Vol 9 Issue 42 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
September 17, 2016 ~ Stigmata of Saint Francis

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (86)
2. Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
3. St Joseph Cupertino
4. Christ in the Home (60)
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

The FBI director James Comey, caught with tape over his laptop computer webcam, stated that it was only logical since it is so easy for people to hack into someone’s computer and spy on them—he should know. Remember when you needed help on your computer and the person sent you a link and when you clicked it, he was able to fix your computer? That is all it takes—and he controls your computer. Why do I mention that? Because Catholics should know that the computer or smart phone connected to the internet puts one’s private life into the public. Whatever is on your computer, not just your social network, is able to be publicized and your camera may be watching you and your surroundings just like 1984. Therefore, precautionary measures should be taken.

Another statement this week, which I know happens because on NPR they interviewed someone who setup a conservative website and mixed truths with falsehood knowing how “gullible” many conservatives were to believe lies and spread them and then he would humiliate the Conservative organizations that repeated the falsehood by revealing the truth—that it was all a ruse. This is only to remind faithful Catholics and honest people to make sure it is the truth before passing on something that is spread through the internet, because it lives or dies in your decision. Scams work not because people believe in scams, but because they won’t believe they are part of a scam. Your good character gives credence to the validity of the claim.

Also, this week are the Ember Days. Please pray for vocations to the Priesthood. We need our priests to offer the Divine Liturgy to give God the Adoration, Thanksgiving, Atonement and Impetration that will satisfy the justice of God for our daily needs and daily offenses and retain that union of God’s mercy with the frailty of humanity without which God’s justice would demand a withdrawal and mankind thereby suffers God’s wrath. If our children saw parents value the dignity of the priest and the august Sacrifice of the Mass, maybe they would both be joyful in assisting at Holy Mass and following their vocation knowing God calls them to His service.

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

____________________

 

Baptism

Means of Salvation

Sacrament of Baptism

Rituale Romanum

(Continued)

Cuttaz sums up the deliverance of the white garment and the candle with these words:

Thus, like the essential rite of Baptism, immersion and emersion, these secondary symbols—the white garment and the lighted candle—signify both what has been effected by the Sacrament (purification and regeneration of the soul) and what remains to be done, to which the Christian and Christ have pledged themselves. (Op. cit.136)

The child is dismissed with these final words:

Rituale:

26. In conclusion he says:

N., go in peace, and the Lord be with thee (you). R. Amen.

Commentary:

Cleansed through the Sacrament of Baptism, and having accepted the new life of grace that is to be led as a disciple of Christ, the child is sent away in peace, knowing Christ, of whom the baptized is now a member of His Mystical Body, will ever accompany the baptized with His grace, and have the presence of the Holy Ghost. The Amen, said by the child or godparents, is an affirmation, a testimony to the truth of what one promised and faith in what one has received: adoption as a child of God.

One can take the words of Fr. Francis Spirago (The Catechism Explained, 577-578) as a summary:

This is what takes place at Baptism: Water is poured upon the head of the person to be baptized, and at the same time the words appointed by Our Lord are repeated; the person is thereby cleansed from original sin and all other sins, he is gifted with habitual and sanctifying grace, and becomes a child of God, an heir of heaven, and a member of the Church.

At our baptism much the same takes place as at Our Lord’s baptism: like Him, we have water poured upon our head, and certain words are spoken (“I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”); the Holy Ghost descends upon us (although not in the form of a dove), we are made temples of the Holy Ghost and endowed with sanctifying grace; God the Father says: “This is My beloved son, in whom I am well pleased” (we are made children of God), and the heavens are opened (we are made heirs of immortality). Again, much the same takes place at our baptism as at the cleansing of Naaman (4 Kings v. 14); we are washed with water, and delivered from the leprosy of sin, both original and actual. So again much the same takes place at our baptism as at the passage of the Israelites through the Jordan (1 Cor. x. 2); we pass through the water of Baptism into the promised land, the Church of which we become members. Those on whom sanctifying grace has been bestowed, are in virtue of that bestowal children of God and heirs of heaven. Only the baptized have the right to call God their Father, hence in early times the Lord s Prayer was not taught to the unbaptized. St. Louis of France used to say: “I think more of the private chapel where I was baptized, than of the Cathedral of Rheims where I was crowned; for the dignity of a child of God, which was bestowed on me at Baptism, is greater than that of the ruler of a kingdom. The latter I shall lose at death; the other will be my passport to everlasting glory.” It is because man is cleansed from sin by baptism that St. Paul exclaims: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. viii. 1). The words of St. Peter on the Day of Pentecost show what is the effect produced by Baptism: “Do penance, and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy

Ghost”(Acts ii. 38). St .Paul speaks of Baptism as “the laver of regeneration and renovation of the Holy Ghost,” whereby “being justified by His grace we may be heirs according to hope of life everlasting” (Titus iii. 5, 7). Again he says: “In one spirit were we all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. xii. 13).

The Rituale has these final notations:

Rituale:

27. The rite described above must be observed also by a deacon who administers solemn baptism; however, he uses salt and water blessed previously for this purpose by a priest.
28. When children of both sexes are to be baptized, during the interrogations the male infants are placed to the right, the female infants to the left; and everything is said as above, using the proper gender and plural number. However, the first interrogation by name, the insufflation, the signing with the cross, the touching of the ears and nostrils with spittle, the interrogation concerning the renunciations, the anointing with Oil of Catechumens, the interrogations on the chief articles of the Creed, the actual baptizing, the anointing with Chrism, the conferring of the white garment, and the presentation of the lighted candle – each one of these ceremonies must be applied separately to each individual, beginning always with the males and finishing with the females.

To make it more convenient, these matters are noted in their proper place by rubrics contained in parentheses. Thus when the term “singulariter singulis” (“separately to each person”) occurs in a given rubric, it is to be understood that the words are to be said or the action performed separately for each person until the next rubric, beginning with the males and finishing with the females, using the proper terminology of gender as stated above. But if in a similar rubric the term “in plurali pro pluribus” (“for all in common”) occurs, it is to be understood that the words should be employed only once for all in common until the next rubric, changing only the terminology of gender if all are females.

29. If a child or an adult is ill, and so seriously that he may die before baptism could be completed, the priest, omitting all that precedes the act of baptizing, should baptize at once with a threefold or even a single ablution in the form of a cross, saying: “I baptize thee, etc., as above, p. 53.

If baptismal water is not available and necessity urges, the priest should use ordinary water. Then if he has Chrism with him he anoints the person on the forehead, saying: May God almighty, etc., as above, p. 53. Next he places on him the white garment, saying: Receive this white garment, etc., as above, p. 53. Lastly, he presents the lighted candle with the words: Receive this burning light, etc., as above, p.55.

If the one thus baptized recovers, all ceremonies omitted should be supplied later.

30. 30. When several are to be baptized in imminent danger of death, and time does not allow that each be baptized separately, the minister is permitted to baptize all at one time, pouring water on the head of each with the form: I baptize you in the name of the Father +, and of the Son+ and of the Holy + However, this manner of baptizing may never be used unless danger of death renders impossible the time required to baptize each one separately.
31. The sponsors should be reminded of the spiritual relationship which they contract with the one baptized; this relationship is a diriment impediment to matrimony.
32. The pastor should admonish the parents that neither they nor a nurse should allow the child to sleep in the same bed with them, for there is danger that the child might be smothered. Rather, they should watch over the child with tender solicitude, and give it proper rearing

in the Christian way of life. ·

33. The parents, and if necessary others responsible, are to be advised that under no condition are they to confide an infant for suckling or nursing to the care of a woman who is a Jewess, infidel, or heretic.
34. Before the child is taken out of church or before the sponsors depart, the pastor should carefully enter all names and other data of the baptism in the baptismal register, after the manner of the form prescribed.
35. If baptism was not administered by one’s own pastor nor in his presence, the one who administered it should as soon as possible give notification thereof to the pastor of the one baptized.
36. To prove that baptism has been conferred, the testimony of one trustworthy witness or the oath of the baptized person himself if he was baptized in adult age is sufficient, unless the rights of another party are prejudiced thereby.

(To be continued)

————————–

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Benedict Baur, O.S.B. 

“Waiting for the manifestation of our  Lord Jesus Christ”

 

1. “Waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Epistle). Earnestly we pray: “Give peace, O Lord, to them that wait for Thee” (Introit); give them the peace of eternal life in God. “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord,” our heavenly home (Introit).
2. “For the fashion of this world passeth away” (I Cor. 7:31). “Behold, Thou hast made my days measurable and my substance is as nothing before Thee. And indeed all things are vanity, every man living. Surely man passeth as an image; yea and he is disquieted in vain. He storeth up and he knoweth not for whom he shall gather these things” (Ps. 38:6 ff.). Everything that surrounds us and pleases and delights us is like a shadow that passes or a wisp of smoke that disappears. Even the longest life passes quickly and, when gone, is like a dream in the night. All that is dear to us—our family, our home, pleasure, knowledge, talent—all is transitory: our work, our profession, our business, the body which we pampered, even our sufferings, our pains, and our miseries all pass and leave us with empty hands. “All flesh is grass and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field. The grass is withered and the flower is fallen because the spirit of the Lord hath blown upon it. Indeed the people is grass. The grass is withered” (Isa. 40:6 ff.). Every day before our very eyes we see that all that surrounds us becomes dust; death changes all, death disrupts all and tramples all underfoot. All that surrounds us vanishes and perishes. We ourselves shall vanish like smoke. “For we have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to come” (Heb. 13: 14). “Remember man, that thou are dust, and to dust thou shalt return.”

“Waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We Christians labor for that which is eternal. We know that “whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel, shall save it. For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:35 fl.) We know that “everyone that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands for my name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall possess life everlasting” (Matt. 19: 29). We know the reply of the Lord to the rich young man: “If thou wilt be perfect, go sell what thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven” (Matt. 19:21). “Lay not up to yourselves treasures on earth, where the rust and the moth consume and where thieves break through and steal” (Matt. 6: 19.). “The time is short; it remaineth that they also who have wives be as if they had none; and they that weep, as though they wept not; and they that rejoice, as if they rejoiced not; and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as if they used it not. For the fashion of this world passeth away” (I Cor.7:29 ff.). We are risen with Christ through baptism. Therefore we “seek the things that are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God; mind the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth” (Col. 3:1 f.). In this way we await the manifestation of the Lord.

3. When we recall the imminent return of the Lord at our death, we understand the beatitudes of Christ’s sermon upon the mount. “Blessed are the poor in spirit. . . Blessed are the meek. . . Blessed are they that mourn. . . Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice. . . Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:3 ff.). Their thoughts dwell on eternal life, which they look forward to. That is Christian wisdom. They are “waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” We Christians do not fear the day of our Lord’s coming; rather we rejoice and long for it. Men who have clung to the nothingness of this world fear the loss of that nothingness; there remains for them only a great, eternal emptiness. But we, since we are Christians, have long since learned to value only what is divine and eternal. We have endeavored to make the seed of eternal life spring to life in a handful of loam taken from the earth. When the Lord returns and calls us, our work will bear fruit. Should we therefore not rejoice? “I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: We shall go into the house of the Lord.” We may die, but we shall go home to heaven.

“Bring up sacrifices and come into His courts” (Communion). The Christian finds the way to his eternal home in the celebration of the Mass. From the Sacrifice we receive the necessary grace by which we shall merit eternal life.

PRAYER

Let the operation of Thy mercy, we beseech Thee, O Lord, direct our hearts; for without Thee we cannot please Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

“Without crime”

1. We are “waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Epistle). “In the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” we should be “without crime,” without faults (Epistle). We must be healed of all our infirmities, as was the man sick of the palsy, who was healed by the Lord in soul and body (Gospel).
2. We must be “without crime” in regard to our soul when the Lord comes to us at the hour of our death. For this end “in all things [we] are made rich in Him” when we receive baptism, when we partake of the Holy Sacrifice, when we receive the graces of the sacraments of confirmation and of penance, when we received the gifts that the Lord incessantly showers on our soul. He “also will confirm you unto the end, without crime, in the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Behold I stand at the gate and knock. If any man shall hear My voice and open to Me the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me” (Apoc. 3:20). As long as we are here on earth, He overwhelms all uncleanness and imperfection in us when He enters our soul. If we open to Him, He enters with all the riches of His graces, and gives them to us. He establishes His kingdom in us and helps us live His clean and holy life. In holy unity He sups with us and we sup with Him one and the same food, the food of God Himself, the divine life which we possess with Him. This life will become strong in us and rule us. It does not tolerate sin, false principles, conscious imperfections, or disorderly inclinations. If there be anything of selfishness or willfulness of thought or deed, the Lord destroys it through the painful but necessary tribulations which He sends us. Thus we will be “without crime in the day of the coming of our Lord,” thanks to the powerful efficacy of His grace. We must not let Him knock in vain; we must let Him enter and do with us as He likes; we must let Him work His will in us. “Whosoever abideth in Him, sinneth not” (I John 3:6).

We must be “without crime” in regard to the body. “In the day of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” at His return in power and glory, He will repeat in our body the wonder He worked on the man sick of the palsy. “Arise . . . and go into thy house.” This is not only a cure, but an awakening to life. “It is sown in corruption, it shall rise in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it shall rise in glory. It is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power. It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body. . . . Therefore as we have borne the image of the earthly, let us bear also the image of the heavenly . . . . For this corruptible must put on incorruption; and this mortal must put on immortality” (I Cor. 15:42 ff.). The Lord “will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of His glory” (Phil. 3: 21). “When Christ shall appear [on the last day], who is your life, then you also shall appear with Him in glory” (Col. 3:4). “I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting.”

3. “Nothing is wanting to you in any grace, waiting for the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Epistle). “Give peace, O Lord, to them that patiently wait for Thee”; give also grace, holiness of soul, and the blessed resurrection of the body. “Hear the prayers of Thy servant and of Thy people Israel,” the holy Church (Introit).

We give thanks to the Lord for holiness of soul as well as for the resurrection of the body; we give thanks to the Lord who today appears at the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice. He cleanses us of our sins and fills us with His life. Here He sows the seed of a blessed resurrection in our body. “He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath everlasting life; and I will raise him up in the last day . . . . He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me and I in him” John 6:55, 57).

PRAYER

Let the operation of Thy merc)” we beseech Thee, O Lord, direct our hearts; for without Thee we cannot please Thee. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

SEPTEMBER 18 

St. Joseph of Cupertino, Confessor

1. Joseph Mary was born in the southern Italian town of Cupertino on June 17, 1603. His parents were sincere Christians, but poor. His mother so accustomed him to discipline that Joseph later remarked that he had no need of a novitiate when he entered religion. The deep piety of the boy of five grew through the years until it often appeared when he was praying that he might be in ecstasy. Along with prayer went a life of mortification and penance, from his earliest years.

At seventeen Joseph was no longer able to repress his desire to become a Franciscan; the friars, however, rejected him because of his lack of education. Then he went to the Capuchins, was given the habit in August, 1620, and dismissed after eight months because it seemed there was nothing he could do. Finally, and with great difficulty, his mother succeeded in having him received as a brother of the Third Order by the Franciscans at Cretella. Here he performed menial tasks in the monastery and among the mules. Little by little Joseph gained the respect of the people and of his brethren until, in 1625, he was placed among the choir-novices. In 1626 he pronounced his vows andtwo years later was ordained priest. His ecstasies became so frequent that he was excluded from choir service lest he disturb the others. Father Guardian took him as a companion on his journeys until the people became alarmed at his ecstasies and miracles; then he sent Joseph to the Inquisitors at Naples, who declared the monk free from blame. To avoid further disturbances among the people, however, he was sent from one monastery to another, spending time in Rome and Assisi. He was not permitted to celebrate Mass in public. His last stop was at Osimo, where he died in 1663. He was beatified in 1753 and canonized in 1767.

2. “The wisdom that is worth having is the love of God. When she reveals herself face to face, men come to love her, seeing her beauty and recognizing her wondrous power” (Introit). ‘This love of God burned brightly in Joseph’s soul from childhood, preserving him from sin and folly, enkindling in him such fervor of devotion and love of prayer that he sometimes forgot to eat for several days. Most noteworthy in him was the gift of rapture: oftentimes his body was lifted up, especially at the altar. On one occasion a “Calvary” was being erected: two crosses had been set in place, while the third, a much heavier one, lay at some distance from its place. Joseph saw this from the monastery, flew to the cross, picked it up as if it had been a splinter, and dropped it into the hole intended for it. The same love of God caused to grow in him an exact fidelity to his vows, a zeal for acts of self-denial and Christian charity. Indeed, “the wisdom that is worth having is the love of God.” It is significant that the epistle of today’s Mass places the canticle of love of God and of neighbor on our lips. Love is the secret of our Saint’s remarkable life. What value has prayer, sacrifice, and labor if they do not spring from love of God and fellowman? They are nothing but deceit, foolishness, and vanity. “Make charity your aim” (I Cor. 14:1).

“There was once a king, who held a marriage-feast for his son” (Gospel). Those invited to the feast offered foolish excuses, and so, “Here is the marriage-feast all ready, and those who had been invited have proved unworthy of it. You must go out to the street corners, and invite all whom you find there to the wedding.” In the parallel passage of St. Luke we read specifically, “the poor, the cripples, the blind, and the lame” (Luke 14:21). The liturgy means to tell us: Joseph, a poor, unlettered shoemaker, and impractical young man who was rejected by one monastery on account of ignorance and by another on account of his awkwardness—this youth was chosen and invited to the wedding-feast, to the perfection of virtue and of sanctity, the most intimate union with God. Already, as a boy, he had enjoyed special favors, and yet he found difficulty in becoming even a laybrother of the Third Order. Amid the lowest services he grew in inner union with God, and ultimately was admitted to theology. As a priest he could scarcely celebrate Mass without becoming wrapt in holy contemplation. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” the little ones who count for nothing in the world. They are the ones who are invited to the banquet of the King.

3. “God looked upon him with an eye of favor, lifted him up from his low estate, and raised his head high” (Alleluia verse). We marvel at the power of grace, to bring forth such rare fruits of virtue and holiness in this Joseph of Cupertino. But the divine seed found good soil in his heart. Anyone who understands and practices poverty, who loves self-denial and renounces his own will, who completely frees himself from everything that could retard his progress toward God, who out of humility remains calm under calumny, and persecution—such a one is ripe for the life of holy love. We have much to learn from such a saint.

We beg Joseph of Cupertino to obtain for us the grace to love God ever more perfectly. Love is the highest, most decisive force in our lives.

Collect: O God, under whose providence Thy only-begotten Son was lifted up above the earth so that He might draw all things to himself, accomplish Thy gracious purpose in us, and let the merits and example of Thy seraphic confessor Joseph help us to rise above all earthly desires and make our way into the presence of Him who is God. Amen.

______________________________________

CHRIST IN THE HOME

BY RAOUL PLUS, S.J.

(1951)

MARRIAGE

Training in Social Responsibility (2)

WE HAVE accomplished a good deal if we have accustomed the child to put itself as much as possible “in the place of others.” “If I were in such and such a situation, what would I do, what would I think?” We are all wrapped up in ourselves as in a cocoon, the child more than anyone else; particularly if it has been coddled, if it has been born into a family that is comfortably fixed, if it gets accustomed or others make it accustomed to being waited on.

The child must be encouraged to wait on itself and to give service. If for any reason the mother needs to hire help, that is no reason for the child to monopolize such help to its own comfort; it should never be permitted to give direct orders to domestic help.

As much as possible, especially in the case of little girls, the child should be given the opportunity to do many little tasks that make family life run more smoothly: to set the table, to

dust up a room, to arrange a bouquet, to take care of the baby. Such assignments should not be presented to them as burdensome tasks but as an aid toward the common good, a lightening of mamma’s work so that they are joyful about it even if it demands an effort, upsets their well-laid plans or requires a sacrifice. Often the child will be delighted, proud of its importance. However care must be taken to appeal not to vanity but to responsibility.

A delicate point to consider is the question of friendships. Should the child be permitted to associate with children who are not as we say of their class? They will meet in school. If

these possible friends are morally good and well-mannered, why not? It will offer a fine opportunity to show that money is not everything, that the only true worth is virtue and human

dignity. The child may be too much inclined to pair off only with those who belong to the same social circle or environment; that flatters its vanity. The parents should react to this tendency by teaching the little one that it ought to share with a comrade who is less privileged and while avoiding indiscriminate associations with anybody and everybody, seek out as friends not the best dressed but those who are the best students, the most truly pious, the strongest personalities for good, in a word, those that deserve most esteem.

Should the family circumstances require sacrifices, show the child that there are people who are poorer; silence all jealousy. When the time comes for a choice of profession direct the boy or girl to choose judiciously not according to possible profit or financial returns but according to the

possibilities for best serving society, the common good.

Generous parents will not hesitate, if the child’s qualifications are adequate and the opportune moment presents itself, to speak of vocations of complete consecration, the priesthood, religious life. There are so many needs in the world. “The harvest indeed is great, but the laborers are few.” They enlist their children’s interest. A priest? Why not he? A religious? Why not she?

That supposes a spirit of detachment in the parents, an informed appreciation for the needs of the Church, love of the general good of Christianity, the sacrifice of little hopes for building up a new family. Yes, it means that.

Such parents will often call attention to the distress of the world; to the struggle of nations among themselves. They will explain to their children that union alone is fruitful; furthermore that union alone is truly Christian.

What an inspiring example do those children have whose father has always been a man of broad sympathies and a generous heart, highly social-minded; if in his profession he has always tried to serve rather than merely to earn money; if a lawyer, he has always been concerned for justice; if an industrialist, he has applied himself to bettering the human aspects of production; if a merchant, he has been attentive to injure no one; if a doctor, he has sacrificed himself to do the

most possible good; if an employee, he has given his time loyally and honestly to his work—a worker eager for work well done and the social defense of his profession.

The boy and girl learn from this to consider their chosen professions or careers as future social service. They get out of their narrow selfish views which formerly warped their characters—they emerge with souls truly formed.

TRAINING IN SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (3)

IF WE are alert to seize the occasions, everything can serve to teach children to guess or at least to understand the needs and requirements of others.

A little girl who could no longer be called a baby had not as yet any brother or sister. One day she noticed her mother busy with the details of a layette: “Is all that for Liette, mamma?” She was Liette. “No dear, not for Liette, but for a little brother or sister who is going to come.”

Liette was utterly stupefied. What was this? Mother was not working only for her then!

The first school for social consciousness is the family. What a handicap if mother has never worked for anyone but Liette, if Liette remained an only child! We can readily guess what

selfishness she would have been capable of displaying.

The family is together: “It’s so stuffy here, I’m going to open the window.” “No, grandmother has a cold.” The child understands it is not alone; others count.

The family lives in an apartment. The children are making an uproar. “Gently, children; we must not disturb the people downstairs. Not so much noise.” Others count.

The little girl is learning how to keep house. She shakes her dustcloth out of the window. “Did you look to see if someone was passing by?”

To know that other people exist and to understand that we must restrain ourselves for them is the root of social consciousness. A person would think that we all would have it and to spare.

Unfortunately experience proves otherwise.

Mother and child go to a neighboring park for play. How tempting to make little sand piles all along the bench beside mamma! “You will see, I will not get you dirty mamma.”

“No, my little one, but you are not thinking of the people who may come in a little while to sit on this bench.”

The street as well as a public garden can offer opportunities for such lessons. “Step aside dear. Don’t you see that mother who is pushing her baby buggy; let her pass.”

On the streetcar: “Give your place to the lady.”

In a train. “Take turns sitting by the window.” “Let’s not speak so loud; it will disturb other people’s conversation or their reading.”

On a visit. “The steps have just been scrubbed; clean your shoes on the mat and walk along the edge so as not to track them up for the lady.”

All this is rounded out in Catechism lessons. “Then in heaven I will be with some poor little child, won’t I?”

Children of poor families should be taught the dignity of poverty and labor, the duty of contributing one’s best efforts to lift the living conditions and social status of their group.

Children of wealthy families should be taught their responsibility toward the working classes; they should be taught how far material, moral, and spiritual destitution can go and what they ought to do to learn how to remedy it.

(To be continued)

_________________________ 

_________________________

Father Krier will be in on Eureka September 22. He will be in Los Angeles on October 6 and San Diego October 7. He will be in the Czech Republic October 8-9.

_______________________ 

For those who purchase through Amazon, please help support the work here at Saint Joseph’s by going through this link: http://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-2855162

_________________________ 

The topics of Faith and Morals will correspond to the Roman Catholic Faith in Tradition and the Magisterium. The News will be of interest. The commentaries are for the reader to ponder and consider. The e-mail address will be for you to provide thought for consideration. The donations will be to support the continuation of this undertaking.

While the Newsletter is free of charge it is not free of cost. Please consider supporting St Joseph’s Catholic Church with a tax – deductible donation by clicking the secure link below

Click Here to Donate 

Or if you prefer send a check to

 

Catholic Tradition Newsletter

c/o St Joseph’s Catholic Church

131 N. 9^th St

Las Vegas, NV 89101

 

Visit us on the Worldwide Web: http://stjosephlv.org

e-mail news and comments to: tcatholicn@yahoo.com

 

To unsubscribe, please type, “unsubscribe” ‚ in subject line.