First, what is the difference between a crucifix and a cross? A cross is simply that, an image of a cross without anything else on it. A crucifix, on the other hand, contains what is called a “corpus.” The corpus is a representation of Christ’s body, either alive or dead, on the cross. The cross by itself is a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, and it is because of this the cross is the symbol of Christianity. However, as Christians we are not saved by the cross, we are saved by Jesus. By using a crucifix, we are reminded of Christ’s suffering as a triumph over sin and death. There can be no resurrection without the crucifixion and no Easter without Good Friday. The crucifix, by depicting that moment of greatest suffering, reminds us of Christ’s great love for us.
The crucifix has become a common symbol for Catholics and Christians that we often don’t think about why we use it so prevalently. Think of how many times during a day you may encounter a crucifix: in church, in your home, as jewelry, on a rosary, or outside a church driving down the road. For many, it may seem odd that a depiction of a man being tortured to death has become the symbol of a major religion. In fact, many Protestant churches have removed Christ’s body from the crucifix and instead use a plain cross as there symbol. So why do Catholics continue to use the crucifix?
First, what is the difference between a crucifix and a cross? A cross is simply that, an image of a cross without anything else on it. A crucifix, on the other hand, contains what is called a “corpus.” The corpus is a representation of Christ’s body, either alive or dead, on the cross. The cross by itself is a symbol of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins, and it is because of this the cross is the symbol of Christianity. However, as Christians we are not saved by the cross, we are saved by Jesus. By using a crucifix, we are reminded of Christ’s suffering as a triumph over sin and death. There can be no resurrection without the crucifixion and no Easter without Good Friday. The crucifix, by depicting that moment of greatest suffering, reminds us of Christ’s great love for us. Gospel Reflection: Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe - November 20, 201611/18/2016 The rulers sneered at Jesus and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Christ of God.” Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.” Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.”
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” - Luke 23:35-43 This Sunday marks the end of the liturgical year for the Church. Next week, we begin Advent and our preparations for Christmas and the coming of Christ into our world as a human. It is fitting then that, during this final Sunday of the year, we celebrate Christ as King of the Universe. It is a reminder that our God, who became one of us, is also the Lord and Ruler of everything in the Universe. Think about that for a second. We have a God who would come down from heaven to live among His creations as an equal! How truly loved and blessed we are that the King of the Universe shares and understands in an intimate way what it means to be human. It is precisely because Jesus understood what it meant to be human that we have the exchange which occurred in today's Gospel. This is a familiar story to most of us, the story of the Good Thief. Here we have two men, each of whom ha chosen to live a life of sin, a life of breaking the laws of both men and God. However, there is a difference between the two. One shows no remorse at all and even mocks Jesus as he hangs on the cross. The other, however, clearly regretting his decisions and wishing to repent, rebukes his fellow criminal. One thing though stands out about this criminal, he doesn't try to plead his innocence or place blame on anyone but himself for his situation. Instead, he fully embraces the consequences of his life and simply asks Jesus to remember him when enters heaven. Because of this humility, Jesus assures him that he will be in heaven that day. This provides a lesson to each of us. We have all been given the great gift of the sacrament of reconciliation. In this sacrament, we are able to come before God, acknowledge our sinfulness and ask for His mercy and forgiveness. But part of this sacrament involves fully accepting responsibility for what we are done. We are called to make amends, not just with God, but with those we have harmed, including the Church community as a whole. This is part of the reason we go to a priest to hear our confession; he is meant to represent the entire community of believers. Still, when we go into the confessional, we should not go in trying to downplay our role in the actions we have taken. We should not try to find excuses or look for others to blame for our actions. Instead, we should, in confessing our sins and failings, accept that we committed these acts ourselves and that no one else needs to take the blame. In doing this, we show our humility before God, and God, in His mercy, forgives us. So as we end this year and move into the next, remember the lesson of the Good Thief. If we come before God with a humble heart and true repentance, we can be assured that our faults and failings will be forgiven. What an awesome blessing! The complete change of the substance of bread and wine into the substance of Christ's body and blood by a validly ordained priest during the consecration at Mass, so that only the accidents of bread and wine remain. While the faith behind the term itself was already believed in apostolic times, the term itself was a later development. With the Eastern Fathers before the sixth century, the favored expression was meta-ousiosis, "change of being"; the Latin tradition coined the word transubstantiatio, "change of substance," which was incorporated into the creed of the Fourth Lateran Council in 1215. The Council of Trent, in defining the "wonderful and singular conversion of the whole substance of the wine into the blood" of Christ, added "which conversion the Catholic Church calls transubstantiation" (Denzinger 1652). After transubstantiation, the accidents of bread and wine do not inhere in any subject or substance whatever. Yet they are not make-believe they are sustained in existence by divine power. (Etym. Latin trans-, so as to change + substantia, substance: transubstantio, change of substance.)
- from catholicculture.org Transubstantiation is a difficult concept for many of us to wrap our minds around. We usually think of something's substance and its physical characteristics as going together. If someone gives you a piece of bread, you know what it is going to look, feel and taste like. The same goes for things like water and wine. We have an expectation of how our senses will perceive these things. But with transubstantiation, the substance of the bread and wine consecrated by the priest change into the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus while the external appearance, the "accidents", still remains as bread and wine. This is one of the great mysteries of our faith and is something that we can only understand as a matter of faith. Through His unlimited power, God is able to both change the substance and nature of the bread and wine while still preserving the external appearance, as perceived by our human senses. The Power of NOvenasBy Marge Fenelon
For many, a novena is thought of as something magical that people do when they want something from God. Many pray novenas when they are in need, but they don’t always get what they want — at least, they don’t always get it in the manner in which they wanted it. “Novenas aren’t for controlling God, but for opening ourselves to God in order to increase our faith and grow in love of God and neighbor,” said Redemptorist Father Jim White. “Novenas are about inner healing, obtaining special graces, transformation and growing in virtue and holiness.” Father White pointed out that novenas are not a magical formula, but rather a means for developing perseverance, good prayer habits and a deeper faith. When prayed in the right frame of mind (and heart), novenas bring us peace and joy regardless of the answer we’ve received to our petition. While some people were speaking about how the temple was adorned with costly stones and votive offerings, Jesus said, “All that you see here -- the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”
Then they asked him, “Teacher, when will this happen? And what sign will there be when all these things are about to happen?” He answered, “See that you not be deceived, for many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time has come.’ Do not follow them! When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for such things must happen first, but it will not immediately be the end.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky. “Before all this happens, however, they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name. It will lead to your giving testimony. Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you a wisdom in speaking that all your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute. You will even be handed over by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name, but not a hair on your head will be destroyed. By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” - Luke 21:5-19 As we approach the end of the liturgical year, the Church in her wisdom calls us to reflect on the end times, both for us as individuals and the world as a whole. This week's Gospel gives a picture of what those end times will look like, and it's not a very pretty picture. Jesus tells us that there will be natural disasters, wars and that even friends and families will turn on each other. Overall, it does not sound like a great time to be alive, and you really couldn't be faulted for praying that you are not around when all these things come to pass. Sacred inscription on the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome: Indulgentia plenaria perpetua quotidiana toties quoties pro vivis et defunctis (English trans: "Perpetual everyday plenary indulgence on every occasion for the living and the dead") "The remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins forgiven as far as their guilt is concerned, which the follower of Christ with the proper dispositions and under certain determined conditions acquires through the intervention of the Church, which, as minister of the redemption, authoritatively dispenses and applies the treasury of the satisfaction won by Christ and the saints" (Pope Paul VI, Apostolic Constitution on Indulgences).
As originally understood, an indulgence was a mitigation of the severe canonical penances imposed on the faithful for grave sins. The term "indulgence" remained, however, even after these extreme penalties were discontinued. Yet until the Second Vatican Council, the norm for determining the effectiveness of an indulgenced practice was its relationship to the ancient canonical penances, as seen in the numbers, so many years or so many days, attached to every official listing of partial indulgences. All this changed by Pope Paul VI. From now on the measure of how efficacious an indulgenced work is depends on two things: The supernatural charity with which the indulgenced task is done, and the perfection of the task itself. Another innovation is that partial and plenary indulgences can always be applied to the dead by way of suffrage, asking God to remit their sufferings if they are still in purgatory. - from CatholicCulture.or The concept of the indulgence has often been a confusing and sometimes controversial idea. In essence, an indulgence can be understood as doing something good or holy on earth as a way to atone for our sins. The reason this is necessary is that, even though our sins are forgiven in the sacrament of Reconciliation, there are still consequences for the sins we have committed. You can think of it like the residue that is left after a sticker has been removed. Although the sticker is gone there is still that little bit left on the object that you must work at to remove. Normally, we cannot fully atone for these sins until after we die and are in Purgatory. However, through the gift of indulgences, we are able to begin the process here on earth, or even offer up our indulgences for those who are already in Purgatory. In this way, an indulgence becomes a beautiful act of mercy for the benefit of others. It is important to note that, contrary to what you may hear, indulgences cannot be purchased. Rather, indulgences must be earned through pious actions and usually must be accompanied by reception of the sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist. DIscover the Secrets of the ScapularBy Karen Edmisten
Ask your Catholic friends what a scapular is, and you’ll get a variety of responses: “It’s a sacramental that comes with promises.” “You wear it to show devotion to Mary.” “One of those things on strings.” “Doesn’t it have something to do with your shoulders?” All these responses are accurate. But let’s unpack them a bit to increase our understanding of this sometimes misunderstood devotion. In contemporary usage, a scapular (from the Latin for “shoulder blade”) refers to a sacramental object made of two small panels of woven wool (the required material), each roughly two inches by three inches, and connected by a loop of string. The scapular is worn with one panel resting over the breast and the other in approximately the same position on the back. Where did this sacramental come from? How is it to be worn? And what about those promises? What exactly does a scapular do for its wearer? Some Sadducees, those who deny that there is a resurrection, came forward and put this question to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us, If someone's brother dies leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married a woman but died childless. Then the second and the third married her, and likewise all the seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. Now at the resurrection whose wife will that woman be? For all seven had been married to her.” Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and remarry; but those who are deemed worthy to attain to the coming age and to the resurrection of the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. They can no longer die, for they are like angels; and they are the children of God because they are the ones who will rise. That the dead will rise even Moses made known in the passage about the bush, when he called out ‘Lord,’ the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and he is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.” - Luke 20:27-38
Just like today, the Jewish people in the time of Jesus were divided over varying beliefs about their faith. One of the biggest questions was whether there will be a resurrection of the dead at the end of the world. The Pharisees said yes and the Sadducees said no. It was with this debate in mind that the Sadducees approached Jesus to find out His position on the topic, hoping to trip Him up. However, in His usual fashion, Jesus turned the question around on them by pointing out that their question was really unnecessary. When we get to heaven, we will not be concerned with who we are married to because, like the angels, we will be in the presence of God and that will be our focus. He then begins to discuss the question of the resurrection of the dead. This is the source of our belief as Catholics that the dead are not truly dead, but have instead just moved on to eternal life with God. As Jesus says, our God is a God of the living, not the dead. This is something we sometimes forget. Our loved ones who have passed away are not just lying in a grave somewhere. They are still alive and active, just, as Fr. Mike says, "On the other side of eternity." This is why we are still able to pray both for them and ask them to pray for us. This is what we mean when we talk about the "Communion of Saints." It is all Christians who have ever lived united together as the Body of Christ. While this thought is meant to comfort us, it can be difficult at times since the person is no longer physically with us. That is why the Church provides us with these readings, to remind us of these truths that Jesus has shared with us. Especially during this time of the year, when it seems like everything around us dying and going to sleep, the Church in her wisdom reminds us that this is not the end. There will be a spring. There is a reason to hope. Christ has conquered death and opened the gates of Heaven. If we truly believe this, we can take comfort that one day we will be reunited with those we love. What a great sign of God's love for us, His children! The place or condition in which the souls of the just are purified after death and before they can enter heaven. They may be purified of the guilt of their venial sins, as in this life, by an act of contrition deriving from charity and performed with the help of grace. This sorrow does not, however, affect the punishment for sins, because in the next world there is no longer any possibility of merit. The souls are certainly purified by atoning for the temporal punishments due to sin by their willing acceptance of suffering imposed by God. The sufferings in purgatory are not the same for all, but proportioned to each person's degree of sinfulness. Moreover, these sufferings can be lessened in duration and intensity through the prayers and good works of the faithful on earth. Nor are the pains incompatible with great peace and joy, since the poor souls deeply love God and are sure they will reach heaven. As members of the Church Suffering, the souls in purgatory can intercede for the persons on earth, who are therefore encouraged to invoke their aid. Purgatory will not continue after the general judgment, but its duration for any particular souls continues until it is free from all guilt and punishment. Immediately on purification the soul is assumed into heaven.
- from CatholicCulture.org Purgatory is often one of the most misunderstood beliefs of the Church. While our sins are forgiven during the sacrament of Reconciliation, that does not fully remove the punishments we must face before we can be truly ready to enter Paradise. One of the best analogies for Purgatory is to think of it like taking a bath. Even after taking a bath, while you are clean there is usually some dirt and residue left in the tub. Purgatory is like scrubbing the tub itself so that everything is fresh and clean. We really do not know what Purgatory is like or how long it lasts for. It could last until the Second Coming of Christ or it could be an instantaneous purification which occurs when we finally see God face to face. What we do know is that those souls in Purgatory are destined to spend eternity in Paradise. However, they need our prayers and we need theirs. This is why the Church celebrates All Souls' Day on Nov. 2 and sets aside November as a time for us to pray for these souls. Say some extra prayers this month for those souls still awaiting Paradise. All Saints' Day is a festival celebrated on November 1 in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. For Catholics, it is a Holy Day of Obligation meaning that Catholics are obliged to attend Mass on that day, whatever day of the week it falls on.
The tradition of honoring saints goes back to the early Church. Early Christians would honor martyrs from their diocese on the anniversary of their deaths at the site of their martyrdom. Beginning around the fourth century, neighboring diocese began to expand their commemorations to include those from neighboring dioceses. However, during the persecution under Emperor Diocletian, there were so many martyrs that it became impossible to honor each individual with their own day. Since the Church still viewed veneration of these martyrs as important, a common day of celebration for all martyrs was created. |
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