Jul/090
Dealing with a dry spell
I found this article on 9 Tips for Spiritual Dry Spells by Jennifer Fulwiler. As you would expect, it contains advice for prayer, the sacraments, and reading inspiring books. It also has some not-so-common and insightful advice like finding a spiritual director and taking the time to recharge.
Interestingly enough, I read this at a time I have a bookshelf full of unread books on various religious topics from Amazon.com. I have reminders in my calendar to go to confession and daily mass (which I still don't attend, even with the reminders). And despite my best intentions, I have absolutely no ability to pray. For whatever reason I can't remember to do it, and when I am in a position to remember to do it, I do it poorly. Perhaps awkward is a better description than poor, but either way it doesn't feel right.
I like the idea of a spiritual director. I use to have one of those. I was very close to a priest. We were friends first, which made it easy to take advice when it was given. It also gave the relationship a deeper level of sincerity when he counseled me on questions of faith. I have a couple of people in my life currently who I would possibly view as "spiritual directors." But it's nothing formal, and I'm likely not brave enough to ask for that kind of help.
I have been trying to take some time to recharge. I've let my commitments tail off, so I now have more free time than I've had since high-school. But I don't feel recharged by it. I just feel... I don't know, lazy or unfocused. I suspect I'm not doing it right. I know what recharges me, and I'm doing a lot of that (reading, writing, working out again, etc...), but it doesn't work like it use to.
We'll... perhaps I'll work up the courage to ask for a director. It can't hurt, and it's good advice. If I take that step, perhaps the other steps will be easier.
Dec/080
Confession before communion
I think I've been wrong about my understanding of communion for awhile now. I don't know where or when I got the idea in my head, but I use to think you shouldn't take communion if you had missed church.
I know the basic rules for communion:
- Can. 919: "A person who is to receive the Most Holy Eucharist is to abstain for at least one hour before holy communion from any food and drink, except for only water and medicine."
- Can. 916: "A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible."
And I always thought missing mass was one of those "grave sins." You know, that whole "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy." sorta thing? Well it turns out, I may have been being too strict on myself.
In the article Confession Before Communion Paul Turner outlines the following:
Is confession required before every communion? No. In fact, the only sins which should keep us from communion and which we are obliged to confess are those called "serious." Which ones are those? We don't exactly have a list. It's a judgment call with the penitent and the confessor, so you'll hear many interpretations of serious sin from priests and people alike. In previous centuries serious sin governed so many cases that few people received communion regularly, but that is not the case today. How do we interpret the expression?
The church calls some actions "instrinsically evil" — behaviors so bad that they are always wrong. Vatican II includes among them offenses like homicide, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, suicide; mutilation, physical and mental torture, attempts to coerce the spirit; subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution and trafficking in women and children; and degrading conditions of work which treat laborers as mere instruments of profit and not as free responsible persons. These offenses form a basis for figuring out which sins require confession before communion. Although confession is not required before every communion, it often precedes in church practice. Most parishes offer confessions on Saturday before communion on Sunday. Children preparing for first communion also prepare for first confession. Although the church does not oblige us to confess lesser sins, those who use the sacrament will find their communion more fruitful.
I know my offenses aren't on that list. I didn't see having a big ego, missing Mass, or yelling at someone out of frustration on that list.
In the article Who Can Receive Communion? on Catholic.com there is another summary:
The Church sets out specific guidelines regarding how we should prepare ourselves to receive the Lord’s body and blood in Communion. To receive Communion worthily, you must be in a state of grace, have made a good confession since your last mortal sin, believe in transubstantiation, observe the Eucharistic fast, and, finally, not be under an ecclesiastical censure such as excommunication.
[...]
A mortal sin is any sin whose matter is grave and which has been committed willfully and with knowledge of its seriousness. Grave matter includes, but is not limited to, murder, receiving or participating in an abortion, homosexual acts, having sexual intercourse outside of marriage or in an invalid marriage, and deliberately engaging in impure thoughts (Matt. 5:28–29). Scripture contains lists of mortal sins (for example, 1 Cor. 6:9–10 and Gal. 5:19–21). For further information on what constitutes a mortal sin, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
So, none of those are on my list either.
This is great news. Now I get to take communion again when I go to Mass!
Dec/080
Sacrament of Reconciliation
CNA had a recent article on the Sacrament of Reconciliation in which Archbishop Nienstedt talked about 13 years as a confessor. You can find the short article here. In the article Nienstedt talks about why the sacrament should be one-on-one and a little bit into what the confessor might be looking for when listening.
I'm a big fan of face-to-face confessions. My wife, who is Lutheran, has general absolution at each weekly service, and it certainly doesn't have the same feel and gravity of the sacrament face-to-face. It's interesting that once while talking with one of her pastors, they said they wished more Lutherans would attend one-on-one confession. He also felt it was more powerful and effective for the penitent.
I know that in my personal history of confession, some of the largest breakthroughs I've made in my personal life have been as a result of personal penance I've received from priests who were able to not only listen and absolve me of my sins, but who also provided me with a method for dealing with that which lead me to sin in the first place. I find a lot of people who haven't been to confession since they were children feel like it's going to simply be "give me three Hail Mary's and a couple of Our Fathers." It's not. I believe every time I've gone in my adult life there has been something that the priest has said or requested as part of my penance that has helped change who I am, by reinforcing who I want to be.
Sep/080
Baptism has too many rules
Sometimes the church really confuses me. Take the following quote for example. It's from Ignatius of Antioch, a Bishop in the first century:
Shun schisms, as the source of troubles. Let all follow the bishop as Jesus Christ did the Father, and the priests, as you would the Apostles. Reverence the deacons as you would the command of God. Apart from the bishop, let no one perform any of the functions that pertain to the Church. Let the Eucharist be held valid which is offered by the bishop or by one to whom the bishop has committed this charge. Wherever the bishop appears, there let the people be; as wherever Jesus Christ is, there is the Catholic Church. It is not lawful to baptize or give communion without the consent of the bishop. On the other hand, whatever has his approval is pleasing to God. Thus, whatever you do will be safe and valid.
That quote seemed odd to me because I was taught that in emergencies, you were suppose to baptize infants yourself. So, I did my research and the Catechism of the Catholic Church confirms my suspicions that I remembered it correctly:
1256 The ordinary ministers of Baptism are the bishop and priest and, in the Latin Church, also the deacon. In case of necessity, anyone, even a nonbaptized person, with the required intention, can baptize, by using the Trinitarian baptismal formula. The intention required is to will to do what the church does when she baptizes. The Church finds the reason for this possibility in the universal saving will of God and the necessity of Baptism for salvation.
There were some additional references in the Catechism. I looked those up as well:
- Cf. CIC, can. 861 # 1
- CCEO, can. 677 # 1.
- Cf. 1 Tim 2:4.
- CIC, can. 861.2.
The ordinary minister of baptism is a bishop, a presbyter, or a deacon, without prejudice to the prescript of ⇒ can. 530, n. 1.
When an ordinary minister is absent or impeded, a catechist or another person designated for this function by the local ordinary, or in a case of necessity any person with the right intention, confers baptism licitly. Pastors of souls, especially the pastor of a parish, are to be concerned that the Christian faithful are taught the correct way to baptize.
Except in a case of necessity, no one is permitted to confer baptism in the territory of another without the required permission, not even upon his own subjects.
The baptism of adults, at least of those who have completed their fourteenth year, is to be deferred to the diocesan bishop so that he himself administers it if he has judged it Expedient.
In the quote above, Can. 530:
The following functions are especially entrusted to a pastor:
1. the administration of baptism;
[etc...]
Baptism is administered ordinarily by a priest; but, with due regard for particular law, the proper pastor of the person to be baptized, or another priest with the permission of the same pastor or the local hierarch, is competent for its administration, which permission, for a serious reason is lawfully presumed.
In case of necessity, baptism can be administered by a deacon or, in his absence or if he is impeded, by another cleric, a member of an institute of consecrated life, or by any other Christian faithful; even by the mother or father, if another person is not available who knows how to baptize.
And finally, Cf. 1 Tim 2:4:
who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.
So, after all that, I'm still no sure why the policy isn't baptize early and often. I understand that it's a serious sacrament, and as such you want to respect the sanctity of the sacrament and want to ensure it's performed correctly, but I don't understand why you wouldn't just have a policy that says "baptize right away and then baptize again "formally" in the church."
