1 Corinthians 15:12-22 RSV-CE2

Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.  We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised.  For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised.  If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.  Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.  If for this life only we hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied.
But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For as by a man came death, by a man has come also resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive.

"I’m Not Being Fed"

A discussion on Catholic Answers Forums has inspired this post.  Although they did not use this clichéd expression themselves, it is what they were getting at by saying this:

My Dad (he will be 90 this year), had been a Catholic all his life. He caught the fire of the Holy Spirit in his mid-forties. He was invited to an Episcopal conference by one of my brothers and he said afterward … that he had never been taught that it was possible to have a personal relationship with Jesus and really expect the Holy Spirit to come alive inside. He said that he knew for the first time that Jesus’ love is real and he is a real, live Savior that loved him dearly and personally. He was deeply and dramatically touched by God. From that day on he began to change into a new man with a ravenous hunger for God’s word… and the entire family was affected and blessed.  (Posted by 1voice, http://forums.catholic.com/showthread.php?p=7788219#post7788219, post #49)

A self-professed “Cradle Catholic” that had left the Church at the age of 25, 1voice has at the crux of his (?) argument that he wasn’t being spiritually nourished.  I have two responses to the “I wasn’t being fed” argument:

1.     You were being fed, but you don’t understand the faith, especially the Eucharist.  Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is truly present in Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist (CCC 1333). Jesus is the Bread of Life, and who comes to him will not hunger (Jn 6:35) and will gain eternal life (Jn 6:51).  If one claims they are “not being fed” at the very place where they are feeding on the Bread of Life, then there is a problem, not with the One being eaten, but he who is eating.  They have taken of the Eucharist without discerning the Body and Blood of Christ, and as a result are spiritually sick or dead (1 Cor 11: 29-30).

2.     Personal Responsibility.  We cannot expect to grow spiritually or come to a full understanding of the faith (insofar as we can attain in this life according to our God-given ability) by giving an hour a week to Mass on Sunday morning.  That is not enough.  Daily Mass is helpful in this matter as well, but that still only amounts to, at most, seven hours a week. Is God worth more than about 4% of our time?  I would think so.  This is why a personal devotional life is so important.  We need to pray (not just say prayers, but also real conversation with God).  We need to read about the Saints.  The reason God has given us the saints is to serve as models of holiness.  St. Therese shows us how to attain holiness in the little things.  St. Thomas More shows strength in adversity.  St. Francis of Assisi demonstrates being Christ-like in word and deed.  Read the Scriptures, read about the Saints, pray.  These are the keys to “Being fed.”

Both of these things are linked.  If you take the responsibility to learn the faith, you will come to a deeper understanding of the Eucharist “the source and summit of the Christian life” (CCC 1324), which in turn will lead to more abundant graces upon receiving the Eucharist.  More graces, leads to more understanding, which leads to more graces.   

I have gotten that off of my chest.  Have a blessed and joyous Easter!

Holy Thursday

Today we celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper.  It will be the last Mass celebrated before the Easter Vigil on Saturday Evening.  Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of this Mass is the Gospel reading. Although it is called the “Mass of the Lord’s Supper” we read  not one of the accounts in the Synoptic Gospels wherein we see the institution of the Eucharist, but we read the account in John’s Gospel.  Why is this?  It is because it is here where Christ is instituting another Sacrament: the Sacrament of Holy Orders.  While it is true that the Holy Eucharist is the Source and Summit of the Christian faith, it is the priesthood that administers the Sacraments.  If the foot-washing scene is viewed as an ordination rite, then we can understand that Jesus was teaching the Apostles how to fulfill their vocations as Bishops once the Church was established.  So at the Holy Thursday Mass, in addition to preparing your heart  for Christ’s glorious Resurrection, reflect on those men who have sacrificed so much, and who so often are taken for granted.

St. Thomas More

The Church was gathered and the faith was believed before any part of the New Testament was put into writing.   And which writing was or is the true Scripture neither Luther nor Tyndale knoweth but by the credence they give to the Church.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

We are to put aside all judgment of our own, and keep the mind ever ready and prompt to obey in all things the true Spouse of Christ our Lord, our holy Mother, the hierarchical Church.

St. Ignatius of Antioch

I write and command all the churches that I willingly die for God, if in fact you do not prevent me.  I appeal to you to not to be inopportune even with a noble purpose.  Permit me to be food for the beasts; through them I will reach God.  I am the wheat of God, and I compete through the beasts’ teeth to be found the pure bread of Christ.

Pope John Paul I

The Rosary is an impoverished prayer?  What then would be a “rich” prayer?  The Rosary is a procession of Paters, the prayer taught by Jesus; of Aves, the salutation of God to the Virgin by means of an angel; of Glorias, the praise of the Most Holy Trinity.