A few weeks ago, when I wrote about the second Precept of the Church on going to confession at least once a year, I set it in the context of the third Precept:  Reception of Holy Communion at least once a year during the Easter season.  I feel like my explanation that week covered this precept well, so let’s address the final remaining Precept which states:  Observance of the days of fast and abstinence.

When we hear these two terms, fasting and abstinence, it is likely that our minds go immediately to the season of Lent.  Perhaps you have seen the Lenten regulations that we publish from the diocese each year.  They are as follows:

1. ABSTINENCE – Everyone 14 years of age and over is bound to abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent.

2. FAST – Everyone 18 years of age and under 59 is required to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

On these two days of fast and abstinence, only one full meatless meal is permitted. Two other meatless meals, sufficient to maintain strength may be taken according to each person’s needs, but together these two should not equal another full meal. Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids (including milk and fruit juices) are allowed.

Sounds pretty straightforward, right?  Well, there is another important point about which many Catholics are unaware.  We turn first to the universal law of the Church found in the Code of Canon Law:

Abstinence from meat, or from some other food as determined by the Episcopal Conference, is to be observed on all Fridays, unless a solemnity should fall on a Friday. (Can. 1251)

In a statement from 1966, the US Bishops give a nice commentary on the reason for this law when they write:

Friday should be in each week something of what Lent is in the entire year. For this reason we urge all to prepare for that weekly Easter that comes with each Sunday by freely making of every Friday a day of self-denial and mortification in prayerful remembrance of the passion of Jesus Christ.

This means that every Friday, unless it is a Solemnity, is a day to abstain from meat.  But the Code provides the following important stipulation:

The conference of bishops can determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence as well as substitute other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety, in whole or in part, for abstinence and fast. (Can 1253)

Here in the United States, it has been decided that Friday abstinence can be exercised in other ways than not eating meat.  While the US Bishops praise and give first place to the practice of abstaining from meat on Fridays, they leave room to choose an alternative penitential practice, such as abstaining from alcohol.  They also offer a helpful commentary which provides some insight into another way of observing Friday:

It would bring great glory to God and good to souls if Fridays found our people doing volunteer work in hospitals, visiting the sick, serving the needs of the aged and the lonely, instructing the young in the Faith, participating as Christians in community affairs, and meeting our obligations to our families, our friends, our neighbors, and our community, including our parishes, with a special zeal born of the desire to add the merit of penance to the other virtues exercised in good works born of living faith.

So if you are not doing anything penitential, sacrificial, or charitable on Fridays, now is a good time to start!  And if you find it hard to think of something, remember the Church’s recommendation of abstaining from meat as a worthwhile way of remembering the sacrifice that Jesus made for us on Good Friday.

Father Alford

One of the challenges that we all face in the Christian life is staying faithful to prayer even when it becomes “difficult” or when we have little desire to do so. St. Therese of Lisieux is one of the Church’s most beloved saints of the 20^th century and she wrote very simply but beautifully about prayer. Her nickname of the “Little Flower” was one that she gave to herself. She imagined herself in God’s beautiful garden as just a simple little flower, compared to the spiritual masters who are more like bushes or trees! May her simple words on prayer inspire us to “keep at it” this week as we seek to love the Lord with all our heart! 

From Story of a Soul

Sometimes when I am in such a state of spiritual dryness that not a single good thought occurs to me, I say very slowly the “Our Father,” or the “Hail Mary,” and these prayers suffice to take me out of myself.

I take refuge, then, in prayer, and turn to Mary, and our Lord always triumphs.

My strength lies in prayer and sacrifice; they are invincible weapons, and touch hearts more surely than words can do, as I have learned by experience.

We often think we receive graces and are divinely illuminated by means of brilliant candles. But from whence comes their light? From prayers, perhaps, of some humble, hidden soul, whose inward shining is not apparent to human eyes.

In a word, prayer is something noble, supernatural, which expands my soul and unites it to God.

For me, prayer is a burst from my heart, it is a simple glance thrown toward heaven, a cry of thanksgiving and love in times of trial as well as in times of joy.

Frequently, only silence can express my prayer.

Let us not grow tired of prayer: confidence works miracles.

The power of prayer has been understood by all the saints, and especially, perhaps, by those who have illumined the world with the light of Christ’s teaching.

My strength lies in prayer and sacrifice; they are invincible weapons, and touch hearts more surely than words can do, as I have learned by experience.

Our fulcrum is God: our lever, prayer; prayer which burns with love. With that we can lift the world!

Excerpt from littleflower.org 

Feast Day: September 23^rd | Patron of Adolescents, Civil Defenders, Pietrelcina, Italy

1887, like most years in human history, had a whole lot of ordinary events, and a few that you would recognize. Gustave Eiffel began work on his eponymous tower in Paris. King Kalākaua of Hawai’i was forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution, leading to Hawaii’s annexation to the United States. Yamaha Corporation was founded in Japan, originally a manufacturer of organs. Sherlock Holmes first appeared in print in England.

God’s grace was available in all of these moments, though, as is often the case, it was more visible in the humbler moments that history has long since forgotten. On March 25^th of that year, on the Friday two weeks before Easter, after a day fasting from meat and working with her husband, Grazio, in the fields, Giuseppa “Beppa” Forgione gave birth to their fourth child, though only their second to survive infancy. They were a lovely couple: Neither had received much academic education, but Beppa had a dignity and sincerity that melded marvelously with Grazio’s simplicity and lightheartedness. The townspeople would fondly recall Beppa’s penetrating eyes and Grazio’s wiry tenacity, attributes that marked them through all 47 years of their marriage. 

But that Friday evening when Francisco was born, those personal characteristics, and their own past and future, were far from the couple’s mind. Instead, they endured together the struggle of childbirth, the surreal joy of welcoming a son into their family, the poignant sadness of recalling his deceased brother and sister, and yet the sure hope that held their hearts knowing that they had given each of their children the greatest gift they ever could: baptism into God’s very life.

They owned a simple jumble-of-a-house comprised of a few connected rooms on Vico Storto Valle [hilariously, literally, “Crooked Valley Lane”]. Their whitewashed walls were adorned with little more than two crucifixes and a lithograph of Mary, but their home was filled with the love that cascades around a little Catholic family. They woke when the bells of Castle Church rang out for daybreak, starting the day with some family prayers and daily Mass.  Then Tata [Papa] would saddle the ass and begin the hour trek to his strip of farmland where he grew grapes, wheat, corn, olives, figs, and plums. There were a few sheep and hogs around, and a little cottage there if they had to stay the night, but usually they were back in Pietrelcino for nightfall, eating a dinner of produce from Beppa’s garden – apparently a lot of green beans – and maybe some pasta. If it was a feast day, Mammella [Motherdear] would prepare some of the pork sausage they had saved from last year’s hog. 

Music and stories from the Bible (Grazio was a wonderful storyteller!) and meditation on the life of Christ through their daily rosary filled the last part of the day. Days quickly became years as the life of their family was swept along through the Church’s seasons. One of the children’s favorite stories was that of the great martyred Bishop Januarius, who was buried only 40 miles, but whose blood would sometimes miraculously liquify on his feast day, September 19^th. On the one hand, nothing was notable about the Forgione’s, but on the other hand, their love for God was evident to all, and their fellow townspeople them the “God-is-everything-people”.  

We often hear only the second half of Padre Pio’s story: of his miracles and bilocation; his fervent Masses and the profound encounter with God’s Love that many received going to confession to him; how misunderstood he was by the Church, and the world; his battles with Satan; his love for Mary; his participation in Jesus’ wounds; his prediction that Karol Wojtyla would be called to be the Holy Father… But where did this holy priest come from?: A family, with a farm, and not much more than the simple meals of a loving mother and the saintly stories of a goofy dad, and consistent daily encounters with Jesus, and Mary. They sang and suffered, and loved and labored together, and from that soil grew one of the most captivating lives of all the Church’s saints. It does not take much to become a saint, a mystic, a martyr, or a stigmatist … just saying yes to God’s love into our human lives every single day.

– Fr. Dominic Rankin once visited the tomb of St. Padre Pio. He is enshrined behind glass, beneath a big, modern Church, and thousands meander past every day. Some encounter a saint, some see a celebrity, some scoff at the stories, but a few pilgrims meet there the son of two peasants who loved Jesus with as much of his heart as he could. We can all do that.

Having paused our reflections on the Precepts of the Church for one week (I hope the clarification on the status of some of our priests was helpful), let us return to the topic at hand – the second Precept of the Church:  Confession of serious sins at least once a year

Although I did not plan it this way, our continued reflection on the sometimes difficult topic of confession falls on a Sunday in which the Church provides us probably the most powerful of Jesus’s teaching on His mercy, the Parable of the Prodigal Son.  I do not want to focus too much on that parable in this article, as that is what the homily is for, just to make note of it and to keep the story in our minds as we consider the Father and the great mercy He offers to us as His beloved children in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

One point that I will highlight from this story is the line where the younger son prepares what he is going to say when he returns to his father’s house.  We can see in this rehearsal a model for us as we prepare to return to the Father’s house in the sacrament.  Preparation is key!  Trust me, we hear a lot of confessions at the Cathedral and it is evident that the best confessions are those when it is clear that somebody has made a good preparation beforehand.  Without preparation, we risk not confessing some of the sins that we should confess.  There is a difference between not being able to recall a sin after a good preparation and simple negligence by not doing any significant preparation.  A good preparation is all the more necessary if it has been some time since our last confession.  A lack of preparation could result in a very vague confession which only speaks in general terms, which is not very beneficial, or we could find ourselves rambling on without much direction – also not very beneficial.

So how should we prepare?  I highly recommend finding a good Examination of Conscience to review.  A quick Internet search will certainly return many options.  Then, ask the Holy Spirit to help you as you examine your conscience.  If you need to, make a list that you can bring into the confessional.  Do not underestimate how unreliable our memory can be, especially when we have our nerves running high once we step into the confessional!  I have heard some people say that making a list is unnecessary, or not advisable out of a fear that somebody might find the list.  But if making a list helps you to make a good confession, by all means, go for it.  Full transparency – I make a list every time I go to confession.  When you are done, destroy the list – shred it or burn it.  When it comes time for making your confession, please stick to your sins.  Please do not confess the sins of another person.  You can only take ownership for your own sins.  Confessing our sins does not need a story, either.  As a priest I know said one time: “if you feel the need to explain it, you might just be making excuses instead of just taking ownership and confessing your sins.”  Plus, we want to be respectful of the time of those who are in line behind us.  Doing a good preparation will enable the flow of the line go much more efficiently.  Not that efficiency is and end in itself, but it is a sign of good courtesy toward your fellow penitents.  

So as you think and pray about your relationship with confession, let me gently encourage you to examine how well you prepare for your confession.  If you truly take the time to do a good preparation, I can guarantee you will benefit greatly from this sacrament the next time you go.  And that experience may well help you to embrace this gift of the Father’s mercy in a new way, such that you are eager to make use of it more frequently as one of the most effective means of truly growing in holiness. 

Father Alford

Last week we reflected on the theological virtue of faith. Today, I would like to reflect on the theological virtue of hope, a virtue by which we desire the Kingdom of Heaven and eternal life as our happiness, it is by putting our trust in Christ.  Hope is conceivably the most challenging of the three theological virtues to understand. It can be depicted as an unwavering trust and assurance that the promises of God will be fulfilled. This trust is centered on Christ who through his Death and Resurrection, has brought us the hope of salvation. The Catechism of the Catholic Church describes the true nature and meaning of the theological virtue of hope.  It states that, “Hope is the theological virtue by which we desire the kingdom of heaven and eternal life as our happiness, placing our trust in Christ’s promises and relying not on our own strength, but on the help of the grace of the Holy Spirit. ‘Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.’ ‘The Holy Spirit … he poured upon us richly through Jesus Christ Savior, so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.’” (CCC, # 1817).

Living in the hope of resurrection is quite instrumental in the healing process during the bereavement. Without the hope of resurrection there is no belief in life after death. There is no immortality. It is the hope of resurrection that gives meaning to the afterlife. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, death is defeated, and eternal life is made sure.  By raising Jesus from the death, God promises all the faithful the same resurrection. In death life is distorted, but in resurrection victory is triumphed. The question St. Paul asks,” O’ death where is your victory? O’ death where is your sting? (I Cor 15: 55). As Christians, sometimes we might ask ourselves same questions especially, when someone close to us, when someone whom we loved so much, when someone who meant so much to us dies, we are deeply hurt, and our heart is troubled, and we begin to question everything. What is life? Why is death? Where is God? 

More than all the avenues, the Church provides wonderful opportunities for healing. This does not mean that all the bereaved families run to Church for comfort and encouragement. On the contrary, most grievers shy away from the Church, feeling at the time that God has betrayed or forsaken them. Where there is hope, there is no despair; where there is despair or hopelessness, there is no hope, but hope in the human life cannot be invaded by despair. Despair can be understood as a momentarily psychological feeling that even affects the spiritual dimension of Christian life. Hope has the last word over despair. With hope, Christians participate to the vision of God, who is eternal life. Stories, such as the resurrection of Lazarus from the dead, for example, make them feel like God has abandoned them, because if He was able to raise Lazarus why can’t He also raise their own. Some of us can think like this. Christ is the only hope of the human person, and he endured the cross, suffered, died, and was raised. This is our Christian hope.  Without hope, our Christian life would become meaningless. What we hope for is everlasting life. Our deceased brothers and sisters have joined whom they have served in their whole life. Now what we cannot see with our corporeal eye, our brothers and sisters are seeing it. This is what Saint John teaches us, “Beloved we are God’s children now, what we shall be has not yet been revealed. we do not know that when it is revealed to us, we shall see him as he is. everyone who has this hope based on him makes himself pure as he is pure.” (1 Jn 3:2-3).   Finally, I invite you to pray through the intercession of Saint John Paul II never to give up on Hope as he encourages us: “I plead with you, never ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not Afraid” St. John Paul II pray for us.

Feast Day: September 14^th 

This week I draw our reflection directly from St. John Chrysostom (whom I wrote on last year, and who we celebrate on September 13^th, AND being nicknamed golden-tongues, can do a far better job than I on preaching on the Cross of Christ!). Here is one of his homilies, from the 300s, simply entitled “On the Holy Cross”. 

The Cross of the Lord is unpleasant and sorrowful to the ear, but it consists of joy and gladness. It is the originator not so much of suffering as much as of passionlessness. For Jews the Cross is temptation, for pagans it is madness, but for us believers it reminds us of our salvation. When in church one reads about the Cross and one is reminded of the sufferings on the Cross, the faithful are indignant at the Cross and let out a plaintive wail and murmur not at the Cross but at the crucifiers and unbelievers. For the Cross is the salvation of the Church, the Cross is the praise of those who hope on it. The Cross has released us from the evil that possessed us and is the beginning of the blessings received by us. The Cross is the reconcilement of His enemies with God, the promise of sinners to Christ. For by the Cross we were freed from enmity and through the Cross we have become amiable to God. The Cross delivered us from the authority of the devil, the Cross saved us from death and destruction. The Cross changed human nature to the angelic, having released it from all that is corruptible, and have found lives worthy of immortality.

How great is the power of the Cross! How great is the change made by it in the human race! How from the deep darkness it has led us to the boundless light, from death it has restored us to eternal life, from corruption it has transferred us to incorruption. What good is not accomplished for us by means of the Cross? Through the Cross we learned piety and learned the properties of the Divine essence. Through the Cross we learn the truth about God, through the Cross we who were far from Him are united to Christ, and we become worthy of the grace of the Holy Spirit. Through the Cross we learn the power of love and we are taught to die for others. Through the Cross we are scorned and all what we do is not temporal, we search the blessings of the future and we accept the invisible as if seen. The Cross is preached, and the faith in God is confessed, His truth is spread throughout the universe. The Cross is preached, and the faith in the resurrection, the life and the kingdom of heaven is made without a doubt. What is more precious than the Cross and what is more saving for the soul? The Cross is the triumph over demons, the armor against sin and the sword with which the Lord has struck the snake. The Cross is the will of the Father, the glory of the Only-begotten, the joy of the Holy Spirit, the ornament of angels, the protection of the Church, the praise of St. Paul, the protection of the Saints, the lamp of all the world.

See, however desired and deservedly amiable the Cross is made today, it was the most terrible and shameful sign of the cruelest execution in antiquity! And the Cross makes the best ornament on the imperial crown, the most precious in all the world. The image of the Cross is now found on you, both masters and servants, both wives and husbands, both maidens and married, both slaves and free. All place the sign of the Cross on the noblest part of their body, daily carrying this sign on their forehead, as on a depicted pillar. It shines on a sacred meal, on the clothes of the priest and together with the Lord’s body at the mystical supper. You see it lifted everywhere: on houses, in market-places, in the deserts, on the paths, on mountains and hills, on the sea, on ships, on islands, on boxes, on clothes, on armor, in the halls, on golden and silver vessels, in pictures, on the bodies of sick animals, on the bodies of the demon-possessed, in war, in the world, in the afternoon, at night, in festal assemblies and in the cells of the ascetics. Already no one is ashamed and does not blush at the thought that the Cross is a sign of a shameful death. To the contrary, all of us honor this as an adornment for ourselves, which has surpassed crowns and diadems and precious stones. Let us not run, let us not be frightened, but let us kiss and honor it as an invaluable treasure.

– Fr. Dominic Rankin has been reminded, by this feast and homily, and many other recent moments, that he really needs to get the chain fixed for the cross he wore around his neck. It seems a little thing, but we are either marked with Christ’s cross, or something else, and if it’s anything else, it’s not going to carry us to God.

Last week, I promised that I would continue our reflections on the second Precept of the Church:  Confession of serious sin at least once a year.  I am humbly asking that you wait another week as another topic has come up that I think deserves our attention.  It has to do with three of our previous Parochial Vicars here at the Cathedral and some confusion about what was recently listed in the Catholic Times regarding the assignments of Father Michael Friedel, Father Peter Chineke, and Father Wayne Stock.

Let’s start with our most recent Parochial Vicar – Father Peter Chineke.  As you are aware, the plan we had in place was to have Father Peter begin full-time Canon Law studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.  As we were preparing for this transition, it was brought to our attention that his current immigration status does not really allow us to assign him to full-time studies at this time.  The details are a bit confusing, and if you do not deal with immigration law, I won’t bore you with the details.  We still hope to have Father Peter study Canon Law full-time in the future, but for now, for the purposes of immigration, he needs to be in a parish assignment, thus his being appointed Parochial Administrator at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Decatur, as well as Chaplain of St. Teresa High School and Millikin University, both in Decatur.

If you read Father Peter’s appointment carefully, you will see that it includes information about Father Michael Friedel, and this is where many have been confused.  Due to some unforeseen challenges with another assignment (see below) in Decatur, it became no longer possible for Father Friedel to serve both of his parishes by himself (Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Thomas the Apostle).  Up until July 1, Father Friedel had a second priest to assist him, but after July 1, he was left by himself, as I will explain below.   The solution was for Father Friedel to request a Leave of Absence from his role as Pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle so as to focus his efforts on Our Lady of Lourdes, thus making room for the diocese to assign a priest to take care of the pastoral care of St. Thomas the Apostle temporarily.  The diocese therefore assigned a priest for a month at St. Thomas, then when the situation with Father Peter arose, it made good sense for him to take care of St. Thomas.  Where people have grown concerned with Father Friedel is the mention in the appointment for Father Peter that Father Friedel’s Leave of Absence was necessitated by his Parochial Vicar’s Medical Leave of Absence.  Several people saw “Medical Leave of Absence” and the closest name to that phrase was Father Friedel, so many assumed he was on a Medical Leave of Absence, when in reality, it was his Parochial Vicar.

That brings us to our final priest – Father Wayne Stock, and his situation brings clarity to the last point.  Father Wayne Stock was initially scheduled to take a new assignment on July 1 as Parochial Vicar of Our Lady of Lourdes and St. Thomas the Apostle in Decatur, as well as Chaplain of St. Teresa High School.  Unfortunately, Father Wayne has requested and received a Medical Leave of Absence for the time being.  Since this happened after all of the assignments had been made, we needed to pivot to address the situation in Decatur while trying to avoid upsetting other assignments that were already set.

I hope this explanation helps to clear things up.  I know that Father Friedel has been pretty surprised at how many people have been asking about him, if he is okay.  I assure you, Father Friedel is doing great in Decatur.  Nevertheless, I am sure he still very much appreciates your prayers!  The same goes for Father Peter as he settles into his new assignment.  Finally, I invite you to keep Father Wayne in your daily prayers.  Many of you came to know and love him during his time here, and I know he will very much appreciate your prayers during this time in which he is attending to his well-being.

Father Alford

Feast Day: September 9^th | Patron of Slaves, Race Relations, Seafarers, Colombia

Pere Claver i Corberó had just finished his bachelor’s degree in humanities at the University of Barcelona. The 22-year-old had done his father, Pedro (the mayor of his hometown) proud, getting good grades and becoming a leader of his peers. Peter had lost his mother just before going to the university, but he now fondly recalled her injunction that “nothing should come between him and the love of God.” She had prayed constantly for her son’s vocation, asking Hannah and our Mother Mary to lead and protect him. Now her, and their, prayers were being answered because as Pere thought of his future, the thought of becoming a priest continued to flicker through his soul. He had met priests of the new religious order calling itself the Society of Jesus, a gutsy title that fired the heart of the young man.  He had finally written to the Order, putting words on his deep desire to “become a saint, and … save many souls.” God loved that prayer.

The superior general of the Jesuits, Cludio Aquaviva, accepted Pere into the novitiate and he was sent to Tarragona for two years of learning about the order and giving time for God’s grace to deeply enter his heart. As a novice, he kept a notebook with meditations from the various times of prayer, many of them rather ordinary, some too sublime to describe, and some articulating desires that he had not placed in the depths of his heart. On one occasion he penned this line: “I must dedicate myself to the service of God until death, on the understanding that I am like a slave, wholly occupied in the service of his master and in the endeavor to please and content him in all and in every way with his whole soul, body, and mind.” The year was 1602. He returned often to those words in the years to come.

Brother Peter did his philosophical studies at the College of Montesión on the lovely island of Majorca. There he became friends with the lay brother who manned the door to the college, Alphonsus Rodríguez. Rodríguez did not know it, but he was one of the many holy porters that the Church would produce in the years to come. This humble man would be canonized along with St. Nuno de Braganza of Portugal (+1431), St. John Masias (+1645) and St. Martin de Porres (+1639) of Peru, St. Padre Pio in Italy (+1968), and their group now includes Bl. André Bessette of Montreal (+1937) and Bl. Solanus Casey (+1957) of Michigan as well. The 80-year-old Alphonsus would entrust to Peter much of the spiritual wisdom he had received in the simple work of meeting and greeting, passing onto him a profound love for those who need it the most, and encouraging him to go as a missionary to the New World. 

God, in his providence, placed another person in Peter’s life to guide his steps into the future. This was Fr. Alonso de Sandoval, himself a missionary in Colombia who had spent 40 years ministering on the plantations there. Slavery had been made legal there some 70 years before, and ever since that wretched day, the number of Africans being bought, imported, and forced to work had kept growing. Once again, Peter, now a newly ordained Jesuit priest, found his heart fired by the love at work in this man. Fr. Claver had felt that interior-fire in Barcelona after the death of his mother, in Tarragona in the silence of prayer, on Majorca chatting with Br. Alphonsus, and now in Cartagena, assisting Fr. Sandoval to publish his rich knowledge of the customs, languages, and religions he had come to know working with those enslaved in Colombia. He would need that fire every day on the docks of Cartegena. Here are his own words describing the scene:

Yesterday, May 30, 1627, numerous blacks … disembarked from a large ship. Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them. … We had to force our way through the crowd until we reached the sick. Large numbers of the sick were lying on the wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. … they were naked, without any clothing to protect them. There were two blacks, nearer death than life, already cold, whose pulse could scarcely be detected. With the help of a tile we pulled some live coals together and placed them in the middle near the dying men. … they seemed to recover their warmth and the breath of life. The joy in their eyes as they looked at us was something to see. This was how we spoke to them, not with words but with our hands and our actions. And in fact, convinced as they were that they had been brought here to be eaten, any other language would have proved utterly useless. Then we sat, or rather knelt, beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick. … we declared to them the mysteries of the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Passion. Showing them Christ fastened to the cross, as he is depicted on the baptismal font on which streams of blood flow down from his wounds, we led them in reciting an act of contrition in their own language.

Peter went into those ships almost every day for four decades. He saw almost a million slaves arrive on those docks. He baptized a third of them. One spark of divine love can carry you far.

– Fr. Dominic Rankin has never been given the assignment of porter, but it might be a great way to become a saint!

Last Sunday the Lord Jesus reminded us about the virtue of humility and in order to understand all this is for us to turn our eyes to the Lord himself. Today let us turn on the theological virtues, the virtues of faith, hope, and charity have God as their direct object. By faith we know God, by Hope we trust His promises and goodness, and by Charity, we love Him. Many times, in our prayer, we ask for many things, both for ourselves and others. This week we begin reflecting on the theological virtue of faith and how the Catechism of Catholic Church defines it.  Faith is foundational in our Christian life, because it helps us believe, hope, and love God. As I was reflecting on the theological virtue of faith. I remembered my early years attending Catechetical classes and the teaching was based on Baltimore Catechism; I do recall answering this question why God created us? God created us to know Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world and at the end we return back to Him. God is our ultimate end. The definition of faith does matter. What matters is the place that faith hold in our daily life. Faith is a gift to see the presence of God in everything; it a new way of looking at myself, others, the event of life. Therefore, the Catechism of Catholic Church state: “The theological virtue of faith is a virtue by which we believe in God and believe all that he has said and revealed to us, and that Holy Church proposes for our belief, because he us truth itself. By faith man freely commits his entire self to God, for this reason the believer seeks to know and do God’s will” (CCC, 1814).  The Catechism of the Catholic Church goes further to defines Faith as the supernatural virtue, which is necessary for salvation. The Catechism adds that Faith is a divine gift and human act; God moves this act to the contemplation of his very truth (CCC, #. 153-184).  

Furthermore, the Second Vatican Council describes Faith as a personal response to God’s revelation of love. God comes toward humanity and condescends to open up to human beings the secrets of his intimate life, looking for a reciprocal love. Human beings, for their part, turn to God through Faith and open up to him in friendship. The council says explicitly that by faith “man entrusts his whole self freely to God, offering ‘the full submission of intellect and will to God who reveals,’ and freely assenting to the truth revealed by him” (Dei Verbum, 5).

Our Faith comes true through the visible God in Christ. The whole Trinity has been revealed in the Person of Christ. We cannot claim, as Christians, that we have Faith in God when we reject whom he has sent to us. Whoever sees me (Christ) sees the one who sent me (God the Father) (Jn 12:45). This is one of the foundational acts of the Christian faith. So as Christians faithful we need to: “turn to the witnesses of faith: to Abraham, who in hope …believed against hope; to the virgin Mary, who, in her pilgrimage of faith, walked into the night of faith in sharing the darkness of hers son’s suffering and death; and to so many others: ‘ therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith”(CCC, Paragraph 165 on profession of faith). As we reflected on theological virtue of faith. Are we ready, like the Apostles, to ask for the gift of faith?  “Lord increase our faith” (Lk 17:5).

We continue our reflections on the Five Precepts of the Church, having looked at the first and fifth precepts: 1) obligation to attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation, and 5) providing for the needs to the Church. This week, we will jump back to the second precept: Confession of serious sin at least once a year.

Notice two key words in this precept: “at least”, which is consistent with the Church’s definition of the
precepts, that they constitute “the very necessary minimum” of the Christian life. Serious sin is also known
as mortal sin. It is mortal because it kills our relationship with the Lord, and we are the ones responsible for that mortal blow. A serious, or mortal sin, requires that we have full knowledge of what we are doing, that we know it is wrong, and that we do it anyway. The classic example is intentionally skipping Mass without a serious reason (ie being in the hospital, or physically incapacitated by illness or injury).There are many other things in the moral life as well, perhaps most commonly sins against chastity (ie sexual activity outside of marriage, artificial contraception, use of pornography). There are other examples that can be given, but to list them all would take more space than I have.

One of the reasons this precept is worded this way is connected to the third precept: Reception of Holy Communion at least once a year during the Easter season. One must be in the state of grace (having any serious sins absolved through Confession) in order to receive Holy Communion. So if the very minimum is receiving Holy Communion once a year, it makes sense that we confess serious sins prior to doing that. The Church has rightly encouraged us to receive Holy Communion much more frequently because of how important it is for us to receive the graces that come from this gift. So if we receive more frequently, which most of us do every Sunday, then we need to make sure our use of Confessions roughly matches that. In other words, if we plan to go to Holy Communion regularly, we should probably be going to confession more regularly. We must never approach Holy Communion with unforgiven, serious sin on our soul. To do so is to commit an additional serious sin of sacrilege. So if we are aware of committing a serious sin, make it a point to get to confession as soon as possible for two reasons: 1) so that we can receive Holy Communion the next time we are at Mass 2) to avoid being separated from God for eternity. As Jesus reminded us a few Sundays ago, “You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” (Luke 12:40) The choice is always up to us. We use our free will to either follow or not follow God. We choose to ask His forgiveness for our serious sins in the way He intended it (ie Confession), or we choose not to. And in the end, we either choose to be with Him in Heaven, or we choose not to. Jesus does not condemn us to eternal separation, we choose that ourselves by choosing contrary to His will and not turning back in repentance.

A clarification on this topic is necessary, because it is often misunderstood. Divine law is to keep holy the Sabbath, which as Christians is to keep holy the Lord’s Day. The way we do this is by going to Mass (the first precept of the Church). That obligation is always there, so even if we are not in the position to receive Holy Communion due to unconfessed serious sin, we still need to go to Mass. We are not obliged to receive Holy Communion at each Mass, though we are encouraged to do so, but only if we are aware that we are not guilty of any unconfessed mortal sins.

Since this is such an important and sometimes sensitive topic, I plan to return to it next week, especially since I basically addressed two precepts in this article. In the meantime, ask yourself if it might be time for you to get back to confession.

Father Alford is the Rector of the Cathedral and serves in the diocesan curia as the Vicar for Clergy, Consecrated Life, and Vocations.