Vol 11 Issue 33 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
August 18, 2018 ~ Saint Helena, opn!
- What is the Sacrament of Confirmation
- Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
- Saint John Eudes
- Family and Marriage
- Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
Last week I dealt with whether the death penalty is acceptable by the Catholic Church for those who are unrepentant for the worst crimes (sins) against society. However, we must now address the punishment of those who are repentant or commit lesser crimes against society. The punishment for the unrepentant was death. And to justify this aspect sometimes the repentant criminal must also suffer. Otherwise, with no example one does not grasp the consequences of sin. This is why the Fathers of the Church defend the Old Testament despite the fact that it approved violence on God’s part: It shows us that the consequence for sin happens not only to man just in the spiritual reality but is reflected also in the physical reality—even to the condemnation of whole peoples to death for their sinful lives. Why? Because in the next life they will also suffer that condemnation already pronounced for their sinful lives.
There are two further points that must not be ignored. The first is debtor’s prison and the second is baptism.
We tend to forget debtor’s prison because it no longer exists. People, because of circumstances beyond their control and because of usury, were thrown into prison or sold into servitude until they paid their debts—which was of course now impossible (as they could no longer earn money) and why the prophets and Our Lord said these should be forgiven as example after example was shown in the New Testament. However, Scripture makes very clear that Barabbas should not have been released. Even the Good Thief, without being contradicted, acknowledged he deserved to die.
When it came to baptism, the Church from the beginning taught that baptism, though forgiving all sin and eternal and temporal punishment due to sin, because of Christ’s death reconciling us with the Father, it did not exempt us from earthly penalties. This is because the idea that baptism could be received after committing a crime merely to escape civil and natural punishment thus denying the consequences of the sin would be wrong. The sin still had its effects in this world–and to remove the effects, it had to be repaired by removing the sin–and the source of sin which was the person. Unfortunately, because of Political Correctness and being accused of “hating the sinner” and being “merciless” and “uncharitable” and “unforgiving” and “God loves everyone” (Even Lucifer?), Bergoglio once again attempts to change Church teaching while knowing they are deserving of punishment for their sins but don’t want to be punished. Sadly, in the current environment, his incorrect statement will not be opposed by the Conciliar Church.
An additional aspect that Catholics need to be mindful of is that what we have primarily focused on in this article is punishment for crimes against society. But we need to constantly be aware that those crimes against society, if they also constitute a sin against God also merit punishment after this mortal life. Our Lord has given us the Sacrament of Penance by which we may diminish or eliminate punishment after death by its’ use and we should make frequent use of it.
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
XII
Church Teaching after Saint Thomas Aquinas
After Saint Thomas, there is still the discussion between the Latin Church and the Eastern Church as to whether a priest has the power as a priest to Confirm or only through the Apostolic Power of the Pope as an extraordinary minister of the Sacrament. The Eastern Church still held that priests could administer Confirmation to the children they baptized. It was then presented that the bishop could give that permission to his priests, as the following accusation of an error among the Armenians expresses in “Cum dudum” sent to the Armenians in the year 1341 by Pope Benedict XII (1334-1342): Error 64 Also the Catholicon of lesser Armenia says that the sacrament of confirmation is of no value, and if it has any value he himself has given permission to his priests that they confer the same sacrament. (Cf. D.B. 543) It must be noted that in the Conciliar Church their bishops may give priests permission to confirm (Cf. CCC 1313; 1983 CCL 884). In 1351, Clement VI (1342-1352) was forced to again enunciate the clarity to be held that only a bishop could consecrate sacred Chrism and only a bishop could ordinarily confirm and a priest could not do so without an apostolic mandate from the Pope.
(12) You have given responses which influence us to ask the following from you: first, concerning the consecration of chrism, whether you believe that the chrism can rightly and deservedly be consecrated by no priest who is not a bishop.
Second, whether you believe that the sacrament of confirmation cannot ordinarily be administered by any other than by the bishop by virtue of his office.
Third, whether you believe that by the Roman Pontiff alone, having a plentitude of power, the administration of the sacrament of confirmation can be granted to priests who are not bishops.
Fourth, whether you believe that those confirmed by any priests whatsoever, who are not bishops and who have not received from the Roman Pontiff any commission or concession regarding this, must be anointed again by a bishop or bishops. (Super quibusdam to the Consolator, the Catholicon of the Armenians, September 20, 1351; cf. D.B. 571-74)
One result of the “Babylonian Captivity”, that is, the pope living in Avignon (1309-1377), was the loss of seeing the Pope transcend national boundaries. Looked upon by many during this time as a French puppet, when the pope finally did return to Rome, the major nations wanted their candidate to be pope, allowing the Western Schism (1378-1417) to be created—but it also brought the faith to a nationalistic spirit from which John Wycliffe and Jan Hus found support in starting nationalist religions separate from the Universal or Catholic Faith. After Martin V (1417-1431) was elected by the Council of Constance (1414-1418) to end the Western Schism, the first acts were to reject the errors of an ever-growing number of nationalist sects that would give birth to the Protestant Reformation a century later. Concerning Confirmation, in the Bull, Inter Cunctas of February 22, 1418, the following was proposed to be answered by the followers in the affirmative before admittance back into communion with the Church: 19 Article—Likewise, whether he believes that a Christian who rejects the reception of the sacraments of confirmation, or extreme unction, or the solemnization of marriage sins mortally. (Cf. D.B. 669)
Eugenius IV (1431-1447) called the Council of Florence (1438-1445) to attempt again the reunion of the Eastern Churches with the Roman Church and, by means of a united Catholic Europe, stop the advance of the Mohammedan Turks. In the Decree for the Armenians (Exultate Deo of November 22, 1439), the Pope and Council set forth the faith to be accepted in regards the Sacraments according to the following words:
In the fifth place we have reduced under this very brief formula the truth of the sacraments of the Church for the sake of an easier instruction of the Armenians, the present as well as the future. There are seven sacraments of the new Law: namely, baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony, which differ a great deal from the sacraments of the Old Law. For those of the Old Law did not effect grace, but only pronounced that it should be given through the passion of Christ; these sacraments of ours contain grace, and confer it upon those who receive them worthily. Of these the five first ones are ordained for the spiritual perfection of each and every one in himself, the last two for the government and increase of the entire Church. For, through baptism we are spiritually reborn; through confirmation we increase in grace, and are made strong in faith; reborn, however, we are strengthened and nourished by the divine sustenance of the Eucharist. But if through sin we incur the disease of the soul, through penance we are spiritually healed; spiritually and corporally, according as is expedient to the soul, through extreme unction; through orders the Church is truly governed and spiritually propagated; through matrimony corporally increased. All these sacraments are dispensed in three ways, namely, by things as the matter, by words as the form, and by the person of the minister conferring the sacrament with the intention of doing as the Church does; if any of these is lacking the sacrament is not fulfilled. Among these sacraments there are three, baptism, confirmation, and orders, which imprint an indelible sign on the soul, that is, a certain character distinctive from the others. Hence they should not be repeated in the same person. The remaining four do not imprint a sign and admit of repetition. (Cf. D.B. 695)
Thereby declaring Confirmation to be (1) one of the seven Sacraments, (2) for the spiritual perfection of the soul by an increase in grace and a strengthening in faith, (3) and imprints an indelible sign on the soul whereby the sacrament cannot be repeated.
After speaking of Baptism, the document goes on to explain Confirmation in this manner:
The second sacrament is confirmation; its matter is the chrism prepared from the oil, which signifies the excellence of conscience, and from the balsam, which signifies the fragrance of a good reputation, and is blessed by a bishop. The form is: I sign thee with the sign of the cross and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. The ordinary minister is a bishop. And although a simple priest has the power in regard to other anointings only a bishop can confer this sacrament, because according to the apostles, whose place the bishops hold, we read that through the imposition of hands they conferred the Holy Spirit, just as the lesson of the Acts of the Apostles reveals: “Now, when the apostles, who were in Jerusalem, had heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John. Who, when they were come, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Ghost. For He was not as yet come upon any of them: but they were only baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands upon them; and they received the Holy Ghost” [Acts 8:14 ff.]. But in the Church confirmation is given in place of this imposition of hands. Nevertheless we read that at one time, by dispensation of the Apostolic See for a reasonable and urgent cause, a simple priest administered this sacrament of confirmation after the chrism had been prepared by the bishop. The effect of this sacrament, because in it the Holy Spirit is given for strength, was thus given to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost, so that the Christian might boldly confess the name of Christ. The one to be confirmed, therefore, must be anointed on the forehead, which is the seat of reverence, so that he may not be ashamed to confess the name of Christ and especially His Cross, which is indeed a “stumbling block to the Jews and unto the Gentiles foolishness” [cf.1 Cor. 1:23] according to the Apostle; for which reason one is signed with the sign of the Cross. (Cf. D.B. 697)
Constantinople would fall to the Turk Mohammedans in 1453; and the remaining Eastern Christians would be led by Mohammedan appointed bishops who expressed the bitterest opposition to Roman Catholics, extinguishing any hope of obtaining submission by the schismatics to the successor of Peter.
(To be continued)
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Dr. Pius Parsch
The Church’s Year of Grace (1959)
THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
From Easter Eve to Sunday Mass
Two contrary moods dominate today’s liturgy, the one grave, earnest, pleading, sad; the other joyous, thankful. Of special importance in understanding the Mass in its present form are the three chants taken from Psalm 73 (Intr., Grad., Comm.), which give the day its sombre, sober spirit; while the Gospel’s drama-miracle is best understood as a vivid visualization of the sacrifice-mystery being enacted at the altar.
- Content Structure. This Mass is the third in that trilogy which has the Church’s life as its object, viz., baptism, sacramental living, holy Eucharist (see eleventhSundayafter Pentecost). Perhaps it is the antithesis between the old Law and the new, between Jew and Gentile found in the two Readings which gives today’s formulary a certain inner unity and a semblance to lastSunday’s. Again today the Gospel gives the Samaritans precedence over the Jews. The formulary’s leit-motif is Psalm 73, a psalm lamenting a national disaster; some joyous strains, however, may be detected.
- Holy Mass (Respice, Domine).Let us begin with the Gospel. We see ten lepers healed by Christ, nine of whom simply vanish after their cure, while the tenth, a Samaritan, returns singing his gratitude to the Lord. What does the Church wish to convey by the narrative? Here again we have a good example of “mystery” in liturgy, for it is not the Church’s primary intention to inculcate a lesson on gratitude; she wishes rather to unravel the meaning of Sunday Mass and its sanctifying efficacy.Sundayis Easter, the day of baptism; and its Mass effects the renewal of baptismal graces. In the ten healed lepers we must see a figure of the baptized. Recall that in the ancient Church adults were baptized on Easter eve, and that ever since, the baptized in the eyes of the Church are considered men cleansed in the baptismal font from the leprosy of original sin. Moreover, every Sunday witnesses the renewal of the graces of baptism, for the Eucharistic banquet reinforces the substructure of baptism, completing and perfecting it.
The Eucharist too is subtly portrayed in today’s Gospel. Of the ten who were healed one returned “with a loud voice glorifying God, and he fell on his face before His feet, thanking Him (εὐχαριστῶν); “Eucharist” means giving thanks. Sunday Mass is a thanksgiving liturgy celebrated by the fortunate few who have been healed from the leprosy of sin. Let us sum up the significance of Sunday. It is the day on which we should praise God with loud voices, a day of thanksgiving for the grace of baptism, a harvest day for the soul, a day on which it receives an “increase of faith, of hope, and of charity” (Coll.), an “increase of eternal redemption” (Postc.). So much for a better understanding of the Gospel.
In the person of the grateful leper have we been prefigured who now come to the holy Sacrifice. For this morning “the Lord enters a certain town,” His Church. We “go to meet Him” and He heals us from the leprosy of sin, He seeks to give us freshening graces during the Sacrifice and its Banquet. This is the joyous and lightsome feature of the Gospel. There also is a sad, dark side—Jesus complaining over the ingratitude of “the other nine.” These represent lukewarm Christians who, though baptized, no longer practice their faith, no longer offer Sunday Mass (in some countries nine out of ten might not be too high an estimate). This, our Savior’s complaint, links the Gospel to the melancholy chant of Psalm 73.
A well-phrased Collect pleads for basic Christian virtues; “growth in faith, hope, and love” constitutes that renewal and deepening in the graces of baptism of which mention has been made. We plead not merely to be enabled to fulfill God’s will but to love His commands. The Epistle (perhaps the most vexing passage in the whole missal) teaches that we have become God’s children through grace alone without any merit on our part. At the Offertory procession we place in God’s hands, together with the usual Offertory gift, our whole life’s fortune: “My times are in Your hands.”
At the consecration Jesus appears and heals us sinners from leprosy, while in the sacrificial Banquet He gives “increase in eternal redemption—redemptionis aeternae augmentum.” And at the Ite missa est He sends us away as other Samaritans to act out a true Christian life: “Arise and go. . . . ” But do take time to notice the excellent Communion verse which extols the holy Eucharist as the Manna full of sweetness.—This Mass could well be entitled “From Easter Eve to Sunday Mass,” for its texts point up the intimate relation of Sunday Mass to holy baptism. Sundays are links in the chain binding the two great days of life, the day of baptism and the day of death—our two birthdays, that unto grace and that unto glory.
Certainly it is not the mind of the Church that we should touch upon the Gospel merely during the Mass; rather we ought use it as inspiration for the entire day. Therefore, as the sun rises at Lauds Jesus enters a certain town, i.e., the Church, and we, the lepers, go to meet Him: “As Jesus entered a certain town, there met Him ten men who were lepers. They stood afar off and lifted up their voice, saying: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (Ben. Ant.). Our evening song voices our gratitude for being healed: “And one of them, when he saw that he was made clean, went back with a loud voice glorifying God, alleluia.” There follows a thanksgiving canticle, the Magnificat.
- Sunday Meditation.A. Psalm 73. To appreciate fully today’s holy Mass it is necessary to know Psalm 73. It reads:
- Stricken by misfortunes
Why, O God, have you rejected us so completely?
Why does your wrath flare up against the lambs
in your own pasture ?
Give some thought at least to your people,
your own possession from the beginning,
one which you redeemed as a personal inheritance.
Think of Mount Sion,
which you made your dwelling-place.
Raise up your hand against their insolence,
see how the enemy has desecrated the sanctuary.
How they who hate you swagger about,
on the very sites of your sacred feasts!
Their standards they have erected as trophies;
with axes they hacked down the gates as in a woods,
with hatchet and ax they smashed their way in.
Your sanctuary they set on fire,
desecrating to the dust the dwelling-place of your name.
Together they agreed, that hellish brood:
“We will abolish God’s feasts throughout this land.”
No longer do we witness wonders as once we did;
no prophet arises, and no one knows what still will come.
- Confident of divine assistance
How long will the enemy continue to scoff?
how long will he continue to blaspheme your name?
Why do you hold back your hand?
and hide your right hand in your bosom?
Surely you, O God, have been our king for ages;
marvels you have wrought in this land.
The sea, you have cloven it by your power,
dragon heads, you crushed them on the waters.
You smote Leviathan,
made him food for beasts in the wilderness.
You caused streams to flow,
and dried up the ever-flowing rivers.
To you belongs the day, and to you the night,…
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