Please Forgive Me, If I Can't Stop Lovin' You

Recapping, we’ve been through 2 parts of the Introductory Rites so far, those being the Entrance and the Greeting of the Altar & the People.  Next we’ll talk about what some people may feel is a not-so-fun part of the Mass.  The Act of Penitence, or Penitential Rite as some may call it, is a chance to have ourselves absolved from venial sin prior to receiving the Eucharist.

BUT WAIT!!!

You’re Catholic warning light is probably saying, “Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!”  Or if you’re not as much of a complete dork as I am, you’re probably just wondering how Catholics believe our sins can be forgiven outside the Sacrament of Reconciliation. 

See, as Catholics, we believe there are two kinds of sin—Venial Sin & Mortal Sin—which have two very distinct effects on our relationship with God.  The importance of identifying sin is that we as Catholics point to Chapter 21, Verse 27 of the Revelation to John, which says, “…but nothing unclean will enter (heaven), nor any (one) who does abominable things or tells lies….”  So, if we die with sin on our souls, we cannot enter Heaven.  Some Protestant faiths are of the belief that Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross made up for our sins to the extent that we don’t have to ask for forgiveness for them.  Their philosophy is that no matter what you do in life, whether you steal a pack of bubble gum from the Quick-E-Mart or open fire in the middle of the mall, killing dozens of innocent Bath & Body Works and Kirkland’s shoppers, all you have to do is “accept Jesus as your personal Lord & Savior” and have faith that you’re going to heaven.  Nice thought, but I’m not convinced that being a TRUE Christian would have NO degree of accountability attached to it. 

So we Catholics believe that you have to ACTIVELY seek forgiveness for your sins from God.  God is all-loving and all-merciful, so as long as you ask for it, you’ll get it.  Think of when you were a kid:  your parents KNEW you were the one who wanted to see if your dad’s watch would easily flush down the toilet.  Then when it did, Fluffy’s cat food, your mom’s pearl necklace, and your older sister’s make-up seemed like the next most important experiments to conduct.  They just wanted you to admit what you did to them AND to yourself so that you could fully understand WHY what you did was wrong in hopes that you wouldn’t do it again and grow to be a better person.  It’s the same thing with God.  Obviously God knows what we did wrong.  He knows EVERYTHING.  In fact, He knew you were going to do it BEFORE you did it.  He just wants us to admit what we’ve done and promise to Him and to ourselves that (with His help) we can try to not do that thing again in the future.

So now we know that we need to seek forgiveness, and we know why we need to seek forgiveness.  So the issue becomes HOW we seek forgiveness.  Again, this is another area where Catholics & Protestants differ greatly.  Most Protestant faiths are of the belief that you just talk to God and ask for forgiveness and that’s it.  Could be…but Jesus had a better idea.  That’s right…I said JESUS had a better idea—not “The Catholic Church had a better idea.”  Let’s look at the Gospel of John, Chapter 20, Verses 21-23 where we find Jesus (who had just entered a locked room) speaking to his 12 Apostles after he had just resurrected (well, 10 Apostles, because Judas had already hung himself because he felt so bad for betraying Jesus, and “Doubting” Thomas wasn’t there—which is why he had his doubts):

(Jesus) said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained."

Again, everybody, this isn’t something the Catholic Church made up to give priests something to do…this is something JESUS TOLD HIS APOSTLES TO DO.  Now, some people say that Jesus told his apostles to do this, and not modern-day priests.  Well, as Chapter 6 of the Acts of the Apostles shows, the apostles realized that they would need help.  Christianity wasn’t meant to stay just in Jerusalem.  Jesus sent his followers out to proclaim the Gospel to ALL.  The world’s pretty big—too big for 12 guys to reach.  So they ordained helpers to spread out all over the world.  Those guys ordained others who ordained others, etc.  So ultimately, the priests we have today are under the same charge and direction as the original apostles and the men they ordained to help carry out the mission Jesus gave them.  So yeah…that’s pretty awesome to think about.  And remember, NO other…and I mean NO OTHER church in the ENTIRE WORLD can trace itself (with an unbroken and non-heretical line) back to the 12 Apostles.  Period.

So now that we’ve covered where priests got the authority to forgive sins from (and there’s absolutely no denying it), let’s get back to the types of sin.  To help demonstrate this concept for you, I’ll employ my mad graphic design skills…it’s ok, you can be jealous…

See, when everything’s hunky-dory (wow…I’m very sorry I just said that), God loves us fully and we love him back (as best we can), and our relationship looks something like this:

Now sometimes we might sin in a way that involves a “grave” (serious) matter, and we have full knowledge that what we are about to do is wrong, and we commit the sin anyway, completely under our own free choice.  This is called Mortal Sin.  When we commit a mortal sin, our relationship with God changes to look something like this:

Take a good look at how the relationship changes with mortal sin: we sever our love of God by deeply offending Him.  HOWEVER, notice that God doesn’t stop loving us.  In fact, he doesn’t love us ANY less when we sin.  God loves us the same no matter what we do.  So if we completely sever that relationship, it would take something substantial on our part to get things back on track.  This is where the Sacrament of Reconciliation comes in.  Now, we’ll fully dive into the Sacrament of Reconciliation later…just know for now that it brings our relationship with God back to looking like this:

Now, sometimes we commit sins that are less serious sins, or more serious sins that are committed either without fully thinking about their consequences, or done by force of habit.  For instance, if we gossip about someone and completely destroy their reputation after we thought about it, knew it would destroy their reputation, and did it anyway, that would be a mortal sin.  But we can take that same sin of gossip in a less serious way (say, if we whispered to our friend that the person sitting across the restaurant from you was wearing the most hideous shirt you’ve ever seen), and since it was a less serious matter, and you probably didn’t think about how you’d hurt this person’s reputation before you said it (especially if you’re in the habit of doing this kind of gossiping all the time), and you’ve just committed what’s called a Venial Sin.  When we commit a venial sin, our relationship with God is not broken, but strained, and it ends up looking something like this:

Again, notice that although our side of the relationship has changed, God loves us just the same: perfectly.  Now, we can confess our venial sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation, but we also have a way of reconciling ourselves to God after venial sin built right into the Mass!  By fully participating in the Penitential Rite and receiving the Eucharist, our relationship with God is restored back to:

See, before we can receive the Eucharist and be in full Communion with God through it (remembering Revelation 21:27 above), we need to be clean.  I’m not talking about remembering to wash your hands after you go to the restroom (although, you should do that before shaking anyone’s hand at the Sign of Peace—especially mine!).  I’m talking about our SOULS being clean.  Remember, we’re dealing with the physical AND the spiritual realm here at Mass.  So before receiving the Eucharist, if we have committed a mortal sin, we need to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (again, we’ll fully explain that later—just trust me on this one for now).  If we have committed a venial sin, we still have an established relationship with God, and we just need to sort of re-strengthen it through the Penitential Rite and being fully in Communion with God through the Eucharist. 

I think that’s a good bit of info for this post, so we’ll pick up with what we actually do and say in the Penitential Rite in the next post.

Good luck out there!



Every Breath You Take, Every Move You Make

When you walk into someone’s house, it’s generally considered polite to tell them “Hi!”…well, in America, at least…if you’re in England, you’d probably say something more like, “Cheerio, Gov’na, shall we have tea while snacking on fish & chips and watching rugby?”  Ok, that was probably offensive on countless levels, but the point is, upon entering a house, your first action should be some sort of greeting to the person who lives there as well as any other guests that may be there.  Similarly, when the priest celebrating Mass enters the Church, he first processes toward the Sanctuary with the other ministers as we mentioned in the last post.  Now we continue…

After processing to the Sanctuary, the ministers bow to the Altar as a sign of respect (mentioned in “You Never Even Call Me by My Name – Part IV-a), then the priest(s) and deacon(s) walk around the Altar and kiss it, as a further sign of respect for Christ’s sacrifice.  So this raises a good question, which, naturally, is our next tangent:

What’s the point of all the bowing & kissing and stuff?  Not to mention all the standing, sitting, and kneeling we do, a.k.a. “Catholic Aerobics.”  The movements we make at Mass fall into one of two categories: Posture or Gesture.

Posture, in the context of the Mass, refers to the ways we position our bodies at different times to show differing degrees of reverence to what is happening at the time.  At Mass, the three main postures are sitting, standing, and kneeling.  Their degrees of respect are pretty easy to figure out.  Sitting, which requires the least amount of effort on our part, has the least respect attached to it.  Standing requires slightly more effort, and therefore is linked to slightly more important events in the Mass.  Kneeling has the most humbling quality of these three postures and is reserved for the most important parts of the Mass.  There is also a fourth posture, that of prostration, or lying face-down on the ground.  This is an even more humbling posture than kneeling, and is rarely seen.  It is used in the Rite of Ordination, in solemn professions to a religious order, and on Good Friday.

Gestures are the movements we make during the Mass.  Gestures we use at Mass include bowing of the head, bowing at the waist, genuflecting, making the sign of the cross, and others.  They all have their place and purpose, and we’ll get to those in time.  For now, we’ll just mention the bowing at the waist, which is more respectful than the simple bow of the head, and is used to show reverence to the altar.

After showing respect to the altar and, in turn, the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, if there is incense used at Mass, the priest incenses the altar and the crucifix in the sanctuary.  After this is done, the priest goes to his chair (called the presider’s chair) and stands in front of it until the opening hymn (the song that has been going on since the priest(s) and ministers began processing in towards the Sanctuary) has concluded.  Then the priest leads the faithful gathered at Mass in the Sign of the Cross (see “I Saw the Sign” for the importance of making this sign) to begin the celebration. 

After making the Sign of the Cross, the priest then greets and welcomes the people.  See, back to our introduction, when the priests and ministers reach the Sanctuary, they “greet” God, whose house we’re in at Mass, then he greets all the other guests gathered at the house. 

So that’s the Introductory Rites.  In our next post, we’ll dive right into the Penitential Rite, which will lead us on our next tangent about sin.  Fun stuff right there!  See you next time!

Let's Start at the Very Beginning...A Very Good Place to Start

As we saw last post, the Mass we celebrate today is (pretty much) the same as what was celebrated only 100 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.  This is our first WRITTEN account of what was happening around the year 155.  However, chances are that what St. Justin Martyr wrote about in his letter to Emperor Antoninus Pius explaining how Christians regularly worshipped was happening well before that letter was written.  So most likely the Mass as we know it today existed in its original form within a century of Jesus’ resurrection.  Pretty amazing that we still celebrate it today, nearly 2,000 years later.  Show me another Christian church that can claim nearly 2,000 years of a fundamentally unchanged style of worship and I’ll…well, it doesn’t matter what I’d do, because there IS no other Christian church with that solid and long of a steady history.  The next oldest form of Christianity is less than 500 years old (the Protestant Reformation began on October 31, 1517), so we’ve got almost 1,500 years on them.

Anyway, as we’ve said before, one of the most awesome things about the Mass is that it’s celebrated the same all over.  That’s because everywhere you go, the main priest celebrating the Mass (called the celebrant) follows the same instructions for how to carry the Mass out.  When you go to Mass this weekend, you’ll probably notice the priest following a red book called the Sacramentary, which contains all the prayers for that particular Mass, the order in which to do things, and even the actions needed to be taken at different points of the celebration.  However, beginning with the first Sunday of Advent this year, things are going to change slightly.  See, every so often (whenever the Pope feels it’s time to “regroup” and make sure that the way we worship in Mass is the way we best understand our role as children of God to be) the Pope will call for an update of what’s called the Missale Romanum, or Roman Missal, which is the overall understanding, explanation, and directions for celebrating the Eucharist.  One such update has just occurred, and we will be implementing these changes this Advent.  So as we discuss the Mass here on TRC, we’ll talk about both what we do now and what will change in November.

Now I’m not too sure the best way to tackle an explanation of the Mass is, because there’s a lot of “back-story” and “additional information” and “words in quotes” that need to be understood on their own before we try to (as best as we can) understand why we do the things we do at Mass.  So I think I’ll take my direction from Lewis Carroll from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland where he says, “Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.”

We begin Mass with the Introductory Rites, which immediately brings us, excitingly (or "expectedly") enough, to our first tangent of the Mass conversation.

The Mass is broken up into four parts: (1) the Introductory Rites, (2) the Liturgy of the Word, (3) the Liturgy of the Eucharist, and (4) the Concluding Rites.  Some people are of the mindset that the Introductory Rites are considered to be part of the Liturgy of the Word, while the Concluding Rites can be lumped in with the Liturgy of the Eucharist.  Either way, the structure of the Mass is unchanged, and these two thoughts just change the categorization of the parts of the Mass, which in the long run really isn't that pivotal (unless you try to demonstrate how the two parts of the Mass can be likened to the two natures of Jesus--fully human and fully divine...but that could be a bit of a stretch).

The Introductory Rites are to ensure that the faithful who come together create communion and prepare themselves to listen to God’s word and celebrate the Eucharist worthily and are subdivided even further:

1.      The Entrance

2.      The Greeting of the Altar & the People

3.      The Penitential Rite

4.      The Gloria

5.      The Collect

Today, we’ll just talk about the Entrance, and continue through the rest of the Introductory Rites in our next post.  At the Entrance, the people who have all gathered at the church all stand and join in singing a hymn (liturgical song) together while the ministers and servers at the Mass all process in toward the Sanctuary.

Now, let’s stop for a moment and talk about singing.  There is typically some sort of choir, or at least an individual playing music and leading the whole congregation in singing at Mass.  Let me say that again, JUST to be clear: “…LEADING the whole congregation in singing….”  We don’t go to Mass for Jesus and happen to luck out by getting to attend a cool little concert at the same time.  The music ministers are there to LEAD THE WHOLE CHURCH in singing.  The General Instruction of the Roman Missal (published in 2001) explains the importance of singing pretty well, I think:

39. The Christian faithful who gather together as one to await the Lord’s coming are instructed by the Apostle Paul to sing together psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs (Letter of St. Paul to the Colossians 3:16).  Singing is the sign of the heart’s joy (Acts of the Apostles 2:46).  Thus St. Augustine says rightly, “Singing is for one who loves.”  There is also the ancient proverb: “One who sings well prays twice.”

—By the way, St. Augustine is pronounced uh-GUS-tihn and NOT AW-gus-teen…just had to throw that in there…Ok, back to your regularly scheduled blog post:

So you see, the Bible, itself, tells us of the importance of singing.  Don’t worry about how good or bad your voice is.  Just sing.  Now, your singing (or any other action at Mass) should never be done in a way that distracts others around you from being able to keep their hearts focused on the Mass, so if you have a really bad voice, don’t over-do it and sing with the volume and mannerisms like you’d have if you’d be jamming out alone in your car to any number of hits made famous by someone like international pop superstar sensation Ricky Martin, because chances are that would be distracting to someone.  On the other hand—and this one might make you raise one eyebrow and gingerly touch your index finger to your chin—if you have been blessed with a very nice voice, you should be very careful that you do not sing in a way that makes you seem like you are TRYING to be heard.  This can also distract people, because it can make you seem like you’re trying to give a performance for those “lucky” enough to sit around you.  So sing, but do it respectfully to both God and your neighbors.

So that’s the Entrance and the start of the Introductory Rites.  Tomorrow we’ll continue the Introductory Rites and talk about a few more related topics along our way.

Peace out, world…

The Real Battle Just Begun to Claim the Victory Jesus Won

Every Sunday (or Saturday afternoons after 4 p.m.) Catholics all over the world gather for the holy sacrifice of the Mass.  The Eucharist (the bread and wine that is transformed into the Body & Blood of Christ), which is brought into existence through the prayers of the faithful gathered and the actions of the priest acting in the person of Christ (in personae Christi) during the Mass is the source & summit of Christian life.  It’s what gives us our purpose, and it’s our final goal which we hope to be in full communion with for eternity after death.  The Mass as you’d experience it today in any Catholic Church anywhere in the entire world is an elaborate compilation of prayers, scriptural reflection, and tradition passed down through the generations.  (If you question the validity and importance of generational tradition, see the comments from the June 19 post.)

So where does this system of worship Catholics invest their faith in come from?  Did the Catholic Church just make it up at some point in history to give themselves more of a purpose?  Is it even based in Sacred Scripture?  There are plenty of questions that arise when studying the Mass.  Starting with this post, we’ll unpack the mystery that is the Mass, its elements, its history, and, of course, its scriptural basis.

One question I get asked the most is, “Why don’t Catholics just worship the same way the earliest Christians worshipped?”  It seems like when many critics and skeptics attend a Mass, they tend to think it’s impossible that what happens in a Catholic Church today could have even the slightest resemblance to what the earliest Christians did in the first few decades after the death of Jesus.  I think, then, we should start this Mass series with a pointed look at how the earliest Christians did, in fact, worship.  For that, I’ll turn to my trusty Catechism of the Catholic Church (a book EVERY Catholic should own), where under paragraph 1345, we find an excerpt from a letter written by St. Justin Martyr to the (pagan) emperor Antoninus Pius of Rome sometime around the year 155 AD (just a hair over a century after the death & resurrection of Jesus, but right smack in the middle of the emergence of St. Paul’s letters to the churches of various regions and the written accounts of the Gospels of the life of Jesus).  In this letter, St. Justin explained to the emperor (who seemed eager to understand) what exactly Christians DID as part of their weekly gatherings.  Here is the excerpt from that letter that can be found in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (remember, this is a Christian writing just 100 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus explaining what they did in the earliest days of organized following of Jesus—or what we’d call “Christianity” today):

On the day we call the day of the sun, all who dwell in the city or country gather in the same place.

The memoirs of the apostles and the writings of the prophets are read, as much as time permits.

When the reader has finished, he who presides over those gathered admonishes and challenges them to imitate these beautiful things.

Then we all rise together and offer prayers* for ourselves . . . and for all others, wherever they may be, so that we may be found righteous by our life and actions, and faithful to the commandments, so as to obtain eternal salvation.

When the prayers are concluded we exchange the kiss.

Then someone brings bread and a cup of water and wine mixed together to him who presides over the brethren.

He takes them and offers praise and glory to the Father of the universe, through the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and for a considerable time he gives thanks (in Greek: eucharistian) that we have been judged worthy of these gifts.

When he has concluded the prayers and thanksgivings, all present give voice to an acclamation by saying: ‘Amen.'

When he who presides has given thanks and the people have responded, those whom we call deacons give to those present the "eucharisted" bread, wine and water and take them to those who are absent.

Wow.

Just……wow……

And did I mention, “wow”?

Remember, that was written around the year 155 A.D. 

Not 1155….

…155.

Anybody else get kinda misty-eyed while reading that?  I mean, that’s just flat-out mind-bogglingly incredible.  This is a basic outline of what is still being done somewhere in the world at EVERY hour of EVERY day.  So for AT LEAST the last 1,856 years (which is a heck of a long time), Catholics have celebrated the same basic form of worshipping God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Now, what St. Justin was describing was the Mass at its simplest form in the earliest days when Christians (remember, back then everyone was all the same denomination, that being the one that today is known by the name “Catholicism”) were still being persecuted by non-Christians, so they had to meet in secret in small venues.  As Christianity began to gain more widespread acceptance, they were able to worship in larger spaces, and over time, the celebration of the Mass “grew” with the spaces it occupied, so we started seeing more symbolic vestments come into use, along with bells and music, and so many other elements that appealed to the senses of the faithful, until we arrived at what we experience when we attend the Catholic Mass today.

Amazing stuff, that Mass…  Next time you go, remember the description of St. Justin, and try to remember that the word catholic means “universal,” and that the sacrifice of the Mass helps us remember that our faith truly is a universal one that is constant and consistent throughout time and all over the world.

You Never Even Call Me by My Name - Part IV-b

Ok TRC readers, now we’re REALLY wrapping up our series on the actual names of things.  Yesterday’s post was only three items long, but they were some pretty big items. 

Paschal Candle – from the Hebrew pesah, meaning “Passover” – the candle brought forth at the Easter Vigil every year to symbolize the “Light of Christ” being brought into the world.  The “Paschal” portion comes from the “Paschal” season (which we’ll explain further in a later post on the seasons of the liturgical year) which happens around the Jewish feast of “Passover.”  The Paschal candle is lit for Masses during the Easter Season, during Baptisms, and during Funerals.

Baptismal Font – special stand for performing baptisms in present-day churches.  Originally, baptisms were performed in natural bodies of water (trust me…it’s in the Bible), then over time churches built separate buildings specifically designed for performing baptisms called Baptistries, which were essentially large indoor pools with stairs leading into the water on one end and out of the water on the other, with the baptism being done by full immersion (dunking) in the middle.  Today, baptisms are performed by pouring water on the head of the person to be baptized, with the water falling in and being collected by the baptismal font.

Holy Oils – in each church there is generally a reverent storage place for keeping the parish’s Holy Oils, which include the Oil of the Catechumens, the Oil of the Sick, and the Sacred Chrism.  These oils are blessed by the bishop of each diocese at the Chrism Mass, which traditionally is celebrated on Holy Thursday (Thursday before Easter); although, it has recently seen a shift in many areas to be celebrated on the Tuesday of Holy Week (week beginning with Palm Sunday and culminating with Easter).  Why oil?  Oil is very practically used in life to sweeten, preserve, and strengthen.  In a similar, yet more symbolic way, oil is used Sacramentally with the same general goals.  The Oil of the Catechumens is used in the ordination of priests, the coronation of kings and queens, the blessing of Churches, consecration of Altars, and in Baptism (mixed with water).  The Oil of the Sick is used to anoint the sick in the context of the Sacrament of, well, Anointing of the Sick (go figure…).  Finally, the Sacred Chrism (threw you off with the lack of the word “oil,” didn’t I?  Don’t worry, it’s also referred to as the Oil of Gladness.) is used Confirmation, Baptism, the consecration of a Bishop, and the consecration of other holy objects such as churches, chalices, patens, and bells.

Confessional – the room or booth-like structure (which could be located at a number of different locations within your parish church) where you can receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation (a.k.a. confession) in a private area, either face-to-face, or from behind a privacy screen.  Reconciliation will get its own post (or more likely, SERIES of posts) later, but for now, just remember that you CAN receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation in the Confessional, but you can also receive the Sacrament walking through the park with your priest…all about what you’re comfortable and most open with.

Sacrarium – a special sink located in the Sacristy used for purifying sacred vessels used for the Eucharist.  The sink is specially designed to drain straight into the ground, rather than into the sewer system because when cleaning the sacred Eucharistic vessels, pieces of the Body of Christ and droplets of the Blood of Christ typically are left over after the “quick purification” done by the priest or deacon after Communion.  Instead of being unnervingly disrespectful by dumping Jesus down the same drain as, well, when my 3-year-old goes potty, we pour the water used in cleaning these vessels down the Sacrarium and have the Eucharist respectfully deposited in the earth.

So there you have it.  I’ve probably left out a few little objects here or there, but I’ve done my best to hit on the “main” ones most people see every Sunday when we go to Mass.  Speaking of Mass, I’ve been wondering where we’d be moving to next on this blog, and although I was trying to think of a way to put it off, I think it’s inevitable that the next set of posts needs to be about the Mass.  So stay tuned (probably to the next month of posts) to see what we do during Mass, why we do it, and most importantly (especially to my Protestant friends who have been following) where we get the Mass from the Bible.  I’ll also mention related topics as we go along such as sin, transubstantiation, the updates to the Roman Missal that will be coming into effect this Advent, and why you don’t need to waste your money at a gym if you’re engaging in your weekly Catholic aerobics of sitting, standing, and kneeling.

Please remember that if you want to make a comment or ask a question about this post, use the comment option below rather than commenting on my Facebook page.  I’d like to address people’s questions and challenges, but I’d like other people who might have the same question to see the answers we provide here.

Peace.

You Never Even Call Me by My Name - Part IV-a

Rounding out the pack of our series on the true names for things we endearingly call “the cup,” “the bowl,” “the pointy hat the Bishop wears,” etc., we’re going to talk about some of the bigger objects we see in Church.  Now, learning my lesson from the last “YNECMBMN” (abbreviation for the post title—clever, I know), I’m going to pull a “Harry Potter” and break this last post up into two smaller posts (for monotony’s sake).  So off we go, starting with the single most important object in the Church:

Altar – from the Latin altare, meaning “fitting for burnt offerings” – now I know what some of you are thinking: Isn’t the tabernacle (see below if you weren’t thinking this and have no idea what a tabernacle is) the most important thing in the Church, since it’s where we keep the Body of Christ?  Well, in a word, no.  See, the purpose of the Mass is to remember and, in a very deep, theological way, relive the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, where he gave up his body and blood for our sins (more on that concept later).  The altar in today’s Church is reminiscent of the altar of sacrifice used by the Jewish people in the Old Testament when they sacrificed a precious possession (usually a prized lamb or similar animal) as a thanksgiving to God and/or in atonement for sins.  This is why we refer to Christ as “The Lamb of God.”  Jesus was the best God had to offer, and so he was “like a lamb led to the slaughter” (Isaiah 53:7).  Jesus, in a very real way, is sacrificed again, body, blood, soul, and divinity, at every Mass through the Eucharistic Prayer and the act of transubstantiation (first mention of this concept in this blog, but FAR from the last).  So the reason we go to the Church building is to take part in the Sacrifice of the Mass; therefore, the Altar, not the tabernacle, is the focal point of the church.  When you pass in front of the altar, it is customary to bow as a sign of respect in remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice.  (Please don’t misunderstand:  bowing to the altar is not “worshipping” the altar in any way.  We ONLY worship God in the Catholic Church.  We simply show respect for Christ’s sacrifice signified by the altar.)

Tabernacle – from the Latin taberna, meaning “hut or cottage” – the (usually gold) receptacle for keeping the consecrated Body of Christ remaining after all the faithful gathered at Mass, who are spiritually disposed to, have received the Eucharist.  The tabernacle started to come into wide use in the late 1200s, when the Synods of Cologne & Munster dictated that the Eucharist be kept in a secure, locked cabinet, though they didn’t strictly dictate where it should be kept.  Over time, the tabernacle was given more of a position of importance, and in modern churches, it is usually kept somewhere in the Sanctuary behind the altar, although some churches keep the tabernacle on a side altar in the church, or even in side chapels which are not part of the main worshipping area of the church.  So long as respect is shown to the Eucharist contained within, the placement is not of the utmost importance.  We show respect to the Eucharist held in the tabernacle by genuflecting (compound word from the Latin genu, meaning “knee” and flectere, meaning “to bend”).  Genuflecting is when you go down on one knee (generally the right knee) as a way of showing deep respect, mainly to the Eucharist.  See, we Catholics believe that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist.  We also use plenty of titles for Jesus, one being the “King of Kings.”  Now, if you remember your King Arthur legends, when a knight would enter the court of the king, he would go down to one knee as a sign of respect for the king.  Well, our genuflecting is reminiscent of that same medieval sentiment.  If King Arthur merited genuflecting from HIS people, how much more does Jesus fully present in the Eucharist deserve at least this small sign of respect?  So when you walk into a Catholic Church, the first thing you should do is locate the tabernacle and genuflect to the Eucharist held within, then when you’re making your way to your pew, before you enter it, you should bow to the altar.

Sanctuary Candle – simple enough, right? The Sanctuary Candle is simply a candle in the Sanctuary……..ok, you should know by now there’s bound to be more to it than that.  The Sanctuary Candle is a candle that is posted in the Sanctuary near the tabernacle.  Although not specifically prescribed by Church law, the Sanctuary Candle is usually poured into or surrounded by red glass.  This is simply to distinguish it from the other candles used in the church.  It is kept lit whenever the Eucharist is present in the tabernacle as a reminder that God is present.  The flame of the Sanctuary Candle should never go out so long as this is the case, and the next candle should be lit from the previous candle’s flame.  This is keeping with Jewish custom (remember, Christians have deep roots in Judaism—Jesus, after all, was Jewish) which dictated that an “eternal flame” would be kept burning in the temple to signify the presence of God.  This is basically the same sentiment present in the Sanctuary Candle. 

So that was only 3 objects, but I think it’s best not to be overloaded.  We’ll pick up here tomorrow night and conclude our “what’s everything called” series.  After that, we start with the parts of the Mass.  That’ll keep us busy for a few days.  ‘Til then….

I Looked into My Father's Eyes

For those of you who have been following, we'll return to the "You Never Even Call Me by My Name" series tomorrow.  This being Father's Day, I thought I'd seize the moment and tackle a different topic today.

A couple weeks ago, a good friend and seminary classmate of mine named Andre was ordained a priest.  I often tell stories to my wife about our seminary adventures, and when I mention Andre, my older son, who’s 3—going on 26—takes great pleasure in correcting me by saying, “Dad, you mean FATHER Andre?”  ...“from the mouths of babes,” I guess.

One problem protestant (non-Catholic Christians, getting their name from the concept that they are Christians who “protest” the beliefs of the Catholic Church) faiths have with Catholics is that we call our priests “Father.”  They like to point to the passage in the Gospel of Matthew that says, “Call no one on earth your father; you have but one father in heaven” (Matthew 23:9).  They (protestants) like to say we (Catholics) are wrong because Jesus clearly tells us to call no one on earth “father.”  But we like to point out that this is another shining example of why you should never take a single verse of the Bible out of context.

To show how things need to be taken IN context, let’s look first at the Book of Exodus Chapter 21, verses 23-25:

“But if injury ensues, you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.”

Someone reading ONLY this line would think that the Bible is saying that it’s ok to take vengeance upon someone who has done wrong to you.  This is, as common sense would tell us, not exactly the case.  This verse was part of a set of rules God had given to Moses to lay out for the Hebrews who had just been freed from slavery under Pharaoh in Egypt (watch “The Ten Commandments” for the classic film version of the Exodus story).  This “eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth” rule was given to a society whose mentality was more along the lines of “you stepped on my foot, so now I’ll drag your loved ones from their beds while they sleep and set fire to their homes.”  Now, when Jesus came along with HIS teachings, he told us, “To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well…” (Luke 6:29a).  Now, even here, when taken out of context, it could seem that Jesus is telling us that not only should we NOT defend ourselves, but we should willingly subject ourselves to abuse.  Of course, since we have an innate duty to preserve and protect life, this sentiment is also against Christian Theology.  Rather, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, “Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God. We must take reasonable care of them, taking into account the needs of others and the common good” (CCC 2288).  See, when you know the WHOLE story, the Bible can reveal much greater and deeper truths than first may seem from reading a line at a time.

Meanwhile, back at the Hall of Justice—I mean back at the “father” issue… (Sorry…bad “Super Friends” reference…)

In the “call no one on earth your father” verse, Jesus is scolding the Jewish leaders of his time for the sense of entitlement they felt as leaders of the church (probably the way some of our politicians feel—just watch the national news if you need an example of people who think they can get away with anything these days).  He was illustrating that no matter your rank, position, or vocation in life, no one is to hold himself in higher regard than others simply because of the position they hold.  He was calling out those leaders who presented a “holier than thou” persona.  Jesus was not literally saying to call no one “father.”  If he WAS, he would’ve broken his own rule SEVERAL times throughout the Gospels. Mark 11:9-10, Matthew 23:29-31 (same chapter as the “no fathers” verse), and Luke 6:23 are a few examples of where he uses the term “father.”  Plus, St. Paul used the term plenty of times in his letters.  In the interest of time and length of this post, though, let’s make looking up those verses your homework for today.

So why use the term “Father” for a priest, if they don’t get married, and therefore don’t have children to define them as “fathers”?  It is because we refer to priests as our “Spiritual Fathers” in the Church and give them the title “Father” to signify that concept.  We (Catholics) didn’t make up this concept, though.  It actually comes to us from (surprise, surprise) the Bible!  In St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verse 17, he speaks of Timothy as his “spiritual son”: “Therefore I sent to you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ.”  He also referred to Timothy in this way in his 2 letters to Timothy (see 1 Timothy 1:2 & 2 Timothy 1:2 for those examples).  More pointedly, St. Paul gives the most direct expression of spiritual fatherhood in his First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 4, Verses 14-15 where he says, ” I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”  Hard to argue with St. Paul.

So if you saw a priest today, I hope you told him “Happy Father’s Day!”  If not, that’s ok.  Just remember the next time you DO call your parish priest “Father,” don’t let that just be a respectful title you pin to the front of his name.  Allow yourself to learn from him the things of God, as children learn from their fathers in the home.