St. Mary's Catholic Church - Weekly-Bulletin

Our Lord Jesus Christ the King

Pat Perkins — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:01:11 GMT

Dear Friends in Christ,

The new Year of Grace will begin next week with the First Sunday of Advent, and on each of the four Sundays of Advent we will gather at 4 pm to sing the psalms and canticles of Vespers or Evening Prayer. Please join us at 4 pm on the Sundays of Advent, and bring a friend, to prepare with peaceful prayer for the coming celebration of Christ’s birth.

But on this last Sunday of the liturgical year we close the old Year of Grace with the Solemnity of Christ the King. Each year on this feast, the Church throughout the world acclaims Jesus Christ as King, and describing the Lord Jesus as our true King is, of course, an analogy to a form of earthly authority with which we Americans are not well acquainted. More than from the tortured history of European kings, however, we should learn the pattern of Christ’s kingship from the Sacred Scriptures, and in the Old Testament we find several types or prefigurings of Christ the King – chief among whom is David, the simple shepherd who became King of Israel. For this reason, the Scripture lessons appointed for this Solemnity of Christ the King are about the Good Shepherd who protects his flock, who seeks out the lost sheep, and who cures the sick sheep. But we also read that the Son of Man will exclude from his everlasting kingdom those who neglect the “least of his brethren” and thereby neglect him.

St. Matthew records in Chapter 25, verses 31-46, that the Lord Jesus commands us to feed the hungry, and welcome the stranger, and visit the sick and imprisoned, and clothe the naked if we are to be numbered among his flock at the End of Days. These sober words of the Word made flesh should inspire us to find practical ways to shape our lives according to the Gospel and so put flesh on the bones of our profession of faith. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 7:21). And in this liberating truth we learn the connection between the priesthood of Christ and the kingship of Christ: to serve is to rule. Let us then resolve to serve one another and all of our brothers and sisters in love, that we may be gathered at the Day of the Lord into the eternal Kingdom of Christ. The Preface of the Eucharistic Prayer for this Solemnity draws together all of these strands:

“Father, you anointed Jesus Christ, your only Son, with the oil of gladness, as the eternal priest and universal king. As priest he offered his life on the altar of the cross and redeemed the human race by this one perfect sacrifice of peace. As king he claims dominion over all creation, that he may present to you, his almighty Father, an eternal and universal kingdom: a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love, and peace.” Amen. Alleluia!

Father Newman

Thirty-Third Sunday of the Year

Pat Perkins — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:01:31 GMT

Dear Friends in Christ,

The last sacrament to be considered is the only one of the seven sacred mysteries to be explicitly called such in the New Testament: Holy Matrimony. Sacred Scripture begins with the creation of man and woman as spouses in the image and likeness of God and concludes with a glorious vision of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb; in other words, the whole of creation and redemption is a marriage between God and His people, and for this reason St. Paul teaches that the union of husband and wife is an image or icon of the union between Christ and His Church (Eph 5:25-32).

St. John tells us that the first miracle worked by the Lord Jesus was at a wedding feast (Jn 2:1-11), thus revealing the intimate connection between the messianic mission of Christ and the dignity of marriage, which is the one blessing of God not lost by original sin or washed away in the flood. The bond of husband and wife, however, was disfigured by sin (like everything else in nature), and requires the grace of Christ to be purified, healed, and restored to its original dignity. Because of the weakness of human nature after sin, Moses permitted the children of Israel to repudiate the solemn covenant of marriage, but the Lord Jesus restored the original pattern of spousal love by revealing that the true bond of marriage, once begun by the mutual consent of the spouses, can never be broken in this life. By restoring the original order of creation, Jesus was not giving us a burden too heavy to carry, because He Himself gives the strength and grace to live marriage as a permanent union by following Him in the Way of the Cross, renouncing oneself, and living for the sake of the other. The grace of sacramental marriage is a fruit of Christ’s holy Cross, the source of all Christian life.

Unlike the other six sacraments which are all administered by a bishop, priest, or deacon, the sacrament of matrimony is administered by the husband and wife to each other; the priest or deacon is merely the Church’s witness who blesses the union created by the exchange of consent. The marriage bond, created only by those who are truly free by God’s law to marry, is an irrevocable covenant which binds the spouses to each other for life, and the sacrament of matrimony conveys the special grace necessary to strengthen them for lifelong fidelity and growth in holiness. Christ dwells with the spouses and gives them the grace to take up their crosses daily, to rise again after they fall, to forgive one another, to bear each other’s burdens, to be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ, and to love one another with supernatural, tender, and fruitful love. Please read the Catechism, pages 400-415, for a fuller treatment of this great gift of grace from God to His children.

Father Newman

Thirty-Second Sunday of the Year

Pat Perkins — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 05:01:26 GMT

Dear Friends in Christ,

We have examined the three sacraments of initiation and the two sacraments of healing; that leaves the two sacraments of service: Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony. Both of these sacraments confer a special grace directed not towards the salvation of the one who receives the sacrament, but to the salvation of those who are served by the one ordained or married. In Baptism and Confirmation, we are consecrated or set apart from the world by God and for God; in Holy Orders and Holy Matrimony we receive another consecration. Bishops, priests, and deacons are consecrated to feed the Church by the Word and grace of God, and spouses are consecrated for the duties and dignity of marital love and family life.

Holy Orders is the sacrament through which the messianic mission of Christ continues in His Church until the end of time. The three degrees of this one sacrament (episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate) are a participation in the apostolic offices of teaching, sanctifying, and governing given by the Lord Jesus to the Twelve. In Roman law, the word “order” designated a group or civil body within society, and “ordination” means incorporation into an “order”. Sacred Scripture describes to us the three offices of ministry proper to the New Covenant, and each of these offices constitutes a single such “order” in the Church: the Order of Bishops, the Order of Priests (or Presbyters), and the Order of Deacons. A baptized man is ordained into one of these three Orders by a prayer of consecration and the laying on of hands by a true bishop in apostolic succession, and this liturgical action of Christ and the Church confers on the one ordained the sacred power to preach the Word of God and administer the other sacraments, according to the station of each Order.

Bishops and presbyters share by different degrees in the one ministerial priesthood of the New Covenant; by their consecration, bishops and priests are configured to the Lord Jesus in such a way that they can act in His Person in the sacred liturgy and stand in the Person of Christ, Head and Bridegroom of the Church. The ministerial priesthood has the task of representing Christ the Head of the Church before the whole assembly and also of acting in the name of the whole Church when offering to God the prayer of the Church. Deacons are ordained unto a ministry of service, but not to the priesthood. Deacons assist bishops and priests in the celebration of the sacred mysteries, in works of charity, in blessing marriages, in the proclamation of the Gospel, in administering baptism, and in presiding over funerals. Read pages 383-399 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for a fuller explanation of the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

Father Newman

Solemnity of All Saints

Pat Perkins — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 06:01:15 GMT

Dear Friends in Christ,

Even Christians who live the new life of God’s children still remain subject to suffering, illness, and death. Illness can be experienced either as an invitation to a deeper union with the suffering of Christ which leads to greater spiritual maturity or as a path to self-absorption and even to revolt against God. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness and limitations, and serious illness can make us glimpse death. The Lord Jesus had great compassion on the sick, and His many healings are a resplendent sign that the Kingdom of God is among us. Christ even identified Himself with everyone who is sick: “I was sick and you visited me” (Mt 25:36). But the Lord did not heal all the sick. His healings were signs of the coming of the Kingdom, and they announced a more radical healing: the victory over sin and death through His Passover. On the Cross, the Lord Jesus took away the “sin of the world,” of which illness is only a consequence. By his passion and death on the Cross, Christ has given a new meaning to all human suffering: it can henceforth configure us to Him and unite us with His redemptive suffering.

“Is any among you sick? Let him call for the presbyters (priests) of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven” (James 5:14-15). This New Testament passage describes one of the seven sacraments: the Anointing of the Sick. This sacred anointing of the sick was instituted by Christ our Lord as a true and proper sacrament of the New Testament. The Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick is given to all those (after the age of 7) who are seriously ill by anointing them with oil blessed by the Bishop, and it is not reserved only for those who are at the point of death. This sacred anointing can be repeated for each serious illness or for a relapse of the same illness.

The grace of this sacrament unites the sick disciple more closely to the suffering of Christ, strengthens the disciple to endure his own suffering with peace and courage, and forgives any sins that were not previously forgiven in the Sacrament of Penance. The Catechism describes the Anointing of the Sick in pages 375 to 382; please study those pages carefully to understand more fully when this sacrament should be requested and what the effects of such Anointing are.

Father Newman

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pray for us.

Thirtieth Sunday of the Year

Pat Perkins — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:00:39 GMT

Dear Friends in Christ,

Through the three sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist) man receives the new life of Christ, but we carry this life in earthen vessels and remain subject to suffering, illness, and death. Moreover, this new life as a child of God can be weakened and even lost by sin. For this reason, the Lord Jesus – the divine physician of our bodies and souls – has given us two sacraments of healing: Penance and the Anointing of the Sick.

On the Day of His Resurrection, the Lord Jesus breathed on the Apostles, giving them the gift of the Holy Spirit, and proclaimed: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:23). This gift of grace to the Apostles allows mortal, sinful men to act as God’s instruments in the forgiveness of all sins committed after Baptism, and this sacred power is exercised by bishops and priests in the Sacrament of Penance when they hear the confession of sins and pronounce absolution for the remission of sins by the precious Blood of Jesus Christ. The Sacrament of Penance is a sacred mystery of conversion from sin, confession of guilt, forgiveness of the wrong done, and reconciliation with God and His Church. All Catholics over the age of reason should come to the Sacrament of Penance at least once each year during Lent or Eastertide and as often as necessary when conscious of serious sin, and anyone conscious of grave sin should not receive Holy Communion before being reconciled to God by sacramental confession and absolution.

“The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). With this ringing call to conversion, the Lord Jesus began His public ministry. It is impossible to be a disciple of Jesus without repentance and conversion, without the constant effort to be conformed by God’s grace to the image of the crucified Lord. Baptism for the remission of sins is the foundation of this lifelong struggle against all forms of disordered self-love, but in ordinary circumstances, all grave sins committed after Baptism require the grace of the Sacrament of Penance for forgiveness. Confessions are heard every Saturday afternoon from 3:30 to 4:30 pm, each Wednesday from 5:00-6:00 pm, and anytime by appointment. The Catechism of the Catholic Church gives a thorough treatment to this topic in pages 357 to 374. Please study those pages carefully and resolve to seek the mercy of God through the best means He has given us for repentance, conversion, and reconciliation: the confession and absolution of sins in the Sacrament of Penance.

Father Newman