Legendary coach Lou Holtz summarizes the Catechism in 30 seconds!
Anonymous asked:
I know it's a sin for us to take communion if we are in a state of mortal sin (Corinthians 11:27-29) But does that mean that if a catholic in mortal sin takes communion, they aren't receiving any grace from the Sacrament at all?
That's correct. Check out #1385 in the Catechism, which cites the 1 Corinthians passage you mention. A salutary reminder to us!
May God bless you abundantly and fill you with grace when you receive him (worthily)...
- Father Shane
Anonymous asked:
A middle aged cousin passed away a few years back. His sister, a devout Catholic, keeps asking exactly what happens after death. Is that the judgement? Is it purgatory, heaven or hell, then the final judgement?
Here's an awesome answer to that by Karl Keating. Lots more detail in the Catechism here. Enjoy! God bless you!
- Father Shane
Anonymous asked:
why is it that when i mention 'the Atonement' or 'the Atoning Sacrifice' most Catholics have no idea what im talking about? is it not a part of Catholic theology? instead there is simply the emphasis on the crucifixion and Christ's death on the cross?
Sure, it's part of our theology. It's just that word preferences tend to vary a lot between denominations, as I'm sure you're aware. In my own preaching, I would probably choose to use the word "redemption" a lot more, which isn't all that far from atonement, though of course there are nuances.
For example, here's what our Catechism says in #616:
It is love "to the end" (John 13:1) that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life (Cf. Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 5:2,25). Now "the love of Christ controls us, because we are convinced that one has died for all; therefore all have died" (2 Corinthians 5:14). No man, not even the holiest, was ever able to take on himself the sins of all men and offer himself as a sacrifice for all. The existence in Christ of the divine person of the Son, who at once surpasses and embraces all human persons, and constitutes himself as the Head of all mankind, makes possible his redemptive sacrifice for all.
I'm sure you would agree with that, right?
God bless you!
- Father Shane
Anonymous asked:
Is it true that prayers do not change what God intends to do? (Assuming that we have the power to compel the divine with our words is superstition.) Are prayers just meant to change the one praying? (It doesn't change what God will do, it just changes us so that we become more influenced by grace.) I wanted to know if prayers then even have a supernatural aspect or are really just conditioning. Where is the distinction between the supernatural and the psychological in prayer?
Great question! First of all, I think we have to say that prayer isn't just "petition," or asking for stuff. It is also, and more importantly, an encounter with God and a communion with God. Or, more precisely, God drawing us to his heart to encounter him and to discover communion with him.
More than using God to satisfy our desires by bending his will to ours, our will is brought up into his to be realigned and transformed. "Thy Kingdom come, thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven" comes before "Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses."
True prayer is always deeply supernatural because true prayer is "seeking God's face" and seeking to do his will. It's (at least partially) false prayer when we choose not to listen to God and only to demand that he change his will.
Often, too, God wills that we ask in order to receive what he wants to give us.
Is there a psychological element to prayer? Absolutely, since God created our human nature and he knows that we can only live and act as human beings. Our error would be to try to separate the psychological from the spiritual as though they are two totally different things... for as human beings we inhabit the strange borderland between the material and the spiritual, and we get easily misled when we try to live in only one of those worlds.
This is far too deep a topic for a Tumblr response, though... I would highly recommend perusing the Catechism if you're still interested: 2574-2577, 2613-2616, but especially 2735-2741, which gets to the core of your question. All those selections are pretty short, don't worry.
God bless you!
- Father Shane
Anonymous asked:
Wearing Rosaries around the neck... I've heard yes's and no's depending on the person, including different priests! But most of us just want one solid answer! Would there be anything in the Catechism to speak on this debate? What is YOUR opinion on this? Thank you, Father! :-)
Here's something I wrote a while back about that... see what you think. It basically boils down to culture and intent; no getting out of that.
In the case of someone who wears a rosary out of spite for a holy thing, Catechism 2120 can apply. Regarding the rosary as a holy thing and a sign of faith, see Catechism 1674.
God bless you!
- Father Shane
Anonymous asked:
Father, I'm very confused about "extra ecclesiam nulla salus" which holds that outside of Baptism, there is no salvation. I know that many popes have infallibly pronounced this to be true (e.g. Boniface VIII, Eugene IV, Innocent III etc.), And it is in scripture, John 3: 5 but I've gotten heard many differing views on this matter in especially in more recent times. The idea that souls can be saved without Baptism is understandably comforting, but I just want to know the truth. Thank you.
It's a theologically nuanced phrase that can very easily be misunderstood. There are a few groups in the Church that are upset with the Church's self-understanding and make a lot of hay about it, so there's a good deal of confusion.
The best and simplest guide is what the Catechism says:
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
"Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it." (Lumen Gentium 14)
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
"Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation." (Lumen Gentium 16)
848 "Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men." (Ad Gentes 7)
God bless you!
- Father Shane
Anonymous asked:
The Catechism says that God created all men equal, but clearly this is not true because there's Mary, who is "holy" (set apart) and "blessed among women". How do you explain this?
We're all equal in dignity, a dignity that comes from being "called to share, by knowledge and love, in God's own life" (Catechism 356).
But we're not all called to be identical. Each of us has a different path to walk in this life. For me, it's as a priest; for you, it's as an anon; for the Blessed Mother, it was as the only woman to receive the special mission of being God's mother. So her mission was different, but her dignity of being called to share in God's own life is the same as yours.
Of course, she's enjoying it much more fully than either of us right now, since she's in Heaven in surpassing holiness, so I guess we're only right to fulfill Elizabeth's prophecy and tell her "Most blessed are you among women" (Luke 1:42)!
God bless you!
- Father Shane
Anonymous asked:
Why would God ever will/allow for someone to be deprived of confession?
I wish I could answer this better than giving vague generalities, but that's what happens when we try to understand God's decisions. His ways are not our ways. Here's the core of the answer:
God our savior ... wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4)
If that's really true, then God will never work actively against someone's salvation. But neither will he work against their free will; otherwise they wouldn't really be free.
Trying to piece those different premises all together, we get a picture like this:
- A non-Christian who doesn't find out the truth about Christ and therefore never gets to confession can still be saved by God in ways known only to him (Catechism 847-848). But in the case of someone who finds out about God's truth and freely rejects it, God allows his/her freedom to win out.
- Something similar happens in the case of Christians who aren't Catholic or Orthodox.
- Catholic and Orthodox can deprive themselves of Confession by not going regularly or by allowing themselves to continue in a state of mortal sin without getting to Confession. God could freely offer someone the opportunity without them choosing to take it. Sort of like a case of slowly asphyxiating yourself.
- But what if a plane is going down and you haven't gotten to Confession yet? Then #1452 from the Catechism kicks in:
When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called "perfect" (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.
So if you simply can't get access to a priest at the hour of death but are helped to make an act of total love for God and sorrowful horror for your sins, you're technically deprived of Confession but not deprived of God's grace.
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,his mercy endures forever.
Let Israel say:his mercy endures forever.
Let the house of Aaron say,his mercy endures forever.
Let those who fear the LORD say,his mercy endures forever.
(Psalm 118:1-4)
God bless you!
- Father Shane
fathershane reblogged
Going through the YouCat’s section on prayer and it’s blowing my mind!
For Parents
The best Catholic faith program for kids that I know of is getting bigger and getting a much better online presence... K4J!
I just got this via email, so here you go: They're launching an online program for parents and their kids (preschool through 8th grade) in January.
There's a free webinar on Thursday (the 8th, for Mary's feast day) at 10am, 1pm and 8pm EST, whichever you prefer. Participants in the webinar get free access to all of "K4J Family" through June 2012. Here's the link for the webinar; then just dial (559) 546-1200 and enter the meeting ID number: 356-243-060.
Enjoy!
Humility makes us recognize that "no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him," that is, "to little children." [...] God our Father transcends the categories of the created world. To impose our own ideas in this area "upon him" would be to fabricate idols to adore or pull down. To pray to the Father is to enter into his mystery as he is and as the Son has revealed him to us.
Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2779
Source: scborromeo.org
Anonymous asked:
I don't understand why the Catechism is used in the Catholic church as a valid source of Truth. It's not the Bible right? Is there an explanation Father?
Good eye! You're right. It's not a source of Truth (it's not God's Word itself), but it is an exceptional summary of Catholic teaching.
When we say that the sources of authoritative doctrine about God are Scripture (God's Word in the 73 books of the Bible, interpreted by the Church), Tradition (the Church's liturgy and traditions, plus dozens of Fathers of the Church and Doctors of the Church) and the Magisterium (thousands upon thousands of documents down through the ages, and hundreds of specific dogmatic pronouncements), we're talking about an incredible bulk of documentation that very few expert theologians can get an adequate knowledge of.
Hence the need to boil down our communication of the truths of the Faith into a basic summary like that of the Catechism. Otherwise we ordinary folks just will never get all the knowledge we need. It simply wouldn't be practical.
That's why the Church produced the Catechism of the Catholic Church and its shorter Compendium, plus the US adult catechism and the recent YouCat for young people. It's not so much to be an authoritative source of truth as to be a trustworthy place to find quick answers.
God bless you!
- Father Shane
Anonymous asked:
Dear Father, what can I do to get started on learning more about Catholicism? I feel as if there is so much to learn the amount is almost intimidating, but I'm willing and will take the time to study carefully and diligently. I am simply confused on where to start with all of this. If you could give me your advice and guidance, it would be much appreciated! Thank you for all the work you do.
Wonderful! (Sorry to have taken so long to get back to you!) Seeking truth so sincerely will always be rewarded by the Truth.
If you're coming from a Protestant background, books like those by Jimmy Akin, Scott Hahn or Mark Shea might connect pretty well with you. They're all converts from forms of Evangelical Christianity who know the theology and traditions on both sides in exhaustive detail and are really good at clear explanations.
If your background instead just simply isn't very religious, you might enjoy Jennifer Fulwiler's blog.
Then, no matter where you're coming from, if you've got the patience for a brief but complete Q&A about the basics of Catholicism, the US adult catechism is fantastic, and anyone who's read anything else I've written knows I'm a huge fan of the YouCat, which is even briefer and clearer.
Catholic.com (especially its "Library") is a great source for basic understanding of the more contentious topics, though it can sometimes get into more detail than might interest you.
Those are just some ideas. Obviously if you've got questions about anything specific, I'd be glad to help to the extent that I can! You've probably already seen that the askbox doesn't open up very often, but everybody around here is really patient with me for some reason.
God bless you!
- Father Shane
Anonymous asked:
Father, is there really such a thing as a guardian angel? does each person have one?
Yes! The Biblical basis for that is Matthew 18:10.
See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.
The Catechism doesn't discuss angels a great deal, in part since though the Bible says a lot about their existence and action, they're not the core of our belief. Actually, "worship of angels" (see Colossians 2:18) was one of the serious problems that motivated Saint Paul to write his letter to the community of Colossae.
But given Jesus' clarity and centuries of theological reflection, the Catechism does say this:
From its beginning until death, human life is surrounded by their [angels'] watchful care and intercession. "Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." Already here on earth the Christian life shares by faith in the blessed company of angels and men united in God. (#336)
So yes you do have a guardian angel. Here's a prayer that has been traditional for centuries:
Angel sent by God to guide me,be my light and walk beside me.Be my guardian and protect me,on the paths of life direct me. Amen.
God bless you!
- Father Shane