|
Q u i c k Q u e s t i o n s
|
This Rock
Volume 18, Number 3
 March 2007 
|
|
|
Prepare Early for a General Confession
Q: I'd like to make a general confession. How do I prepare? Should I go during scheduled confession times and tell the priest when I enter the confessional, or should I make an appointment? Should I make a list or will the priest ask me questions?
A: It would be good to make an appointment. During a regularly scheduled time for confessions, people might have to wait an inordinately long time in line. By all means, make a list. It is difficult to remember most sins from such a long period of time. The priest will help you if you have trouble. Be sure to destroy the list when you are done.
—Fr. Vincent Serpa
Q: According to Matthew 12:31-32, anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. What do you think?
A: Forgiveness of sins requires repentance (contrition). The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "Among the penitent's acts, contrition occupies first place. Contrition is sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again" (CCC 1451).
Unwillingness to repent and accept God's forgiveness is what Jesus was talking about when he referred to "blasphemy of the Spirit" (Matt. 12:31-32). The Catechism explains, "By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to one's works, and can even condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love" (CCC 679).
—Jim Blackburn
Q: Is it possible to get sick from drinking from the Eucharistic cup?
A: Yes. The precious blood does not inoculate a cup against germs that cause illness.
Reasonable care should be taken to clean the cup between communicants. If there is an epidemic illness, it may be prudent to distribute only the host.
—Michelle Arnold
Q: My daughter and her fiance recently left the Catholic Church for a nondenominational one. They will be marrying soon in the same church and have asked me to participate in lighting the unity candle as a symbol of their marital union. Is it acceptable for me to do so?
A: I recommend you decline. As former Catholics, your daughter and her fiance almost certainly still are bound to observe the Catholic form of marriage, and their marriage in the non-Catholic church will be invalid. While there is no official Church teaching on this issue, lighting the unity candle with your daughter would send the wrong message: 1) tacit approval of a marriage not recognized by the Church, and 2) great potential to cause scandal.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines scandal as".. .an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor's tempter. He damages virtue and integrity; he may even draw his brother into spiritual death. Scandal is a grave offense if by deed or omission another is deliberately led into a grave offense" (CCC 2284).
—Peggy Frye
Q: I have seen older communicants approach the priest for reception of the Eucharist with a rosary wrapped around the right hand. Do you know where this custom comes from and what it signifies?
A: It likely goes back to pious customs from before the liturgical changes of the Second Vatican Council. Although it was never mandated by the Church, many of the laity prayed the rosary as a way to participate at Mass. Today the Church's liturgical documents call for the laity's attention to be focused on the public prayer of the Mass rather than on private devotions.
—Michelle Arnold
Q: Is it really the teaching of the Church that Masses for the dead help the specific souls named by the priest in some way that others miss out on? That would be unfair to those, who through no fault of their own, don't have the intellect, money, or survivors to make such arrangements. Can you help me understand?
A: All the dead are prayed for at every Mass. For example, Eucharistic Prayer four reads: "Remember our brothers and sisters who have gone to their rest in the hope of rising again. Bring them and all the departed in the light of your presence." God is just and merciful. No one goes wanting for his mercy!
—Fr. Vincent Serpa
Q: Did Jesus have a guardian angel?
A: Since Jesus was fully man, he may have had a guardian angel. Some theologians believe that Michael the Archangel fulfilled this role. Scripture certainly records angels ministering to him. In his account of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, Luke wrote, "And there appeared to [Jesus] an angel from heaven, strengthening him" (Luke 22:43). Also, Matthew (4:11) and Mark (1:13) mention angels ministering to Jesus after he was tempted by the devil.
So, did Jesus need the help of angels? The Navarre Bible commentary on St. Luke answers, "The Creator of all, who is never in need of the help of his creatures, is ready to accept, as man, consolation and help from those who can give it" (St. Luke, 240).
—Jim Blackburn
Q: The Little Rock Scripture Study booklet contains the following statement for the Feast of the Solemnity of Mary: "His birth was like ours, wondrous, painful, joyful, bloody and messy. " Is this supported by Church teaching?
A: The statement is problematic as it reads like an established fact when the Church has no official teaching on the physiological aspects of Jesus' birth. What the Church does teach is that "Mary bore her Son without any violation of her virginal integrity" (De fide on the ground of the general promulgation of doctrine).
Ludwig Ott, in his book Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, explains that "The dogma merely asserts the fact of the continuance of Mary's physical virginity without determining more closely how this is to be physiologically explained" (205). However, he goes on to say that in general, "the Fathers and Schoolmen conceived it as non-injury to the hymen, and accordingly taught that Mary gave birth in miraculous fashion without opening of the womb and injury to the hymen, and consequently also without pains" (cf. Summa Theologiae III:28:2). For further reading on this subject, see The Virgin Birth and the Birth of Science by Stanley Jaki.
—Peggy Frye
Q: Can I receive a plenary indulgence for reading the Bible?
A: The Handbook of Indulgences states, "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 for at least one-half hour" (80).
Keep in mind that there are several requirements for acquiring a plenary indulgence. The Apostolic Constitution on Indulgences explains,
To acquire a plenary indulgence it is necessary to perform the work to which the indulgence is attached and to fulfill three conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. It is further required that all attachment to sin, even to venial sin, be absent. If this disposition is in any way less than complete, or if the prescribed three conditions are not fulfilled, the indulgence will be only partial. . . .
—Jim Blackburn
Q: Both the Director of Religious Education and the pastor at my parish believe that the bread and wine do not become the body and blood of Christ at the words of institution, but over the whole Eucharistic Prayer. I disagree. Who's right?
A: You are. How could transubstantiation occur over the whole Eucharistic Prayer, when, after the words of consecration of the host and chalice, the priest shows the sacred species to the people for adoration?
The answer is also in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
CCC 1105:The Epiclesis ("invocation upon") is the intercession in which the priest begs the Father to send the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier, so that the offerings may become the body and blood of Christ and that the faithful by receiving them, may themselves become a living offering to God.
CCC 1353: In the institution narrative, the power of the words and the action of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ's body and blood, his sacrifice offered on the cross once for all.
CCC 1375: It is by the conversion of the bread and wine into Christ's body and blood that Christ becomes present in this sacrament. The Church Fathers strongly affirmed the faith of the Church in the efficacy of the Word of Christ and of the action of the Holy Spirit to bring about this conversion. Thus St. John Chrysostom declares: "It is not man that causes the things offered to become the body and blood of Christ, but he who was crucified for us, Christ himself. The priest, in the role of Christ, pronounces these words, but their power and grace are God's. This is my body, he says. This word transforms the things offered."
—Peggy Frye
Q: If a Lutheran couple asked a Catholic friend to read a Scripture passagee at their Lutheran wedding service, could the Catholic friend do so?
A: Regarding Catholics participating in readings at non-Catholic churches, the Vatican document Directory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism says this:
In liturgical celebrations taking place in other churches and ecclesial communities, Catholics are encouraged to take part in the psalms, responses, hymns, and common actions of the church in which they are guests. If invited by their hosts, they may read a lesson or preach." (PNE 118).
—Michelle Arnold
Q: My priest uses a crystal decanter for celebrating Mass. Is this allowed?
A: If he is using it to hold unconsecrated wine that he then pours into chalices prior to the consecration, yes. However, decanters or flagons cannot be used to hold the precious blood. Neither can chalices made of crystal or pottery.
Redemptionis Sacramentum: Never to be used for containing the blood of the Lord are flagons, bowls, or other vessels that are not fully in accord with the established norms (106). Sacred vessels for containing the body and blood of the Lord must be made in strict conformity with the norms of tradition and of the liturgical books. . . . Reprobated, therefore, is any practice of using for the celebration of Mass common vessels, or others lacking in quality, or devoid of all artistic merit or that are mere containers, as also other vessels made from glass, earthenware, clay, or other materials that break easily. This norm is to be applied even as regards metals and other materials that easily rust or deteriorate (117).
General Instruction of the Roman Missal:
Sacred vessels are to be made from precious metal. If they are made from metal that rusts or from a metal less precious than gold, then ordinarily they should be gilded on the inside (GIRM 328).
—Peggy Frye
Q: I am a divorced Methodist who has been attending my local Catholic church. I would like to take the next step and become Catholic. Am I able to be confirmed, since I am divorced, or do I need to be granted an annulment first?
A: Divorce, in itself, is not an obstacle to confirmation. Sometimes, however, divorce is gravely sinful and unforgiven grave sin is something that needs to be taken care of by confession prior to confirmation. Annulments are generally only necessary if one wishes to attempt marriage again and would not be necessary prior to reception into the Church unless you have attempted marriage after your divorce and wish to continue a conjugal life.
—Jim Blackburn
Q: John Henry Cardinal Newman once said, "To be versed in history is to cease to be Protestant." If that is the case, why are there so many Protestant church historians, even patristics scholars, who never join the Catholic Church?
A: Newman's maxim is not intended to be a "rule" that those Protestants versed in Church history "must" enter the Catholic Church. It is a general observation that Church history argues against Protestantism and that those Protestants who study history deeply many times realize that the Catholic Church is the true Church.
Ultimately, belief in the truth of Catholicism is a gift of faith given by God that must be accepted and acted upon by the recipient in order for the recipient to become Catholic. With Protestant historians, it may be that some, for whatever reason of divine Providence, were not given that gift; or that those who were given that gift did not accept it or act upon it for some reason. We must commend such people to God's mercy, trusting that if these individuals follow him to the best of their ability according to the light of truth that they have, it may be possible for them to achieve salvation (cf. Lumen Gentium, 16).
—Michelle Arnold
Q: My Freemason friend wants to become Catholic but is under the impression that he can't because of his status as a Freemason. Is this true?
A: If he plans to abandon Freemasonry for Catholicism, yes, of course, he can become Catholic. But Catholics are prohibited from involvement in Freemasonry, so if he intends to remain a Freemason after becoming a Catholic, to my knowledge, he cannot enter the Church. The Church has long stated that:
Therefore, the Church's negative judgment in regard to Masonic associations remains unchanged since their principles have always been considered irreconcilable with the doctrine of the Church and, therefore, membership in them remains forbidden: The faithful who enroll in Masonic associations are in a state of grave sin and may not receive holy Communion (Declaration on Masonic Associations).
—Michelle Arnold
Q: I don't know why sometimes the monstrance is held with bare hands and at Benediction they are covered. Isn't it sacred at all times?
A: The humeral veil simply draws attention to the sacredness of the Blessed Sacrament. No one is worthy to hold the Blessed Sacrament even with several humeral veils. The use of the veil is symbolic. Our Lord handed the Eucharist to his apostles without such things.
—Fr. Vincent Serpa
Q: I read recently that lay people are not supposed to make the sign of the cross on others. I make the sign of the cross with holy water and a crucifix in the direction of my grown children's homes. Am I doing something wrong?
A: Lay people should refrain from giving such blessings in Church because they are likely to be confused with the blessing only a priest can give. But it is appropriate to give a blessing to family members in private. Making the sign of the cross on the forehead is a good way of doing it because it is less likely to be taken as a priestly blessing.
When my grandmother kneaded the dough for bread, the last thing she would do was to make a cross on the dough with the side of her hand. The cross is the sign of our salvation. It is most appropriate for us to use it in our daily life.
—Fr. Vincent Serpa
|
