Vol 9 Issue 31 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
August 6, 2016 ~Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ

1.Baptism: Means of Salvation (80)
2. Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost
3. Saint Cajetan
4. Christ in the Home (54)
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

In this issue there is added an article by Randy Engel, on the latest Conciliar Document, Amoris Laetitia, and how it is diametrically opposed to Catholic teaching. It is always worth knowing what is publicly debated and what the arguments are on the side of truth lest, not taking serious the error propagated, the weak believe without question. The article will be spread across several issues. Randy Engel is a well-known author who has researched and written on the pederasty industry among the Sodomites and Sex Education, besides a novel, Marrano—which is a modern fiction of the hopes of a return to traditional Roman Catholicism by the Conciliar Church but may be looked at what may have happened with the election of Montini.

As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor

____________________

Baptism

Means of Salvation

Sacrament of Baptism

Rituale Romanum

(Continued)

The Sponsors

31. In accordance with ancient ecclesiastical custom, no one should be solemnly baptized unless he has a sponsor, provided this is possible. Even in private baptism a sponsor should assist if one can easily be had. If there was no sponsor at the private baptism, one should be procured for the time when the ceremonies are supplied, in which case the sponsor contracts no spiritual relationship.
32. When baptism is repeated conditionally, the same sponsor who was present at the first baptism should assist if possible; except in this case, no sponsor is required in conditional baptism. In a baptism repeated conditionally, neither the sponsor who was present at the first baptism nor the one assisting now contracts a spiritual relationship, unless the sponsor was the same in both instances.
33. There should be only one sponsor (who may be of different sex from the one baptized); or at most two may be employed, a man and a woman.
34. To validly act as sponsor it is required:
35. a) that the person is baptized, has attained the use of reason, and has the intention of acting in this capacity;
36. b) that he does not belong to a heretical or schismatic sect, is not excommunicated whether by condemnatory or declaratory sentence, nor legally infamous, debarred from legal acts, nor a deposed or degraded cleric;
37. c) and is not the father, mother, or spouse of the one baptized;
38. d) that he is chosen by the one baptized, or by the parents, guardians, or, if these are wanting, by the minister;
39. e) that during the act of baptizing the sponsor (or his proxy) physically hold or touch the one baptized, or immediately lift him out of the water, or take him into his arms from the font or from the hands of the minister.
40. To lawfully act as sponsor it is required:
41. a) that he has reached the age of fourteen, unless the minister sees fit to admit a younger person for some valid reason;
42. b) that he is not excommunicated for a notorious crime, nor excluded from legal acts, nor legally infamous (even though no sentence has been issued to that effect), nor interdicted, nor a public criminal, nor infamous in fact;
43. c) that he knows the rudiments of the faith;
44. d) that he is neither a novice nor a professed religious, unless necessity urges it and the sponsor has the express permission from at least the local superior;
45. e) that he is not in sacred orders, unless he has the express permission of the Ordinary.
46. When in doubt as to whether a person may validly or lawfully be permitted to act as sponsor, the pastor should consult the Ordinary if time allows.
47. Only the minister and the sponsor contract a spiritual relationship from baptism with the one baptized.
48. It is the duty of sponsors by reason of their position ever to regard their godchild as a personal charge, and in all that pertains to his Christian upbringing to watch over him faithfully, so that in his whole life he may prove himself true to the promises which they once solemnly spoke for him.

The Time and Place for Administering Baptism

39. Infants should be baptized as soon as possible, and pastors and other priests when preaching should frequently warn the faithful of their serious obligation in this respect.
40. Private baptism when necessity demands may be conferred at any time and in any place.
41. Solemn baptism, too, may be administered on any day. In harmony with earliest ecclesiastical discipline, baptism of adults ought to be conferred if convenient on the vigils of Easter and Pentecost, especially in cathedral or metropolitan churches.
42. The proper place for administering solemn baptism is the baptistery in a church or public oratory.
43. Every parish church should have a baptismal font, and all contrary statutes, privileges, or customs are reprobated and revoked; without impairing, however, the legitimate cumulative right already claimed by other churches. The local Ordinary can permit or command that a baptismal font be placed in another church or public oratory even within the parish boundaries, if it will serve the convenience of the faithful.
44. When distance or other circumstances make it extremely inconvenient or dangerous to bring the candidate for baptism to the parish church or to another which has the right to a baptismal font, the pastor may, in fact must, administer solemn baptism in the nearest church or public oratory within the parish limits, even though it has no baptismal font.
45. Solemn baptism may not be administered in private homes, except in the following circumstances: (a) when the persons to be baptized are children or grandchildren of them who hold the supreme position of government or have the right of succession to the throne, provided this privilege is duly requested; (b) when the Ordinary, after prudent and conscientious deliberation, judges that it should be allowed in some extraordinary case for a just and worthy reason. In the cases cited the baptism is to be administered in the chapel of the home or at least in a suitable room, and duly blessed baptismal water is to be employed.
46. The baptismal font should be constructed in becoming style and located in a proper place. It should be made of solid material, such as will keep in the water, properly decorated, secured with lock and key, and fastened so that dust and dirt cannot penetrate. The baptistery should have a grill or should be railed off. If possible a representation of the baptism of Christ by St. John should be painted or placed in the baptistery.

The Holy Oils and Other Requisites

47. Holy Chrism and the so-called Oil of Catechumens used in baptism must have been consecrated by the bishop on the preceding Holy Thursday. Older oils may not be used except in case of necessity.
48. The pastor must see to it that he obtains immediately the newly consecrated oils from his Ordinary, and thereupon he burns the old oils in church (in the sanctuary lamp).
49. If the consecrated oils do not suffice, then other non-consecrated olive oil is added, but in lesser quantity than the consecrated each time this happens.
50. Holy Chrism and Oil of Catechumens should be preserved in individual vessels of silver or at least of pewter, and be kept properly sealed. These vessels should have each a distinct style, and should be marked with capital letters to avoid every error.
51. For daily use smaller containers made of silver if possible or of pewter should be employed. These may be either separate or joined together, yet properly covered and easily distinguishable. Each one should have its individual mark as noted above, so that the priest may not mistake one for the other; which error must be carefully precluded.
52. Into these latter as much Chrism and Oil of Catechumens as required is poured from the larger vessels, and it is advisable to provide the separate containers of the oilstock with a little cotton or similar material to absorb the oils. This will prevent the danger of leakage, and at the same time when pressed with the thumb will yield enough for the anointings.
53. These vessels should be reverently reserved in church in a special place (compartment) which is decent and clean, and kept under lock and key. Thus they will be safely guarded from improper handling by anyone except a priest, as well as from sacrilegious misuse. The pastor ought not to keep them in the rectory, unless some necessity and serious reason warrants, and then only with the permission of the Ordinary.
54. So far as possible let it be the pastor’s concern that the holy oils be fetched by himself, some other priest, or at least by a cleric, and not by a laic. Let him beware also of ever giving any of the holy oils to whomsoever, no matter under what pretext.
55. The salt which is to be put into the mouth of the candidate for baptism must be blessed with its own special form as designated later in the rite for baptism. Nor is salt thus blessed to be used at the blessing of water. It should first be reduced to fine granules, and kept clean and dry. Salt thus blessed should be given to nobody nor even returned to whomever may have brought it for the blessing, but it should be saved exclusively for baptism or thrown into the sacrarium.
56. Wherefore, when the sacrament of baptism is about to be conferred, the following articles should be at hand:
57. The vessels containing Oil of Catechumens and Chrism.
58. A vessel containing the salt to be blessed, or some already blessed, as stated before.
59. A clean vessel or a ladle made of silver or other metal for pouring the baptismal water on the head of the one who is being baptized; and this vessel should be used for no other purpose.
60. A basin or cup to receive the water which flows down from the head of the baptized, unless it falls directly into the sacrarium.
61. Cotton or similar material to be used for wiping the parts anointed with the holy oils.
62. Two stoles if readily available, one purple and the other white, to be exchanged as noted below; otherwise at least one stole should be provided.
63. A piece of bread with which to remove the oil from the priest’s fingers when he washes his hands; moreover, a basin for washing the hands after baptism, and this should not be used for other purposes.
64. A white garment in the form of a little mantle, or a small piece of white linen to be placed on the infant’s head.
65. A waxen torch or wax candle which shall be burning when given to the baptized.
66. Lastly, the ritual should be in readiness and also the baptismal register in which the names of the baptized are inscribed.
67. Everything being prepared, the priest washes his hands, puts on a surplice and purple stole, and proceeds to the administration of this great sacrament. He should be assisted by one cleric or more if possible, who are likewise vested in surplice.
68. Thus vested the priest advances to the threshold of the church. The people with the child should be waiting outdoors.
69. He ascertains, unless this information is already known to him, whether the candidate belongs to his parish, its sex, whether it had been baptized at home and by whom and in what manner, and he inquires as to who will act as sponsors. The latter he instructs to assist with due reverence and to answer the interrogations for the candidate.
70. Since a name is given to those who through baptism are to become children of God, newly born in Christ and enrolled in His service, let the priest see to it that ugly, notorious, or ridiculous names are not imposed, nor those of false deity or heathen profligates. Rather let names of the saints be selected so far as possible, whose example the faithful may devoutly imitate and to whose patronage they are consigned.
71. Everything being provided for and the name approved of, with the one who is to be baptized, if a child, resting on the right arm of the person holding it, the pastor proceeds with the baptism according to the rite which follows.

(To be continued)

————————–

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

The Church, the Good Samaritan

1. “Master, what must I do to possess eternal life?” asked the lawyer in the Gospel. Jesus answered with a counter-question: “What is written in the law? How readest thou?” And the lawyer replied: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.” Jesus said to him: “Thou hast answered rightly; this do, and thou shalt live.” But the lawyer wished to justify himself, and therefore he asked: “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus then related the parable of the good Samaritan and at the end asked the lawyer: “Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among robbers?” He said: “He that showed mercy to him.” Jesus said to him: “Go and do thou in like manner.” This, then, is the commandment of the Lord: Go and be also a good Samaritan.
2. “The earth shall be filled with the fruit of Thy works, O Lord” (Communion). The bread and wine of the Holy Eucharist give the Church the power and the obligation to be a good Samaritan to suffering humanity. Man is not called to merely an earthly goal, to attain which he must fulfill his duties on earth and make use of his natural powers and talents; but beyond that he is destined for a heavenly goal, for which he must develop his supernatural powers and faculties in order to share in the divine life. He is to be permeated with divine and sanctifying powers of life, that he may be lifted up into the fullness of life in God. This elevation of man to share the divine life, however, cannot be the work of man himself. It is the work of God, of His free and merciful love and grace.

When God created man in Paradise, He made him a partaker of this divine life through grace. Both grace and nature had been bestowed on Adam for all of us. But Adam sinned and, as the head and representative of the entire human race, lost for all mankind the life of grace. Thus humanity is the man who fell among robbers. Who will save him and restore to him the life of the sonship of God? It can be restored to him only by God Himself through Christ and His Church. To the latter God has entrusted the wine of the Holy Eucharist and the oil of the graces of salvation. With all the power of her divine Master she ministers to humanity. She feels obliged to render her service to those who fall among robbers, for she performs the service of the good Samaritan when she fulfills the command of her Master: “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt. 28: 19 f.). With unmoved courage and heroic perseverance, the Church for two thousand years has fulfilled her commission, strengthened by the power which the good Samaritan provided for her when He gave her the two pence: the power of teaching and the sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist.

Our Lord commanded His Church to “take care of him,” but first of all, of the salvation of his soul. He wants her to practise the works of mercy, particularly the spiritual works of mercy. Therefore the Church prays for the living and the dead, and prays especially for those who are dead in sin, that they may rise again to the life of grace. To show sinners the right way and to instruct the ignorant were always important duties of the Church. She never wearies of caring for sinners and the ignorant through instruction and admonition, but especially through the administration of the sacrament of penance. In this sacrament of mercy the Church, full of understanding, mercy, and love, bows down to the man fallen among robbers. Into his wounds she pours the oil of grace and forgiveness through the power of God. New life and new joy will return to the soul which before was full of fear and despair. When a new will and a new strength for doing good, a powerful longing for God, and a healing peace come back into such a man’s soul, it can be truly asserted that no power on earth is able to console, heal, and show mercy as does the Church in the sacrament of penance. “Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among robbers?” The Levite, the priest of the Old Testament, or the Church of the New Testament with her sacrament of penance? She has the ministration that leads to justification, life, and union with God; no one but she possesses it. “Blessed are the eyes that see the things which you see” (Gospel): the Church, the mystical body of Christ, full of the powers of salvation, giving life to those who come to her dead in sin.

3. The program leading to justification has been given to the Church. “Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained” (John 20:23). The Church has the power of the heavenly Judge: to forgive and to retain sins. In this judgment we are at the same time the prosecutor and the witness. Its effectiveness depends on the sincerity of our self-accusation and on our firm purpose to amend our ways of life. Only if our disposition is right can the Church make good use of her vocation of being the good Samaritan.

“Many prophets and kings have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them; and to hear the things that you hear, and have not heard them” (Gospel). We see, we hear, we possess the things of which Christ spoke; yet we neither think of them nor are we as thankful for them as we should be.

PRAYER

Almighty and eternal God, of whose gift it cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service; grant, we beseech Thee, that we may run without hindrance toward the attainment of Thy promises. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

“Blessed are the merciful”

1. “Go and do thou in like manner” (Gospel). Let us also imitate the conduct of the good Samaritan. Such charity is the service of the New Covenant, of the baptized, who in such abundant measure experience the mercy of the good Samaritan, the Son of God become man. The sacraments of baptism, the Holy Eucharist, and penance oblige us to “go and do thou in like manner.”
2. “Which of these three, in thy opinion, was neighbor to him that fell among robbers?” Jesus asks the lawyer in the Gospel. True Christian charity is merciful with a mercy that springs from a living compassion for the need of our fellow men; it is the desire to help him as far as possible. “Go and do thou in like manner.” We have become members of Christ in baptism; with each Mass and Holy Communion we perfect our union with Christ, the head. Understanding more deeply His spirit and His power of love, we also feel urged, by virtue of this union with Christ, to practise mercy and charity. “Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful” (Luke 6:36). “Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy” (Matt. 5:7). The spirit of Christ, if it truly lives within us, forbids us to pass by another’s need coldly and without compassion. We cannot act like the Levite and the priest of the Gospel, who saw their fellow man’s need, but passed by. Woe be to us if we act in such a manner; we would be sorely wanting in the spirit of Christ. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His” (Rom. 8:9). “Amen, I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these My least brethren, you did it to Me” (Matt. 25:40).

“Go and do thou in like manner.” The Lord demands both the spirit and the works of charity. These are the corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to cover the naked, to shelter the homeless, to visit the imprisoned, to care for the sick, to bury the dead. And these are the spiritual works of mercy: to guide sinners, to instruct the ignorant, to counsel the doubting, to comfort the sorrowing, to suffer injustice patiently, to forgive those who have injured us, to pray for the living and the dead. According to the above works we shall be judged at the hour of our death and on the last day. These works of mercy we performed with the desire to help our fellow men for the sake of Christ, to aid the members of Christ’s mystical body, and to render to them in the spirit of Christ the service of the good Samaritan, shall determine our place in heaven or hell. “Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me in; naked, and you covered Me; sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me. . . . Then He shall say to them also that shall be on His left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me not to drink; I was a stranger, and you took Me not in; naked, and you covered Me not; sick and in prison, and you did not visit Me” (Matt. 25:34 ff.). The works of mercy open heaven; the lack of mercy leads to eternal hell.

3. “Moses prayed in the sight of the Lord his God, and said: Why, O Lord, is Thy indignation enkindled against Thy people? Let the anger of Thy mind cease. . . . And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil which He had spoken of doing against His people” (Offertory). Such is the power of God’s mercy. Did not Moses have reason enough for being angry with his people dancing around a golden calf at the foot of the mountain? But he has compassion on the infatuated, misled people, and his prayer, born out of this compassion, is answered by God. Thus can God’s anger be allayed. “Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy” for themselves and for others (Matt. 5:7).

So we also, who are going to offer the Holy Sacrifice, are full of mercy and compassion concerning the temporal and spiritual needs of our brethren. With a heart full of compassion we lift up our offering to heaven: “Why, O Lord, is Thy indignation enkindled against Thy people? Let the anger of Thy mind cease. . . . And the Lord was appeased from doing the evil which He had spoken of doing against His people.”

In Holy Communion we are filled with the Spirit of Christ. He is the Spirit of compassion who, viewing our misery, says with the words of the Gospel: “I have compassion on the multitude” (Mark 8:2). “Put ye on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy, and beloved, the bowels of mercy, benignity, humility, modesty, patience” (Col. 3: 12).

PRAYER

Almighty and merciful God, of whose gift it cometh that Thy faithful people do unto Thee true and laudable service; grant, we beseech Thee, that we may run without hindrance toward the attainment of Thy promises. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.