Year III, Number 10

I would like this year to speak to you about an aspect of our mission to which I called your attention last year at this same time. I believe that it warrants further reflection. I mean the mission which the Lord has given us to represent him not just in the Eucharistic Sacrifice but also in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Between the two sacraments there is a profound relationship. The Eucharist, the summit of the sacramental economy, is also its source: all the sacraments in a sense spring from the Eucharist and lead back to it. This is true in a special way of the sacrament charged with "mediating" the forgiveness of God, who welcomes the repentant sinner back into his embrace. It is true that as a re-enactment of Christ´s Sacrifice, the Eucharist also serves to deliver us from sin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us: "The Eucharist cannot unite us to Christ without at the same time cleansing us from past sins and preserving us from future sins" (No. 1393). Nevertheless, in the economy of grace willed by Christ, this purifying power, while it directly cleanses from venial sins, only indirectly cleanses from mortal sins, which radically compromise the believer´s relationship with God and his communion with the Church. "The Eucharist," the Catechism continues, "is not ordered to the forgiveness of mortal sins. That is proper to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist is properly the sacrament of those who are in full communion with the Church" (No. 1395).

In insisting on this truth, the Church in no way wishes to detract from the role of the Eucharist. Her intention is to grasp its significance in relation to the whole sacramental economy as instituted by God´s saving wisdom. This, after all, is what Saint Paul clearly indicated when writing to the Corinthians: "Whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgement upon himself" (1 Cor 11:27-29). In line with this admonition of Saint Paul is the principle which states that "anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1385).

My dear Brothers in the Priesthood: in recalling this truth, I feel a pressing need to urge you, as I did last year, to rediscover for yourselves and to help others to rediscover the beauty of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. In recent decades and for a variety of reasons, this sacrament has passed through something of a crisis. More than once I have drawn attention to this fact, even making it the theme of a gathering of the Synod of Bishops, whose reflections I then presented in the Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et Paenitentia. On the other hand, I cannot fail to acknowledge with deep joy the positive signs which, in the Jubilee Year especially, have shown that this sacrament, when suitably presented and celebrated, can have a broad appeal, even among the young. Its appeal is enhanced by the need for personal contact, something that is becoming increasingly scarce in the hectic pace of today´s technological society, but which for this very reason is increasingly experienced as a vital need. Certainly, this need can be met in various ways. But how can we fail to recognize that the Sacrament of Reconciliation ?- without confusing it with any of the various forms of psychological therapy ?- offers an extraordinarily rich response to this need? It does so by bringing the penitent into contact with the merciful heart of God through the friendly face of a brother.

Yes, great indeed is the wisdom of God, who by instituting this sacrament has made provision for a profound and unremitting need of the human heart. We are meant to be loving and enlightened interpreters of this wisdom though the personal contact we are called to have with so many brothers and sisters in the celebration of Penance. In this regard, I wish to repeat that the usual form of administering this sacrament is its individual celebration, and only in "cases of grave necessity" is it lawful to employ the communal form with general confession and absolution. The conditions required for this form of absolution are well known; but perhaps we should remember that for absolution to be valid the faithful must have the intention of subsequently confessing their grave sins individually (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1483).

Q. Allow me to preface my question by saying that I'm an Eastern Catholic. Basically, I used to have great faith when I was younger, but after kind of lapsing into sinful habits, I was away, and then came back. Now fighting those habits is hard. It also kind of clouded my view on things. The strong faith I used to have is gone, and I'm filled with doubts as to my faith. Not that I doubt the teachings of the church, they make sense, but I don't have that strong a faith in God as I used to. I find myself sometimes doubting His existence, whether He's out there or not. This happens especially when I'm really struggling with things. On the other hand, I feel that I might have a vocation to the priesthood. No matter how I try to put it away, that thought keeps coming back, and other people have told me I should go for it. Since I feel this way, perhaps I am being called, and since no one else is calling me to anything, I figure it must be God. So in some ways, my problem is how we can know the existence of God for sure, but at the same time, I don't think I doubt that so much as I don't have that strong faith and conviction that many others do. Oftentimes, it doesn't seem real to me. I try praying, and for a short while, things seem to get better, but then when I have my struggles, all kinds of thoughts come to mind, and with them an extra thought, that my prayer was in vain, as my problems are still here. I would like to have a deeper relationship with God, except that whenever I try, something is always messed up, and I just drop down further, it seems. It's real frustrating, and these two seemingly contradictory things don't really help it too much, so I'm hoping you could help me. I've included my email address above, in case you might think it appropriate to send me something, I need all the help I can get. Thank you for your time in helping me sort out these issues.

A. Dear Jack,

One thing we should never forget when we try to give ourselves to the spiritual life is that we have an enemy: Satan. He is not indifferent and he doesn't believe in being a passive observer. He has no shame and doesn't believe in fairness either. He is not going to give you a fair chance. So when you find yourself tempted to doubt you know where it is coming from. You can simply put those doubts aside, they are coming from him and not from you. You are trying to grow in your faith, he is trying to disrupt your progress, so don't let him get you off track. Once you have this clear, you have to remind yourself that faith and the spiritual life are not based on feelings but on realities. When your feelings let you down you simply have to say to remind yourself of those realities. Christ is present in the Eucharist, God is your creator and your Father, He does forgive our sins in the sacrament of reconciliation, he is listening when you pray... And keep on going. To grow in prayer and faith there is nothing like going to Mass and Communion. Keep and grow our life of grace: through confession and communion. I think you will also find it much easier to progress if you have a spiritual director to speak with about these things and help you along. I hope this is enough to get you started. Get back in touch with me if I can help you more.

God bless. - Fr Anthony

Q. At the moment I am a 23 year old women working in a full time job... my dream is to join a religious order and to give my life fully to God. I am hoping that in January next year that I will stay with the Missionaries of Charity-for a 'come and see' and take God will from there. In the mean time I feel I am struggling with trying not to get caught up in this world and go back to a lifestyle that I once had. I am weak and I would like some advice in how I can detach myself from the secularism that surrounds me on a daily basis.

Thank you kindly for your time and God bless.

A. Dear Anne,

We are all weak, and always weak. The only strength we have is in God's grace. That means that you have to bring his grace into your life actively, depend absolutely on it, and then not be afraid since Christ is the first one to want you to be faithful. This means that you have to make prayer a constant part of your life. Set times aside for it each day, try to go to Mass as frequently as you can and receive Holy Communion. Find a good confessor so you can use the sacrament frequently in order to grow in your life of grace and virtue. Keep close to Mary by praying the rosary each day. Once you take care of prayer, examine the other things you fill your day with. Eliminate the trivial (TV, pointless socializing, any time-wasters you detect) and have some time each day for substantial reading and study of your faith. Then see what you can do for others. Bring the corporal works of charity into your life. (Remember Mother Theresa's phrase, 'do it now'). You should especially make sure to develop good friendships. Look for some other young women who give priority to their faith, and that you can do things together with.

Hope this helps. God bless. - Fr Anthony

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with Fr Anthony Bannon

Staying detached while discerning?

“Without Jesus Christ, one can neither understand life nor death, God nor oneself.” - Blaise Pascal

It is the central event of Christianity. The Resurrection unlocks the meaning for us, not only of Jesus Christ, but of our own life and death and eternity.

Gospel Passage: Jn 20

On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, “They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don’t know where they put him.” So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter and arrived at the tomb first; he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in. When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place. Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned home. But Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent over into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting there, one at the head and one at the feet where the body of Jesus had been. And they said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord, and I don’t know where they laid him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus there, but did not know it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” She thought it was the gardener and said to him, “Sir, if you carried him away, tell me where you laid him, and I will take him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabbouni,” which means Teacher. Jesus said to her, “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’“ Mary of Magdala went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and what he told her. On the evening of that first day of the week, when the doors were locked, where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. (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.” Thomas, called Didymus, one of the Twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands and put my finger into the nailmarks and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.” Thomas answered and said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.” Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of (his) disciples that are not written in this book. But these are written that you may (come to) believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in his name.

1. The Resurrection and eternal life

Pope John Paul met a group of youth during his visit to one of the Roman parishes and commented: “I am nearly 80 years old.” He went on to say that, in spite of his advanced age, he sought to keep himself young because youth is a time for looking forward. Then he asked: “But can you keep on looking forward at 80 years of age?” Swiftly he answered himself: “Yes, because you can look forward to eternal life!”

This is the day when eternity has been opened for us. O Blessed Day indeed! The long expected day waited for during thousands of years by fallen humanity, tortured and bewildered by the sight of the darkness of a life ending merely with death. This is the day waited for by the great minds of all civilizations, who groped in the darkness of their minds for a glimmer of hope! Exsultet! “Of this night scripture says: ‘The night will be as clear as day: it will become my light, my joy’. Night truly blessed when eternity is wedded to time!”

Christian, stoop down like Peter and peer into the tomb. Peer into the tomb and see nothing but wrappings. And go your way full of amazement at what has occurred. Christian, are you not aware that your life has been utterly changed because of Christ’s resurrection?

Conversation with Christ: “Lord, that I may see! That I may open my eyes to the dramatic and awesome beauty of your resurrection, for in your resurrection I can find all that I have ever desired and longed for. Lord, that I may see!”

2. The great existential consequences of the Resurrection

The Resurrection is the great lighthouse towering over the turbulent, storm-tossed seas of history and civilizations. Its strong beams of light help you to see three great truths of your life:

1. You can live life with abandon. With daring and audacity. With fire and passion. Because the light of the Resurrection shows up life as only beginning here and now in our 30, 60, 80 years of existence. You don’t need to live like a rat racing to catch every last bit of pleasure, power and fame before the whistle is blown. You don’t need to live miserly, hoarding every minute of your time for yourself and your well-being because you are haunted that at any moment your time may be up. This night you have risen with Jesus Christ. You share in his life! And one day when, as C.S. Lewis said, the anesthetic fog which we call “nature” fades away, you will find underneath all the appearances of your being something you have never yet imagined: a real man, an ageless son of God, strong, radiant, wise, beautiful, and drenched in joy. Because this day, the Risen Jesus Christ, re-ascending from his great dive into the depths of our human nature, is bringing up Human Nature with him. Where he goes, it goes too. It, you, will be made like him. So you can recklessly spend your time in love, in apostolic coinage, because you, Christian, are one of the wealthiest men on the face of the earth.

2. You can live with the awareness of having the greatest mission on the face of the earth. You can give to others what no other man can give. You can give eternal life. You can restore eternal life. You can nourish eternal life. What greater way could you spend your life? Your mission is the greatest because the way of humanity, as individuals and as society, necessarily follows the beams of light from the lighthouse of the Resurrection or else finishes on the destructive reefs of evil.

3. You can live your life with the excitement of the journey. Yes, you feel the struggles with the old nature. Yes you feel the temptations, from all sides that howl against the ship of your nature. But remember, as C.S. Lewis so eloquently stated, a new nature is being made out of precisely that old beaten-up nature that you feel as pure weakness. We live amid all the anomalies, inconveniences, hopes and excitements of a ship that is being rebuilt into a yacht that will cut through the ocean waves with pride into eternal life.

Conversation with Christ: “Lord, may nothing hold me back from so great a destiny as you have willed for me through your resurrection. May my heart beat with the excitement of what your resurrection holds for my life and eternity. Lord, that I may see!”

3. Conclusion

O Amazing Night in which the Sun has shone at midnight! The light of Christ’s Resurrection has dispelled the darkness of our hearts and minds. The great rumor that had been whispered through the ages before Christ has happened: human nature has been caught up by Christ and you can live life with love, with the awareness of your mission and with the enthusiasm of a life that never ceases to advance towards the eternal dawn.

QUESTIONNAIRE

To help you to examine your life, in the light of the inspirations God just gave you in these moments you shared with him.

1. Since the resurrection is the most important historical event with meaning for my life, should I not dedicate time each week to reflecting on its meaning for me? Why not dedicate 15 minutes each Sunday?

2. Am I aware that the life of the Risen Christ enters my being each time I receive the Holy Eucharist, enabling me to be divinized in seed-like form for Heaven?

3. In the light of the resurrection, do I perceive the grandeur of giving my life to enable my brothers and sisters to rise to eternal life in Heaven?

Looking for a living model that personifies the apostle for our times that I am trying to explain, I find no better example than the Holy Father, John Paul II. A short while ago, a columnist wrote of him that "in the Church's whole history, no man, no saint, no other Pope has preached the Gospel like him to all nations, in accordance with the Lord's last words in St. Matthew."

Every continent has seen him as a messenger of hope thanks to his apostolic journeys, sparing himself no toil or fatigue as long as he can fulfill his apostolic mission. Without a doubt the present Pontiff is an extraordinary gift of Christ to his Church. He has gone out to preach to the five continents. He has not been afraid to explain clearly the demands of the Gospel and to proclaim it in every arena. He is the first promoter of the new evangelization to which he has summoned the whole Church because for him, as for St. Paul, it is a duty to preach the Gospel. He is the number one missionary in the Church, a model of the Shepherd who gives his life in order to gather all men into the one fold of Christ.

John Paul II showcases the style of apostolate the Church needs in these times: out in the vanguard, with the courage to display Christ's message bravely, seeking out man in need of God. Precisely in his last pastoral visit to Spain, he invited Catholics to live their Christianity fearlessly. He told them in the Eucharistic Celebration when he consecrated the cathedral of "la Almudena": "It is unacceptable, being contrary to the Gospel, to attempt to restrict religion to the strictly private realm, paradoxically forgetting the essentially public and social dimension of the human person. Go out, then, into the streets, live your faith with joy, bring to others the salvation of Christ which must find its way into families, schools, culture and political life."

Upcoming Events & Retreats

(( Listed here are retreats directed by the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi members. For a listing of diocesan activities and other events, click here to go to the vocation.com website ))

LEGIONARIES OF CHRIST

Rosaryville, LA, April 12-14, Young Men's Spiritual Exercises. Contact Fr Patrick Murphy, (678) 428-6348. pmurphy@legionaries.org

Cheshire, CT, April 19-21, Test Your Call! retreat. Contact Br Shane Johnson, (800) 420-5409. vocation@legionaries.org

Atlanta, April 26-28, Young Men's Spiritual Exercises. Contact Fr Scott Reilly, (770) 394-2158. frscott@legionaries.org

Denver, April 26-28, Spiritual Exercises with Fr Anthony Bannon. Contact Br Daniel Brandenburg, (303) 689-9932. dbrandenburg@legionaries.org

Manchester, NH, May 3-5, Evangelization Mission. Contact Adam Jeffries, (301) 365-3205. YTM2000@aol.com

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated women

St. Louis, April 12-14. Spiritual Exercises. Contact Anne-Marie Dardis, (314) 583-0238. amdardis@inteducators.org

Ottawa, April 21 and May 19. Half-Day Retreats. Contact Lourdes Cano, (612) 205-7566. lcano@inteducators.org

Minneapolis, April 14. Humanitarian Mission. Contact Tammy Grady, (612) 205-2504. tgrady@inteducators.org

Manchester, NH, May 3-5, Evangelization Mission. Contact Adam Jeffries, (301) 365-3205. YTM2000@aol.com

REGNUM CHRISTI consecrated men

Call Tony McDonnell for more information, (301) 365-3205. info@ytm.org

ShoreLines welcomes your questions and comments at questions@shorelines.org. If you do not specify otherwise, your question may be posted in the Vocations Q&A section.

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