That 1 Day

It's the Triduum. That's TRID-OOO-UM.

Ummmmmm.....what's that?

It's the end of Lent, a three-day event where we remember the Passion, Suffering, Death, and ultimately Resurrection of Jesus. The Triduum has three parts:

• Holy Thursday -- We celebrate the Last Supper where Jesus gave us the Eucharist, washed the feet of his apostles, and instituted the priesthood. Soon after, his suffering would begin. It ends with a procession of the Eucharist around the Church and typically Adoration of the Eucharist until midnight.
• Good Friday -- The one day Catholics don't celebrate Mass, we remember the Passion of Jesus where he was betrayed, captured, tortured, wrongly convicted, lashed, mocked, made to carry the cross, and crucified. We venerate the cross as the symbol of God's love, Christ's sacrifice, and the place our hope died to rise again.
• Holy Saturday -- That in-between day when Jesus is in the tomb. We wait. When the sun sets, a beautiful celebration (liturgy) begins. By candlelight, we process into the Church, read our salvation story (up to seven readings and six psalms), and then when the Gospel is proclaimed, ring bells and bring up the lights. Jesus is risen! Alleluia! We also welcome new Catholics into full communion with the Church through the initiation sacraments of Baptism, Eucharist, and Confirmation. It's a long Mass, but why not? It's the high point of history and worth celebrating.

We celebrate because Jesus wins. Love wins. God wins. We know the end of the story. Thank God we have hope in our individual brokenness, in our world's fallenness. We celebrate because Jesus wins.

Today is THAT 1 DAY when our Lord endured incredible pain physically, emotionally, and spiritually so that we could serve Him in this life and be forever with Him in the next life. Come worship today, Good Friday, THAT 1 DAY.

Mark Hart on Jesus Christ's Passion and Death

Fr. Mike: Tips for Praying

Midnight Watch

The Lost Meaning of the Sacrament of Confirmation

 

By Bishop Robert Barron
Courtesy of ChurchPop.com

It is sometimes said that Confirmation is a sacrament in search of a theology.

It is indeed true that most Catholics could probably give at least a decent account of the significance of Baptism, Eucharist, Confession, Matrimony, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick, but they might balk when asked to explain the meaning of Confirmation. Perhaps they would be tempted to say it is the Catholic version of a Bar Mitzvah, but this would not even come close to an accurate theological description.

A survey of the most recent theologizing about Confirmation—the Documents of Vatican II, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the 1983 Code of Canon Law, etc.—reveals that this is the sacrament of strengthening, as the term itself (“confirmare” in Latin) suggests.

First, it strengthens baptized people in their relationship with the Lord Jesus and then it further strengthens them in their capacity to defend and spread the faith. The roots of it, of course, are in the great day of Pentecost when, through the descent of the Holy Spirit, eleven timorous and largely uneducated men became fearless evangelists, ready and able to spread the Gospel far and wide.

Keep in mind that to proclaim Jesus publicly in that time and place was to take one’s life in one’s hand—and the disciples knew it. And yet, on the very day of Pentecost, they spoke out in the Temple and in the public squares of Jerusalem. With the exception of John, they all went to their deaths boldly announcing the Word. I tell those I confirm that they are, in a certain sense, successors of those first men upon whom the Holy Spirit descended and that they have the same fundamental task. Their Confirmation, I further explained, is therefore not really for them; it is for the Church and the wider world.

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Confirmation Sponsors and Female Priests

Four Reasons for Almsgiving

Biggest and Best List of Confirmation Saints

 

By Rachel Penate, LifeTeen.com

 

It happened. I tried to stifle the laugh, but it was impossible. She was just too funny, too sassy, too real… St. Thérèse of Lisieux had literally made me laugh out loud in adoration. How embarrassingly awesome.

Ever since I was 14, St. Thérèse had been a “saint-buddy” of mine, but it was in a simple moment while reading Story of a Soul (Thérèse’s autobiography) that her journey to sainthood became real to me. Her sassy, stubborn-headed, emotional self had truly spoke to me in such a real and personal way. She spoke to me like a sister.

The saints, our teachers

What an incredible gift we have in the communion of saints. The saints are like us! They are our ancestors, our teachers, our friends, our siblings. They are real, truly human. They are sinners, they are repentant children of God.

The saints lived on this earth and experienced suffering, joy, pain, broken promises, peace, frustration, war, injury, heart-break… they know our hearts. But mostly, they know what it takes to be united with God here on this messy earth. They know what it takes to live well for Him.

Why a saint for Confirmation?

We choose a Confirmation saint (like we choose a Confirmation sponsor) not out of due diligence to the “rule,” but rather because we realize how unfortunate it would be to travel alone. We recognize how important it is to know your Confirmation saint not only by name, but also by story. The saints have so much to teach us about this journey.

The following list is for you to use as a starting point in your journey to decide whom your “Confirmation saint-buddy” will be. Pick a saint who speaks to you somehow. Know their story. But, mostly know the power of their prayer. Ask for their intercession like you would ask for the prayers of your friends. Saying “yes” to a Confirmation saint is like saying “yes, you may always pray for my poor and weary soul.”

How fantastic is that!? I pray that in this process you don’t just find a Confirmation saint, but instead an incredible friend.

So, here it rolls… the list to top all lists. Happy picking!

Click here to see the lists.

NBA Coach Monty Williams Boldly Preaches Jesus at Funeral for His Wife

“Let’s not lose sight of what’s important,” NBA coach Monty Williams said recently at the funeral for his wife. “God is important. What Christ did on the cross is important.”

Williams’ wife was killed in a car accident when another driver crossed the center line and hit her car head-on. They had five children. A Christian funeral was held in Oklahoma, and Williams decided to address the crowd with a message of faith and hope.

“This is hard for my family, but this will work out,” Williams told the crowd at the funeral. “And my wife would punch me if I were to sit up here and whine about what’s going on.

“That doesn’t take away the pain. But it will work out, because God causes all things to work out.”

He was very explicit about his faith in Jesus: “What we need is the Lord. And that’s what my wife tried to exhibit every single day.”

He also called for prayers for the family of the driver: “Let us not forget there were two people in this situation, and that family needs prayer as well.”

And he said he forgives the person who killed his wife: “We have no ill will toward that family.”

“We cannot serve the Lord if we don’t have a heart of forgiveness. That family didn’t wake up wanting to hurt my wife. […] We… should be praying for that family, because they grieve as well.”

“God will work this out. My wife is in heaven. God loves us. God is love.”

10 Reasons Catholics Don't Evangelize (But Should)

This article originally appeared on Fr. Dwight Longenecker’s blog “Standing on My Head,” and is reprinted with permission. Visit his website, browse his books, and be in touch at dwightlongenecker.com.

At a priest’s conference not long ago the speaker quoted some statistics. Christians of different traditions were asked percentage wise how important evangelization was to their understanding of the Christian faith.

Mainline Protestants answered 60%. Evangelical Christians answered 85%. Catholics said 3%.

We Catholics skate around this one muttering catch phrases like “The New Evangelization” and we trumpet the few evangelization enterprises that are going on, and we self righteously quote St Francis (who never actually said it) “Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.”

There are some very clear reasons why Catholics don’t evangelize, and they are difficulties that run right to the foundation of our understanding and practice of the faith.

There may be more reason than these, but here are ten I can think of.

PS: I’ve saved the biggest and the worst for last….

1) Cultural Catholicism
A lot of American Catholics regard their religion like Jews do. It’s something you’re born into.

They scratch their head at the idea that someone would convert to Catholicism. “What, you mean you chose to be Catholic?” This is because they’re Polish or Irish or Italian or Lebanese or French. They’re Catholic in their bloodstream. It’s something you are, not something you do so much.

I remember encountering a French woman in South Carolina who wanted her baby baptized. I asked her what parish she went to. She looked at me with bewilderment. “But I aim Frensh! It is different in France! Nobody goes to church, but we are very Catholic!” Cultural Catholics never imagine that they should evangelize. “So I’m supposed to make you an Italian?” You see what I mean.

2) Over Sacramentalization
That’s just a long word way of saying that Catholics put sooo much emphasis on the sacraments that it is difficult for many of them to see that in and through and below the sacramental system is a genuine encounter of the person with Jesus Christ, risen ascended and glorified.

Because you have to be a Catholic to receive the sacraments of Holy Communion and confession, and because for so many Catholics that is the only way to practice their faith, the sacraments actually keep them from evangelizing. “I can’t bring my Baptist neighbor to Mass. She wouldn’t know what was going on and besides, she can’t come forward for communion anyway.” This is a good point. If you invite a neighbor of family member to Mass then tell them they can’t receive the Lord the whole exercise is likely to collapse into them feeling excluded.

3) RCIA
What is that? An company that used to make electronics?

The whole RCIA system is often cumbersome and user-unfriendly. If you have someone who is interested in becoming a Catholic you have to tell them about RCIA which starts in the fall (so what do you do when they come in April?) and goes through for months until Easter.

Meanwhile Pastor Bob at the local Protestant church says, “Come to church. Sign up. You’re in.” Proper catechesis is necessary, but a more creative and flexible approach would help.

4) Church or Jesus?
Too many Catholics confuse evangelization with getting people to join the Catholic Church.

The primary task of evangelization is meeting people where they are are introducing them to Jesus Christ. It is possible to do this without bringing in the Catholic Church with its whole devotional and sacramental system. It is possible to talk to someone in need and say, “You need to get right with God. You need to say, ‘Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me a sinner!’ That’s the first step.”

After they make that decision they can start to attend church and learn about the sacramental system and how to continue their relationship with Christ as a Catholic. The reason so many Catholics have a problem with this is because they are unsure whether they themselves have ever had that fundamental, rock bottom, first step conversion transaction.

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