Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Church. Show all posts
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Let Me Be Catholic
is a cool new (for me) Tumblr that you should go check out.
Posts. For example:
And
And
Posts. For example:
When I tell people what I was like before my conversion
And
When I go to a Church and the doors are locked
Why be a martyr?
Saturday, January 12, 2013
This is our Faith
This is the Faith of the Church.
We are proud to profess it through Christ, our Lord.
"To the glory of God most holy and of our Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in the aid of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, for the profit and edification of the Church, in the name of all the pastors and all the faithful, we now pronounce this profession of faith, in full spiritual communion with you all, beloved brothers and sons.
We believe in one only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, creator of things visible such as this world in which our transient life passes, of things invisible such as the pure spirits which are also called angels,3 and creator in each man of his spiritual and immortal soul.
We believe that this only God is absolutely one in His infinitely holy essence as also in all His perfections, in His omnipotence, His infinite knowledge, His providence, His will and His love. He is He who is, as He revealed to Moses,4 and He is love, as the apostle John teaches us:5 so that these two names, being and love, express ineffably the same divine reality of Him who has wished to make Himself known to us, and who, "dwelling in light inaccessible"6 is in Himself above every name, above every thing and above every created intellect. God alone can give us right and full knowledge of this reality by revealing Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in whose eternal life we are by grace called to share, here below in the obscurity of faith and after death in eternal light. The mutual bonds which eternally constitute the Three Persons, who are each one and the same divine being, are the blessed inmost life of God thrice holy, infinitely beyond all that we can conceive in human measure.7 We give thanks, however, to the divine goodness that very many believers can testify with us before men to the unity of God, even though they know not the mystery of the most holy Trinity.
We believe then in the Father who eternally begets the Son, in the Son, the Word of God, who is eternally begotten; in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Person who proceeds from the Father and the Son as their eternal love. Thus in the Three Divine Persons, coaeternae sibi et coaequales,8 the life and beatitude of God perfectly one super-abound and are consummated in the supreme excellence and glory proper to uncreated being, and always "there should be venerated unity in the Trinity and Trinity in the unity."9
We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. He is the Eternal Word, born of the Father before time began, and one in substance with the Father, homoousios to Patri,10 and through Him all things were made. He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was made man: equal therefore to the Father according to His divinity, and inferior to the Father according to His humanity;11 and Himself one, not by some impossible confusion of His natures, but by the unity of His person.12
He dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. He proclaimed and established the Kingdom of God and made us know in Himself the Father. He gave us His new commandment to love one another as He loved us. He taught us the way of the beatitudes of the Gospel: poverty in spirit, meekness, suffering borne with patience, thirst after justice, mercy, purity of heart, will for peace, persecution suffered for justice sake. Under Pontius Pilate He suffered—the Lamb of God bearing on Himself the sins of the world, and He died for us on the cross, saving us by His redeeming blood. He was buried, and, of His own power, rose on the third day, raising us by His resurrection to that sharing in the divine life which is the life of grace. He ascended to heaven, and He will come again, this time in glory, to judge the living and the dead: each according to his merits—those who have responded to the love and piety of God going to eternal life, those who have refused them to the end going to the fire that is not extinguished.
And His Kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is Lord, and Giver of life, who is adored and glorified together with the Father and the Son. He spoke to us by the prophets; He was sent by Christ after His resurrection and His ascension to the Father; He illuminates, vivifies, protects and guides the Church; He purifies the Church's members if they do not shun His grace. His action, which penetrates to the inmost of the soul, enables man to respond to the call of Jesus: Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Mt. 5:48).
We believe that Mary is the Mother, who remained ever a Virgin, of the Incarnate Word, our God and Savior Jesus Christ,13 and that by reason of this singular election, she was, in consideration of the merits of her Son, redeemed in a more eminent manner,14 preserved from all stain of original sin15 and filled with the gift of grace more than all other creatures.16
Joined by a close and indissoluble bond to the Mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption,17 the Blessed Virgin, the Immaculate, was at the end of her earthly life raised body and soul to heavenly glory18 and likened to her risen Son in anticipation of the future lot of all the just; and we believe that the Blessed Mother of God, the New Eve, Mother of the Church,19 continues in heaven her maternal role with regard to Christ's members, cooperating with the birth and growth of divine life in the souls of the redeemed.20
We believe that in Adam all have sinned, which means that the original offense committed by him caused human nature, common to all men, to fall to a state in which it bears the consequences of that offense, and which is not the state in which it was at first in our first parents—established as they were in holiness and justice, and in which man knew neither evil nor death. It is human nature so fallen stripped of the grace that clothed it, injured in its own natural powers and subjected to the dominion of death, that is transmitted to all men, and it is in this sense that every man is born in sin. We therefore hold, with the Council of Trent, that original sin, is transmitted with human nature, "not by imitation, but by propagation" and that it is thus "proper to everyone."21
We believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ, by the sacrifice of the cross redeemed us from original sin and all the personal sins committed by each one of us, so that, in accordance with the word of the apostle, "where sin abounded grace did more abound."22
We believe in one Baptism instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Baptism should be administered even to little children who have not yet been able to be guilty of any personal sin, in order that, though born deprived of supernatural grace, they may be reborn "of water and the Holy Spirit" to the divine life in Christ Jesus.23
We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church built by Jesus Christ on that rock which is Peter. She is the Mystical Body of Christ; at the same time a visible society instituted with hierarchical organs, and a spiritual community; the Church on earth, the pilgrim People of God here below, and the Church filled with heavenly blessings; the germ and the first fruits of the Kingdom of God, through which the work and the sufferings of Redemption are continued throughout human history, and which looks for its perfect accomplishment beyond time in glory.24 In the course of time, the Lord Jesus forms His Church by means of the sacraments emanating from His plenitude.25 By these she makes her members participants in the Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, in the grace of the Holy Spirit who gives her life and movement.26 She is therefore holy, though she has sinners in her bosom, because she herself has no other life but that of grace: it is by living by her life that her members are sanctified; it is by removing themselves from her life that they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for these offenses, of which she has the power to heal her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Heiress of the divine promises and daughter of Abraham according to the Spirit, through that Israel whose scriptures she lovingly guards, and whose patriarchs and prophets she venerates; founded upon the apostles and handing on from century to century their ever-living word and their powers as pastors in the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him; perpetually assisted by the Holy Spirit, she has the charge of guarding, teaching, explaining and spreading the Truth which God revealed in a then veiled manner by the prophets, and fully by the Lord Jesus. We believe all that is contained in the word of God written or handed down, and that the Church proposes for belief as divinely revealed, whether by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal magisterium.27 We believe in the infallibility enjoyed by the successor of Peter when he teaches ex cathedra as pastor and teacher of all the faithful,28 and which is assured also to the episcopal body when it exercises with him the supreme magisterium.29
We believe that the Church founded by Jesus Christ and for which He prayed is indefectibly one in faith, worship and the bond of hierarchical communion. In the bosom of this Church, the rich variety of liturgical rites and the legitimate diversity of theological and spiritual heritages and special disciplines, far from injuring her unity, make it more manifest.30
Recognizing also the existence, outside the organism of the Church of Christ of numerous elements of truth and sanctification which belong to her as her own and tend to Catholic unity,31 and believing in the action of the Holy Spirit who stirs up in the heart of the disciples of Christ love of this unity,32 we entertain the hope that the Christians who are not yet in the full communion of the one only Church will one day be reunited in one flock with one only shepherd.
We believe that the Church is necessary for salvation, because Christ, who is the sole mediator and way of salvation, renders Himself present for us in His body which is the Church.33 But the divine design of salvation embraces all men, and those who without fault on their part do not know the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but seek God sincerely, and under the influence of grace endeavor to do His will as recognized through the promptings of their conscience, they, in a number known only to God, can obtain salvation.34
We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the Sacrament of Orders, and offered by him in the name of Christ and the members of His Mystical Body, is the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. We believe that as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His body and His blood which were to be offered for us on the cross, likewise the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the body and blood of Christ enthroned gloriously in heaven, and we believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord, under what continues to appear to our senses as before, is a true, real and substantial presence.35
Christ cannot be thus present in this sacrament except by the change into His body of the reality itself of the bread and the change into His blood of the reality itself of the wine, leaving unchanged only the properties of the bread and wine which our senses perceive. This mysterious change is very appropriately called by the Church transubstantiation. Every theological explanation which seeks some understanding of this mystery must, in order to be in accord with Catholic faith, maintain that in the reality itself, independently of our mind, the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the Consecration, so that it is the adorable body and blood of the Lord Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine,36 as the Lord willed it, in order to give Himself to us as food and to associate us with the unity of His Mystical Body.37
The unique and indivisible existence of the Lord glorious in heaven is not multiplied, but is rendered present by the sacrament in the many places on earth where Mass is celebrated. And this existence remains present, after the sacrifice, in the Blessed Sacrament which is, in the tabernacle, the living heart of each of our churches. And it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore in the blessed Host which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word whom they cannot see, and who, without leaving heaven, is made present before us.
We confess that the Kingdom of God begun here below in the Church of Christ is not of this world whose form is passing, and that its proper growth cannot be confounded with the progress of civilization, of science or of human technology, but that it consists in an ever more profound knowledge of the unfathomable riches of Christ, an ever stronger hope in eternal blessings, an ever more ardent response to the love of God, and an ever more generous bestowal of grace and holiness among men. But it is this same love which induces the Church to concern herself constantly about the true temporal welfare of men. Without ceasing to recall to her children that they have not here a lasting dwelling, she also urges them to contribute, each according to his vocation and his means, to the welfare of their earthly city, to promote justice, peace and brotherhood among men, to give their aid freely to their brothers, especially to the poorest and most unfortunate. The deep solicitude of the Church, the Spouse of Christ, for the needs of men, for their joys and hopes, their griefs and efforts, is therefore nothing other than her great desire to be present to them, in order to illuminate them with the light of Christ and to gather them all in Him, their only Savior. This solicitude can never mean that the Church conform herself to the things of this world, or that she lessen the ardor of her expectation of her Lord and of the eternal Kingdom.
We believe in the life eternal. We believe that the souls of all those who die in the grace of Christ—whether they must still be purified in purgatory, or whether from the moment they leave their bodies Jesus takes them to paradise as He did for the Good Thief—are the People of God in the eternity beyond death, which will be finally conquered on the day of the Resurrection when these souls will be reunited with their bodies.
We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in paradise forms the Church of Heaven, where in eternal beatitude they see God as He is,38 and where they also, in different degrees, are associated with the holy angels in the divine rule exercised by Christ in glory, interceding for us and helping our weakness by their brotherly care.39
We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are attaining their purification, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion the merciful love of God and His saints is ever listening to our prayers, as Jesus told us: Ask and you will receive.40
Thus it is with faith and in hope that we look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Blessed be God Thrice Holy. Amen."
3 Cf Dz.-Sch. 3002.
4 Cf Ep.3:14.
5 Cf 1 Jn. 4:8.
6 Cf 1 Tim. 6:16.
7 Cf Dz.-Sch. 804.
8 Cf Dz.-Sch. 75.
9 Cf. ibid.
10 Cf Dz.-Sch. 150.
11 Cf Dz.-Sch.76.
12 Cf Ibid.
13 Cf Dz.-Sch. 251-252.
14 Cf Lumen Gentium, 53.
15 Cf Dz.-Sch. 2803.
16 Cf Lumen Gentium, 53.
17 Cf Lumen Gentium, 53, 58, 61.
18 Cf Dz.-Sch. 3903.
19 Cf Lumen Gentium, 53, 58, 61, 63; Cf Paul VI, Alloc. for the Closing of the Third Session of the Second Vatican Council: AAS LVI [1964] 1016; Cf. Exhort. Apost. Signum Magnum, Introd.
20 Cf Lumen Gentium, 62; cf Paul VI, Exhort. Apost. Signum Magnum, p 1, n. 1.
21 Cf Dz.-Sch. 1513.
22 Cf Rom. 5:20.
23 Cf Dz.-Sch. 1514.
24 Cf. Lumen Gentium, 8, 5.
25 Cf Lumen Gentium, 7, 11.
26 Cf Sacrosanctum Concilium, 5, 6; cf Lumen Gentium, 7, 12, 50.
27 Cf Dz.-Sch. 3011.
28 Cf Dz.-Sch. 3074.
29 Cf Lumen Gentium, 25.
30 Cf. Lumen Gentium, 23; cf Orientalium Ecclesiarum 2, 3, 5, 6.
31 Cf Lumen Gentium, 8.
32 Cf Lumen Gentium, 15.
33 Cf Lumen Gentium, 14.
34 Cf Lumen Gentium, 16.
35 Cf Dz.-Sch. 1651.
36 Cf Dz.-Sch. 1642,1651-1654; Paul VI, Enc. Mysterium Fidei.
37 Cf S.Th.,111,73,3.
38 Cf 1 Jn. 3:2; Dz.-Sch. 1000.
39 Cf Lumen Gentium, 49.
40 Cf Lk. 10:9-10; Jn. 16:24.
We are proud to profess it through Christ, our Lord.
"To the glory of God most holy and of our Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in the aid of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, for the profit and edification of the Church, in the name of all the pastors and all the faithful, we now pronounce this profession of faith, in full spiritual communion with you all, beloved brothers and sons.
We believe in one only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, creator of things visible such as this world in which our transient life passes, of things invisible such as the pure spirits which are also called angels,3 and creator in each man of his spiritual and immortal soul.
We believe that this only God is absolutely one in His infinitely holy essence as also in all His perfections, in His omnipotence, His infinite knowledge, His providence, His will and His love. He is He who is, as He revealed to Moses,4 and He is love, as the apostle John teaches us:5 so that these two names, being and love, express ineffably the same divine reality of Him who has wished to make Himself known to us, and who, "dwelling in light inaccessible"6 is in Himself above every name, above every thing and above every created intellect. God alone can give us right and full knowledge of this reality by revealing Himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, in whose eternal life we are by grace called to share, here below in the obscurity of faith and after death in eternal light. The mutual bonds which eternally constitute the Three Persons, who are each one and the same divine being, are the blessed inmost life of God thrice holy, infinitely beyond all that we can conceive in human measure.7 We give thanks, however, to the divine goodness that very many believers can testify with us before men to the unity of God, even though they know not the mystery of the most holy Trinity.
We believe then in the Father who eternally begets the Son, in the Son, the Word of God, who is eternally begotten; in the Holy Spirit, the uncreated Person who proceeds from the Father and the Son as their eternal love. Thus in the Three Divine Persons, coaeternae sibi et coaequales,8 the life and beatitude of God perfectly one super-abound and are consummated in the supreme excellence and glory proper to uncreated being, and always "there should be venerated unity in the Trinity and Trinity in the unity."9
We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God. He is the Eternal Word, born of the Father before time began, and one in substance with the Father, homoousios to Patri,10 and through Him all things were made. He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was made man: equal therefore to the Father according to His divinity, and inferior to the Father according to His humanity;11 and Himself one, not by some impossible confusion of His natures, but by the unity of His person.12
He dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. He proclaimed and established the Kingdom of God and made us know in Himself the Father. He gave us His new commandment to love one another as He loved us. He taught us the way of the beatitudes of the Gospel: poverty in spirit, meekness, suffering borne with patience, thirst after justice, mercy, purity of heart, will for peace, persecution suffered for justice sake. Under Pontius Pilate He suffered—the Lamb of God bearing on Himself the sins of the world, and He died for us on the cross, saving us by His redeeming blood. He was buried, and, of His own power, rose on the third day, raising us by His resurrection to that sharing in the divine life which is the life of grace. He ascended to heaven, and He will come again, this time in glory, to judge the living and the dead: each according to his merits—those who have responded to the love and piety of God going to eternal life, those who have refused them to the end going to the fire that is not extinguished.
And His Kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is Lord, and Giver of life, who is adored and glorified together with the Father and the Son. He spoke to us by the prophets; He was sent by Christ after His resurrection and His ascension to the Father; He illuminates, vivifies, protects and guides the Church; He purifies the Church's members if they do not shun His grace. His action, which penetrates to the inmost of the soul, enables man to respond to the call of Jesus: Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect (Mt. 5:48).
We believe that Mary is the Mother, who remained ever a Virgin, of the Incarnate Word, our God and Savior Jesus Christ,13 and that by reason of this singular election, she was, in consideration of the merits of her Son, redeemed in a more eminent manner,14 preserved from all stain of original sin15 and filled with the gift of grace more than all other creatures.16
Joined by a close and indissoluble bond to the Mysteries of the Incarnation and Redemption,17 the Blessed Virgin, the Immaculate, was at the end of her earthly life raised body and soul to heavenly glory18 and likened to her risen Son in anticipation of the future lot of all the just; and we believe that the Blessed Mother of God, the New Eve, Mother of the Church,19 continues in heaven her maternal role with regard to Christ's members, cooperating with the birth and growth of divine life in the souls of the redeemed.20
We believe that in Adam all have sinned, which means that the original offense committed by him caused human nature, common to all men, to fall to a state in which it bears the consequences of that offense, and which is not the state in which it was at first in our first parents—established as they were in holiness and justice, and in which man knew neither evil nor death. It is human nature so fallen stripped of the grace that clothed it, injured in its own natural powers and subjected to the dominion of death, that is transmitted to all men, and it is in this sense that every man is born in sin. We therefore hold, with the Council of Trent, that original sin, is transmitted with human nature, "not by imitation, but by propagation" and that it is thus "proper to everyone."21
We believe that Our Lord Jesus Christ, by the sacrifice of the cross redeemed us from original sin and all the personal sins committed by each one of us, so that, in accordance with the word of the apostle, "where sin abounded grace did more abound."22
We believe in one Baptism instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. Baptism should be administered even to little children who have not yet been able to be guilty of any personal sin, in order that, though born deprived of supernatural grace, they may be reborn "of water and the Holy Spirit" to the divine life in Christ Jesus.23
We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church built by Jesus Christ on that rock which is Peter. She is the Mystical Body of Christ; at the same time a visible society instituted with hierarchical organs, and a spiritual community; the Church on earth, the pilgrim People of God here below, and the Church filled with heavenly blessings; the germ and the first fruits of the Kingdom of God, through which the work and the sufferings of Redemption are continued throughout human history, and which looks for its perfect accomplishment beyond time in glory.24 In the course of time, the Lord Jesus forms His Church by means of the sacraments emanating from His plenitude.25 By these she makes her members participants in the Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ, in the grace of the Holy Spirit who gives her life and movement.26 She is therefore holy, though she has sinners in her bosom, because she herself has no other life but that of grace: it is by living by her life that her members are sanctified; it is by removing themselves from her life that they fall into sins and disorders that prevent the radiation of her sanctity. This is why she suffers and does penance for these offenses, of which she has the power to heal her children through the blood of Christ and the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Heiress of the divine promises and daughter of Abraham according to the Spirit, through that Israel whose scriptures she lovingly guards, and whose patriarchs and prophets she venerates; founded upon the apostles and handing on from century to century their ever-living word and their powers as pastors in the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him; perpetually assisted by the Holy Spirit, she has the charge of guarding, teaching, explaining and spreading the Truth which God revealed in a then veiled manner by the prophets, and fully by the Lord Jesus. We believe all that is contained in the word of God written or handed down, and that the Church proposes for belief as divinely revealed, whether by a solemn judgment or by the ordinary and universal magisterium.27 We believe in the infallibility enjoyed by the successor of Peter when he teaches ex cathedra as pastor and teacher of all the faithful,28 and which is assured also to the episcopal body when it exercises with him the supreme magisterium.29
We believe that the Church founded by Jesus Christ and for which He prayed is indefectibly one in faith, worship and the bond of hierarchical communion. In the bosom of this Church, the rich variety of liturgical rites and the legitimate diversity of theological and spiritual heritages and special disciplines, far from injuring her unity, make it more manifest.30
Recognizing also the existence, outside the organism of the Church of Christ of numerous elements of truth and sanctification which belong to her as her own and tend to Catholic unity,31 and believing in the action of the Holy Spirit who stirs up in the heart of the disciples of Christ love of this unity,32 we entertain the hope that the Christians who are not yet in the full communion of the one only Church will one day be reunited in one flock with one only shepherd.
We believe that the Church is necessary for salvation, because Christ, who is the sole mediator and way of salvation, renders Himself present for us in His body which is the Church.33 But the divine design of salvation embraces all men, and those who without fault on their part do not know the Gospel of Christ and His Church, but seek God sincerely, and under the influence of grace endeavor to do His will as recognized through the promptings of their conscience, they, in a number known only to God, can obtain salvation.34
We believe that the Mass, celebrated by the priest representing the person of Christ by virtue of the power received through the Sacrament of Orders, and offered by him in the name of Christ and the members of His Mystical Body, is the sacrifice of Calvary rendered sacramentally present on our altars. We believe that as the bread and wine consecrated by the Lord at the Last Supper were changed into His body and His blood which were to be offered for us on the cross, likewise the bread and wine consecrated by the priest are changed into the body and blood of Christ enthroned gloriously in heaven, and we believe that the mysterious presence of the Lord, under what continues to appear to our senses as before, is a true, real and substantial presence.35
Christ cannot be thus present in this sacrament except by the change into His body of the reality itself of the bread and the change into His blood of the reality itself of the wine, leaving unchanged only the properties of the bread and wine which our senses perceive. This mysterious change is very appropriately called by the Church transubstantiation. Every theological explanation which seeks some understanding of this mystery must, in order to be in accord with Catholic faith, maintain that in the reality itself, independently of our mind, the bread and wine have ceased to exist after the Consecration, so that it is the adorable body and blood of the Lord Jesus that from then on are really before us under the sacramental species of bread and wine,36 as the Lord willed it, in order to give Himself to us as food and to associate us with the unity of His Mystical Body.37
The unique and indivisible existence of the Lord glorious in heaven is not multiplied, but is rendered present by the sacrament in the many places on earth where Mass is celebrated. And this existence remains present, after the sacrifice, in the Blessed Sacrament which is, in the tabernacle, the living heart of each of our churches. And it is our very sweet duty to honor and adore in the blessed Host which our eyes see, the Incarnate Word whom they cannot see, and who, without leaving heaven, is made present before us.
We confess that the Kingdom of God begun here below in the Church of Christ is not of this world whose form is passing, and that its proper growth cannot be confounded with the progress of civilization, of science or of human technology, but that it consists in an ever more profound knowledge of the unfathomable riches of Christ, an ever stronger hope in eternal blessings, an ever more ardent response to the love of God, and an ever more generous bestowal of grace and holiness among men. But it is this same love which induces the Church to concern herself constantly about the true temporal welfare of men. Without ceasing to recall to her children that they have not here a lasting dwelling, she also urges them to contribute, each according to his vocation and his means, to the welfare of their earthly city, to promote justice, peace and brotherhood among men, to give their aid freely to their brothers, especially to the poorest and most unfortunate. The deep solicitude of the Church, the Spouse of Christ, for the needs of men, for their joys and hopes, their griefs and efforts, is therefore nothing other than her great desire to be present to them, in order to illuminate them with the light of Christ and to gather them all in Him, their only Savior. This solicitude can never mean that the Church conform herself to the things of this world, or that she lessen the ardor of her expectation of her Lord and of the eternal Kingdom.
We believe in the life eternal. We believe that the souls of all those who die in the grace of Christ—whether they must still be purified in purgatory, or whether from the moment they leave their bodies Jesus takes them to paradise as He did for the Good Thief—are the People of God in the eternity beyond death, which will be finally conquered on the day of the Resurrection when these souls will be reunited with their bodies.
We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in paradise forms the Church of Heaven, where in eternal beatitude they see God as He is,38 and where they also, in different degrees, are associated with the holy angels in the divine rule exercised by Christ in glory, interceding for us and helping our weakness by their brotherly care.39
We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are attaining their purification, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion the merciful love of God and His saints is ever listening to our prayers, as Jesus told us: Ask and you will receive.40
Thus it is with faith and in hope that we look forward to the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Blessed be God Thrice Holy. Amen."
Pope Paul VI
June 30, 1968
***
The Creedo of the People of God was proclaimed at the close of the Year of Faith, celebrated for the 19th Centenary of the martyrdom of Sts Peter and Paul.
***
4 Cf Ep.3:14.
5 Cf 1 Jn. 4:8.
6 Cf 1 Tim. 6:16.
7 Cf Dz.-Sch. 804.
8 Cf Dz.-Sch. 75.
9 Cf. ibid.
10 Cf Dz.-Sch. 150.
11 Cf Dz.-Sch.76.
12 Cf Ibid.
13 Cf Dz.-Sch. 251-252.
14 Cf Lumen Gentium, 53.
15 Cf Dz.-Sch. 2803.
16 Cf Lumen Gentium, 53.
17 Cf Lumen Gentium, 53, 58, 61.
18 Cf Dz.-Sch. 3903.
19 Cf Lumen Gentium, 53, 58, 61, 63; Cf Paul VI, Alloc. for the Closing of the Third Session of the Second Vatican Council: AAS LVI [1964] 1016; Cf. Exhort. Apost. Signum Magnum, Introd.
20 Cf Lumen Gentium, 62; cf Paul VI, Exhort. Apost. Signum Magnum, p 1, n. 1.
21 Cf Dz.-Sch. 1513.
22 Cf Rom. 5:20.
23 Cf Dz.-Sch. 1514.
24 Cf. Lumen Gentium, 8, 5.
25 Cf Lumen Gentium, 7, 11.
26 Cf Sacrosanctum Concilium, 5, 6; cf Lumen Gentium, 7, 12, 50.
27 Cf Dz.-Sch. 3011.
28 Cf Dz.-Sch. 3074.
29 Cf Lumen Gentium, 25.
30 Cf. Lumen Gentium, 23; cf Orientalium Ecclesiarum 2, 3, 5, 6.
31 Cf Lumen Gentium, 8.
32 Cf Lumen Gentium, 15.
33 Cf Lumen Gentium, 14.
34 Cf Lumen Gentium, 16.
35 Cf Dz.-Sch. 1651.
36 Cf Dz.-Sch. 1642,1651-1654; Paul VI, Enc. Mysterium Fidei.
37 Cf S.Th.,111,73,3.
38 Cf 1 Jn. 3:2; Dz.-Sch. 1000.
39 Cf Lumen Gentium, 49.
40 Cf Lk. 10:9-10; Jn. 16:24.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
plea for reverence
As some of them are still aware, I still check out what the Tumblr Catholics are up to every now and then.
So, a shout out to all of you; you're all, always, in my prayers.
Scrolling down Jess' tumblog, I cam across this post from a convert who is in the RCIA program; her name is Olivia. I've just copy-pasted the Original Post here. Since all my block quotes are italicised, I have changed what Olivia had in italics to this font instead.
Please, please, please heed what she's saying. Please. For the love of God. No, really, for the Love of God Incarnate, under the form of Bread.
Other Tumblr Catholics you should check out:
So, a shout out to all of you; you're all, always, in my prayers.
Scrolling down Jess' tumblog, I cam across this post from a convert who is in the RCIA program; her name is Olivia. I've just copy-pasted the Original Post here. Since all my block quotes are italicised, I have changed what Olivia had in italics to this font instead.
Please, please, please heed what she's saying. Please. For the love of God. No, really, for the Love of God Incarnate, under the form of Bread.
[original post, here]I’ve been sitting here for a good 5 minutes trying to think of a good way to lead into what I want to talk about….I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no easy way to say this.
We, as a people, as a Catholic people, are irreverent towards the blessed Sacrament. We are irreverent towards JESUS. I know what you’re thinking. Olivia, you’re not even Catholic yet, what could you possibly know about the Eucharist.
Well I will tell you what I know. I know that Jesus IS the Eucharist. I know that when I wake up on Sunday morning (or any morning I get to go to Mass) I’m going to a celebration. I’m going to experience the meeting of Heaven and Earth. I’m going to witness the most intimate of all encounters with Christ. I’m going to be in the presence of Jesus Christ, my friend, my savior, my love, my Father, my everything.
What is it that people don’t understand? It is physically painful for me at Mass to watch SO MANY people casually walk through the communion line, casually receive the Eucharist, casually consume it, and casually walk back to their seats. RECEIVING THE EUCHARIST IS NOT SOMETHING TO BE DONE CASUALLY. Do you realize that when you walk in that procession you are walking towards the living God? The creator of you, of the universe? You are walking towards He who suffered for you. He who weeped for your soul. He who gave his life so you could live more abundantly?!
Please, my dear friends, I am begging you, think about that next time you go to Mass. It is not your priest saying to you “body of Christ” it is Jesus offering his body to you just as he offered it to the disciples at the Last Supper.
I fear for the day we answer for our irreverence Again I beg you, spend time contemplating the Real Presence. I pray that it is your prayer for the Eucharist to become as real to you as your priest standing before you. Realize my brothers and sisters that when you go into a Church you are in the literal presence of Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father, who is an endless font of Mercy, look upon your people with compassion and love. Help all of us to become aware of the reality of the Eucharist and of your REAL PRESENCE. Help each one of us to grow in reverance towards your most Holy body and blood.
Other Tumblr Catholics you should check out:
- Callum @ Catholic Splash
- Niko @ Niko's Nature
- Q @ Intellect & Romance
- Phillip @ Grace & Caffeine
- Catholic Soul @ Totus Tuus
- All About Mary
- Jean @ Signum Crucis
Friday, October 26, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
PLENARY INDULGENCE FOR THE YEAR OF FAITH
From http://www.annusfidei.va
Vatican City, (VIS) - According to a decree made public today and signed by Cardinal Manuel Monteiro de Castro and Bishop Krzysztof Nykiel, respectively penitentiary major and regent of the Apostolic Penitentiary, Benedict XVI will grant faithful Plenary Indulgence for the occasion of the Year of Faith. The indulgence will be valid from the opening of the Year on 11 October 2012 until its end on 24 November 2013.So, MAKE USE OF THIS GIFT OF GOD'S MERCY.
"The day of the fiftieth anniversary of the solemn opening of Vatican Council II", the text reads, "the Supreme Pontiff Benedict XVI has decreed the beginning of a Year especially dedicated to the profession of the true faith and its correct interpretation, through the reading of - or better still the pious meditation upon - the Acts of the Council and the articles of the Catechism of the Catholic Church".
"Since the primary objective is to develop sanctity of life to the highest degree possible on this earth, and thus to attain the most sublime level of pureness of soul, immense benefit may be derived from the great gift of Indulgences which, by virtue of the power conferred upon her by Christ, the Church offers to everyone who, following the due norms, undertakes the special prescripts to obtain them".
"During the Year of Faith, which will last from 11 October 2012 to 24 November 2013, Plenary Indulgence for the temporal punishment of sins, imparted by the mercy of God and applicable also to the souls of deceased faithful, may be obtained by all faithful who, truly penitent, take Sacramental Confession and the Eucharist and pray in accordance with the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff.
"(A) Each time they attend at least three sermons during the Holy Missions, or at least three lessons on the Acts of the Council or the articles of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in church or any other suitable location.
"(B) Each time they visit, in the course of a pilgrimage, a papal basilica, a Christian catacomb, a cathedral church or a holy site designated by the local ordinary for the Year of Faith (for example, minor basilicas and shrines dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Apostles or patron saints), and there participate in a sacred celebration, or at least remain for a congruous period of time in prayer and pious meditation, concluding with the recitation of the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form, and invocations to the Blessed Virgin Mary and, depending on the circumstances, to the Holy Apostles and patron saints.
"(C) Each time that, on the days designated by the local ordinary for the Year of Faith, ... in any sacred place, they participate in a solemn celebration of the Eucharist or the Liturgy of the Hours, adding thereto the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form.
"(D) On any day they chose, during the Year of Faith, if they make a pious visit to the baptistery, or other place in which they received the Sacrament of Baptism, and there renew their baptismal promises in any legitimate form.
"Diocesan or eparchal bishops, and those who enjoy the same status in law, on the most appropriate day during that period or on the occasion of the main celebrations, ... may impart the papal blessing with the Plenary Indulgence".
The document concludes by recalling how faithful who, due to illness or other legitimate cause, are unable to leave their place of adobe, may still obtain Plenary Indulgence "if, united in spirit and thought with other faithful, and especially at the times when the words of the Supreme Pontiff and diocesan bishops are transmitted by television or radio, they recite ... the Our Father, the Profession of Faith in any legitimate form, and other prayers that concord with the objectives of the Year of Faith, offering up the suffering and discomfort of their lives".
Friday, September 21, 2012
Sanguis Christi, inebria me
This past week has been so full of blessings.
Although this actually stretches back further than a week, I will only start last Sunday because I want to do something like justice to what my Lord has been doing for me. I will start by offering a few quotes which sum up my feelings, thoughts and experiences; then, I will outline briefly what's been happening; finally, I will offer some other thoughts on these matters, some questions.
Firstly, I must quote Emily who yesterday morning summed up the week in this manner:
Although this actually stretches back further than a week, I will only start last Sunday because I want to do something like justice to what my Lord has been doing for me. I will start by offering a few quotes which sum up my feelings, thoughts and experiences; then, I will outline briefly what's been happening; finally, I will offer some other thoughts on these matters, some questions.
***
Firstly, I must quote Emily who yesterday morning summed up the week in this manner:
When you get retreat knees from spending all week with your frineds; without having been on a retreat!From Callum, on his blog Catholic Splash:
O Mother most Pure, hold us in your arms, just as you did hold your dearly beloved Son’s fragile and wounded Body.From Bishop Giaquinta, founder of the Pro Sanctity Movement:
O pray for me Our Lady of Sorrows, let me share in your sorrows, the sorrows of your Precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. (x)
Every Apostle, indeed every Christian, must rest on the heart of Christ. The Church, aware of her birth from the heart of Christ, needs to return to His heart in order to be truly faithful. (x)
We must correspond with all of our strength, that is, to the maximum, to this love of the Father and of Jesus, accepting and actuating the message received. (Ibid.)
The three dimensions of holiness are personal, fraternal, and societal. As Pro Sanctity, we must be convinced that holiness is the only possible solution to social problems. This, however, does not mean our personal holiness is the only thing we are responsible for, but rather, we are called to be active in the second and third dimensions as well. (Quoted here)From St John Vianney:
...the more we know of Him, the more we love Him. (Quoted here)
***
Sunday 9th:
Holy Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception; Lunch; Adoration and Holy Conversation at the Parish of St Bernadette; Theology of the Body and St Thomas More's Parish
Monday 10th:
Holy Hour and Holy Mass in the Holy Spirit Chapel at UNDA; Conversations about the Faith afterward
Tuesday 11th:
Adoration at All Saints' Chapel; Work, concluding in a lesson on music history which started with Gregorian Chant and finished with a discussion on the Holy Trinity with year fours
Wednesday 12th:
University; Holy Hour & Holy Mass at St Therese's Chapel with CYM followed by supper and fellowship; Holy Hour at the Parish of St Bernadette
Thursday 13th:
University; Work; NDSSJ Sleep Out, including Divine Office, the Holy Rosary and other prayers, and fellowship
Friday 14th:
Waking at UNDA; Divine Office - Lauds & Matins; Angelus & Holy Mass at St Therese's Chapel with CYM; catching up with my Spiritual Director; Eucharistic Adoration at Sacred Heart Parish
Saturday 15th:
Rosary Walk around Lake Monger; Holy Mass at the Parish of St Bernadette; holy Conversations followed by All Night Eucharistic Adoration at the same
Sunday 16th:
Holy conversation and walking prayer; Young Adults Gathering at the Redemptorist Monestary of Our Lady of Perpetual Help; Holy Mass in the Church of Sts Peter and Paul
What return can I make to the Lord for the good that He has done to me? What shall a man give in return for his life?
How do I live in a manner worthy of these gifts which he has so generously given me?
How do I become a Saint?
Monday 10th:
Holy Hour and Holy Mass in the Holy Spirit Chapel at UNDA; Conversations about the Faith afterward
Tuesday 11th:
Adoration at All Saints' Chapel; Work, concluding in a lesson on music history which started with Gregorian Chant and finished with a discussion on the Holy Trinity with year fours
Wednesday 12th:
University; Holy Hour & Holy Mass at St Therese's Chapel with CYM followed by supper and fellowship; Holy Hour at the Parish of St Bernadette
Thursday 13th:
University; Work; NDSSJ Sleep Out, including Divine Office, the Holy Rosary and other prayers, and fellowship
Friday 14th:
Waking at UNDA; Divine Office - Lauds & Matins; Angelus & Holy Mass at St Therese's Chapel with CYM; catching up with my Spiritual Director; Eucharistic Adoration at Sacred Heart Parish
Saturday 15th:
Rosary Walk around Lake Monger; Holy Mass at the Parish of St Bernadette; holy Conversations followed by All Night Eucharistic Adoration at the same
Sunday 16th:
Holy conversation and walking prayer; Young Adults Gathering at the Redemptorist Monestary of Our Lady of Perpetual Help; Holy Mass in the Church of Sts Peter and Paul
***
What return can I make to the Lord for the good that He has done to me? What shall a man give in return for his life?
How do I live in a manner worthy of these gifts which he has so generously given me?
How do I become a Saint?
Monday, August 6, 2012
Cross or Crucifix?
The following is a post I wrote for the Tumblog Introibo Ad Altari Dei
Why do we need a Crucifix in Churches and Chapels, rather than an empty Cross?
Sometimes we see Churches and Chapels without a Crucifix.
Niko, from Niko' s Nature said about a week ago that, “the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism is the difference between a cross and a crucifix.” This is so true. Not only do we - unlike our Protestant brothers and sisters - have the grace to be able t receive the actual Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ because we have the continuity of the Episcopy and the Presbyteriate, we also are the True Church, the Body of Christ; the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ who is the Head of the Body, as St Paul tells us. (Col 1:8)
Why then, is it important to have a Crucifix. Well, the Crucifix instead of just the Cross reminds us that our sufferings aren’t just on our own; that when I suffer the Body of Christ suffers and when the Body of Christ suffers, I suffer. An empty Cross implies that I have to take up my own Cross separate of apart from Christ when this is not the case. In fact, when I take up my own cross, in a sense it’s not my cross that I’m taking up but Christ’s. Just as when Christ took up His Cross, He took up mine.
The Eucharist, Sacrosanctum Concilium tells us, is the source and summit of our Christian life. The Eucharist is none other than the Body of Christ; “the Body, Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ,” as the Council of Trent put it. (Session XIII, Canon I)
Sometimes in order to justify why there’s an empty Cross instead of a Crucifix people say, “Well, we believe in the Resurrection, not just the Crucifixion.” Quite frankly, I’m hurt by that. The Church has always believed in the Resurrection; I have believed in it ever since I entered the Church. The Resurrection doesn’t come without the Crucifixion; yet, the Crucifixion doesn’t happen without the Resurrection. To say either would be akin to blasphemy.
This saying, “We believe in the Resurrection and therefore need an empty Cross instead of a Crucifix,” is in a sense saying that we want to ignore the suffering of Jesus Christ. It was by His sacrifice on the Cross, St Paul tells us, that Christ redeemed us. “Dying He destroyed our death.” It is true that, “rising He restored our life,” yet, we know and can see this in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We know that although the Sacrifice of the Mass is the Sacrifice of Our Lord on the Cross, a re-presentation of Calvary to the Father, it does not and cannot exclude the Resurrection. In the same way, the Crucifix reminds us of this: the Crucifixion does not and cannot exclude the resurrection, in the same way that the Mass can’t because they are inextricably linked.
Why, then, can’t we just have a blank Cross? Because the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross I primary; it is God and Man suffering together in order to bring about Salvation. St Paul says to the Galatians, “Was it not before your eyes that Christ was publicly portrayed, and Him Crucified?” It does not say “and Him Resurrected,” but “Him Crucified.” As Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “Very simply, what the Mass is, reaching to Calvary and laying hold with your hands the Cross of Christ with Christ on it and you plant it down here, today.” For this reason, the General Instruction for the Roman Missal (GIRM) states that “Also on or close to the altar, there is to be a cross with a figure of Christ crucified.” (117) This is to remind both the Faithful and the Priest what it is that is happening on the Altar, to Whom the Sacrifice is being directed and why; Who it is that’s being offered and Who it is that is doing the offering. It is easy with a blank Cross to forget Whom it is that is doing the offering. It is much easier to think, “Well I’m taking up my Cross and I’m offering it to the Father,” or, “I’m offering Jesus to the Father.” It’s simply not the case.
Jesus Christ is offering Himself - His Whole Self - to the Father. Christ the Head is expressed with Christ the Body; Christ the Priest and Christ the Victim. This must be remembered. For this reason, Holy Church mandates a Crucifix on or near the Altar; not a blank Cross.
Pax Christi vobiscum.
-Kelly (doubleplusgoodful)
*** *** ***
Sometimes we see Churches and Chapels without a Crucifix.
Niko, from Niko' s Nature said about a week ago that, “the difference between Protestantism and Catholicism is the difference between a cross and a crucifix.” This is so true. Not only do we - unlike our Protestant brothers and sisters - have the grace to be able t receive the actual Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ because we have the continuity of the Episcopy and the Presbyteriate, we also are the True Church, the Body of Christ; the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Christ who is the Head of the Body, as St Paul tells us. (Col 1:8)
Why then, is it important to have a Crucifix. Well, the Crucifix instead of just the Cross reminds us that our sufferings aren’t just on our own; that when I suffer the Body of Christ suffers and when the Body of Christ suffers, I suffer. An empty Cross implies that I have to take up my own Cross separate of apart from Christ when this is not the case. In fact, when I take up my own cross, in a sense it’s not my cross that I’m taking up but Christ’s. Just as when Christ took up His Cross, He took up mine.
The Eucharist, Sacrosanctum Concilium tells us, is the source and summit of our Christian life. The Eucharist is none other than the Body of Christ; “the Body, Blood together with the Soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ,” as the Council of Trent put it. (Session XIII, Canon I)
Sometimes in order to justify why there’s an empty Cross instead of a Crucifix people say, “Well, we believe in the Resurrection, not just the Crucifixion.” Quite frankly, I’m hurt by that. The Church has always believed in the Resurrection; I have believed in it ever since I entered the Church. The Resurrection doesn’t come without the Crucifixion; yet, the Crucifixion doesn’t happen without the Resurrection. To say either would be akin to blasphemy.
This saying, “We believe in the Resurrection and therefore need an empty Cross instead of a Crucifix,” is in a sense saying that we want to ignore the suffering of Jesus Christ. It was by His sacrifice on the Cross, St Paul tells us, that Christ redeemed us. “Dying He destroyed our death.” It is true that, “rising He restored our life,” yet, we know and can see this in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. We know that although the Sacrifice of the Mass is the Sacrifice of Our Lord on the Cross, a re-presentation of Calvary to the Father, it does not and cannot exclude the Resurrection. In the same way, the Crucifix reminds us of this: the Crucifixion does not and cannot exclude the resurrection, in the same way that the Mass can’t because they are inextricably linked.
Why, then, can’t we just have a blank Cross? Because the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross I primary; it is God and Man suffering together in order to bring about Salvation. St Paul says to the Galatians, “Was it not before your eyes that Christ was publicly portrayed, and Him Crucified?” It does not say “and Him Resurrected,” but “Him Crucified.” As Archbishop Fulton Sheen said, “Very simply, what the Mass is, reaching to Calvary and laying hold with your hands the Cross of Christ with Christ on it and you plant it down here, today.” For this reason, the General Instruction for the Roman Missal (GIRM) states that “Also on or close to the altar, there is to be a cross with a figure of Christ crucified.” (117) This is to remind both the Faithful and the Priest what it is that is happening on the Altar, to Whom the Sacrifice is being directed and why; Who it is that’s being offered and Who it is that is doing the offering. It is easy with a blank Cross to forget Whom it is that is doing the offering. It is much easier to think, “Well I’m taking up my Cross and I’m offering it to the Father,” or, “I’m offering Jesus to the Father.” It’s simply not the case.
Jesus Christ is offering Himself - His Whole Self - to the Father. Christ the Head is expressed with Christ the Body; Christ the Priest and Christ the Victim. This must be remembered. For this reason, Holy Church mandates a Crucifix on or near the Altar; not a blank Cross.
Pax Christi vobiscum.
-Kelly (doubleplusgoodful)
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Metaphor
 |
| http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/metaphor?s=t&ld=1089 |
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."
The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever." This he said in the synagogue, as he taught at Caper'na-um. Many of his disciples, when they heard it, said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at it, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? Then what if you were to see the Son of man ascending where he was before?"Obviously, Jesus is speaking metaphorically. That's why He says "Truly, truly;" twice.
I mean, He was clearly mucking around and everyone knew it. That's why they "disputed among themselves," and said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to is?"
Indeed! Who can listen to this outrageous statement that Jesus is "the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is [Jesus'] flesh?"
Here's the thing, all snark aside: Jesus was serious and not speaking in metaphor when He said that "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you," and everyone around him knew it. When Jesus says that He is the Vine (John 15), no one asks how He could be a plant; when He says that He is the Door by which the sheep enter (John 10), no one asked how He could be made of wood.
No, instead, they wondered how a fellow Jew could command that they drink blood when God, through Noah, commands them the exact opposite (Gen 9:3-6)
"Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. Only you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man's brother I will require the life of man.Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.Do you think Christ, who willed all to be saved (cf 2 Pet 3:9; 1 Tim 2:3-4) would let a whole bunch of people just walk away from Him, whose name is the only one "under heaven given among men by which we must be saved?"
It is an utterly outrageous thing to say that we must eat the flesh of a Man in order to live "because of [Him]." What makes this even more outrageous is that this Man is God. Surely no where else in the history of world religions has a a religion's founder and very God (or god) commanded that their followers eat their flesh!
Yet, the earliest theologian of Christianity, Saint Paul, clearly states in 1 Corinthians 11 that
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord.Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself.Not only then, did those around Him know that Jesus was not speaking in metaphor, but His earliest followers figured it out, too. Similarly, a host of Church Fathers believed that Jesus was being serious when He said it.
Now, if Jesus wasn't speaking metaphorically and He really does want all men to be saved, then He must have left a way for us to eat His Body and drink His Blood.
There must be some historical link between Sts Paul, Peter, James, John and the other 'apostolic men' (that is to say, men both who were Apostles and who were around at the same time as them) and now. This historical link must be more than superficial and it must contain the ability to 'confect' Jesus' body and blood.
Where can this be found?
Eucharist in Scripture http://www.therealpresence.org/eucharst/scrip/a6.html
RSV Bible translations http://www.antioch.com.sg/cgi-bin/bible.pl
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Flags
I'm really not sure what I think about having the national flag in a Chapel / Church... particularly in the Sanctuary.
Like, to be honest, I'm not entirely comfortable with the Vatican Flag being in the Sanctuary.
Perhaps, as in maybe, have the Vatican flag at the back of the Church.
But your national flag? I really don't know.
It's a good reminder to pray for your country, I guess.
But, like, countries rise and fall.
Only the Body of Christ lives and reigns forever.
Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat!
Then again, maybe it only grates against me because it's not something I often see in li'l Australia.
\
Like, to be honest, I'm not entirely comfortable with the Vatican Flag being in the Sanctuary.
Perhaps, as in maybe, have the Vatican flag at the back of the Church.
But your national flag? I really don't know.
It's a good reminder to pray for your country, I guess.
But, like, countries rise and fall.
Only the Body of Christ lives and reigns forever.
Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat!
Then again, maybe it only grates against me because it's not something I often see in li'l Australia.
\
Friday, December 9, 2011
The Literal Wealth of the Catholic Church
I was asked over on my tumblr the follow question. My response is posted below.
Let me tell you a story.
There once was this Italian guy called Lorenzo (or, in English, Lawrence) who lived in Rome and happened to be a Catholic. Now, this was back in the day when it was unpopular to be Catholic - much less a practicing one - in Rome. What was more, he worked for the Church.
The dude in charge of Rome at the time, a man called Valerian demanded that Lorenzo bring him all the riches of the Church - something he’d been made aware that our friend could do for him. He also demanded that Lorenzo give up the True Faith or die in the same way that seven of his friends did four days before.
So Lorenzo rocked up for his execution accompanied by all of Rome’s poor, crippled, diseased, blind and undignified people.
Another story for you: there once was this great King who decided to visit is subjects. He wasn’t particularly well received, so they did what they could to send him away.
However, in three days, he returned again and has never left his people since.
He is the source and summit of their life.
He dwells in his tent in every one of his palaces on Earth at all times.
His name means God-will-save and he is called God-with-us.
You probably know him as Jesus.
His dwelling place is usually called a Tabernacle and it is here that He reposes, loving His people and waiting for their love so that He can shower on them gifts that we call graces.
The poor that St Lawrence brought to the Emperor Valerian are the Face of Christ, who said that in being kind to the poor, the outcast and the downtrodden, we were being kind to Him: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.” (source)
The Eucharist and the least among us are the literal wealth of the Catholic Church.
Do they weigh on my conscience? Yes.
I do not have a great love for either of them, though I very much desire to.
I have a feeling, anon, that what you meant was “Does the material wealth of the Catholic Church weigh on your conscience?”
I’ve a question for you in return. And the answer to that question.
Do you know what the entire art collection of the Holy See is insured for?
It’s not.
Do you know how much the Vatican values each of the art pieces for accounting purposes?
One Euro.
The value of the art and architecture of the Catholic Church is not found in it’s material worth. It is found in its ability to lead people to God, and to worship Him.
tl;dr
The literal wealth of the Catholic Church is Christ Himself.
The material wealth of the Church only has value insofar as it points to the first.
There once was this Italian guy called Lorenzo (or, in English, Lawrence) who lived in Rome and happened to be a Catholic. Now, this was back in the day when it was unpopular to be Catholic - much less a practicing one - in Rome. What was more, he worked for the Church.
The dude in charge of Rome at the time, a man called Valerian demanded that Lorenzo bring him all the riches of the Church - something he’d been made aware that our friend could do for him. He also demanded that Lorenzo give up the True Faith or die in the same way that seven of his friends did four days before.
So Lorenzo rocked up for his execution accompanied by all of Rome’s poor, crippled, diseased, blind and undignified people.
Another story for you: there once was this great King who decided to visit is subjects. He wasn’t particularly well received, so they did what they could to send him away.
However, in three days, he returned again and has never left his people since.
He is the source and summit of their life.
He dwells in his tent in every one of his palaces on Earth at all times.
His name means God-will-save and he is called God-with-us.
You probably know him as Jesus.
His dwelling place is usually called a Tabernacle and it is here that He reposes, loving His people and waiting for their love so that He can shower on them gifts that we call graces.
The poor that St Lawrence brought to the Emperor Valerian are the Face of Christ, who said that in being kind to the poor, the outcast and the downtrodden, we were being kind to Him: “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.” (source)
The Eucharist and the least among us are the literal wealth of the Catholic Church.
Do they weigh on my conscience? Yes.
I do not have a great love for either of them, though I very much desire to.
I have a feeling, anon, that what you meant was “Does the material wealth of the Catholic Church weigh on your conscience?”
I’ve a question for you in return. And the answer to that question.
Do you know what the entire art collection of the Holy See is insured for?
It’s not.
Do you know how much the Vatican values each of the art pieces for accounting purposes?
One Euro.
The value of the art and architecture of the Catholic Church is not found in it’s material worth. It is found in its ability to lead people to God, and to worship Him.
tl;dr
The literal wealth of the Catholic Church is Christ Himself.
The material wealth of the Church only has value insofar as it points to the first.
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Holy Suffering
I had a conversation months and months ago with Caroline about the Catholic teaching on suffering. At the time, I was unable to form the right words to express the teaching of the Church. This video has those words.
It also speaks to some of the questions I posed yesterday in my post, How Long, Oh Lord.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Weekend Reading
This post is for a friend of mine. I think that she should follow this link and read the whole article. Of course, the rest of you can do that too and even, perhaps, ought to.
Here's a few lines before you do that though.
Read all of it at the National Catholic Register: Why I Love My Ugly Little Liturgy
Here's a few lines before you do that though.
There is a case to be made for spending some time with ugliness. Specifically, ugliness at Mass.
You really don’t have to seek it out. Unless you’re cloistered, sooner or later you will find yourself in a parish that just doesn’t get it — doesn’t get beauty, doesn’t want it, chases it out with a stick every Sunday.
...
The whole production, from the opening joke — I mean, the Introductory Rites — to the last hurrah — I mean, Final Blessing — will seem designed to irritate, to offend, and to cause you grief and pain. And you know what? This is your big opportunity. You can either clench your teeth, wrap your scapulars around your ears to block out the tambourines, and hightail it out of there as soon as you can . . .
Or you can think to yourself, “Christ is here. And if he can stand it, then so can I.”
Read all of it at the National Catholic Register: Why I Love My Ugly Little Liturgy
Friday, May 20, 2011
For the Record
Peter is being ripped to sheds over the Morris affair.
Both Peters: the Editor and the Sheopherd.
The following is an aCatholica comentary on the editorial published in this week's Record [in black] (the Catholic newspaper for the Archdiocese of Perth) with my own [comments] and emphases.
UPDATE (kinda): The Record has stories here and here which outline some of the sources of info that they have. Also, seriously, just read around a bit.
Both Peters: the Editor and the Sheopherd.
The following is an aCatholica comentary on the editorial published in this week's Record [in black] (the Catholic newspaper for the Archdiocese of Perth) with my own [comments] and emphases.
The removal by Pope Benedict of Bishop William Morris from the diocese that had been placed into his care for the Catholic faith in 1993 has been major news throughout the Catholic world over the last fortnight.
An irony here is that nobody -- either from supporters or detractors -- is sucked in by any suggestion that this was a voluntary process or, as officially stated, an 'early retirement'. This was an offer he couldn't refuse. [Three things. 1) That's not what irony is. 2) I think you'll find that "The Holy Father removed Bishop William M. Morris from the pastoral care of the diocese of Toowoomba, Australia." (VIS news, May 2nd). 3) You're making it sound as though he didn't have any choice in the matter at all; he had lots.]
While the removal was almost unprecedented in Australia, it not-so-surprisingly illuminated fault lines within the Church which all reasonably well-informed observers have known about for decades. To use somewhat technical language, the fault-line is sometimes described as the one which runs between the hermeneutic of continuity on the one hand and a mentality which can be described, on the other, as a hermeneutic of discontinuity. [Guess who holds which.]
Good to set these things out from the get-go just in case the reader might be inclined to think that any concerns about the 'removal' [removal not 'removal'] are reasonable. [What? I'm not sure how this comment and paragraph go together...]
At the end of the day, however, the issue under debate was the simple fact that in the Catholic Church every Bishop, a successor to the apostles, is obliged by sacred oath to teach what the Catholic Church teaches - period. [As Fr Z is prone to saying, 'Do I hear an 'Amen!'?']
The hermeneutic of continuity is an outlook which sees the history of the Church from Christ up until now as an organic and constantly developing unity which takes into account the person and teachings of Christ, Scripture, two millennia of Catholic faith and practice and the defined body of teaching called the magisterium. It accepts as a matter of faith that some things can’t change, no matter what the popular view such as, for example, the belief in Christ’s divinity.
Again, setting out the territory. What's to come is to be seen as important as the belief in Christ's divinity. [Not quite what Peter said. It seems more to be a reference to earlier, more famous herisies.]
Such things are, in effect, the constellations in the night sky by which the ordinary Catholic man or woman can safely navigate because they do not change position. [Safely because the Church holds "the totality or fullness of the means of salvation," (Ad Gentes 6) "she proclaims the fullness of the faith" (CCC 868)]
The hermeneutic of discontinuity, conversely, is more a mentality that tends to regard much of the Church prior to the Second Vatican Council as somehow deficient and which seeks to obscure, change or reverse some or much Church teaching, not excluding the dogmatically defined magisterium, usually in matters to do with the sanctity of human life and gender, but also extending to issues such as ecclesiology, liturgy, and in specific instances such as the ordination of women. [A good definition, imo.] It usually seeks to do so in accord with moral relativism and the values predominantly to be found in popular culture. It often confuses the individual sinfulness or failings of members of the Church throughout history with the actual faith of the Church.
Ah! Moral Relativism! Will we see how this much used rhetorical weapon applies here? [Oh noes! That phrase that they always use!! People might start thinking they use it for a reason; quick let's use a rhetorical question with the word rhetorical in it! (This is irony.)]
One mentality is informed by two millennia of constant belief and practice, often heroically witnessed to by martyrdom, the other by the mass media and the fashionable theories that abound in our culture.
Such a withering critique! Does it have anything to do with this issue? [Yes. Everything.]
On the side of the essential unity of Church belief and teaching from Christ up until the present is Pope Benedict; on the side of changing Church teaching and practice to suit some values of majority opinion, sadly, was Bishop Morris.
Note, just in case you missed it, 'majority opinion' is used in a perjorative sense. Did you pick that up? [What's that? Peter the Editor thinks that being Catholic involves sideing with the Pope? How terrible!!]
The arguments surrounding the dismissal of Bishop Morris are therefore also about ecclesiology, which is to say they are about the Church: among these being questions such as what is the Church, who constitutes it, who has authority to define what are the essential beliefs which distinguish Christianity, especially Catholicism, from other beliefs and philosophies and who, if anyone, has the power to change Church teaching? This is why the arguments surrounding the dismissal of Bishop Morris are fundamental in nature; they are neither irrelevant nor obscure. They also have direct consequences for Catholic youth, for Catholic marriages, and for Catholic family life.
Stretch that bow, editor! Why not include climate change for good measure! [Because what Bsp Morris wrote had very little to do with climate change and a lot to do with "Catholic youth ... Catholic marriages, and ...Catholic family life."]
Although he is undoubtedly a good man and shares much in common with fellow members of the Church, Bishop Morris’ first problem was that he didn’t understand that. [Evidence that this is a charitable piece on Peter's part.]
The problem for Bishop Morris, in the end, was that given the two positions he had to make a choice - his way or the Catholic Church way.
Popularly depicted as 'my way or the highway'. [Yup. But better said as "How about you reconsider your position on these topics; your current position is quite contrary to what Christ has taught us and therefore not inline with your role. If you continue in this manner, you may be liable for false advertising."]
The problem for the Church was how to handle a Bishop well down the road in effectively promoting what might now reasonably be called heresy in his diocese.
Just as 'moral relativism', thrown in without justification, it's an odds-on certainty in this sort of writing that you can always count on 'heresy'.[I want to comment about how this sentence doesn't even make sense, but I won't. Instead, I'll assume that you mean that the use of the terms 'moral relativism' and 'heresy' are both and equally unjustified. 'Moral relativism' fits so unbelievably well that ... you don't believe it. 'Heresy' fits IFF (if and only if) Bsp Morris said or taught against anything difinitavely defined by the Church. He did, at least implicitly, on at least one occasion. (See link to the Pastoral Letter below.)] No one, who has has any recognisable authority in the church, has suggested +Morris preached heresy, but why let that stop you? You're on a roll, there are certain things you have to say, certain nuts that need sledgehammers. [This is irony.]
As The Australian’s columnist Christopher Pearson (also a convert to Catholicism) wrote shortly after the story broke, Bishop Morris had already sown consternation in his diocese with his 2006 pastoral letter. [Again, see below for this.] Seeking comment on how to respond to a shortage of priestly vocations in the diocese of Toowoomba, the Bishop canvassed possibilities including the ordination of women priests and recognising the validity of Anglican, Lutheran and Uniting Church Orders. [It's funny how there were almost no vocations to the priesthood while he had the 'pastoral care' of the the diocese.] He did this although he should have known that the Church had already definitively ruled these out.
'Canvassed possibilities'!? [Yup. vexilla regis has the full original Pastoral Letter from 2006 here.]
In 1994, Pope John Paul II declared authoritatively as the Vicar of Christ in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis that the Church had no power to ordain women priests. A year later, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the future Pope Benedict XVI, clarified John Paul II’s teaching as 'to be held definitively as belonging to the deposit of faith.'
Like 'Christ's divinity' you mean? [What are you saying about Our Lord's divinity? Why 'Christ's divinity' and not Christ's divinity? Because, yeah, pretty much "likeChrist's divinity" in that it's not going to be changed.] So now we not only have 'creeping infallibility' but 'anticipatory infallibility'? [Kate at Australia Incognita has a good exposition of the notion of 'creeping infalibility' here. As for 'anticipatory infallibility,' I'm not even sure what that's supposed to mean, given the broad meaning of the former phrase.]
Official Church teachings and various statements on the validity or otherwise of the Orders of other Christian denominations are numerous, date back centuries and were, in some instances, reaffirmed by the CDF (under the future Pope Benedict XVI) as recently as 1998 as definitive. To suppose that such teachings could be dropped or changed by the Church was never anything more than mere fantasy. [As the Chaplain at NDFreo said today "Ah, come one! You think you can change the Great Holy Mother Church? You must be dreaming!] And whether critics were in a majority or a minority in the diocese of Toowoomba is immaterial. The truth of the Gospel never depends on numbers.
Which is why a phrase like 'sown consternation in his diocese' needs no evidence let alone counter-evidence. [Even if it was only sworn in the mind and heart of one of his sheep, it is too much. (Cf. Mt 18:6, Mk 9:42, Lk 17:2)]
Bishop Morris has been portrayed (not surprisingly) by organisations such as the National Council of Priests of Australia as the innocent and unjustly treated victim of a dogmatic, pharisaical mindset under Pope Benedict and Rome (the usual conspiracy theory in the NCPA world of billabong theology where no fresh water appears to have flowed in since 1968).
Never underestimate the power of parenthesis! [They are really handy for adding information to your sentence that is not needed (but can be helpful by means of clarification.)] [Again, this is irony.]
But as reported in this edition of The Record he was actually treated with the utmost delicacy, discretion and respect by two Popes and three Vatican dicasteries. He was given more than ten years to resolve the issues and, remaining immovable, still stubbornly resisted repeated requests for his resignation.
How do you know that? Where's the record? How can you verify such speculation about how he was treated and how he responded? You can't. You (like the rest of us) just 'assume' and 'speculate' in a way that satisfies what you thought all along.[Have you even done any reading about the issue? There's plenty of information about it out there. *See UPDATE at the bottom of this post.] In the best of Western democratic tradtiions that is far from good enough. [It's a good thing that the Church is not a democarcy, isn't it?]
One other problem seems to have eluded Bishop Morris. Catholic spouses and families everywhere face an unprecedented onslaught against their faith, their values and their children from a modern anti-culture predicated on the idea that there are really no more moral rules and no real consequences: one should do whatever one wants.
AKA the dreaded 'moral relativism' in another name. [Yup.]
As the simple people of faith ...
Do you believe this? [Don't you?]
... do their best to lead the at-times difficult Christian life of fidelity to Jesus and everything He taught, they do not need bishops who will obscure the way or who become obstacles to the heroic vocation of Christian marriage and family. In fact, they are, sadly, better off without them. One might say that they need a Bishop who can be a rock. One of the two Bishops at the heart of this controversy is undoubtedly that.
Who was the other guy? I guess that's a secret too. [Hardly, 'the other guy' is the successor to Peter, the Rock.]
UPDATE (kinda): The Record has stories here and here which outline some of the sources of info that they have. Also, seriously, just read around a bit.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Felix Natalis
Today there is a double birthday for my archdiocese.
Archbishop Hickey turns 75 today.
And our Holy Father, Pope Benedict celebrates his 84th birthday.
Also, happy Feast of St Bernadette of Lourdes.
Archbishop Hickey turns 75 today.
And our Holy Father, Pope Benedict celebrates his 84th birthday.
 |
| I've baked a cake to celebrate to Pontiff's birthday because I'm that cool. |
Also, happy Feast of St Bernadette of Lourdes.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Mary Had a Little Lamb
Lauren and I were talking the other night about hidden meanings.
We started reading religious (specifically Christian) connotations into various Nursery Rhymes.
These connotations, at least for the most part, are not actually there in the Rhyme.
Saying that, some of them sounded convincing, at least to us.
We started reading religious (specifically Christian) connotations into various Nursery Rhymes.
These connotations, at least for the most part, are not actually there in the Rhyme.
Saying that, some of them sounded convincing, at least to us.
To Lauren, at this point, I'd like to say that I've changed some of the interpretations that we discussed to make them sound slightly more plausible.
Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb.
Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow.
[Mary, Our Lady, gave birth to Jesus who in true humility (littleness) became the Spotless Lamb for us]
Everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went;
Everywhere that Mary went, Mary went, Mary went;
Everywhere that Mary went, that lamb was sure to go.
[Mary leads us always to Christ. That is to say, wherever Mary is venerated (hyperdulia), Our Lord will necessarily be adored (latria)]
It followed her to school one day, school one day, school one day;
It followed her to school one day: it was against the rules.
[Even in Cahtolic schools and institutions who use Our Lady's name and are under Her patronage, it is often politically incorrect to mention Our Lord, Jesus Christ, the one to whom she leads.]
Catholicism: You're doing it wrong.
 | |||||
| Statue of Gandhi at Boston College's School of Theology and Ministry |
There is a link attached to this post of The Vortex episode for the 8th of April. It's on how not to be Catholic.
Only watch it if you have a strong stomach. It is actually sickening.
Much, much more sickening than the video that you can find here.<-- that video, btw, is Cazza's favourtive clip ever. Everytime she goes on a YouTube binge, this clip comes up. I think that 9 or the 10 million views are hers. That's all.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Because Silence Is Not Golden. It's Yellow.*
A clip from Real Catholic TV's
The Vortex with Michael Voris
on being a faithful Catholic
RealCathoicTV is a YouTube Channel that I wholesale recommend.
Seriously, go watch all of the clips there.
Seriously, go watch all of the clips there.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
The Lost Flock
I am part of a lost flock
And I refuse to believe that
I can be saved
I realise this may come as a shock but
“Salvation comes through the Church”
Is a lie, and
“Morality is subjective.”
My friends will know that
I have my priorities straight because
Everything else
Is more important than
Jesus
I tell you this
Once upon a time
The Church offered hope
But this will not be true in my era
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
30 years from now, we will be celebrating the end of the Catholic Church
I do not concede that
No one will worship in a church of their own making
In the future
Liturgical abuses will be the norm
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about the Church
It will be evident that
My generation is heretical and heterodox
It is foolish the presume that
There is hope.
Unless this is reversed.
There is hope.
It is foolish the presume that
My generation is heretical and heterodox
It will be evident that
My peers and I care about the Church
Liturgical abuses will be the norm
In the future
No one will worship in a church of their own making
I do not concede that
30 years from now, we will be celebrating the end of the Catholic Church
Experts tell me
This is a quick fix society
But this will not be true in my era
The Church offered hope
I tell you this
Jesus
Is more important than
Everything else
I have my priorities straight because
My friends will know that
“Morality is subjective.”
Is a lie, and
“Salvation comes through the Church”
I realise this may come as a shock but
I can be saved
And I refuse to believe that
I am part of a lost flock.
This is a rewording of Jonathan Reed's "The Lost Generation" which, to the best of my knowledge is in public domain.
You can find the video of "The Lost Generation" here.
[Update: There's a cooler version of this, not by me, here. Thanks to Fr Larry at Ubi Perus, Ibi Ecclesia for sharing it.]
And I refuse to believe that
I can be saved
I realise this may come as a shock but
“Salvation comes through the Church”
Is a lie, and
“Morality is subjective.”
My friends will know that
I have my priorities straight because
Everything else
Is more important than
Jesus
I tell you this
Once upon a time
The Church offered hope
But this will not be true in my era
This is a quick fix society
Experts tell me
30 years from now, we will be celebrating the end of the Catholic Church
I do not concede that
No one will worship in a church of their own making
In the future
Liturgical abuses will be the norm
No longer can it be said that
My peers and I care about the Church
It will be evident that
My generation is heretical and heterodox
It is foolish the presume that
There is hope.
Unless this is reversed.
There is hope.
It is foolish the presume that
My generation is heretical and heterodox
It will be evident that
My peers and I care about the Church
Liturgical abuses will be the norm
In the future
No one will worship in a church of their own making
I do not concede that
30 years from now, we will be celebrating the end of the Catholic Church
Experts tell me
This is a quick fix society
But this will not be true in my era
The Church offered hope
I tell you this
Jesus
Is more important than
Everything else
I have my priorities straight because
My friends will know that
“Morality is subjective.”
Is a lie, and
“Salvation comes through the Church”
I realise this may come as a shock but
I can be saved
And I refuse to believe that
I am part of a lost flock.
This is a rewording of Jonathan Reed's "The Lost Generation" which, to the best of my knowledge is in public domain.
You can find the video of "The Lost Generation" here.
[Update: There's a cooler version of this, not by me, here. Thanks to Fr Larry at Ubi Perus, Ibi Ecclesia for sharing it.]
