since God doesn’t break his promises, doesn’t this mean Jews don’t have to follow Jesus, who brought the New Covenant?
A: This is the apparent confusion at the heart of the recent "Reflections on Covenant and Mission" issued by a U.S. bishops’ subcommittee that generated so much attention last year. To begin with, the Old Covenant is no longer in effect—Christ has fulfilled it (Col. 2:14–17). It never had any ability to save apart from Christ (Heb. 10:1–10). It was always anticipated that salvation would come through the Messiah (Gal. 3:8, 16). Since the Old Covenant never justified anyone (Gal. 3:11), attempts by Jews to be put right with God only by keeping the Old Covenant would not bear fruit (Gal. 3:10).
It was always expected as part of the Old Covenant that the Jewish people were obliged to accept the Messiah when he came (Deut. 18:15). Deliberate failure to do so would be spurning the Son of God—a mortal sin. Jesus told his Jewish audience, "I told you that you would die in your sins . . . unless you believe that I am he" (John 8:24).
A Jew may be innocently ignorant of the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and thus not be held accountable. Such a person may be saved provided he is otherwise in good conscience seeking to follow God. But he would be saved on the basis of Christ, not of the Old Covenant. Remember, Jesus also said, "I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me" (John 14:6).
Q: Can a person with a mortal sin on his soul die and still go to heaven?
A: No. "To die in mortal sin without repenting and accepting God’s merciful love means remaining separated from him forever by our own free choice" (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1033).
But it is important to understand what mortal sin comprises and the ways it can be forgiven. For a sin to be mortal three conditions must be met: (1) The sin must have grave matter, (2) one must have adequate knowledge, and (3) one must commit it with deliberate consent (CCC 1857–1859). If even one of these conditions is not met then the sin is not mortal but venial.
There are two kinds of sorrow for sin: contrition and attrition, which are also called and imperfect contrition, respectively. Perfect contrition is sorrow for sins based on charity or supernatural love of God. Imperfect contrition is sorrow for sin based on anything else, such as being scared of going to hell. (We recognize both kinds in the act of contrition after confession: "I detest all my sins because I fear the loss of heaven and the pains of hell [imperfect contrition] but most of all because they offend thee, my God, who are all good and deserving of all my love [perfect contrition]."
Both kinds of contrition, which are not mutually exclusive, assume the resolve to sin no more. Even with this resolve it is possible—aye, likely—to commit the same sin in the future; the point is, at that moment in time we make a firm resolution to turn away from mortal sin.
Under normal circumstances, for a mortal sin to be forgiven it must be confessed in the sacrament of penance. But what happens if confession to God through a priest is impossible—if, for instance, one is in danger of dying? Provided a person in such a situation has perfect contrition for his mortal sin, resolves not to sin again, and resolves to receive sacramental confession as soon as possible, his mortal sin is forgiven.
A big warning: Imperfect contrition will not absolve a sinner outside the sacrament of confession.
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