Catholic 101: The Eucharist

OK, everyone. Buckle up. 

I mean it. 

I love the Eucharist. I could write a whole tome on it, here. I realize the Eucharist is one of the more misunderstood Catholic doctrines. So we're talking about first communion, but we're also going to talk about the Eucharist more generally. OK? 

OK, so first off, what is the Eucharist?

Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. It's not a symbol. After the bread and wine have been consecrated by the priest, it IS Jesus Christ, here, present, fully, in the host. 

As Flannery O'Connor said: 

We take Jesus at His word when he said "this is my body." We take John 6 seriously. 

If it's just a symbol, then, so what? Why do it? Why have it? 

But to us, it's not a symbol. It is JESUS CHRIST. That's why we have Eucharistic adoration, why we reserve the sacrament in the tabernacle, and why we treat it (or should treat it!) with reverence. It's why we genuflect when we go into the pews--because Jesus Christ is actually present in our churches, in the Eucharist. 

Since we treat the Eucharist so reverently, not just anyone can receive it. That's why First Communion is such an important sacrament to Catholics--it's the day when you can receive Jesus in Communion for the first time. This is huge! 

For Catholics, you have to be at the "age of reason", which is seven years old. You have to be able to understand Who you are receiving. That doesn't mean that you have to understand the Ins and Outs of Transubstantiation, but you do have to know it's not just bread the priest is giving you. 

In some places, First Confession precedes first communion. But for our purposes, we'll talk about that later. 

I always told my CCD kids that I never, ever wanted to see them go up to communion sloppily. The number of people I've seen just shuffling up to communion, like they're going to receive a hot dog at a baseball game! NOOOOOO! STOP IT! You should be totally aware to what you're doing and Who you are about to receive. 

Going back to our discussion of matter and form: The matter is the unleavened bread and wine. No, you cannot use grape juice, or Pepsi, or water. It must be wine. And no, you can't use bread from Kroger, or Doritos, or pita bread, or crackers. It must be unleavened bread. I was absolutely shocked the first time I went to a Protestant service (it was orientation at college--I couldn't get to Mass, but then did offer Catholic communion from an extraordinary minister of communion). The pastor got out a loaf of Kroger bread, and Kroger grape juice. 

You don't have to receive both species (that's what it's technically called--the species). At my parish, we never offer the wine to the communicants. It's only ever the Host. But that's OK. 

The form is the words of consecration, said by the priest, as part of the Eucharistic Prayer: 

Take this, all of you, and eat of it, for this is my Body, which will be given up for you.

Take this, all of you, and drink from it, for this is the chalice of my Blood, the blood of the new and eternal covenant, which will be poured out for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this in memory of me.  

After the priest--and ONLY the priest--says the words of consecration, the bread and the wine have BECOME the Body and Blood of Christ. 

Since the Church believes that when we receive communion, we are taking Jesus into our very selves, there are a few rules: 

1. You should have fasted for one hour before receiving (water and medicine don't count. And if you have to take food with the medicine, you can.)  
2. You must not receive if you are in a state of mortal sin. If you are in a state of mortal sin and you receive communion, then you're committing sacrilege, on top of already being in a state of mortal sin. You're just making things worse! (This is one reason that my parish offers confession before every Mass.) 

***

Now, many of my Protestant friends have expressed disdain that they cannot receive communion at a Catholic Mass. A few points on that: 

1. You could receive, if you really wanted to. There's not a Secret Catholic handshake before you receive. However: 
2. You don't believe what you believe about it, so why would you say you do? That's what the "amen" after "The Body of Christ" means. Why would you do something that's basically a lie? Bad form!
3. Communion isn't like a hand stamp that indicates you participated at Mass. Plenty of people go to Mass and do not receive communion (all the kids under 7, for example). You can participate fully in the Mass without receiving. I know, your head is spinning here, but it's possible! Receiving communion isn't like getting a heavenly check mark. "OK, Mr. Jones is here....." It is perfectly permissible to attend Mass and not receive Communion. In fact, if you're not properly disposed to receive, it's the better option! 

Here are the USCCB's guidelines for receiving communion. 

***

Like I said above, I love the Eucharist. I get very upset when I see people not treating the sacrament with the reverence it deserves. That means churches where the tabernacle is basically in another room, away from the sanctuary; where people just go up to receive like, la-di-dah; etc. 

Catholics! You are receiving God! Jesus is physically present in every Catholic church. If that doesn't fill you with awe, you need your awe-meter checked. 

As JRR Tolkien said: 

Catholics, please remember what a supreme gift we have in the Eucharist. Treat it accordingly! 

Catholic 101: Baptism

So, we're starting with the first sacrament, the foundational sacrament: Baptism. 

In the Catholic church, we tend to baptism babies. Of course some people are baptized as older children or even as adults, but baptism usually occurs when a baby is under a year old. It used to happen the day after birth, way back in the day--now it's usually a few months later. 

We baptize babies for a few reasons: partially because Jesus said "Let the little children come to me", and also, to remove the stain of original sin. 

Everyone is born with original sin--the sin of Adam and Eve. Baptism removes the sin, grants grace, and makes the person an "official" member of the Church. Once you're baptized, you can't be unbaptized. It's a permanent character that's embedded in your soul. Even if you never go into a church again, even if you decide you don't believe in God--once you're baptized, you're baptized forever. 

Each sacrament has what's called matter and form. The matter is, to be blunt, the "stuff" involved. Here, it's water. You must have water. The form is what's said. "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit."

If you don't have both matter and form, then it's not a valid sacrament. 

In an emergency, anyone can baptize, but usually, a deacon or a priest does it. An by emergency, they mean emergency. As in, premature baby born, in the NICU, etc. 

Baptism begins a person's Christian life; thus, it's the first sacrament. 

Catholic 101: The Sacraments--an Overview

A continuation of the Catholic 101 series 

One of my favorite things about being Catholic are the sacraments. Who hasn't seen a baby being baptized, clothed in white, or little boys and girls receiving their First Communions? Or seen the splendor of a Catholic wedding, or a priest's ordination? And of course, the confessional gets a lot of airplay in movies (even being the centerpiece of some, such as I Confess) , as does the sacrament of anointing of the sick, which was featured in the Outlander episode "Faith", in season two. 

Frances de la Tour (Mother Hildegard) and Caitriona Balfe (Claire Fraser) in Outlander

(At some point, I will write about Catholicism and Outlander. Just not today.) 

Sacraments in the Catholic Church are also somewhat confusing to our Protestant friends. So I'm going to explain them over the next three weeks. Today, we're doing a brief overview of what a sacrament is and what the sacraments are. 

So, what's a sacrament? 

A sacrament is a visible sign, instituted by Christ, to give grace.

Well, that's nice, Emily. What's that mean. 

OK. Fair point. 

A visible sign--meaning, an action performed by a minister, usually a priest. When a baby is baptized and the priest pours of the water over her head, saying "I baptize you in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," that's a visible sign. When a little boy receives the Host, that's a visible sign. And so forth. 

Instituted by Christ--contrary to popular belief, the Church didn't "Make these up." All of the sacraments were instituted by Christ, and they all have Biblical support for their existence. 

to give grace--what is grace? Grace is God's life in our soul. (This is something the kids should be able to say in their sleep by the end of the year.) To expand on that--Grace is God's free gift of Himself. 

So, that's what a sacrament is. There are seven of them: 

1. Baptism
2. Communion/Holy Eucharist
3. Confirmation
4. Reconciliation/Confession
5. Marriage
6. Holy Orders
7. Anointing of the Sick

I'm going to break these down into categories, for our purposes: 

1. The sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation
2. The sacraments of vocation: Holy Orders and Marriage
3. The sacraments of healing: Confession and Anointing of the Sick

I hope that you enjoy reading these entries as much as I'm going to enjoy writing them. Sacraments--particularly the Eucharist--are my favorites! 

Catholic 101: The Works of Mercy

Since it is the Year of Mercy, I thought it would be appropriate to talk about the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy. 

The Corporal works of mercy are the ones I'd bet most people are familiar with, because it's things like feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and visiting the sick. These are the sort of things that, when people think about "charity", this is what they think about. Whether it's donating to drill a deep well in Sudan, running a food drive at work, or donating clothes to the local homeless shelter, the "corporal works of mercy" are generally well know. Their Biblical basis comes from Matthew 25. 

"Corporal" means the works of mercy that pertain to the body--meeting our physical needs. They are: 

Photo credit: World Vision 

1. Feed the Hungry
2. Give Drink to the Thirsty
3. Clothe the Naked
4. Shelter the Homeless
5. Visit the Sick 
6. Visit the Imprisoned 
7. Bury the dead

Most of these are pretty straightforward, right? The last one might give you some pause. In most places, we don't actually have to bury the dead. That's what funeral homes and cemetery staff do. But we can be there for people was are experiencing a loss. We can go to the visiting hours, the funeral, bring food by the house for the grieving family--etc. And at the very least, we can always send a card or an email to say that we are praying for the deceased and the family that's been left behind. 

But the Church has also taught that it's not enough to just take care of the body. We have to take care of the soul, too. Thus, the seven spiritual works of mercy: 

1. Counseling the Doubtful
2. Instructing the Ignorant
3. Admonishing the Sinner
4. Comforting the Sorrowful 
5. Forgive Injuries
6. Bear Wrongs Patiently
7. Pray for the Living and the Dead

These are a little more....opaque, shall we say? It's a bit harder to see how we can put these into direct action, unlike the corporal works for mercy. So let's break these down a bit. 

Some of them are pretty simple, like the last one. Pray for the living and the dead--pray for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory; pray for the church on earth. The pope, our leaders, our world...all of this is fodder for prayer. (And in these times, don't we need it?) 

Bearing wrongs patiently and forgiving injuries are a way to more closely imitate Jesus. Jesus bore lots of wrongs patiently, especially during His Passion. Even a quick, cursory reading of the Bible accounts of Jesus' death will give you plenty of examples. Forgiving injuries is similar. When someone snaps at you, or accuses you of doing something that you didn't do, shut up about it. Let it go. 

(Now, obviously, that probably doesn't mean to go to jail for something you didn't do. I mean, that's pretty extreme. But if your office mate says you ate her banana, and you didn't, and you've said that, but she still believes you did it--there's nothing you can really do at that point. Let it go.)

Comforting the sorrowful we discussed above; sometimes you see this as "comforting those who mourn." But it can also mean people who are depressed, anxious, etc. 

Now we get into the Unpopular Ones. 

No one wants to be told they're ignorant. But we shouldn't want people to be ignorant of Christ, or the legitimate teachings of His Church. We can instruct the ignorant by teaching CCD or being an RCIA sponsor, but we can also just explain what the Church believes when the chance comes to defend the church in public. (I like to think that this series instructs anyone who's ignorant. In a nice way!) 

Counseling the Doubtful means being able to help people who may be having doubts about the faith, or the existence of God (etc.), that what the Church teaches is really true. 

And finally, admonishing the sinner. 

Yikes. 

No one really likes to do this. And it doesn't mean that you should go around like the woman at the end of Game of Thrones, yelling "shame!" and ringing a cowbell. That's probably not the best way to get your point across. 

We are always to do these things in a sprit of love and mercy. 

If a parent sees a child doing something wrong, then he's going to stop that child from doing something wrong. In the case of religion, we want people to go to Heaven! And if they are deep sin, they aren't going to get there. 

Now, we know that we are to remove the plank in our own eye first. That's important. But if you see someone who is in grave sin--adultery, procuring an abortion, sleeping around, etc.--then you need to, in charity and love and mercy--talk to said person. Suggest that maybe what they're doing isn't the right way to go, and you love them too much to let them keep doing it.  That doesn't mean nagging the person. ("Are you going to stop smoking? You need to stop smoking. We talked about this yesterday! STOP SMOKING!" Or whatever.) 

Jesus loves us too much to leave us alone. As C.S. Lewis said: 

It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird; it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad. 

Jesus didn't die for us, redeem us so we could be ordinary, decent eggs. He wants us to be birds soaring up to Him. The works of mercy are part of how we help ourselves, and others, become birds. 

Catholic 101: Apostolic Succession

a continuation of the Catholic 101 series

Since we just talked about the apostles--let's talk about apostolic succession. 

This is something we cover pretty briefly with the kids. We don't get into papal infallibility and all that (quickly: papal infallibility does not mean what you think it means), but we do talk about how a pope is elected and what the pope does. 

Before we talk about that, though, we talk about basic hierarchy. From the bottom up: 

• a pastor is in charge of a parish, which covers a territorial area. (a suburb, a city, part of a suburb or city, etc.)
• A bishop is in charge of a diocese--a larger territorial area. 
• An archbishop is in charge of an archdiocese--an even larger area. Here in Ohio, we have the archdiocese of Cincinnati. An archdiocese doesn't have to be bigger in area, but in population. New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles--these are all archdioceses.

Archdioceses often have a cardinal as the bishop. (You have to be a priest before you can be a bishop, a bishop before you can be a cardinal) A third or fourth cousin of mine is Cardinal Wuerl, who's the bishop of Washington, D.C. He was made a cardinal by Benedict XVI. Bishops and cardinals are made by the pope. 

All of the Cardinals make up the college of cardinals. Cardinals under the age of 80 elect the pope. (This is a rule created by Pope Paul VI, so it's a pretty new rule.). So, anyone who is a cardinal, under 80, can be elected pope. 

(Fun Catholic fact: technically, any Catholic man can become pope. As in, my dad could be elected Pope. But then he'd have to be ordained and all that jazz. But technically, it could happen.)

So what does this have to do with apostolic succession? Well, we call it apostolic succession because the first pope was the apostle Peter. 

From Matthew 16: 

h When Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi* he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”14i They replied, “Some say John the Baptist,* others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”16* j Simon Peter said in reply, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”17Jesus said to him in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood* has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.18k And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church,*and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.19l I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven.* Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”20* m Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Messiah.

This is the most common Scripture cited for Peter's primacy and the establishment of the Papacy. Every Pope since then has followed into the "Petrine office" (Petrine--Peter). 

Now, there have been some pretty awful popes. There have also been many saintly ones. The office doesn't automatically make you holy. But the Pope is in charge, spiritually, of all the 1 billion+ Catholics in the world. Pope Francis is Pope Number 266.  He's also the first pope named Francis--and you don't call him "Pope Francis I." We can't call him that until there's been a Francis II. 

The tradition of regnal names began with Pope John II, in 533. His given name was Mercurius, after the Roman god Mercury, and he didn't think that was an appropriate name for a Christian pope! So every pope since then has had the option of a regnal name. John Paul II's baptismal name was Karol; Benedict XVI's was Joseph, and Francis' was Jorge. 

The pope's role has changed over the centuries, but he has always been the spiritual leader of the world's Catholics. 

Catholic 101: God is not a vending machine!

A continuation of the Catholic 101 series

We sort of cover this when we cover prayer. The kids know that it's important to pray to God for things you want, but I warned them not to treat God like a vending machine--as in, prayer goes in, what you want comes out. 

"If you ask God for a pony for Christmas," I would say, "And you don't get a pony, that doesn't mean God doesn't love you."

We cover this again when we talk about Jesus' works, which is why I'm talking about it today. After we cover the 12 apostles, we discuss Jesus' ministry on Earth before Holy Week. The Beatitudes (we'll talk more about them next week), the parables, and the miracle stories are a big part of this. 

The first year I taught CCD, there was a child in my classroom who was blind. And who had to teach the week we talked about Jesus curing the blind man? Me. So it was really imperative to me that I get across the idea that just because student A was blind, he hadn't: 1) done something wrong, and was being punished by God, and 2) prayed hard enough. 

Student A's blindness is God's will for Him, just like all my stuff is God's will for me. Please, please, please do not tell someone that his circumstances are because he hasn't prayed hard enough, and if he would just pray a little harder, he'd be magically cured!

That's vending machine thinking. 

Now, do miracles exist? Absolutely. Does Jesus tell us to ask for things we want/need? Absolutely. BUT--we also need to consider if what we want is what is best for us. Remember that God sees the whole picture. We see this tiny, tiny little bit of the canvas. 

So while we talk about Jesus' great miracles, and acknowledge the miracles that happen today (I'm sure I've been the recipient of at least one), it is important to remember that prayer is not asking for things--and then getting mad if they don't happen. 

I'm sure most of you have prayed for someone to be healed who eventually died. I know I have. But that didn't mean God was spiting us; He was doing what was best for that said person, even though immeasurable sadness was left behind. 

So, yes, Seek and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened. But don't just pray to ask for "stuff". 

It sends me up a wall when people say, "If you had more faith you could be healed." What is this faith business in their minds? Some kind of magic formula? ...God is not your personal slot machine! Faith breeds a humility that is willing to accept the truth that he Father has revealed to us through His Son Jesus, knowledge that Christ is the Lord, and a deep realization that within the soul dwells the spirit.

--Mother Angelica, PCPA 

Catholic 101: Those "screwball apostles"

a continuation of the Catholic 101 series

Mother Angelica called the 12 Apostles "screwball apostles" a lot. It always made me laugh. 

This is one of my favorite things to teach the kids, because the apostles were a motley bunch. Fishermen, tax collectors, married and single men...who dropped everything to follow Jesus.

The Apostles always give me hope, because in the Gospel they're continually doing stupid things. They don't understand Jesus a lot of the time. I can sort of imagine Jesus taking a deep breath when talking to them. You guys still don't get it?! 

In class, we break the apostles into three weeks, so we can let them ferment in the kids' minds, and not throw too many names at them at once. But here, you get all of them at one time. Historical fact about all of them can be hard to come by, so sometimes we just have historical guesses about what happened to them. 

Peter : Simon Peter, the "rock", the leader of the apostles. Andrew's brother, he was a fisherman who worked with his brother on the boats. Jesus healed his mother-in-law, but the Gospels never make any mention of Peter's wife. He betrayed Jesus three times the night of Holy Thursday, and tradition says he wept for that betrayal every day of his life. Peter went to preach the Gospel in Rome, where he was crucified upside down, since he didn't consider himself worthy to be crucified the same way as Christ.  He was the first Pope--and tradition says he was also the longest reigning pope. His feast day is June 29.  

Andrew: Simon Peter's brother; a disciple of John the Baptist. Also a fisherman. He is the patron saint of Scotland and was crucified in an X-shape--hence the flag of Scotland bearing the X-shaped cross, the Saltire. His feast day is November 30. 

James the Greater: Called "Greater" because he was taller than the other James. (yes. For all time, we will know that one was taller than the other.) John's brother, one of the "sons of thunder". Son of Zebedee and Salome, he was a fisherman along with his father and brother. James preached the Gospel in Spain, and is buried at Santiago de Compostela, which is still the site of many pilgrimages today (people walk the Camino to Santiago still, today, as seen in the film The Way.)  His feast day is July 25. 

John: The "disciple Jesus loved", John was the brother of James the Greater, and was also a fisherman. He wrote the Gospel of John, the Johnnine Letters, and the book of Revelation. He was the only apostle present at Christ's crucifixion, and took care of the Virgin Mary after Jesus's death and subsequent ascension. He was the only apostle to die of old age, on the island of Patmos (he was exiled there during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Domitian.). Hie feast day is December 27. 

Philip: Like Peter and Andrew, Philip was from Bethsaida, and was also a disciple of John the Baptist. The Gospels don't tell us what his profession was. He preached in Greece and was crucified upside down, like Peter. His feast day is May 3. 

Bartholomew: Also identified with Nathaniel in the Gospels, he was from Cana. He was a missionary to India, where he left a copy of the Gospel of Matthew, and also traveled to Armenia, where he was flayed alive and crucified. In Michelangelo's The Last Judgment, Michelangelo paints the apostle holding his flayed skin. It's also a self-portrait of the artist. His feast day is August 24. 

Bartholomew, holding his flayed skin, is to the lower right of Christ. 

Thomas: The famous "doubting Thomas", who refused to believe in the Resurrection until Christ appeared before him and told him to put his hands in the nail marks. He traveled to India to preach the gospel, and is the patron saint of that country. Thomas was killed accidentally when a fowling shot hit him, instead of its target! His Feast Day is July 3. 

Matthew: A tax collector, Matthew also wrote the Gospel of Matthew. Born in Galilee, he invited Jesus to his house for a feast, and became one of the twelve. 

Caravaggio, The Calling of St. Matthew 

Tradition says Matthew preached the gospel to the Jewish community in Judea before going to other countries. We aren't sure how--or when--he died. His feast day is September 21. 

James (the Less): Son of Alpheaus.  He wrote the Letter of James and was the first Bishop of Jerusalem. He was thrown from the roof of the temple in Jerusalem, and his body clubbed after he died. His feast day is May 3. 

Jude/Jude Thaddeus: He was a cousin of Jesus; his mother Mary was the Virgin Mary's cousin. Author of the Epistle of Jude; he preached the gospel in Judea, Samaria, Idumaea, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Libya. He is the patron saint of lost/hopeless causes. He was martyred in Beirut around 65 AD. His feast day is October 28. 

Simon: Sometimes called "Simon Zebedee" to distinguish him from Simon Peter. Legend says he was martyred by being sawed into pieces. 

Judas: "The Iscariot". He betrayed Jesus to the Sanhedrin for 30 pieces of silver, and committed suicide early on the morning of Good Friday. He was replaced in the group of 12 by Matthias. (Feast Day May 14)

Catholic 101: The Trinity

Since yesterday was Trinity Sunday, I thought it was a propos to talk about the Trinity for today's Catholic 101. 

Every time a Catholic makes the Sign of the Cross, she's praying to the Holy Trinity. Every time a baby is baptized in a Christian church, it's done in the name of the Holy Trinity. The Trinity is one of the things that all Christians agree on--and if a denomination doesn't, it probably can't properly be called Christian. It's all over the creed and the bible.  (This is one reason that some Christians say Mormons aren't Christian--they don't believe in the Trinity in the same way most Christians do.) 

(Side note about the creed: The creed begins with "I believe"--so you really should believe everything you're saying, here. It's not something you should just mumble through, although I know I've been guilty of that. You really need to consent to believing the things you say you're believing!) 

Andre Rublev, Trinity

The Trinity is The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--three Divine Persons, One God. Christians aren't polytheists. They are all one God, but three different Persons. St. Patrick famously used the image of a three-leaf clover to explain the Trinity to the Irish, and it's still a good example today, and one I've used in my classes. 

Biblical evidence for the Trinity abounds, beginning in Genesis, when God says "Let us make man in our own image"--note the plural, there. Jesus tells his disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We pray to the Trinity throughout Mass--every time we make the Sign of the Cross, for example. 

The Trinity is easy to explain, but it can be hard to understand. A former professor of mine once said, "There are times when we must bend back the wings of our intellect, and bow before the mystery." The Trinity is a good place to do that. There's a story about St. Augustine, who once came upon a boy digging a hole on the beach.

"What are you doing?" he asked the child.

"I'm trying to bring the entire sea into this hole."

"That's impossible," St. Augustine said.

"It's no more impossible than you trying to fully understand the Trinity," the child said--and disappeared. 

We can't understand how the Trinity "works", the same way we can understand how an equation in Algebra works, or a car engine, or a recipe. That doesn't mean we can't try to ponder it. Faith doesn't mean we just nod and smile and don't think about things. We're meant to have a faith that's muscular, and not just passive. But there are some things we will never understand fully--or at all. 

However, if you'd like a diagram: 

That's the other thing to remember--they're not the same. Each has a specific role--God the Father, the creator; God the Son, Jesus, the Redeemer, and God the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier (one who makes things holy). 

Trinitarian doctrine is incredibly rich, and I've just scratched the surface, here. But the main idea I impart to the kids I teach is who makes up the Trinity, and what those three persons do. And--we're not polytheists! 

Catholic 101: Easter and Pentecost

After a hiatus, we're back! Today we're talking about Easter and Pentecost--AKA, the season that just ended in the Catholic Church. 

Most everyone knows that Easter is the day Christians believe Christ rose from the dead. In the Catholic Church, Easter is a season that lasts for 50 days--until Pentecost--and is the greatest feast of the Church year. 

Easter has an octave, just like Christmas--octave meaning "eight"--so for eight days in the Church, we celebrate like it's still Easter Sunday (or Christmas). The idea is that the sheer awesomeness of the feast cannot be contained to one day--we have to celebrate with the same intensity for eight days, looking at the feast from all different angles and perspectives. 

Pentecost is the Church's birthday. We celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Upper Room in Jerusalem. Pentecost is 10 days after the Ascension, when Jesus went back up to Heaven and left the apostles on Earth to do His work. 

El Greco, Pentecost 

Catholics talk about the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit that the Apostles received that day: wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, piety, fortitude, and Fear of the Lord. Every Catholic receives these gifts at Confirmation. (The third sacrament of initiation--We'll talk more about that when we get to sacraments.) 

The Holy Spirit is always sort of hard to talk about, because it's a spirit. He's usually imagined as tongues of fire (like above), or a dove, like in this Veronese painting I saw at the Getty in LA: 

The Holy Spirit is the "Sanctifier"--he makes things Holy. When a Catholic is confirmed, s/he receives the gifts that will help him most in his mission here on Earth. As we know, God gave us each a unique purpose--and the Holy Spirit helps us accomplish it. 

At Pentecost Mass, the Pentecost Sequence is sung or recited: 

Come, O Holy Spirit, come! From Your bright and blissful Home Rays of healing light impart. Come, Father of the poor, Source of gifts that will endure Light of ev'ry human heart. 

You of all consolers best, Of the soul most kindly Guest, Quick'ning courage do bestow. 

In hard labor You are rest, In the heat You refresh best, And solace give in our woe. 

O most blessed Light divine, Let Your radiance in us shine, And our inmost being fill. 

Nothing good by man is thought, Nothing right by him is wrought, When he spurns Your gracious Will. 

Cleanse our souls from sinful stain, Lave our dryness with Your rain, Heal our wounds and mend our way.

Bend the stubborn heart and will, Melt the frozen, warm the chill, Guide the steps that go astray. 

On the faithful who in You, Trust with childlike piety, Deign Your sevenfold gift to send. 

Give them virtue's rich increase, Saving grace to die in peace, Give them joys that never end. Amen. Alleluia.

Evening Prayer II of Pentecost ends the Easter season--and we're back to Ordinary Time, which isn't "Ordinary", since the next few Sundays are big feasts on the Church calendar. But we'll get to that. Later. I promise. 

Catholic 101: Passiontide and Holy Week

a continuation of the Catholic 101 series

Juan de Juanes, L'ultima cena (the last supper)

I love Holy Week. It's my favorite week of the year. This may be because I was born on Good Friday and so it always feels like "birthday week" to me, whether or not it actually is, but there's something about the solemnity and pageantry of Holy Week that speaks to me on a deep level. 

"Passiontide" is what we're in right now, liturgically--the last two weeks of Lent. If your parish is like mine, all the statues and paintings that can be covered, are covered, usually in purple cloth. The closer we get to Easter, the more our liturgy is stripped--first, no Alleluia; then, no Gloria; music (should become) less prominent, and more stark in melody; there are no flowers in the sanctuary, and now the images are veiled. On Good Friday, the church will be bare of any decoration at all; even the Tabernacle will be empty. 

So, this week isn't really anything terribly unique, other than "the week before" Holy Week. Next week, things start to get interesting. 

We start with Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday, where we commemorate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, with the crowds waving palm branches and singing Hosanna. The passion is read at Mass. 

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of Holy Week might have special observances at your parish. Mine has adoration in the afternoons and sung Vespers in the evenings. Wednesday is also called Spy Wednesday, because it's traditionally the day that Judas betrayed Jesus to the temple leaders. 

Lent ends at Sundown on Holy Thursday, and the triduum begins. In these three days, we reckon time the way the Jews do--by sundowns, not sunrises. So the Holy Thursday liturgy begins in the evening, usually around 7:00. 

Since these liturgies are loaded with symbolism and things we don't do the rest of the year, we give the kids a head's up in CCD so they know what to look for, and know what we're doing. 

Holy Thursday can contain the washing of the feet; at my parish, it's done with altar boys, the Dominican community members, and a few other men to reach twelve. The rite is optional, so your parish doesn't have to do it, and it might not. Of course the rite is done to remember what Jesus did to the apostles at the last supper; "you ought to wash each other's feet"--the idea of service to each other. 

After the Eucharist is distributed, things get pretty different. The Eucharist isn't put back in the tabernacle; instead, the Eucharistic procession begins, with the sung Pange, Lingua (written by St. Thomas Aquinas). The Mass celebrant carries the Eucharist to the altar of repose, and there is adoration there for a few hours--but not past midnight. At my parish, the Eucharist is taken to Patrick Hall, where it is surrounded by flowers and the altar candles, and adoration is until midnight. 

There is no dismissal, after either Holy Thursday or Good Friday services. It's all one long service, until the end of the Easter Vigil. 

Good Friday doesn't have a proper Mass. It's called the "Mass of the Presanctified"--the priest, on Holy Thursday, consecrates enough hosts to serve for the service the next day. 

There are no Introductory Rites, since the service is a continuation of the one the night before. We have my favorite passage from Isaiah for the first reading ("See, my servant shall prosper")--the Suffering Servant who will redeem the world. The Passion According to St. John is read as the Gospel. 

After the homily, the Veneration of the Cross takes place. A large cross of crucifix is brought before the congregation, and the members of the congregation venerate it in various ways--kneeling before it, kissing it, bowing, etc. The Dominicans do the venia before it, and venerate the cross in bare feet. 

After the veneration, communion is distributed and a prayer is said. Again, no dismissal. Some churches have the service of tenebrae on Good Friday (mine does).  It's a beautiful service, and if you have the chance to attend, I recommend it. 

On Holy Saturday, there are no Masses said. Holy Communion is only given as viaticum (to people who are in danger of death). It is a day of deep quiet and recollection. 

Of course, all that changes at sundown, when the Easter Vigil begins. But that's another entry. :) 

I hope this entry helped give you a deeper idea of some of the triduum customs. What Holy Week service is your favorite? 

Catholic 101: Lent bonus! Laetare Sunday and Annunication/Good Friday FAQ

Part of the Catholic 101 series. 

Murillo, Annunciation, 1655

So, just like in Advent, Lent has its "halfway" point--Laetare Sunday. This is when the rose vestments can come out, we can have instruments at Mass, and flowers on the altar. "Laetare" comes from the Latin in the introit, "Laetare, Jerusalem!"--Rejoice, Jerusalem! In England, it's also Mothering Sunday--Mother's Day. 

We are at the midpoint of Lent--three weeks left. Next week, we enter what's more formally called "Passiontide"--the two weeks before Easter. In some places, statues will be covered with purple cloth (like at my church), so we are "fasting" from images, in a sense. Our churches become more stark, leading to Good Friday, where there will be no decoration at all in the church (no candles, no altar cloths, etc.). 

I found an interesting question on Facebook the other day: This year, the Annunciation is on the same day as Good Friday. The questioner wanted to know how that worked: do we celebrate both? 

Nope. The Triduum makes up the three holiest days of the year (we're talking about them next week, FYI). Nothing supplants them. So we don't technically "celebrate" the Annunciation this year--the Liturgical texts are all for Good Friday, and that's the office you'll say, if you say the Liturgy of the Hours. It's the same way that Sunday will bump saints' feast days. But next year, for example, Laetare Sunday is the 26th--so we'll celebrate the Annunciation on its proper day, March 25. 

(Updated: One of my Deacon Friends has told me that we will celebrate the Annunciation--on April 4. Five days before my birthday! :-D) 

Catholic 101: Who Built the Ark? (And other Old Testament Figures)

(And in case you didn't know that song as a kid, the answer is, "Noah! Noah!") 

After we cover Adam and Eve, we move on to three major Old Testament Figures: Noah, Abraham, and Moses. Noah is essentially the store of the ark and the 40 days he and his family were on it with all the animals. 40 of anything is a theme that comes up a lot, so we try to emphasize it when we can. 

Abraham is next, and we talk about how he was asked to sacrifice Issac, demonstrating how much Abraham trusted in God. We do mention to the kids, though, that God is unlikely to ask them to sacrifice their family members on a mountain top, so they don't freak out. 

Finally, we talk about Moses. I love telling the story of Moses to the kids. They may have seen Prince of Egypt, but usually there are a few who haven't, so I get to tell them all about Pharaoh wanting to kill the hebrew baby boys, and how Moses' mom set him off in a basket, to be found by....Pharaoh's daughter. (The kids always gasp when we get there.) We move on quickly through his desert years and marriage, to the burning bush, the plagues, and then when they get to leave Egypt. Of course, I tell all of this with flair. 

Michelangelo, "Moses", marble 

Finally we get to the Red Sea parting, the destruction of Pharaoh's army, and the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai. The book really just talks about the 10 commandments, but I think the kids need to know the whole story, because it's awesome and it's important! So we cover the 10 commandments, and let me tell you, it's really fun to explain adultery to six and seven year olds....they just look at you like you're crazy. We also emphasize the idea that "honor your father and mother" doesn't just apply to them; I have to do it too, and so does Miss Mary Beth, and the priests, etc. 

At this point in the year, the kids know what sin is, and they know that sin causes your soul to have a little less grace than it did before. We don't cover venial vs. mortal sins in first grade. We also tell them that a sin is something they know is wrong--and believe me, first graders can sin. We see it all the time when they keep doing something we've told them not to do, and I"m sure all you parents of little guys know this. The Church puts the age of reason at 7, so most of them aren't quite there yet, legally (in a Church law sense), but we do stress to them what God expects of kids. They may not be able to covet their neighbor's wife, but they can still sin. 

That doesn't mean that we're teaching them that they are bad, bad people. We're not. But we do tell them about sin and make sure they understand that sin is serious. At our parish, they receive the Sacrament of Confession before they receive First Communion. (We talked about Confession last week in class, actually.)

After we cover these three, we're up to John the Baptist, the last Prophet before Jesus came. (Our book has Noah, Abraham, and Moses lumped together as prophets.) By this point, we're really close to Christmas, and we're going to talk about Advent and all the stuff we talked about here back in December.

Catholic 101: In The Beginning....

a continuation of the Catholic 101 series. 

Michelangelo, Adam and Eve are Tempted and Sent from Eden

When you teach first graders, crafts come with the territory. And in fact, it's the one part of teaching where I am a huge fail. I like to paint, and sketch, and knit, but I cannot, for the life of me, do little-kid crafts. (This may be because I failed cutting in Kindergarten.) 

Fortunately, I am saved by two things: the fact that we often have a very large class (20-30 kids), in which case it's just impractical to do a lot of crafting, because it becomes chaos; and that my co-catechist has some great crafts that we do pull out every year, and the kids love. 

One of them in the creation craft. The kids make a sheet illustrating the days of creation, and they basically get to let their imaginations run wild. I remember one year where I was watching the kids drawing, and I saw something interesting on Issac's paper. 

"Issac, what is that?" 

"It's a SEA MONSTER!" 

"What's it doing on land?"

"Eating the people!" 

Well, OK then. 

Michelangelo, God Dividing the Waters

Since the kids can't read (usually), this is a great way to take them through the beginning of Genesis, and how God created the world and the first people. 

Yup, that's right--Adam and Eve. 

One of the things we tell the kids is that, before the Fall, Adam and Eve lived in perfect harmony with nature and with God. Animals didn't hurt them, for example. Snakes wouldn't bite them, they didn't have to worry about being around lions or other large animals. Everything was...perfect. 

There is some debate about what the "fruit" actually was--in Europe it became an apple, but some people suggest it was probably a pomegranate. Whatever it was, it doesn't matter. The Fall--when Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge--is what ending that idyllic existence in Eden. 

One of my favorite poems is Milton's Paradise Lost, and this is how he starts his masterwork: 

Of Mans First Disobedience, and the Fruit
Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal tast
Brought Death into the World, and all our woe,
With loss of Eden...

See, before the Fall, there was no sin. There was no death. There was no pain. And then, bam. Original sin--and everything was lost. Everything was irrevocably changed. 

In Milton's work, Jesus is seen as pleading with the Father to go save humanity--it's something he wants to do. I love that imagery; it's almost like Jesus as Knight, as Champion. But however you want to think about it, we needed to be saved and restored. And Jesus was going to do it. 

But that's thousands of years in the future. For now, Adam and Eve are cast out of paradise. 

(We don't teach the kids about Cain and Abel at this point--they learn that in later grades. Instead, we move on to Abraham, Noah, Moses, and John the Baptist--which is what we'll talk about next. )

Catholic 101: A bit of theology

A continuation of the Catholic 101 series

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam

 One of the first things we teach the kids is a bit of theology. I know, you're thinking that it's all theology, right? Well right, but this is a bit different. 

We teach kids about the qualities of God--omnipresence (he's everywhere), omnipotence (he's all-powerful), and omniscient (he knows everything).  There are other qualities of God, obviously, but this where we start. 

The next thing we talk about is the hierarchy of creation. This is important, and I've found a lot of adults have missed this in their education. So, here we go!

Draw a set of stairs, or imagine one. At the top of the staircase is God. Each step up indicates that the created thing is "closer" to God, and more like him. 

We start with "dead" things--things that can't grow, things that can't think, things that can't feel. My computer, for example. The table the computer is currently sitting on, or my cup of coffee, or a piece of wood. 

The next step are things that are alive, but don't think. Plants, for example. The rose bush outside grows, and dies, and blooms again, but it doesn't think about this. The rose bush doesn't have higher thoughts. Roses don't have feelings. They don't get all huffy if you walk by them and don't acknowledge them. Grass doesn't have feelings when it's cut, and an ocean doesn't think about the number of people swimming in it. 

The third step are things that thing and feel--but don't have free will. Animals. You can hurt an animal, for sure. Animals think. But animals also work a lot on instinct. A lioness on the savannah isn't thinking about the feelings of the animal she's hunting. She's not thinking that the wildebeest or whatever might have a family. She's thinking about feeding herself and her pride. So, she hunts. Jellyfish sting. Cats eat mice. And on and on. They do what they have to do to survive. 

Now, certain animals, like cats and dogs, are domesticated (for the most part, although they are still animals). Fluffy  and Fido make excellent companions for a lot of people. And the fact that they don't have free will--or that plants and other natural things don't think--doesn't mean we can abuse them. God created them, and we have to demonstrate good stewardship. As the crown of creation, we have a duty to take care of everything God has given us. 

But--animals are not people. I feel the need to point this out. (Strangely, I've never had a kid ask if their dead pets are in heaven.) 

Finally, we have people: we have free will, and we are created in the Image and Likeness of God.  We "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12). We are not angels (even when we die, guys!) , and we're not God. But we are created in his image and likeness. 

Catholic 101: Lent

Yes, it's that time again--Lent! Time to think about what to give up, what you're going to eat on Fridays, and things like that. 

I did a weeklong series on Lent a few years ago, and you can read it here. I cover fasting, prayer, alms giving, stations of the cross, and more. Think of it as a basic Lent primer in seven parts. 

Here is Pope Francis' Lenten message for 2016. Since it's the Year of Mercy, going to confession at least once before Easter should be on our list of Lenten musts.  

And of course, Restore! If you haven't registered yet, there's still time to do so. All the details are here.  

Later this week I'll have my Lenten book post up, if you're looking for reading suggestions.  

Catholic 101: Let's Talk About Prayer

What is prayer? Why should we do it? Do we need to do it? Can't God just read our minds? 

Do I really have to? 

In order: 

1. Prayer is talking to God. that's it. 
2. Because if you want to get to know anyone, you have to talk to them. How close are you going to get to God (who MADE YOU) if you never talk to Him? 
3. Yes. 
4. Well, yes. But that doesn't mean that we don't ask Him for what we want--Jesus did tell us to, after all. (Mt. 7:7)
5. YES. 

Let's look at it as a matter of justice: God created us because He loves us. We are created to know, love, and serve God in this world and be happy with him forever in the next. 

We cannot know, love, or serve God if we don't talk to Him. (Which, as we see, is what prayer is.)

There are lots of different kinds of prayer: mental, vocal, etc. You can start where you feel most comfortable. You can use the prayers of the Church (Our Father, Hail Mary, the creeds, etc.), or you can use your own words. You can pray the rosary (an excellent idea, I might add--we'll talk more about this later). 

There are four different "types" of prayer: 

1. Intercessory: where we pray for other people, asking for what they need ("Dear Lord, please keep Joe safe as he drives 3,000 miles", "Please help Ben pass his test today.") 
2. Petition: Where we pray for ourselves, asking for what we need. (Or think we need--that's why it's generally a good idea to add "if it be for my good" at the end of prayers for yourself and others, for a lot of things.)
3. Praise and adoration: Prayer that praises God
4. Thanksgiving: Prayer that thanks God for what he has given us. 

You can pray anywhere, anytime. 

Most beginners start with vocal prayer--that's the type we're most familiar with. But there's also mental prayer and prayer of contemplation. That's a bit beyond our purposes, here, though. The Mass, also, is a prayer--one big prayer!

Prayer is boring! --that's a common objection. 

Well, OK. It might be. Sure. But lots of things are boring at first. Everything is boring when you're first learning it, really. When I started to learn the clarinet, I played pages of Gs and As. That's really boring. When you start ballet class, it's with a plie, which is deceptively simple. Anything worth doing is worth spending some time being "bored", or working on the fundamentals.

It doesn't really matter how you start. Just start. One of my favorite books for this is Prayer Primer, by Fr. Thomas Dubay, S.M, and the follow up, Deep Conversion/Deep Prayer. 

Do you have a favorite type of prayer? Or do you struggle with prayer, and are looking for ways to jumpstart your prayer life? 

Catholic 101: The Christmas Story (Or: Why was Jesus born, anyway?)

Since it's the Monday after Christmas, I thought we'd take a brief tour of salvation history today.

Sound fun? 

(And yeah, I do mean brief. We're not going to spend 40 years with the Israelites, today.) 

Barocci, "The Nativity" 

In short: Jesus didn't need to be born. Until humans screwed things up. 

When God created Adam and Eve, everything was perfect. Adam and Eve were in a state of grace--and they would never die, either, when God first created them. 

Then...they ate that fruit. And things changed. 

As Milton says: 

Of Man's first disobedience, and the Fruit

Of that Forbidden Tree, whose mortal taste

Brought Death into the World, and all our woe, 

With loss of Eden, till one greater Man

Restore us, and regain the Blissful seat.

--Paradise Lost, Book 1, 1-5 

"God so loved the world that he sent his only son, so that all who believe in him might not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16)

Jesus was born to Mary, in a stable in Bethlehem, so he could die for us, and redeem us. 

We celebrate Christmas because it's the birthday of Christ--it's the beginning of our redemption, it's the Incarnation--God made man, Emanuel (God with us). But in order for us to be redeemed, Jesus has to die. He can't just come and be born. Mary knows that when she presents the baby Jesus in the temple and Simeon tells her a sword shall pierce her heart. The cross is always there.

But at Christmas, we celebrate the birth of that perfect child, the God-man, who has come and taken on human flesh out of sheer love for us. 

Christmas, really, is all about love. 

Catholic 101: Advent feasts, memorials, and solemnities

Our Lady of Guadalupe shrine in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. 

Even though Advent is a preparatory season, there's still a lot of important dates on the Catholic calendar leading up to Christmas: 

November 30: St. Andrew: The feast day of one of the first apostles, and Simon Peter's brother. This is the day to start the Christmas novena--say the prayer 15 times every day from now until Christmas Day. I love this novena. It's a wonderful way to prepare for Christmas! 

St. Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland, and was crucified in an X shape; hence the Saltire flag of Scotland, which depicts a white X over a blue background. 

December 8: The Immaculate Conception (the patronal feast day of the United States, and a Holy Day of Obligation for all U.S. Catholics). No, this does not refer to Jesus. The Immaculate Conception (declared as dogma by Pope Pius IX in 1854), according to Ineffabilis Deus (Pope Pius IX's apostolic constitution): 

 holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.[5]

So, yes, Catholics have to believe in the Immaculate Conception. In short, and in English, it means that Mary was, from the moment of her conception, free of original sin. Jesus, being God, didn't have original sin when he was born, but Mary, being human, would have, in the ordinary course of events. But God preserved her from it, and she never sinned in her entire life. Did she have free will? Yes. Is she a goddess? No. She was a human being, but a very special one. 

Coincidentally, this became an important point the apparitions at Lourdes--when Bernadette asked who the Lady appearing to her was, she said, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Bernadette had no idea what that meant, being a poor, pretty uneducated peasant girl from rural France--she had no idea that Pope Pius IX had declared this dogma four years earlier. Thus, when she told her parish priest what the Lady had said, it served as confirmation that Bernadette must be seeing omething out of the ordinary, because there's no way she'd have heard that term. 

From Bernadette's testimony: 

"I went every day [to the grotto] for a fortnight, and each day I asked her who she was–and this petition always made her smile. After the fortnight I asked her three times consecutively. She always smiled. At last I tried for the fourth time. She stopped smiling. With her arms down, she raised her eyes to heaven and then, folding her hands over her breast she said, 'I am the Immaculate Conception.' Then I went back to M. le Curé to tell him that she had said she was the Immaculate Conception, and he asked was I absolutely certain. I said yes, and so as not to forget the words, I had repeated them all the way home.

December 9: St. Juan Diego, who saw Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

December 12: Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Detail of Our Lady of Guadalupe mosaic--Dominican St. Martin des Porres is second from right

Mary appeared to Juan Diego four times, beginning December 9, 1531, at Tepeyac. She spoke in Juan Diego's native language and asked that a church be built on that site in her honor. When he went to the local bishop, he (like most bishops and priests in these accounts) asked for a sign. On December 12, Juan Diego saw Castellian roses at the foot of Tepeyac, which weren't indigenous to the region. He filled his cloak (ilma) with the roses, and presented them to the bishop. However, the roses weren't the only miraculous thing--the interior of the tilma was imprinted with a picture of the Lady as she appeared to Juan Diego. (For technical information about the image on the tilma, see this Wikipedia article.) 

the original tilma in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City, Mexico. The basilica is the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site in the world, and the world's third-most visited sacred site. 

She is much loved by the Mexican people, especially indigenous Mexicans, and in the Southwestern part of the United States.  

December 13: St. Lucy/Lucia. An Italian saint dearly loved by Scandinavians. It's customary to make St. Lucia buns on this day. YUM! :) St. Lucy was a roman martyr who brought food to the people imprisoned in the catacombs, wearing a crown interspersed with candles to light her way down the dark passageways. 

December 14: St. John of the Cross, Carmelite. 

December 17: The O Antiphons start. You probably know these as the verses to "O Come, O Come Emmanuel". 

December 25: Christmas Day--start of the Christmas season. Immediately after Christmas, we have a few great feasts, so I'll put them in here. 

December 26: Feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr

December 27: Feast of St. John, the "disciple whom Jesus loved", apostle, and writer of the Gospel of John and the Book of Revelation. He is the only apostle to have died a natural death. 

December 28: Feast of the Holy Innocents--the babies Herod the King killed as he tried to find the "newborn king of the Jews". The Coventry Carol memorializes this event, as well. 

December 29: Thomas Becket, bishop and martyr; born in London in 1118, he became chancellor to the King of England, but was exiled by Henry II, in response to his defense of the rights of the church against the state. After returning to England, he was murdered in 1170 in Canterbury Cathedral, (site of the pilgrims' destination in The Canterbury Tales, by the way.) 

Sunday After Christmas:  The Feast of the Holy Family--Mary, Jesus, and Joseph. 

January 1: Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and a Holy Day of Obligation in the United States. 

Catholic 101: Why did God Make Us?

This is the first chapter in the book we use in first grade, and it's the first question we ask the kids. 

We usually get some pretty random answers, but "love" always figures in. And that's true. 

The official answer?

God created me to know him, love him, and serve him in this world, and be happy with him forever in the next.

That's it. That's why God made you. 

He made you to know him: to realize He is God; to know about His Son, Jesus, and His work of Salvation; to know Him in his church and in His sacraments. 

To love him: To pray to him, to give him the devotion he is due, to follow his commandments. 

To serve him: To "be his body", as St. Terese of Avila wrote. To serve our neighbors, to demonstrate Christ's love to the world, and to do the work he gives us to do well and cheerfully. 

That's the basics. 

Be happy with him forever in the next: To live with him in Heaven forever. 

Our goal in life? To be saints. (Everyone in Heaven is a saint. Side note: dead people are NOT ANGELS. If they are in Heaven, they're saints. ANGELS ARE DIFFERENT!) 

We get to be saints by knowing, loving, and serving God. 

All of the Church's doctrines, sacraments, rites, rituals, ceremonies, and hierarchy as designed to help us achieve this goal. 

Catholicism 101: The Liturgical Year and Advent

In the Catholic Church, the new year starts on the First Sunday of Advent--this is the year we change reading cycles and when the circular liturgical calendar starts anew. (A "reading cycle" is one of the three Sunday cycles of readings--A, B, or C. Year A focuses on the Gospel of Matthew, Year B on the Gospel of Mark, and Year C on the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of John is sprinkled throughout all the cycles, and is always the Gospel for Good Friday, for example. The daily lectionary [for daily Mass] goes on a two year cycle.) 

The seasons of the Liturgical Year are: 

1. Advent
2. Christmastime
3. Ordinary Time
4. Lent
5. The Triddum-- Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday
6. Easter
7. Ordinary Time
8. Advent 

Each season has its particular colors and emphases. Advent, for example, has a penitential flavor, but it's not as severe in Lent--it's more a sense of preparing joyfully for the coming of Christ in the Incarnation. What can we do to make ourselves ready for His appearance? Lent has more of the penance we think of as penance--being sorry for our sins, giving things up, etc. Advent's penance is slightly different, even though both seasons are purple in liturgical color, and purple stands for penance in church parlance. 

The four weeks of Advent  are broken into three "purple" and one "rose" week--the rose vestments and candles are to remind us to "rejoice" as St. Paul tells us in the second reading of the Third Sunday of Advent. It's called "Gaudete" (rejoice!) Sunday. ("Rejoice in the Lord always! I say it again: rejoice!") 

In Advent, we focus on preparing ourselves for both Jesus' first coming--in the Nativity--and his Second coming at the end of the world. How can we live Advent well? There are tons of books written about that. But a key thing is to remember that it is a time of preparation--it's NOT Christmas. The tree shouldn't go up on Dec. 1 and come down on the 26th. The Christmas season, in the Church, lasts from Christmas Day until at least the Baptism of the Lord in January--and in some churches, like mine, the old traditions are upheld, where there are forty days of Christmas, ending on Candlemas (Feb. 2), which is when our parish creche is put away. I love this tradition and I've adopted it in my own house. But however long you celebrate Christmas, remember that Advent and Christmas are two distinct seasons.