Vol 11 Issue 24 ~  Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
June 16, 2018 ~ Our Lady on Saturday

1. What is the Sacrament of Confirmation
2. Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
3. Saint Gregory Barbarigo
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

As the Liturgy for this Sunday is directed to Saint Peter, and as the Church will, in 12 days, celebrate the Feast of Saint Peter, it brings us to one of the conundrums for Catholics today: the Roman Catholic Church without a pope. This Sunday it is appropriate to consider the papacy because it is a reflection on the condition of the world: no fathers. Pope is a word that is familiarized in the Greek form of father, παπά or papa. The pope is the father of all Christians (i.e., Catholics—we call Protestants for what they are, Protestants.) The role of the Pope is to teach, to sanctify and to govern the universal (Catholic) Church. Since the Church is the means Christ instituted for mankind to obtain salvation, Christ left His Church certain attributes that would guarantee His Church would be for all times so all men of all nations would have the means to obtain their salvation. These attributes are indefectibility, infallibility, and authority. The Church teaches that the Church, as Christ founded it, will last till the end of time (indefectibility) and to guarantee this the Church has the gift of infallibility that is invested in the Bishop who succeeds in the Chair of Peter and in the college of bishops teaching in union with the pope, such as when gathered in an ecumenical (general) Council. The authority of the bishops is given to them by their office, but is subject to the authority of the Pope, who possesses the fullness of authority as Supreme Pontiff and Vicar of Christ—therefore the Pope limits or even takes away authority as when He confines the authority to a jurisdiction or deprives one of any authority unless granted by him. In all there must be seen the special charism given the Successor of Peter to never depart from the faith (infallibility) when teaching the Universal (catholic) Church so that the Church remains indefectible; and all the faithful must submit to his authority to bind and loose knowing that the Pope cannot err in matters of faith and morals when the Pope teaches the universal Church. Thus, as the Vatican Council (I) teaches—as the Church always taught—no one can judge the decision of a Pope without succumbing to schism or apostacy. The keys of Peter, if it may be said, fits into that of replicating all the teachings of the Church taught by the Apostles and not departing from them at any point, just as a key cannot at any point be deformed when duplicated if it is to unlock. If it is malformed, it is not the key to the lock—despite the claim it was made for the lock. Recognizing that the Conciliar popes have departed from apostolic teaching, they do not possess the keys of Peter; though one may claim the process was completed for them to be pope, they do not possess the charism because they have manifestly erred—which is impossible if the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, is working through the pope with the charism of infallibility. One must remember the Sacraments are outward signs of invisible grace, such as baptism cleanses the soul of sin, penance remits sin, marriage binds a man and woman in a union of flesh until death. It is not visible, but it is known. When the priest says holy Mass validly, Christ’s Body, Blood Soul and Divinity is present, offered and received—though through the senses nothing is perceived. If the priest invalidly offered Mass, nothing happened; if a man or woman held back their consent, nothing happened. But who knows it? The only possible answer is what Our Lord, Himself, said: By their fruits you shall know them. (Matthew 7:20) The fruits from the Conciliar Church founded by Vatican II has been chiefly error and confusion. The popes of the Conciliar Church have contradicted Church teaching consistently. And, as the Church is a city seated on a mountain (cf. Matt. 5:14), the visibility of its life is seen by all; but the Conciliar Church is visibly not a rock that is unchangeable, not the magnificence behind which the splendor of God shines with its rays, not absolute truth that clears the muddied water man drinks from. I [Christ] have prayed for thee [Peter], that thy faith fail not: and thou, being once converted, confirm thy brethren. (Luke 22:32). Faithful Catholics know true Popes have remained constant in the faith, they have presented the Church as a Mountain behind which Christ has adorned with the splendor of His glory, and they have cleared the errors that have confused the minds of the faithful with that charism of the Spirit of Truth—granted not because of their knowledge, but because they were true successors of Peter.

Beware of those who would claim to be subject to a pope and not obey—the two are inconsistent. They may say their pope is in error in matters of faith and morals—but they just judged themselves by saying they don’t believe in papal infallibility, the Church’s indefectibility and her authority and adopted the Protestant view that the Holy Ghost guides them personally, not the Pope and the Church. The attitude of recognize and resist—so-called R&R—misses the point if they can recognize error but fail to recognize that the Church cannot err; therefore, their resistance is simply schism from their own Conciliar Church.

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

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WHAT IS THE SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION?

by Rev. Courtney Edward Krier

IX

The Nicene Fathers Continue Pentecost

The Church looks to three of her greatest theologians in testimony to the understanding of the Catholic Faith: Saint Paul, Saint Augustine and Saint Thomas Aquinas. Saint Thomas will have his own chapter, but it is also necessary to see how Augustine weighed in on the Sacrament of Confirmation. Augustine (+430), in defending the Holy Ghost as God, speaks of the relationship of receiving the Holy Ghost (Confirmation) with Baptism:

But the reason why, after His resurrection, He both gave the Holy Spirit, first on earth, and afterwards sent Him from heaven, is in my judgment this: that love is shed abroad in our hearts, by that Gift itself, whereby we love God and our neighbors, according to those two commandments, on which hang all the law and the prophets. And Jesus Christ, in order to signify this, gave to them the Holy Spirit, once upon earth, on account of the love of our neighbor, and a second time from heaven, on account of the love of God. And if some other reason may perhaps be given for this double gift of the Holy Spirit, at any rate we ought not to doubt that the same Holy Spirit was given when Jesus breathed upon them, of whom He by and by says, Go, baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, where this Trinity is especially commended to us. It is therefore He who was also given from heaven on the day of Pentecost, i.e. ten days after the Lord ascended into heaven. How, therefore, is He not God, who gives the Holy Spirit? Nay, how great a God is He who gives God! For no one of His disciples gave the Holy Spirit, since they prayed that He might come upon those upon whom they laid their hands: they did not give Him themselves. And the Church preserves this custom even now in the case of her rulers [Bishops]. Lastly, Simon Magus also, when he offered the apostles money, does not say, Give me also this power, that I may give the Holy Spirit; but, that on whomsoever I may lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit. Because neither had the Scriptures said before, And Simon, seeing that the apostles gave the Holy Spirit; but it had said, And Simon, seeing that the Holy Spirit was given by the laying on of the apostles’ hands. Therefore also the Lord Jesus Christ Himself not only gave the Holy Spirit as God, but also received it as man, and therefore He is said to be full of grace, and of the Holy Spirit. And in the Acts of the Apostles it is more plainly written of Him, Because God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. Certainly not with visible oil but with the gift of grace which is signified by the visible ointment wherewith the Church anoints the baptized. And Christ was certainly not then anointed with the Holy Spirit, when He, as a dove, descended upon Him at His baptism. For at that time He deigned to prefigure His body, i.e. His Church, in which especially the baptized receive the Holy Spirit. But He is to be understood to have been then anointed with that mystical and invisible unction, when the Word of God was made flesh, i.e. when human nature, without any precedent merits of good works, was joined to God the Word in the womb of the Virgin, so that with it it became one person. Therefore it is that we confess Him to have been born of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary. For it is most absurd to believe Him to have received the Holy Spirit when He was near thirty years old: for at that age He was baptized by John; but that He came to baptism as without any sin at all, so not without the Holy Spirit. For if it was written of His servant and forerunner John himself, He shall be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb, because, although generated by his father, yet he received the Holy Spirit when formed in the womb; what must be understood and believed of the man Christ, of whose flesh the very conception was not carnal, but spiritual? Both natures, too, as well the human as the divine, are shown in that also that is written of Him, that He received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and shed forth the Holy Spirit: seeing that He received as man, and shed forth as God. And we indeed can receive that gift according to our small measure, but assuredly we cannot shed it forth upon others; but, that this may be done, we invoke over them God, by whom this is accomplished. (On the Holy Trinity 15, 46).

Augustine replies to Petilian the Donatist:

And by this ointment you wish the sacrament of chrism to be understood, which is indeed holy as among the class of visible signs, like baptism itself, but yet can exist even among the worst of men, wasting their life in the works of the flesh, and never destined to possess the kingdom of heaven, and having therefore nothing to do either with the beard of Aaron, or with the skirts of his garments, or with any fabric of priestly clothing. For where do you intend to place what the apostle enumerates as “the manifest works of the flesh, which,” he says, “are these: fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, poisonings, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, heresies, envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God?” Galatians 5:19-21 I put aside fornications, which are committed in secret; interpret uncleanness as you please, I am willing to put it aside as well. Let us put on one side also poisons, since no one is openly a compounder or giver of poisons. I put aside also heresies, since you will have it so. I am in doubt whether I ought to put aside idolatry, since the apostle classes with it covetousness, which is openly rife among you. However, setting aside all these, are there none among you lascivious, none covetous, none open in their indulgence of enmities, none fond of strife, or fond of emulation, wrathful, given to seditions, envious, drunken, wasting their time in revellings? Are none of such a character anointed among you? Do none die well known among you to be given to such things, or openly indulging in them? If you say there are none, I would have you consider whether you do not come under the description yourself, since you are manifestly telling lies in the desire for strife. But if you are yourself severed from men of this sort, not by bodily separation, but by dissimilarity of life, and if you behold with lamentation crowds like these around your altars, what shall we say, since they are anointed with holy oil, and yet, as the apostle assures us with the clearness of truth, shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Must we do such impious despite to the beard of Aaron and to the skirts of his garments, as to suppose that they are to be placed there? Far be that from us. Separate therefore the visible holy sacrament, which can exist both in the good and in the bad—in the former for their reward, in the latter for judgment; separate it from the invisible unction of charity, which is the peculiar property of the good.Separate them, separate them, ay, and may God separate you from the party of Donatus, and call you back again into the Catholic Church, whence you were torn by them while yet a catechumen, to be bound by them in the bond of a deadly distinction. Now are you not in the mountains of Zion, the dew of Hermon on the mountains of Zion, in whatever sense that be received by you; for you are not in the city upon a hill, which has this as its sure sign, that it cannot be hid. It is known therefore unto all nations. But the party of Donatus is unknown to the majority of nations, therefore is it not the true city. (Contra litt. Petil. 2, 104, 239; P. L. 43, 342 sq.)

And writing concerning the work of the Holy Ghost in the sanctification of man, Augustine says:

But when it is said that “the Holy Spirit is given by the imposition of hands in the Catholic Church only”, I suppose that our ancestors meant that we should understand thereby what the apostle says, “Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Romans 5:5 For this is that very love which is wanting in all who are cut off from the communion of the Catholic Church; and for lack of this, “though they speak with the tongues of men and of angels, though they understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though they have the gift of prophecy, and all faith, so that they could remove mountains, and though they bestow all their goods to feed the poor, and though they give their bodies to be burned, it profits them nothing.” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 But those are wanting in God’s love who do not care for the unity of the Church; and consequently we are right in understanding that the Holy Spirit may be said not to be received except in the Catholic Church. For the Holy Spirit is not only given by the laying on of hands amid the testimony of temporal sensible miracles, as He was given in former days to be the credentials of a rudimentary faith, and for the extension of the first beginnings of the Church. For who expects in these days that those on whom hands are laid that they may receive the Holy Spirit should immediately begin to speak with tongues? But it is understood that invisibly and imperceptibly, on account of the bond of peace, divine love is breathed into their hearts, so that they may be able to say, “Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” But there are many operations of the Holy Spirit, which the same apostle commemorates in a certain passage at such length as he thinks sufficient, and then concludes: “But all these works that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as He will.” 1 Corinthians 12:11 Since, then, the sacrament is one thing, which even Simon Magus could have; Acts 8:13 and the operation of the Spirit is another thing, which is even often found in wicked men, as Saul had the gift of prophecy; and that operation of the same Spirit is a third thing, which only the good can have, as “the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:” 1 Timothy 1:5 whatever, therefore, may be received by heretics and schismatics, the charity which covers the multitude of sins is the special gift of Catholic unity and peace; nor is it found in all that are within that bond, since not all that are within it are of it, as we shall see in the proper place. At any rate, outside the bond that love cannot exist, without which all the other requisites, even if they can be recognized and approved, cannot profit or release from sin. But the laying on of hands in reconciliation to the Church is not, like baptism, incapable of repetition; for what is it more than a prayer offered over a man? (De bapt. III, 16, 2)

(To be continued)

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Dr. Pius Parsch

The Church’s Year of Grace (1959) 

FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Jesus, the Fisher of men

On the second and third Sundays after Pentecost we were shown God’s love and providence toward us, a love inviting us (the parable of the supper) and a love seeking us (the parable of the lost sheep). Today we see how our divine Savior in His love establishes a spiritual home, the Church, and appoints its caretakers—fishermen. Thus the liturgy continues to present Christ to us in very appealing pictures; last Sunday it was as the Good Shepherd, this Sunday as the Fisher of men.

About this time there occurs the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, a feast with which today’s liturgy has definite relationships; at one period the Sundays following this feast were designated according to their order after it. Peter receives the high call as fisher of men. His little ship, from which the Savior preaches, is a symbol of the Catholic Church. At this time of the year Holy Orders are also conferred in many countries.

1. Text Analysis.Suffering and anxiety of soul oppress the community assembled about the altar, while the day’s liturgy seeks to instill confidence and spiritual strength. God is the true Light in the darkness of earthly life, and our trust is in Him (Intr.); we ask for peace and order among nations (Coll.); suffering keeps us mindful of our pilgrim status and makes us long for heaven (Epist.). Suffering too comes as punishment for sin (Grad.), and our physical and spiritual needs occasion trust and prayerful petition (Off.,Comm.). Thus throughout the Mass formulary the pangs and pains of human life are put in balance by the mightier realities of trust and confidence in a God who aids.
2. Holy Mass (Dominus illuminatio.)Christ’s faithful are entering the house of God. The Introit voices the spirit with which that entrance is made. On many Sundays and feasts the Introit sets the tone for the entire day. The Christian comes out of a world of battle, a world of suffering and persecution; accordingly the entrance hymn is usually a call for assistance, yet a call stemming from fullest confidence. It would be to our advantage to reflect upon and to live into the spirit of the Introit psalm alreadyon Saturdayevening; when entering the church the following morning we would then more easily realize the beauty of the text and taste its sweetness.

The various emotions expressed by the psalm are, one may say, concentrated in the antiphon. Therefore it would be best to pray the Introit in the manner in which it was formerly sung, i.e., with the antiphon repeated between each verse of the psalm. The antiphon may be compared to the bed of a river upon which the waves of the psalm flow serenely along. Psalm 26, today’s Entrance Chant, is a song of heartfelt confidence and expresses genuine trust in God. I must expect persecution and suffering; accordingly I will rely upon Christ my Light, my Protector, my Conqueror. This initial prayer also provides a good picture of the Church. Persecuted from without, and within loaded down by the Cross, she is strong and invincible through Christ. Christ in Sunday Mass stands as a lighthouse amidst the darkness of the week.

In the Collect we pray for peace on earth “in order that the Church may rejoice in undisturbed worship of God.” We have just left a world hostile to the supernatural. By the Epistle we are taught that earthly sufferings are necessary for the child of God; they are the birth pains of beatitude. A most consoling passage: “The sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, the glory that will be revealed in us.” The Epistle is a profound meditation upon nature, upon nature that longs for stability, for redemption; upon nature that is endeavoring to instill in our hearts a lively desire for the Second Advent of Christ our Lord.

The Gradual continues the general theme. We storm heaven for mercy and help on the plea that otherwise non-Christians would ridicule God’s impotence. The Alleluia, too, implores our enthroned King for aid. Almost every part of the Mass contains a petition for help, because holy Church and the individual soul are in interior and exterior straits today. The Gospel alone seems to reflect a different hue. Nevertheless not wholly, because the purpose of the Gospel is not only to instruct but to provide the mysterium for the Mass-action. Therefore it shows us how the Church is, above all, an institution for the care of souls, how it is Peter’s ship and at the same time the net in which the “little fishes of Christ” are caught.

Moreover, we hear that Christ is the great Fisher of men. His helpers are the apostles, the bishops, and the priests. Their greatest task is to be successful fishermen. See how the Gospel is pastoral instruction! But the account likewise takes actual form in today’s holy Mass. For we are the crowds Jesus teaches from Peter’s boat, yes, we are the fish drawn out from the sea of the world as it becomes “day,” as Christ becomes our “light” (Intr., Off.). All this happened to us for the first time at baptism, and it is re-happening now in the presence of the altar. We should resemble Peter who, full of humility, cried out: “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man,” and who obediently followed the call of the Master as he “left all things.”

The hymn at the Offertory procession resumes the theme of suffering in harmony with the Introit. In the latter Christ was the Light and the Conqueror, while at the Offertory, among the gifts we carry to the altar is a petition for spiritual enlightenment and for victory over the enemy. In the minds of early Christians light and enlightenment were proper to baptism and to the graces of baptism that abound so profusely at Easter. Now each Sunday is Easter, because each Sunday the mystery of baptism is repeated. At the Offertory we therefore ask for the flowering of baptism’s blessings.

Enemies have often been spoken of, and toward one such enemy we must ever remain fully alert. This enemy, our perverse will, is continually seeking to topple us out of the bark of Peter. There is only one Person able to tame a stubborn will—it is He who calmed the stormy sea, Christ – Christ in the holy Sacrifice. This is the burden of the Secret. The Communion, too, contains sentiments in accord with the Introit, even though the psalm has the ring of triumph. Psalm 17, a hymn composed by David as an old man in thanksgiving for many victories, wonderfully portrays the storms and battles of an exciting life. Also for us in the holy Eucharist, Christ is “a firmament, a refuge, a deliverer.” The fruits of the Sacrifice-banquet are purification and protection. May we be purified and preserved from further defilement. To state in resume the Mass’s unifying mystery: in conflict and in suffering the Christian finds strength and comfort in Christ, if he only stays in the boat that is His holy Church.

3. Divine Office.The Biblical narrative of the encounter between David and Goliath and theSunday Gospel are the features special to today’s Office. Both afford interesting reading material. From St. Ambrose’s allegorical exposition of the Gospel may be seen how the Fathers often extended their commentary on a Scripture passage:

“The Lord healed many and from the most diverse kinds of sicknesses. Neither did considerations of time or place keep the multitudes from asking for cures. Night was approaching, still the crowds surged about Him. The sea lay before them, and they continued to press on. Jesus stepped into Peter’s boat. That boat, according to Matthew, was being tossed to and fro; that boat, according to Luke, became filled with fish. Thereby one may perceive a picture of the Church beginning her journey on stormy seas but later carrying a full load of passengers. Those still in the sea of this earthly life are the fish.

“In Matthew, Christ remains asleep among His disciples; in Luke, He is giving them directions. Among those who fear, He sleeps; but He watches with the vigilant. That ship does not roll about in which prudence holds the helm, from which unbelief is absent, for which faith fills the sails. Indeed, how could that ship have foundered under the captaincy of Him who is the Church’s sure foundation? Where there was little faith, therefore, there was alarm, but here in the presence of perfect Love there is full security. “If others were told to lower their nets, it was to Peter alone that it was said: Launch out into the deep, that is, into the depths of the divine mysteries. For what is more profound than to look into the depths of the heavenly treasury, to know the Son of God and to proclaim His divine generation? Even though the human mind is not able to comprehend this truth fully through the searching’s of reason, it is nevertheless grasped by the fullness of faith. Indeed, it is not granted to me to understand how He was begotten, but neither is it granted to me to remain ignorant that He was begotten. I do not know the manner in which He was begotten, but I do know the source of His generation. We were not present when the Son of God was born of the Father, but men were present when He was proclaimed by the Father to be the Son of God. If we do not believe God, whom shall we believe? Everything that we do believe, we believe either because we have seen it or heard it. Now one cannot always trust his eyes; but we do have faith in our hearing.”

4. Meditation upon theSundayLiturgy. A. The Symbol of the Fish and of the Fisherman. Last Sunday the Church presented our Redeemer as the Good Shepherd in the act of taking His little lambs upon His shoulders. Without doubt this was the symbol most frequently used by the first Christians. Today another very appealing picture is put before us, that of the good Fisherman and His catch. It is another lovely and meaningful symbol. Let us consider it in detail.
5. a) The Fisher of men.First look at the picture. Modeled upon an extremely old design found in catacombs dating to the earliest centuries of Christianity, it visualizes the words of our Savior, “From now on you will catch men.” Nevertheless, the fisher of men here presented is Christ Himself. The fish He has just caught is another Christian. Do you know when it was that He landed you? At baptism. As He drew you out of the water of baptism, you became, symbolically speaking, Christ’s little fish. A vessel and a net are given in the same picture. In the vessel are other fishes. This symbolizes the Church, which the Savior Himself compared to a fisherman’s net. See what love, what care and zeal our Lord devotes to His work. Now every Sunday is Easter in miniature, everySunday brings a renewal of your baptism. This is what holy Church wishes to say in the Gospel: You are one of Christ’s little fishes; you were caught through the waters of baptism. Allow yourself to be caught again and again by the good Fisher of men, Christ, through the Eucharistic mystery.

Into the whole world Christ has sent His fishers of men. They are easily recognizable, because they are the priests of the Catholic Church. They are His helpers. In His stead and at His command and with His grace they cast out the Gospel net into the sea of the world. In priests, therefore, let us see the divine Fisherman Himself. For just as Peter without Christ fished in vain throughout the entire night, so all the priestly work of caring for souls would be futile if the commission and the grace did not come from Jesus. And contrariwise, how joyous and blessed is the work of the priestly ministry, founded not upon human motives but upon the grace that comes from above. Whomsoever the Father has given Him, he shall come into the net; but Christ’s priests take that fish, protect and guard it.

1. b) The little fishes.Now let us examine the design here. There we see little fishes swimming toward a net; the net is suspended from a T-shaped beam. The significance is clear. Again the fishes are men, the water is the world; the net is the Church, and the T-shaped beam is the Cross of salvation. The net is hanging from this beam because the Church derives all her power from the Cross of Christ. Without the Cross the Church would be a mere society seeking to proffer mankind some advice. From the Cross she secures all graces, all blessings, all strength. And from the Cross divine life flows into the souls of men through baptism, through the holy Eucharist. With the same single intent as the fishes in the picture, so should we onSundays hasten to holy Mass, to the net that hangs from the Cross. Translated, the Latin inscription reads: “We are the little fishes of Christ!” This beautiful phrase, written by a Father of the ancient Church named Tertullian, fits nicely with the words of our Savior in today’s holy Gospel.
2. c) The great Fish.If Christians are the little fishes, then Christ is the great Fish. In her discipline of the secret the ancient Church spoke with predilection of her Lord as the “Fish.” The Greek word for fish isιχθύς, in our script ICHTHYS. These five letters are the initial letters of our divine Savior’s full title: I(esus) Ch(ristus) Th(eou) Y(ios) S(oter). The words in English mean: Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior. Under certain circumstances the early Christians kept their faith hidden from the pagans. When speaking to one another they would use signs or  symbols, as, for instance, that just mentioned, the fish. No one knew what it meant but they themselves; they spoke about a fish but would mean their Redeemer.

It was also very common to represent the fish with a basket of bread. The basket with five loaves and a fish would remind them of the miraculous multiplication of the loaves and fishes, a type of the holy Eucharist. The water in which the fish swim signifies the waters of baptism. Here again are represented the two principal sacraments, baptism and the Eucharist. These two sacraments were esteemed most highly by the first Christians; they ought also be most dear to us. Through holy baptism we received divine life; through the holy Eucharist this divine life is nourished and strengthened.

1. d) The ship.Now a bit of explanation about the picture on this page. The boat into which the Messiah stepped belonged to Peter. Peter’s boat is a symbol of the Church. From it the Savior preached, from it the great catch was made. All this is significant. In the Church Christ is still teaching today, and from out the sea of the world men are still being gathered into the Church, to become Christ’s little fishes. (Because the parish church represents the whole Church in miniature, it too stands as a symbol of Christ’s Mystical Body.) So here we have another picture illustrating the Sunday liturgy. The faithful assembled together at Mass are Christ’s fish in Peter’s boat.

Let us examine this picture more minutely. The ship is the Church. Its sails bear the word Ecclesia. At the helm St. Peter is sitting, representing the Pope, who guides and governs the Church. Toward the front stands St. Paul, representative of the Church’s office of teacher. The ship has the structure of a fish, and accordingly there is printed on its side the Greek word Ichthys, fish. The implications of the word we already know. But can a ship constructed like a fish represent both Christ and the Church? Certainly. Because the Church is the Body of Christ. St. Paul loved to speak of the Church in these terms. Christ is the Head, we the members. The Church is His Body. This is a deep, a wonderful, a glorious truth! We all are members of Christ, divine life is flowing into us from Christ. Oh, what important personages we really are! How we should love and honor holy Church, the Body of the Lord!

1. e) The anchor. The early Christians were expert in the art of devising symbols and in using them extensively. Even in the implements on board ship they saw spiritual content. Especially the anchor. The anchor, a very important and useful adjunct to the ship, secures it, particularly when storms would toss it to and fro. So there arose the expression, “the anchor of hope.” Now as the anchor bears a certain resemblance to the Cross and the Cross is the great source of supernatural hope, the early Christians spontaneously employed the anchor as the symbol of the Cross, of redemption, of salvation. As a result we often find the anchor in some form or other upon graves in the catacombs. Fellow Christians, let us make the Cross of Christ the anchor of our lives. Christ the Crucified must be our all. In the Cross is salvation!
2. The Pilgrimage.Again and again Mother Church reminds us that we have no lasting cities here on earth. We are foreigners on earth, pilgrims on their way to a heavenly fatherland.Sunday, in particular, Sunday, the day of God, the Lord’s day, is the day upon which we are to remind ourselves that we are wanderers, pilgrims. It is the day when, with compass in hand, we are to determine our goal, the day when we are to receive the strength and courage needed to continue our pilgrimage. Today’s holy Mass very beautifully shows the way and notes the stages, Listen as Mother Church explains these various stages to us.

First stage. We began the journey heavenward on the day of baptism. Prior to baptism we were swimming in the turgid waters of earthly life. Then came the moment when the divine Fisherman cast His net and landed us in the ship of the Church. From then on we have been Christ’s little fishes. In a spirit of gratitude let us recall that day of our baptism, because every Sunday is ordained unto the renewal of baptism; every Sunday centers upon baptism and perfects it. Every Sunday the graces of baptism are unfolded further and enhanced through the Eucharistic Sacrifice. Second stage. For some time now we have been on our journey. What kind of trip has it been? Already on the third Sunday after Easter, Mother Church showed us that life on earth is no paradise: “You shall be made sorrowful, but the world shall rejoice; you shall lament and weep.” Yes, this certainly is the case; and today she paints this rugged pilgrimage in starkest colors.

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