Tag Archives: Catechism

Choosing a Catechism

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In a few weeks time the Year of Faith, to be celebrated by the world-wide Catholic Church, will begin on 11 October 2012 (marking 50 years since the start of Vatican II and 20 years since the publication of the official Catechism of the Catholic Church) and will end on the Feast of Christ the King, 24 November 2013. Because we are invited in the Year of Faith to become more familiar with the teachings of the Church, it makes sense to do a short review of the the different types and styles of Catechisms available.

The official Catechism of the Catholic Church is available online at http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM , and is also available in a hardcover version and in a softcover version. The English version became available in 1994. This is the most detailed Catechism available, and the most suitable for adult use and serious study. As is traditional, the teaching it contains – distilled from almost 20 centuries of experience and study – is in four parts : the Creed, the Sacraments, the 10 Commandments and Prayer. In its style it is a reference work, with an extensive index at the back ; although you sometimes have to think laterally in searching the index to find the answers you are after.

After using the official Catechism for a few years, the need for a simpler question and answer version was felt. The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church was the result. This version contains some glorious pieces of religious art, and every so often a beautiful quote or two from the Saints. This is my Catechism of choice to give to students in Sacramental preparation, because it contains all they need until around mid high-school when the more detailed and extensive answers of the Catechism become necessary.

Following the experiences of young people at World Youth Days, it was found that the answers to questions most youngsters were asking about God, the Church and how to live holy lives in the modern world weren’t being easily found in the Compendium – even though the answers were there. So a contemporary catechism designed specifically for high school students and young adults was developed, rooted in the official Catechism and expressed in a more user friendly manner. They called it Youcat. So far I’ve never looked inside it, as I have been waiting for it to drop in price. 

Before the Compendium came out was giving the children preparing for Confirmation ‘I Believe – A Little Catholic Catechism’ which is produced by Aid to the Church in Need. This book is well laid out, with lots of beautiful pictures and highlighted quotations. However it is a bit light on, teaching wise, when it comes to talking about the Mystery of the Eucharist.  

Recently, because my normal supplier didn’t have enough Compendiums in stock, I ordered the St Joseph New American Catechism Illustrated by Fr Lawrence. G. Lovasik, S.V.D. instead. Anything by Fr Lovasik is brilliant. This is the No.2 Middle Grade version. It is largely in question and answer format and can be used as a study guide to Catholic Teaching because it contains regular ‘Fill in the Blanks’, ‘Discussion Questions’ and advice about how to live a particular part of the Catechism in practice. The pictures are good and the font is easy to read. 

For a Catechism which gives questions and answers which are easily memorised, the Catechism of Christian Doctrine or ‘penny Catechism’ cannot be beaten. A PDF version is available at http://laudatedominum.net/files/cat.pdf and via Google Books at http://books.google.com.au/books/about/A_Catechism_of_Christian_doctrine.html?id=6O0TH8PyXwgC&redir_esc=y. It is also still in print, but in a much nicer format that the small light green one.   

Generally, the more we know someone, the more we love them. It works the same way with God. The more we know Him, and the more we know the Teaching he has given us, the more we will love Him.

So if you haven’t yet got a Catechism to be your companion during the Year of Faith, now is the time to choose one or more and get them. It’s going to be a most wonderful year of spiritual renewal, so make sure that you are well prepared for it and that you don’t miss out on any of gifts that God has prepared for you during the Year of Faith.

 

 

 

God saves a people

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On this day, 3 Jul 2012, when we honour St Thomas, Apostle of Jesus, Prince and foundation stone of the Church (Rev 21:14), it is good to reflect upon the place of the Church in our lives. St Thomas and all the other Apostles are at the throne of God right now interceding for the Church and for each member in it. As the feast days of the Apostles come around each year they remind us that the Christian life is not just ‘me and Jesus.’

Most Tuesdays, since we live on the ‘Pacific Rim’, my son and I sit down and watch an episode of The Journey Home from EWTN. This TV programme gives a testimony about how someone came into the Catholic Church. In recent weeks some of the guests have been talking about how the ‘just me and God’ relationship has the outcome of making the church community an optional extra. Almost everywhere you turn preachers are inviting people into a personal relationship with Jesus. Granted, seeing the life of someone with an active relationship with Jesus is the major reason why people think to themselves, ‘I want what he’s got, ‘I want what she’s got’, and this then becomes the gateway to become open to accepting the saving role of Jesus in their lives. As an evangelistic method, it works brilliantly. However this whole notion that only my personal relationship with Jesus matters isn’t how God sees it, and it isn’t how the Church through the centuries has seen it.

To be saved you have to belong to the People of God. He doesn’t save us as individuals but as a people. Our salvation rests upon the covenant with God, the ancient form of which is ‘I will be your God, and you shall be My people.’ Never in holy Scripture do you find ‘I will be your God, you shall be My person.’ That is why Baptism is so important, because it incorporates us into Jesus and into His Body, and gives us membership of the People of God.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches (169) : ‘Salvation comes from God alone; but because we receive the life of faith through the Church, she is our mother: ‘We believe the Church as the mother of our new birth, and not in the Church as if she were the author of our salvation.’ Because she is our mother, she is also our teacher in the faith.’

The Covenant that God offers His people is something more than marriage, although marriage tends to be the best analogy we have to work with. Eph 5:25 ‘Husbands should love their wives just as Christ loved the Church and sacrificed Himself for her to make her holy.’ Take hold of that notion ‘Christ loved the Church’ ; it is not Christ loved the Individual. And as those who are married will attest, when you get married you don’t only marry your spouse, in a very real sense you marry his or her whole family as well. It is not possible to make a true commitment to Jesus unless you make a commitment to His whole body, the Church, as well. Can you see how very far this is from ‘me and Jesus’?

The problem is that this ‘me and Jesus’ paradigm takes the Church completely out of the equation. It means that a person will go church hopping ( or church shopping) until they find one that will assist and support their relationship with Jesus. With a mind set like that a person is unlikely to see service to the other members as an essential part of the Christian life. You see, other people are supposed to help them improve their own private personal relationship with Jesus. You might get them to help tell other people about Jesus, but they will be unlikely to help put out the chairs, serve on a committee or help with fundraising. Someone infected with ‘me and Jesus’ is not going to be capable of making a long term commitment to a parish community or denomination, and it takes a mighty lot of work to get them to see beyond ‘me and Jesus’. 

If you love Jesus truly, you will love His Church. The welfare of the other members of the Body of Christ for whom He has shed His Precious Blood will be of major importance to you. When we stand up on Sundays and profess our faith together, we say ‘I believe’ not just personally but collectively. Now I’m not knocking the importance of working on a personal relationship with God, but it can’t only be that, we also have to work on our relationships within the Communion of Saints – on earth, in heaven and in purgatory.

As has been said many times before, Catholicism is a ‘both / and’ religion : faith and good works ; pray and work ; fully human and fully divine ; saved and hope to be saved ; virgin and mother; etc. I’m sure you could recall many more. It is our Protestant brothers and sisters who often have an ‘either / or’ outlook on matters. This ‘me and Jesus’ stuff comes from the ‘either / or’ side of the camp. For us the Communion of Saints is a reality so essential we remind ourselves of it in the Creed on a frequent and regular basis, it’s not an optional fellowship extra.

May the good Lord get us back on track, so that when people see us they will want not only a personal relationship with Jesus, but also a vibrant relationship with each member of His Body the Church.

St Thomas, and all holy Apostles, pray for us, and please keep praying for the needs and welfare of holy Mother Church. Amen.

When the doctors don’t know what to do next

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The mystery of suffering is one that stumps us all. It is very easy to know objectively that suffering has great merit in God’s eyes, and that it is an essential part of the process of purifying our souls. However when acute pain strikes our first impulse is to panic. When chronic pain strikes our first response tends to be ‘Why me?’. Often dealing with suffering is harder when we have to watch someone we love go through it.

Back on 20 Jun 2012 I told you about our friend K. On 22 June she came though the lengthy neurological operation to place a further stent in her brain. Coming through it is one thing – and a rather big thing – but signs that the operation has benefited her condition are hard to find. Horrible new pains have begun, and CT scans are unable to reveal the cause of the pains in this case. The doctors don’t know what to do next, and any further medical interventions would definitely call into the category of ‘extraordinary’ and ‘disproportionate’.

This is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says (2278): ‘ Discontinuing medical procedures that are burdensome, dangerous, extraordinary, or disproportionate to the expected outcome can be legitimate, it is the refusal of ‘over zealous’ treatment. Here one does not wish to cause death ; one’s inability to impede it is merely accepted. The decisions should be made by the patient if he is competent and able or, if not, by those legally entitled to act for the patient, whose reasonable will and legitimate interests must always be respected.’

Most of us, thankfully, are not experiencing acute stabbing pains in the head that come and go, as K is. Knowing that the doctors have said that any further treatment would it itself be invasive and extensive (a shunt, perhaps even removal of part of the frontal part of the skull), and that even these measures may not give her relief, puts K and her family into looking at the ramifications of discontinuing further surgical attempts to help her. It is a very hard road to be on. Choosing to let nature take its course, and not knowing how long, nor how painful and distressing that course will be, is a very hard thing to do. The accounts the doctors have given of people dying this way are heart wrenching.

Others must be facing similar difficult life and death decisions. They need our prayers. Those who face an extraordinarily difficult road to eternity need our prayers. The parents, siblings and loved ones who accompany them on this journey need our prayers, too. One day, we ourselves might be in a similar situation.

At times like these, renewing our trust in the Mercy of Jesus that He won’t permit anything that He won’t give us the grace to handle, is the only way to peace. Before us He has placed a loved one whose sufferings mirror His own sufferings on the Cross. He knows that we need visible reminders of what he has undergone for us, and that we should receive them as an immense gift when they come along. May He give us the grace to stay close like Mary and John did, offering the sufferings of our loved one to the Father to obtain Mercy for many. May He give our suffering loved ones the grace to unite their sufferings with His and to trust that He will call ‘enough’ at the most perfect time. And should He grant a miracle, – like he did for the long-suffering woman with the haemorrhage, or for the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5) – may He grant us the grace to appreciate it fully and to give Him all the thanks, honour and glory that are His due. 

These two Prayers of Resignation come from Fr Lawrence G. Lovasick’s magnificent book, ‘Jesus Joy of the Suffering’ c.1964. May they be of help to those suffering and for those looking after them :

‘O my God, I accept from Your hands whatever You wish to send me, health or sickness, joy or sorrow, comfort or suffering. I know that You, my infinitely loving Father, will allow nothing that is not for Your glory and for my good. I offer all things for Your good pleasure. I take all things in obedience to Your divine Will. Do with me what You wish, in this short life, O Father of infinite goodness, but bring me safely by Your mercy and protection to the happiness of Your home in Heaven. Amen.’

‘My God, lover of the sick and the afflicted, since I am cast down on my bed of pain, I cannot pray as much as I desire. Accept each pain, each heartbeat, each tear, each sigh, as an act of love, of submission to Your holy Will, and of sorrow for my sins. My heart shall supply what my lips cannot do. Accept my good will for the deed, and let my sufferings be blessed in Your sight. Mary, Mother of Sorrows, help me to bear sickness and infirmity, and all the pains that accompany them, patiently and humbly and resignedly, after the wonderful model of patience that you, my Mother, have given me, Amen.’ 

Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us.  

 

Preparing for Pentecost with Our Lady

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In only a few days time the Church universal will be celebrating the great Solemnity of Pentecost. On that first Pentecost all of the believers were gathered together in constant prayer with the Mother of Jesus (cf Acts 1:14). It follows that if we want to come into deeper relationship with the Holy Spirit then we need to make a special place in our lives for the Woman the Holy Spirit overshadowed to bring about the extra ordinary event of the Incarnation of Jesus.

The great Saints all share traits in common : profound love for the Eucharist, meditation upon the Passion, devotion to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, humility, thirst for the graces which come with suffering, a commitment to hours of daily prayer, an apostolate of service towards others and especially an ardent love for Our Lady. Of all the Saints, she is one who can best teach us how to love Jesus, she is the one most able to help us to grow in holiness. The kind of holiness that Jesus wants for us cannot be obtained without her assistance.

The Catechism of St Pius X teaches: Question. What do the Saints teach us on devotion to Mary? Answer. Regarding devotion to Mary the Saints teach us that those who are truly devout to her are loved and protected by her with a most tender Mother’s love, and that with her help they are sure to find Jesus and obtain Paradise. 

This next excerpt comes from ‘To the Priests, Our Lady’s beloved sons’, 22 May 1988, from a and e. ‘On this day of Pentecost of the Marian Year, consecrated to me, I am calling upon you to unite your prayer to that of your heavenly Mother, to obtain the great gift of the Second Pentecost….I am calling upon you all today to enter into the cenacle of my Heart. Thus you will be prepared to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit which will transform you and make you the instruments with which Jesus will establish His reign.’

So the best preparation for Pentecost is to unite our prayers to those of Our Lady, joining her in begging the Holy Spirit to send those charisms upon us which will help bring about the kingdom of God and dispell the rampant secularism and atheism of our times.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church has this to say (from sections 723, 724 and 725) : ‘In Mary, the Holy Spirit fulfills the plan of the Father’s goodness…In Mary, the Holy Spirit manifests the Son of the Father, now become the Son of the Virgin….Finally, through Mary, the Holy Spirit begins to bring men, the objects of God’s merciful love, into communion with Christ. And the humble are always the first to accept Him.’

So if we want to come into the fulness of communion with Jesus, we need the aid of the Holy Spirit and the aid of Mary, His Mother.

To begin, renew or strength our relationship with Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother it is very fruitful to pray a prayer of consecration. This one from St Francis de Sales is a favourite of mine:

Consecration to Our Lady (Prayer of St Francis de Sales)

Most holy Mary, virgin Mother of God, most unworthy though I am to be your servant, yet moved by your Motherly care for me and longing to serve you, I choose you this day to be my Queen, my Advocate, and my Mother. I firmly resolve ever to be devoted to you and to do what I can to encourage others to be devoted to you.  My loving Mother, through the Precious Blood of your Son Jesus shed for me, I beg you to receive me as your servant forever. Aid me in my actions and beg for me the grace never by word or deed or thought to be displeasing in your sight and that of your most holy Son. Remember me, dearest Mother, and do not abandon me at the hour of death. Amen.

Our Lady, Help of Christians, Spouse of the Holy Spirit, pray for us.

 

 

Thank you Holy Spirit

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Today, 11 Oct 2011, is the anniversary of my Confirmation. It is a day to give thanks for all the graces that have flowed from this sacrament in my life. Baptism starts us on the Christian journey, the Eucharist is the essential nourishment for the jourmey, and Confirmation gives us the co-ordinates for the journey, the personal mission, and the graces to accomplish it.

Here is what the Catechism of the Catholic Church says about Confirmation (passage 1303): “Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace: 1) it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ 2) it unites us more firmly to Christ 3) it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us; 4) it renders our bond with the Church more perfect, and 5) it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and acton as true witneses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross.”

Deeply engraved in my heart are the words reported to have been spoken by souls leaving Purgatory for Heaven to St Margaret Mary Alacoque, “Ingratitude has never entered Heaven.” So I make it a special point to give thanks to God on each sacramental anniversary. I thank Him today for all of the actions of the Holy Spirit in my life and for all the spiritual and other gifts He has given to me through this holy sacrament. For Confirmation, I also thank St Anne for her ongoing and effective intercession on my behalf as my Confirmation Saint. I give thanks, too, for the love, Christian witness and guidance I have received from my earthly Confirmation sponsor, who is also my godmother.

The graces received on that Friday night so long ago through the ministry of the bishop are still unfolding in my life. My prayer is that I might become more responsive to the Holy Spirit’s promptings and more open to His action in my life. As I teach the youngsters in my Confirmation class, the more attuned we are to the Holy Spirit’s promptings the more exciting our daily Christian adventure with God becomes.

Thank you Holy Spirit!

St Anne, mother of Our Lady, pray for us.