We live in such difficult times. For more than a century the world has not seen a global health crisis of this magnitude. So many are sick, and some don’t even know they are sick, many are in the hospital and so many have died — often alone, without family members to comfort them. The future is so uncertain. When, if ever, will things get back to normal or, as they say, “the new normal” — whatever that means.
Every sacrament confers sanctifying grace, but each sacrament also confers its own proper sacramental grace. In addition to sanctifying grace, the sacrament of confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace, roots us more deeply in divine sonship, unites us more firmly to Christ, increases in us the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit, renders our bond with the church more perfect, gives us a special strength to witness, spread, and defend the faith boldly and without shame, and imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark with the seal of the Holy Spirit (“Catechism of the Catholic Church,” 1303).
During this time of unpleasantness, many questions have arisen regarding the reception of sacraments.
One chapter of Scripture that every Catholic should be familiar with is 1 Cor 15, the “great resurrection chapter” where St. Paul makes the striking assertion that: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (14). This is a remarkable statement: Christianity itself hinges on the historical reality of the resurrection of Our Lord, says St. Paul. Why was the truth of the resurrection so important to the Christian proclamation and faith? The answer largely has to do with the biblical logic that to say Jesus rose from the dead was to state he was the Messiah, and to state this was to proclaim him as king of all the world and to make known that all in his kingdom even now participate in his own resurrection.
Times are rapidly changing. We woke up one day and found ourselves in an alternate reality, a dream with no end in sight. Our mind ponders both the trial and blessings of this situation. Although there are many losses, such as the privilege of going to work and school, the deprivation we experience most is the loss of presence. The ability to be in the presence of family, friends and coworkers.
St. John Paul II instituted the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary, or the “Mysteries of Light,” in his October 2002 letter on the rosary. In his document, the pope asks that they be recited especially on Thursdays.
The one, holy, catholic and apostolic church is a communion of particular churches, each united in faith and headed by a bishop in communion with the bishop of Rome, but the expression “particular church” may also be taken in another sense, to refer to an organically united communion of particular churches which shares a distinct canonical, theological, liturgical and spiritual heritage.
Not long ago, I was sorting through some of my Dad’s old papers and I came across a candy wrapper and a Father’s Day card tucked into an envelope that bore a March 2001 postmark from Rome. Seeing it brought back happy memories of a sabbatical I spent living and working in Rome for several spring months.
Following his recent publication of “Celebrating a Merry Catholic Christmas,” Father William P. Saunders, pastor of Our Lady of Hope Church in Potomac Falls and episcopal vicar for faith formation and director of the Office of Catechetics, just released his newest publication, “Celebrating a Holy Catholic Easter.” Best known for his Straight Answers columns in the Catholic Herald that ran for decades, later published as a two-book set of answers to questions about the Catholic faith, Father Saunders does more than just provide insight to the faith.
People have used events in the church’s history to attack her credibility for centuries. Modernity, with its emphasis on science and technology, turns frequently to the story of Galileo in presenting the belief that science and faith are incompatible. False narratives concerning the Galileo Affair are rampant. The Enlightenment thinker Voltaire (1694–1778) viewed the Italian scientist as a celebrity, martyred by the evil church on the altar of intellectual freedom.
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