Dear Friends,
The month of November reminds us of both our Christian identity and our destiny. We are called to be SAINTS and to spend eternity with the Lord! I think it’s fair to say that most of us are dissatisfied with the current direction in which our world is moving, and I suspect that many of us are disappointed with the ways in which we are living out our call to holiness. This month begins with the Feast of All Saints, a day to remember the many ancestors of our faith who have made it to sainthood. This month also reminds us of our beloved departed souls who might have lived a good life but are still need of our prayers for purification. Hence, we will be offering three Masses on Monday, 2 November 2020 (8 a.m./ 12.05 p.m./ 6 p.m.) to remember our beloved dead, the Feast of the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed (All Souls’ Day).
As we remember the saints, I am particularly delighted to make mention of the virtuous life of Fr. Michael McGivney who was beatified on Saturday, October 31, 2020 at 11:00 a.m. at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Hartford, CT. The Decrees of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints put out this statement: “[…] the miracle, attributed to the intercession of the Venerable Servant of God Michael McGivney, Diocesan Priest, Founder of the Order of the Knights of Columbus; born on August 12, 1852 in Waterbury (United States of America) and died in Thomaston (United States of America) on August 14, 1890; Venerable Michael McGivney was the founder of the Knights of Columbus, now the world’s largest Catholic fraternal organization. After studies in Canada and the United States, he was ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop James Gibbons in Baltimore. He founded the Knights of Columbus as a mutual aid society, geared especially to working men and their families. He was known for his tireless work among his parishioners. He died at the early age of 38 from pneumonia.”
We congratulate our Brother Knights for their dedication to our Catholic Church and for their tireless and relentless service to those in need. This may be a good time for the men of our parish to consider joining the Knights of Columbus to become a stronger role model for both your families and our community.
Be Blessed!
With love, Fr. John
Ecclesia De Eucharistia
For this week, we shall reflect on paragraphs 36-37 of the encyclical, “Ecclesia De Eucharistia” (The Church draws her life from the Eucharist) by St. John Paul II on the vital role the Eucharist plays in the life of the Church. In the 4th chapter we study the vital relationship between “The Eucharist and Ecclesial Communion.” It highlights the fact that since the Eucharist is the summit of the spiritual life and the goal of all the sacraments the recipients must be free from manifest grave sins.
- Invisible communion, though by its nature always growing, presupposes the life of grace, by which we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4), and the practice of the virtues of faith, hope and love. Only in this way do we have true communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Nor is faith sufficient; we must persevere in sanctifying grace and love, remaining within the Church “bodily” as well as “in our heart” (Lumen Gentium, 14); what is required, in the words of Saint Paul, is “faith working through love” (Gal 5:6).
Keeping these invisible bonds intact is a specific moral duty incumbent upon Christians who wish to participate fully in the Eucharist by receiving the body and blood of Christ. The Apostle Paul appeals to this duty when he warns: “Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup” (1 Cor 11:28). Saint John Chrysostom, with his stirring eloquence, exhorted the faithful: “I too raise my voice, I beseech, beg and implore that no one draw near to this sacred table with a sullied and corrupt conscience. Such an act, in fact, can never be called 'communion', not even were we to touch the Lord's body a thousand times over, but 'condemnation', 'torment' and 'increase of punishment'” (Homiliae in Isaiam,6, 3: PG 56, 139).
Along these same lines, the Catechism of the Catholic Church rightly stipulates that “anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion” ( No. 1385; cf. Code of Canon Law, Canon 916; Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Canon 711). I therefore desire to reaffirm that in the Church there remains in force, now and in the future, the rule by which the Council of Trent gave concrete expression to the Apostle Paul's stern warning when it affirmed that, in order to receive the Eucharist in a worthy manner, “one must first confess one's sins, when one is aware of mortal sin” (Address to the Members of the Sacred Apostolic Penitentiary and the Penitentiaries of the Patriarchal Basilicas of Rome (30 January 1981): AAS 73 (1981), 203. Cf. Ecumenical Council of Trent, Sess. XIII, Decretum de ss. Eucharistia, Chapter 7 and Canon 11: DS 1647, 1661).
- The two sacraments of the Eucharist and Penance are very closely connected. Because the Eucharist makes present the redeeming sacrifice of the Cross, perpetuating it sacramentally, it naturally gives rise to a continuous need for conversion, for a personal response to the appeal made by Saint Paul to the Christians of Corinth: “We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20). If a Christian's conscience is burdened by serious sin, then the path of penance through the sacrament of Reconciliation becomes necessary for full participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice.
The judgment of one's state of grace obviously belongs only to the person involved, since it is a question of examining one's conscience. However, in cases of outward conduct which is seriously, clearly and steadfastly contrary to the moral norm, the Church, in her pastoral concern for the good order of the community and out of respect for the sacrament, cannot fail to feel directly involved. The Code of Canon Law refers to this situation of a manifest lack of proper moral disposition when it states that those who “obstinately persist in manifest grave sin” are not to be admitted to Eucharistic communion (Canon 915; Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, Canon 712).