175 Why Do The Sacraments Belong To The Church?

YOUCAT Lesson 175

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

175  Why do the sacraments belong to the Church?  Why cannot anyone use them however he wants?

Sacraments are Christ’s gift to his Church.  It is her duty to administer them and to protect them from misuse.  [1117-1119, 1131]

Photo: …..At left, unseen by the priest, a penitent knees behind a screen making her confession.  The purple scarf (stole) worn by the priest is the sign of this particular priestly function.

For me, the Sacrament of Reconciliation has been a source of peace.   As long as I caFor me, throughout life the Sacrament of Pn remember, every time I have availed myself of the Sacrament of Reconciliation it has bestowed a peace that I could feel .  It may be presumptuous for me to say this, but might there be less mental illness if we admitted personal sin and then embraced the confessional unconditionally?--  Don L. Bragg, catechist

Jesus entrusted his words and signs to specific men, namely, the apostles, who were to hand them on; he did not hand them over to an anonymous crowd.  Today we would say: He did not post his inheritance on the Internet for free access but rather registered it under a domain name.  Sacraments exist for the Church and through the Church.  They are for (the Church), because the Body of Christ, which is the Church, is established, nourished, and perfected through the sacraments.  They exist through her, because the sacraments are the power of Christ’s Body, for example in confession, where Christ forgives our sins through the priest.

For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body (of Christ) eats and drinks judgment upon himself.  1 Corinthians 11:29

THE SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

…….1117 As she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the faith, the Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her "into all truth," has gradually recognized this treasure received from Christ and, as the faithful steward of God's mysteries, has determined its "dispensation." (John 16:13; compare Matthew 13:52; 1 Corinthians 4:11)³⁴ Thus the Church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical celebrations there are seven that are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the Lord. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

…….1118 The sacraments are "of the Church" in the double sense that they are "by her" and "for her." They are "by the Church," for she is the sacrament of Christ's action at work in her through the mission of the Holy Spirit. They are "for the Church" in the sense that "the sacraments make the Church,"( St. Augustine, De civ. Dei, 22,17:Patrologia Latina 41,779; compare St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III,64,2 ad 3)³⁵  since they manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love, One in three persons. --CCC

…….1119 Forming "as it were, one mystical person" with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as "an organically structured priestly community."( Lumen gentium 11; compare Pius XII, Mystici Corporis  (1943))³⁶    Through Baptism and Confirmation the priestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful "who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ."( Lumen gentium 11 § 2)³⁷  --CCC

IN BRIEF

1131 The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions. --CCC

174 Signs and Symbols in the Liturgy

YOUCAT Lesson 174

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

174  Why is faith in Jesus Christ not enough?  Why does God give us the sacraments, too?

We can and should come to God with all our senses, not just with the intellect.  That is why God gives himself to us in earthly signs—especially in bread and wine, the Body and Blood of Christ.  [1084, 1146-1152]

 …..God speaks to man through the visible creation. The material cosmos is so presented to man's intelligence that he can read there traces of its Creator (see CCC #1147 below).

Photo: .....Experiencing God’s creation in the natural order during 2014 Western family trip: Hope, Beth, Stephan and Kenneth.  Photo by Don C.

People saw Jesus, heard him, could touch him and thereby experience salvation and healing in the body and soul.  The sensible signs of the sacraments show this same signature of God, who desires to address the whole man—not just his head.

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness…by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature.  2 Peter 1:3

…….CHRIST'S WORK IN THE LITURGY

              Christ glorified . . .

…….1084 "Seated at the right hand of the Father" and pouring out the Holy Spirit on his Body which is the Church, Christ now acts through the sacraments he instituted to communicate his grace. The sacraments are perceptible signs (words and actions) accessible to our human nature. By the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit they make present efficaciously the grace that they signify. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

…….HOW IS THE LITURGY CELEBRATED?

                Signs and symbols

…….1145 A sacramental celebration is woven from signs and symbols. In keeping with the divine pedagogy of salvation, their meaning is rooted in the work of creation and in human culture, specified by the events of the Old Covenant and fully revealed in the person and work of Christ. –CCC

…….1146 Signs of the human world. In human life, signs and symbols occupy an important place. As a being at once body and spirit, man expresses and perceives spiritual realities through physical signs and symbols. As a social being, man needs signs and symbols to communicate with others, through language, gestures, and actions. The same holds true for his relationship with God. –CCC

…….1147 God speaks to man through the visible creation. The material cosmos is so presented to man's intelligence that he can read there traces of its Creator.( compare Wisdom 13:1; Romans 1:19 f.; Acts of the Apostles 14:17)¹⁶    Light and darkness, wind and fire, water and earth, the tree and its fruit speak of God and symbolize both his greatness and his nearness. –CCC

…….1148 Inasmuch as they are creatures, these perceptible realities can become means of expressing the action of God who sanctifies men, and the action of men who offer worship to God. The same is true of signs and symbols taken from the social life of man: washing and anointing, breaking bread and sharing the cup can express the sanctifying presence of God and man's gratitude toward his Creator. --CCC

…….1149 The great religions of mankind witness, often impressively, to this cosmic and symbolic meaning of religious rites. The liturgy of the Church presupposes, integrates and sanctifies elements from creation and human culture, conferring on them the dignity of signs of grace, of the new creation in Jesus Christ. --CCC

…….1150 Signs of the covenant. The Chosen People received from God distinctive signs and symbols that marked its liturgical life. These are no longer solely celebrations of cosmic cycles and social gestures, but signs of the covenant, symbols of God's mighty deeds for his people. Among these liturgical signs from the Old Covenant are circumcision, anointing and consecration of kings and priests, laying on of hands, sacrifices, and above all the Passover. The Church sees in these signs a prefiguring of the sacraments of the New Covenant. --CCC

…….1151 Signs taken up by Christ. In his preaching the Lord Jesus often makes use of the signs of creation to make known the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. ( compare Luke 8:10),¹⁷    He performs healings and illustrates his preaching with physical signs or symbolic gestures.( compare John 9:6; Mark 7:33 ff.; Mk 8:22 ff)¹⁸    He gives new meaning to the deeds and signs of the Old Covenant, above all to the Exodus and the Passover,( compare Luke 9:31; Lk 22:7-20)¹⁹ for he himself is the meaning of all these signs. –CCC

…….1152 Sacramental signs. Since Pentecost, it is through the sacramental signs of his Church that the Holy Spirit carries on the work of sanctification. The sacraments of the Church do not abolish but purify and integrate all the richness of the signs and symbols of the cosmos and of social life. Further, they fulfill the types and figures of the Old Covenant, signify and make actively present the salvation wrought by Christ, and prefigure and anticipate the glory of heaven. --CCC

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 6, 2016

Thirty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time, November 6, 2016
Lectionary: 156

Artwork: …..Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the dead; to him be glory and power, forever and ever.  

Jesus appears to the Apostles Gospel John 20: 22-23.

The first reading is from the Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14

It happened that seven brothers with their mother were arrested and tortured with whips and scourges by the king, to force them to eat pork in violation of God's law.  One of the brothers, speaking for the others, said:  “What do you expect to achieve by questioning us?  We are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our ancestors.”

At the point of death he said: “You accursed fiend, you are depriving us of this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up to live again forever.  It is for his laws that we are dying.”

After him the third suffered their cruel sport.  He put out his tongue at once when told to do so, and bravely held out his hands, as he spoke these noble words: “It was from Heaven that I received these; for the sake of his laws I disdain them; from him I hope to receive them again.”  Even the king and his attendants marveled at the young man's courage, because he regarded his sufferings as nothing.  After he had died, they tortured and maltreated the fourth brother in the same way.  When he was near death, he said, “It is my choice to die at the hands of men with the hope God gives of being raised up by him; but for you, there will be no resurrection to life.”

  

Responsorial Psalm 17:1, 5-6, 8, 15

 R. (15b) Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

Hear, O LORD, a just suit;
attend to my outcry;
hearken to my prayer from lips without deceit.

R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

My steps have been steadfast in your paths,
my feet have not faltered.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
incline your ear to me; hear my word.

R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

Keep me as the apple of your eye,
hide me in the shadow of your wings.
But I in justice shall behold your face;
on waking I shall be content in your presence.

R. Lord, when your glory appears, my joy will be full.

The second reading is from  2 Thessalonians 2:16

Brothers and sisters: May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting encouragement and good hope through his grace, encourage your hearts and strengthen them in every good deedand word.

Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may speed forward and be glorified,
as it did among you, and that we may be delivered from perverse and wicked people, for not all have faith.
But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.  We are confident of you in the Lord that what we instruct you, you are doing and will continue to do.  May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the endurance of Christ.

The alleluia is from Revelations 1:5a, 6b

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Jesus Christ is the firstborn of the dead;
to him be glory and power, forever and ever.

R. Alleluia, alleluia.

The Gospel of Saint Luke 20:27-38

 Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child,

his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless.  Then the second and the third married her,
and likewise all the seven died childless.  Finally the woman also died.  Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be?  For all seven had been married to her.”  Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.  They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise.  That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

The Principles of Catholic Social Teaching

Photo: …..Family life at the Braggs’: Rose and grandson Stephen.

…….The  Principles of Catholic Social Teaching

(Taken from the Catholic Herald and based on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility.”  “The Principles of Catholic Social Teaching” presented below  was recommended to Wisconsin Catholics by our five bishops: Jerome E. Listecki, Archbishop of Milwaukee; David L. Ricken, Bishop of Green Bay; Robert C. Morlino, Bishop of Madison; William P. Callahan, Bishop of La Crosse; and James P. Powers, Bishop of Superior.)

…..Extracted in full from the November 3, 2016 Superior Catholic Herald by Don L. Bragg

..…..Dignity of the Human Person

…..Human life is sacred.  The dignity of the human person is the foundation of a moral vision for society.  Direct attacks on innocent persons are never morally acceptable, at any stage or in any condition.  In our society, human life is especially under direct attack from abortion, which some political actors mischaracterize as an issue of “women’s health.”

…..Other direct threats include euthanasia and assisted suicide (sometimes falsely labeled as “death with dignity”), human cloning, in vitro fertilization, and the destruction of human embryos for research.  Catholic teaching about the dignity of life calls us to oppose torture, unjust war, and the indiscriminate use of drones for violent purposes; to prevent genocide and attacks against noncombatants; to oppose racism; to oppose human trafficking; and to overcome poverty and suffering.

…..Nations are called to combat evil and terror without resorting to armed conflicts except as a last resort after all peaceful means have failed, and to end the use of the death penalty as a means of protecting society from violent crime.

…….Common Good

…..The common good refers to the social and community dimension of the moral good.  Human dignity is respected and the common good is fostered only if human rights are protected and basic responsibilities are met.  Every human being has a right to access those things required for human decency—food and shelter, education and employment, health care and housing, freedom of religion and family life.

…..Corresponding to these rights are duties and responsibilities—to one another, to our families, and to the larger society.  Every economic system serves the dignity of the human person and the common good when it respects the dignity of work and protects the rights of workers.

…..Employers contribute to the common good through the services or products they provide and by creating jobs that uphold the dignity and rights of workers—to productive work, to decent and just wages, to adequate benefits and security in their old age, to the choice of whether to organize and join unions, to the opportunity for legal status for immigrant workers, to private property, and to economic initiative.

…..Workers also have responsibilities—to provide a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay, to treat employers and co-workers with respect, and to carry out their work in ways that contribute to the common good.

…..The common good also includes caring for God’s creation and for the poor who suffer “the gravest effects of all attacks on the environment.”

…….Subsidiarity

…..The human person is not only sacred but also social.  Full human development takes place in relationship with others.  The family—based on marriage between a man and a woman—is the first and fundamental unit of society and is a sanctuary for the creation and nurturing of children.  It should be defended and strengthened, not redefined, undermined, or further distorted.

…..Respect for the family should be reflected in every policy and program.  It is important to uphold parents’ rights and responsibilities to care for their children, including the right to choose their children’s education.  Every person and association has a right and a duty to participate actively in shaping society and to promote the well-being of all, especially the poor and vulnerable.

…..The principle of subsidiarity reminds us that larger institutions in society should not overwhelm or interfere with smaller or local institutions, yet larger institutions have essential responsibilities when the more local institutions cannot adequately protect human dignity, meet human needs, and advance the common good.

…….Solidarity

…..Solidarity recognizes that we are one human family, whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic, and ideological differences.  Loving our neighbor has global dimensions and requires us to eradicate racism and address the extreme poverty and disease plaguing so much of the world.

…..Solidarity also includes pursuing peace and justice, and showing a preferential option for the poor, who include unborn children, orphans, persons in poverty, persons with disabilities, the elderly and terminally ill, victims of injustice and oppression, immigrants and refugees, and prisoners.

173 Why We Need the Seven Sacraments

YOUCAT Lesson 173

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

173  Why do we need sacraments in the first place?

We need sacraments in order to outgrow our petty human life and to become like Jesus through Jesus: children of God in freedom and glory.  [1129]

Altarpiece: …..The Seven Sacraments  by Rogier van der Weyden dated around 1448. …..173

THE SACRAMENTS OF SALVATION

In Baptism the fallen children of men become cherished children of God; through Confirmation the weak become strong, committed Christians; through Penance the guilty are reconciled; through the Eucharist the hungry become bread for others; through Matrimony and Holy Orders individuals become servants of love; through the Anointing of the Sick the despairing become people of confidence.  The sacrament in all the sacraments is Christ himself.  In him we men, lost in selfishness, grow and mature into the true life that has no end.

Because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God.  Romans 8:21

…….1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.( compare Council of Trent (1547): Denzinger-Schönmetzer 1604)⁵¹ "Sacramental grace" is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. The Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. The fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature(compare 2 Peter 1:4)⁵²  by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

172 THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

YOUCAT Lesson 172

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

172  How many sacraments are there and what are their names?

The Church has seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony.  [1210]

 

…….Montage by Don L. Bragg.  Clockwise from upper left:  …..Anointing of the Sick, Christ beckoning, Holy Orders, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Baptism, Eucharist and (center) Matrimony…..172

THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS OF THE CHURCH

…….1210 Christ instituted the sacraments of the new law. There are seven: Baptism, Confirmation (or Chrismation), the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders and Matrimony. The seven sacraments touch all the stages and all the important moments of Christian life(compare St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III,65,1)¹  they give birth and increase, healing and mission to the Christian's life of faith. There is thus a certain resemblance between the stages of natural life and the stages of the spiritual life. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition

171 Christ's Paschal Mystery is a Real Event

YOUCAT Lesson 171, September 25, 2014

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

171  What is the essence of every liturgy?

Liturgy is always in the first place communion or fellowship with Jesus Christ.  Every liturgy, not just the celebration of the Eucharist, is an Easter in miniature.  Jesus reveals his passage from death to life and celebrates it with us.  [1085]

…….Painting above: …..The Last Supper by  Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). The Last Supper was painted between 1495 and 1498. …..171

The most important liturgy in the world was the Paschal liturgy that Jesus celebrated with his disciples in the Upper Room on the night before his death.  The disciples thought that Jesus would be commemorating the liberation of Israel from Egypt.  Instead, Jesus celebrated the liberation of all mankind from the power of death.  Back in Egypt it was the “blood of the lamb” that preserved the Israelites from the angel of death.  Now he himself would be the Lamb whose blood saves mankind from death.  For Jesus’ death and Resurrection is the proof that someone can die and nevertheless gain life.  This is the genuine substance of every Christian liturgy.  Jesus himself compared his death and Resurrection with Israel’s liberation from slavery in Egypt.  Therefore, the redemptive effect of Jesus’ death and Resurrection is called the Paschal mystery.  There is an analogy between the life-saving blood of the lamb at the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt (Exodus 12) and Jesus, the true Paschal Lamb that has redeemed mankind from the bondage of death and sin.

“The blood (of the lamb) shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.”  Exodus 12:12-13f

Sacrament: (Latin sacramentum=military oath of allegiance; the usual translation for the Greek mysterion=mystery) Sacraments are holy, visible signs instituted by Christ of an invisible reality, in which Christians can experience the healing, forgiving, nourishing, strengthening presence of God that enables them to love in turn; this is possible because God’s grace works in the sacraments.

Christs Work in the Liturgy

      …….Christ glorified

…….1085 In the liturgy of the Church, it is principally his own Paschal mystery that Christ signifies and makes present. During his earthly life Jesus announced his Paschal mystery by his teaching and anticipated it by his actions. When his Hour comes, he lives out the unique event of history which does not pass away: Jesus dies, is buried, rises from the dead, and is seated at the right hand of the Father "once for all."( Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; Heb 9:12; compare John 13:1; Jn 17:1)⁸    His Paschal mystery is a real event that occurred in our history, but it is unique: all other historical events happen once, and then they pass away, swallowed up in the past. The Paschal mystery of Christ, by contrast, cannot remain only in the past, because by his death he destroyed death, and all that Christ is - all that he did and suffered for all men - participates in the divine eternity, and so transcends all times while being made present in them all. The event of the Cross and Resurrection abides and draws everything toward life. –Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition