Responsibility For The Sins of Others

Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate with them: by participating directly and voluntarily in them; by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them; by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so; and by protecting evil-doers. 

(CCC 1868)

The Lesson of Christmas and the Eucharist

"The only ultimate reason for Bethlehem is Jerusalem; the only reason in God's mind for becoming a Child was so that He might, as man, die on the Cross. In a word, the mystery of Christmas is the mystery of God's unfathomable love that wants to suffer. God took on human flesh so that He might be able to endure pain. That is the mystery of Christmas, the mystery of God's love, in order that loving, He might endure the Cross.

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

What is the mystery of the Eucharist? It is the same. You would think that God's love would have been satisfied with His becoming man and as man living, suffering and dying for our sins. And having once died, rising from the dead and returning as man to the Father from whom He came. But no, the mystery of God's love is that He invented a way of showing His love for us not only by being with us and near us but God even invented a way of being inside of us. All of this tells us a lot about what love means. 

Love wants to show that it loves. It is not satisfied with sentiments or words. Love wants to prove its love in deeds; better, it wants to show its love in pain. Love wants to be near the one it loves, to be united with the one it loves. All of this is hidden behind the mystery of the Eucharist, made possible by the mystery of Christmas, because these two mysteries are really one. The Eucharist is merely an extension, a continuation, of what happened 2000 years ago in Bethlehem. Because Mary gave birth to the Son of God, we now have the Flesh of the Son of God near us, with us, and when we receive Him in Communion, within us.

Finally, what is the lesson? The lesson of Christmas and the Eucharist must be obvious by now. God does nothing in vain. He did not choose to become man nor does He remain man in our midst except that He wants to evoke from us something of the same kind of love that He showed during His life on earth and still shows us in His life in the Eucharist. Jesus Christ gives us His Flesh and Blood to adore, worship and nourish our souls on, so that we might live with His life. What He wants us to do therefore, and this is the lesson, is to love Him as He has been loving us..."

(Father John A. Hardon, S.J. from Christmas and the Eucharist)

It Is Up To Us!

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When the Mass is presented as something casual, entertaining, or improvisational, the whole point of it disappears.  If the priest conducts himself as if Christ were not truly present in the Eucharist, why should the lay people in his parish think the Eucharist means anything? Why should they bother to go to Mass at all?...[C]lose to two-thirds of American Catholics say they don’t believe in the True Presence of Christ in the Eucharist – and many of those are among the twenty-five percent who still attend Mass…it’s up to the laity to know the laws about texts, gestures, the sacred objects used, and the proper conduct of the Mass; to obey those laws; and to see that the clergy obeys them, too.  It’s up to us to call our priests back to due reverence when it comes to matters of taste that aren’t covered by law. 

Kevin Orlin Johnson, Ph.D.

How Often We Forget!

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The Mass is mystery; it is the summation and resolution of all the mysteries.  It is the focal point of Mary’s life; the focal point of Christ’s life; the focal point of the life of every true Christian.  Have you ever assisted at Mass? It is the crucifixion of God. How often we forget!

 Rev. M. Raymond, O.C.S.O.

His Most Sacred Heart

(Photo©Michael Seagriff)

 Behold the Heart which has loved men so much, which has heaped upon them so many benefits.  In exchange for this infinite love, It finds ingratitude; instead It meets with forgetfulness, indifference, and outrages and all this at times even from souls bound closely to it in the bonds of a very special love…

Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque