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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 19, Number 2
 February 2008 
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Jesus Accepted Everyone, So Why Can’t We?
Q: Most people who are gay feel that they were born that way and cannot change their orientation. They are rejected by society and faith communities. How can we be more like Jesus and accept those who are rejected?
A: Accepting sinful behavior in other people does them no good. Pointing out the sinfulness is not rejecting them: It’s rejecting what is evil. We owe each other the truth. Because some people with same-sex attractions feel that they were born with such inclination doesn’t make it so. There is no proof for such an assumption. Such people assume they are born homosexual because they can’t remember ever feeling any other way. What we do know is that for whatever reason these people have not identified with the parent of their sex. The prevailing spin that our culture puts on this dynamic is that the culture must adapt to the needs these people perceive they have—to live as though the behavior that such feelings suggest is good and ought to be the norm for them.
Our culture insists that everyone has a right to sexual gratification. Never mind about context; let pleasure be the guide.
The greatest fallacy in such a proposition is that if anyone suggests otherwise, he is passing judgment and rejecting such people outright—as when you ask how we can be more like Jesus and accept those who are rejected. Jesus never accepted sinful behavior. He did accept sinners who were repentant, and he always loved them—even in their most sinful moments.
What is the context in which Jesus matters to us? What is the most important fact that we know about Jesus in relation to us? It is Good Friday! Good Friday is not only the day on which God revealed more about himself than at any other time in the history of creation, it is also our context as followers of Jesus. It is on the cross that Jesus shows us how to live. It is there that he shows us what constitutes love: sacrifice. "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me" (Mark 8:34).
That God would love his creatures enough to become one of them and then suffer and die for them is beyond our ability to comprehend fully. Yet to the degree that we can appreciate what it is to suffer, we can appreciate such love. Each of us is given the opportunity for gaining such appreciation through the crosses that he allows us to have. Many different crosses prevent people from engaging in normal married life and therefore, genital pleasure. Homosexuality is only one of these. Only when we look at our human situation in its proper context, the context of Good Friday, can we recognize our place in it. Only through accepting the cross of same-sex attraction and offering it up in response to his self-gift will such a person know the full embrace of his nail-scarred hands.
It is when we accept the cross in our lives and encourage others to carry theirs that we are more like Jesus—not when we water down his expectations of us!
—Fr. Vincent Serpa
Q: A friend tells me that Jesus was probably born in the summer. How do I explain to her the reason the Church celebrates Christmas on December 25?
A: As we do not know the exact date of Christ’s birth, the date of December 25 for Christmas may have been arbitrary. The Church could have chosen another date on which to celebrate the birth of Christ. One reason December 25 may have been deemed suitable is its proximity to the winter solstice. After that date the days start to become longer, and thus it is at the beginning of a season of light entering the world (cf. John 1:5). The summer solstice—after which the days start to get shorter—falls near June 24, on which the Church celebrates the birth of John the Baptist, who declared of Christ, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30).
—Michelle Arnold
Q: Suppose someone committed a mortal sin (meeting all the conditions of grave matter, full knowledge, and free will) and later sincerely and fully repented of it. The person desired to go to confession as soon as possible to be reconciled with God but was killed in an accident before doing so. What would be the state of that person’s soul? I know there’s a "baptism of desire"; is there such a thing as a "reconciliation of desire"?
A: In a sense, the Church does indeed recognize a "reconciliation of desire"—perfect contrition. The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines contrition as "sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again" (CCC 1451).
For contrition to forgive mortal sins it must arise out of our love of God. "When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called ‘perfect’ (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible" (CCC 1452).
—Jim Blackburn
Q: Should Catholics venerate saints who were canonized by Eastern Orthodox churches?
A: It is possible for Catholics to admire the Christian witness of those recognized as saints by Eastern Orthodox churches. It is also possible for Catholics to learn from the lives and writings of apparently holy people of other Christian faith traditions. However, I do not recommend giving such people the honor Catholics accord to those who have been recognized to be saints by the Catholic Church.
Canonization by the pope is an infallible statement by the Church that a particular person definitely is in heaven and therefore is worthy to be given public honor by Catholics. Although the salvation of non-Catholics is hoped for, we have no such absolute knowledge that those "canonized" by non-Catholic churches indeed are in heaven.
—Michelle Arnold
Q: How long can the consecrated host remain in a pyx or lunette before it must be replaced?
A: Canon 939 states: "Consecrated hosts, in a quantity sufficient for the needs of the faithful, are to be kept in a pyx or ciborium and are to be renewed frequently, the older hosts having been duly consumed."
Concerning the meaning of "renewed frequently," The Canon Law: Letter and Spirit commentary says, "The hosts are to be renewed ‘frequently,’ in order to avoid danger of corruption" (512). To prevent corruption of the sacred species, canon 934 §2 requires that "[W]here the blessed Eucharist is reserved there must always be someone who is responsible for it, and that as far as possible a priest be available to celebrate Mass at least twice a month."
According to Redemptionis Sacramentum:
It is highly recommended that at least in the cities and the larger towns, the diocesan bishop should designate a church building for perpetual adoration; in it, however, Holy Mass should be celebrated frequently, even daily if possible, while the Exposition should rigorously be interrupted while Mass is being celebrated. It is fitting that the host to be exposed for adoration should be consecrated in the Mass immediately preceding the time of adoration, and that it should be placed in the monstrance upon the altar after Communion. (RS 140, emphasis added)
—Peggy Frye
Q: I read that Christ did not say, "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Who did?
A: It’s from St. Augustine. His Letter 211 (c. 424) contains the phrase Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum, which translates roughly to "With love for mankind and hatred of sins."
The phrase has become more famous as "love the sinner but hate the sin" or "hate the sin and not the sinner" (the latter form appearing in Mohandas Gandhi’s 1929 autobiography).
—Fr. Vincent Serpa
Q: What are the historical evidences for the person of Jesus?
A: First, the nearly 2,000-year existence of Christianity, which has undeniably been a significant part of world history for the last two millennia, must be recognized as valid testimony to the existence of Jesus. Next, the main written historical accounts of Jesus are found in the New Testament, primarily the Gospels. The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms, "The Church holds firmly that the four Gospels, whose historicity she unhesitatingly affirms, faithfully hand on what Jesus, the Son of God, while he lived among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation, until the day when he was taken up" (CCC 126). Additionally, many ancient secular writers such as Josephus and Pliny the Younger left evidence of Jesus’ existence.
—Jim Blackburn
Q: According to Scripture, Adam and Eve had three children, Cain, Able and Seth, who married and had children. Whom did they marry?
A: Adam and Eve had both sons and daughters (Gen. 5:4). Because there were no human beings except those born of Adam and Eve, sibling marriages were a necessity. St. Augustine says,
As, therefore, the human race, subsequently to the first marriage of the man who was made of dust, and his wife who was made out of his side, required the union of males and females in order that it might multiply, and as there were no human beings except those who had been born of these two, men took their sisters for wives,—an act which was as certainly dictated by necessity in these ancient days as afterwards it was condemned by the prohibitions of religion . . . and though it was quite allowable in the earliest ages of the human race to marry one’s sister, it is now abhorred as a thing which no circumstances could justify. (The City of God XV.16)
—Peggy Frye
Q: What is the process of "transferring" from Roman Catholic to Eastern Catholic? And what are the consequences if any?
A: There’s nothing wrong with changing rites if you so desire. It’s a bit of a hassle and really isn’t necessary. You can join an Eastern-rite parish without changing rites. However, if you still want to change rites, check with the pastor of the Eastern-rite parish you wish to join.
—Fr. Vincent Serpa
Q: I thought that we "receive" Communion. I am so dismayed when people say that they "take" Communion.
A: The Eucharistic institution narratives in the New Testament record that Christ directed his disciples to "take" his body and the cup of his blood (cf. Matt. 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-23). Using the word take in reference to Communion is not wrong. Even so, traditional Catholic piety has encouraged use of the word receive to emphasize that Communion is a gift from Christ to the individual Catholic. Both terms are correct.
—Michelle Arnold
Q: My sister is planning on having her baby baptized soon. She asked my brother and his wife to be godparents, but they are both divorced Catholics. Neither got an annulment. Will the baptism be valid?
A: The Code of Canon Law requires godparents for infant baptism "insofar as possible" (CIC 872); they are not an absolute requirement for valid baptism. To be a godparent, a person must be one "who leads a life of faith in keeping with the function to be taken on" (CIC 874 §1). Your brother and his wife do not qualify because of their irregular marriage. In such a case, their sponsorship as godparents would be illicit (not in conformity with the law of the Church), but the baptism would still be valid.
—Jim Blackburn
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