Sacramentum Unctionis Aegrorum

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Continuing with his series on the Sacraments, Father Kirby spoke on the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick at Our Lady of Grace this Sunday. Today's Scripture Readings for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time included the following:

• God Never Forgets Us: Isaiah 49:14-15
• Rest in God Alone: Psalm 62:2-9
• The Lord Judges: 1st Corinthians 4:1-5
• Do Not Be Anxious: Matthew 6:24-34

Fr. Kirby opened the homily with a story about a fire in a warehouse. The firetrucks had arrived to put out the blaze, but it appeared all might be lost. The owner had some very important papers within his office inside the burning building. He repeatedly asked the fire chief to rescue those papers at all costs, even if it meant that the rest of the building should burn to the ground. The fire chief calmly responded that his men were doing everything possible to save as much as they could. The owner offered first $100K to rescue the papers and then $200K. Each time the response of the fire chief was the same. Finally a fire truck careened out of control and crashed through the side wall of the warehouse, reaching the office where the safe was located. The men in the truck grabbed the papers, put them on the truck and quickly backed out to safety. The owner was overjoyed to now have his papers and immediately wrote a check for $200K to the rescuers. He asked them for what they would now use the money. The driver of the fire truck responded, "We're going to get the brakes fixed." The moral of the story is that God will rescue us but often not in the way we envision.

In today's Gospel reading the Lord tells us not to worry about what we are to eat or drink or wear, for He knows we need all these things and He will provide. We however do not get to tell him how He ought to provide for our needs. The means, though, by which we invoke those graces are the Sacraments. Through them comes the ability by which we cooperate with God in His meeting our needs. One of these needs is often healing of the body, and the means of obtaining the necessary grace is the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. James 5:13-15 states:

Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone in good spirits? He should sing praise.Is anyone among you sick? He should summon the presbyters of the church, and they should pray over him and anoint [him] with oil in the name of the Lord, and the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed any sins, he will be forgiven.

Fr. Kirby went on to explain that Protestants do not have the Sacraments, and thus do not have the graces of this Sacrament. When a Protestant minister or pastor meets with the sick and his family, it is for prayer, consolation and counselling. It is not to obtain the graces necessary for healing or for preparing for a holy death. While some Protestants like Pentecostals do a form of anointing of the sick, it is treated more as a magic formula: "You get sick, the Pastor anoints you, and you get miraculously healed." That can happen, but often does not. In fact, Fr. Kirby explained that recently at a healing Mass he had anointed more than 100 people and only three reports of divine healing were received. This account led me to recall what both my biological father (himself a Pentecostal) and my second AA sponsor of some 30 years ago said to me: we do not get to tell God how to heal. He usually chooses one of three ways: (a) divinely and instantaneously, or (b) through medical science or (c) by means of calling a person to be home with Him forever. The decision on which method should be used rests solely with God. We need to be purged of the arrogance and hubris that makes us think we can dictate to God: "The Pastor anointed him, now heal him immediately." My AA sponsor said that it may not be God's will to heal someone in that way, and I should learn a little humility, leaving the big decisions up to God because as an alcoholic I made a wreck of my unmanageable life.

Fr. Kirby also explained that one of the stumbling blocks he observed was at hospitals whose staff - educated solely in scientific materialism - often did not understand why a priest should be allowed into intensive care or the emergency room regardless of the condition of the patient. The idea that a man has a spiritual side which must be cared for is completely foreign to such staff. The one happy exception are Filipina nurses. Perhaps this is because the Republic of the Philippines is a Catholic country. No matter; when Father enters the hospital and a Filipina nurse is there, she automatically clears the way between him and the patient to perform the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick in order to prepare the man for whatever God may have in store for him: divine healing, healing by medical science, or a holy death.

ASIDE: my daughter-in-law, Abegael, is a nurse in the Philippines, so Father's story struck a resonant chord with me for I know how hard Abegael works and how devoted she is to her patients, and what a good Christian woman she is. END ASIDE

Father also gave a story about how he got sick one time in Rome and had to travel back to the US for surgery. The surgeon who would perform the operation had been called away from his vacation (or whatever) to work on Father, for which Father was grateful. Nevertheless, Father forbade the commencement of surgery until he himself made a good Confession (the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation) and received the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Father recalled the surgeon pacing back and forth, but Father was insistent that he wasn't going under the knife until he made his peace with God.

Lastly, Father used the example of a terminally ill man given six months to live. Some people in this condition wait until the last minute to receive the Sacrament. This is a horrible practice because sometimes a priest may not be available at the last minute. Furthermore, often the person who waits to the last minute for requesting the Sacrament often ends up facing death in abject terror and that isn't what the Lord Jesus wants. The right thing to do is to ask for the Sacrament immediately on learning of the diagnosis so that the Church can accompany one on the journey to a happy and holy death if that is God's will.

In conclusion, the Sacrament is not about getting magically healed on the spot. It is about getting the graces needed to cooperate with God's will for one's life. That reminds me of something else my second AA sponsor would always say to me: "Lucius, you turned your will and your life over to the care of God as you understood Him in the 3rd step. That means that what God does with your life from here on out is none of your darn business. Your job is to cooperate with Him. As the 11th step says, '....praying ONLY for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.' That is all you are ever entitled to ask for."

Sacramentum Ordinum Sanctorum

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Once again Father Kirby gave a great homily at Our Lady of Grace on the Sacrament of Holy Orders. The Scripture readings for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time included the following:

• Holiness: Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18
• Thanksgiving for God's Goodness: Psalm 103:1-13
• The Temple of the Holy Spirit: 1st Corinthians 3:16-23
• Retaliation and Love for Enemies: Matthew 5:38-48

Father began with a story about a great American warship and a lighthouse. This story is best related by the video below.



Father then explained that sometimes, no matter how great we become, it is not the light in the distance which must change course, but we ourselves. We see this in Sunday's Scripture readings . In Leviticus 19:2 we are enjoined to be holy as God is holy. The English word holy is a variant on the word whole. In Matthew 5:48 we are enjoined to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect. the word perfect is from the Latin word perfectus which is the past participle of the verb perficio which means "I do thoroughly." Perfect then means, "Having been done thoroughly or completely." That is the same meaning as the word whole from which the word holy is derived. Unfortunately all too often we associate the word holy with the word divine. There is only One Who is divine, and that isn't we. Rather, we are to be complete as God has made us to be complete. And often that means we have to change the course of our lives when the lighthouse out in the midst warns us that collision is imminent. That common theme runs through Sunday's Scripture readings in Leviticus 19, 1st Corinthians 3 and Matthew 5.

A priest can often be that lighthouse warning the unwary to change course before it is too late. Thus did Father Kirby lead into the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

The understanding that Catholics have regarding priests is very different than the understanding that Protestants have regarding their ministers or pastors. A priest acts as Alter Christus. To him is granted the responsibility to consecrate the hosts of bread and wine into the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist. To him is granted the responsibility to forgive or retain sins in Confession. To him is granted the responsibility to anoint the sick for healing of body and soul. With the priest there are no Sacraments and Protestants have no priests. Thus, Protestantism is sacramentally impotent. I remember feeling exactly that way about what I observed passed for "communion" at Calvary Church on a Sunday night as I described in the post Vesper Diei Solis aput Ecclesiam Calvariae (two family members attended and wanted me to accompany them). What a difference there is between a real priest of the living God wearing the liturgical raiment appropriate for the responsibility of that august role, and what I saw.

And that was something which Father Kirby emphasized: a Catholic pastor (which means shepherd in Latin) is the Sacerdos Dei Viventis. Yes, we in the laity are all called to the common priesthood of the faithful. 1st Peter 2:9 does state:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

The Greek word used for priesthood is ἱεράτευμα which derives from the word ἱερεύς which was used to denote the Old Testament priest. It is different than the word used elsewhere in the New Testament to denote the ministerial priesthood. That word in Greek is πρεσβύτερος, and it is used in conjunction with the Sacraments (e.g., the laying on of hands for healing). An ἱερεύς has no power to dispense the Sacraments of the Eucharist, Confession, Anointing of the Sick, etc. A πρεσβύτερος does, and no Protestant is a πρεσβύτερος because the line of Holy Orders from the Apostles to the present day was broken in the rebellion of Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII in the 16th century.

ASIDE 1: While separation still exists between Catholics and Eastern Orthodox, the mutual excommunications of the 11th century have been lifted by Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoros I of Constantinople. See Joint Catholic-Orthodox Declaration of 1965. Unlike Protestants, Eastern Orthodox (Greek, Antiochan, Russian, etc.) have preserved Apostolic Succession, have valid Holy Order, and have valid Sacraments. END ASIDE 1

ASIDE 2: For my Protestant readers, there are three Holy Orders: deacon (διάκονος) which means servant, priest (πρεσβύτερος) which means elder, and bishop (ἐπίσκοπος) which means overseer. All Bishops are Priests, and all Bishops and Priests are Deacons. But Deacons are not necessarily Priests and Priests are not necessarily Bishops. Our English word priest is a diminutive of πρεσβύτερος which is presbyteros when transliterated into English. The "BY" in the center was dropped as well as the "EROS" at the end to form the word "PREST" which eventually became "PRIEST." In like fashion ἐπίσκοπος when transliterated into English is episcopos. "EPI" means over or on top of and "SCOPOS" (going into the English word SCOPE) means eye or seer, hence the term overseer. Other titles such as Metropolitan, Patriarch, Archbishop and Cardinal are assigned by the Church, but they do not replace or override the three Holy Orders of Deacon, Priest and Bishop. Additionally, only a Priest or Bishop may dispense the Sacraments (except that a Deacon may Baptize and may witness a Marriage, in which the husband and wife are the ministers of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony). END ASIDE 2

Father Kirby went on to discuss the respect due a priest and the responsibility which a priest bears before God. He described how in today's society, especially in the Protestant south, a priest in his clerics is often regarded as a fish out of water. He also made an entreaty for young men to consider the priesthood, and to the rest of us to pray for our priests. I hope one day his sermons will be recorded into an audio file so that I can post a link to the file here and not have to rely on a faulty memory. All I can tell the reader is this: find a good, orthodox parish, frequent Mass and Confession, and really listen to your priest when he gives a homily (in fact, take notes which I failed to do this time because I rushed out of the house on Sunday morning, being late).

One other thing that I think is important before I close: tell your priest that you love him and are praying for him. Priests are human beings and need the same kind of positive reinforcement that we all want to receive.

Sacramentum Matrimonii Sancti

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today for the Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time Father Kirby continued his series on the Sacraments, speaking on the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony at Our Lady of Grace. The Scripture readings included the following:

• Freedom of Choice: Sirach 15:15-20
• The Glory of God's Law: Psalm 119:1-2, 4-5, 17-18, 33-34
• The True Wisdom of God: 1st Corinthians 2:6-10
• Fulfilling the Law: Matthew 5:17-37

Father opened with a story. A certain women was married for decades and provided years of faithful service to her husband, her family and her Church. She one day dies and goes to stand before the Pearly Gates where St. Peter asks her to spell the password in order to gain entrance. She asks what the password may be and St. Peter says, "Love." So she successfully spells the word - L-O-V-E - but is surprised to now find her husband awaiting to enter. She asks him the same thing that St. Peter had asked her: to spell the password. He innocently asks her what the password may be and she responds with the word, "Czechoslovakia." Ha! Ha!

We are currently in the middle of National Marriage Week which this year is celebrated from February 7 to 14. As Catholic Christians we approach marriage differently than the pagans in secular society and separated Protestant brethren. For us marriage has a deeper meaning. It is a calling, a vocation by God and a gift to two baptized Christians to serve one another.

Marriage never survives by its own strength but only by the grace of God. At marriage the man and woman take vows which on their own they are incapable of satisfying. But with God's grace they are provided with the power to fulfill their vows. Further, marriage is this composed not of two persons but three: man, woman and God. It is God who provides the adhesive power in the Sacrament.

This Sacrament is always between one man and one woman regardless of what the popular culture teaches or legalizes by legislation or judicial fiat. Indeed the Devil hates marriage as such because it is a reflection of Christ and the Church as St. Paul describes in Ephesians 2:22-33. Marriage embodies the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-11. Marriage consists in service to and honor for one another as equals in dignity while being necessarily unequal in function. When therefore we say, "I cannot do this marriage any long," that is the time to let God's grace work. When marriage is strong, then:

• The Church is strong
• Society is strong
• The Family is strong

The best teachers of this Sacrament are therefore the ones who faithfully discharge their sacramental vows: the married man and woman, the ones who take their vocation seriously.

The priest unlike other Sacraments is not the Minister of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony. Rather, the baptized man and woman give to one another the Sacrament of Marriage and the priest blesses the self-giving. The priest defends the Eucharist and the sanctity of the Confessional with his life if necessary. In the same manner the married must defend their marriage.

Towards the twilight years of our lives we become "empty-nesters" as children have left for lives of their own. Sometimes we may find ourselves strangers one to another. This is the opportunity to grow deeper in the Sacrament which is service of many and woman to each other. Let us therefore pray for society, the Church and the married, for without the integrity of this Sacrament the foundation of the nation herself is at risk.

Nostra Domina Lordae et Arbor Vitae

Virgen de Lourdes
Courtesy Wikipedia

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

This post is a bit long winded. Sometimes things cannot be explained in a Facebook meme or Youtube soundbite. So please be patient and read the entirety to understand how it all ties together. Vobis gratias ago.

Today at Our Lady of Grace the Feast Day of Our Lady of Lourdes was celebrated. Wikipedia provides the following explanation:

Our Lady of Lourdes is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated in honor of the Marian apparitions that reportedly occurred in 1858 in the vicinity of Lourdes in France. The first of these is the apparition of 11 February 1858, when 14-year old Bernadette Soubirous told her mother that a "lady" spoke to her in the cave of Massabielle (a mile from the town) while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Similar apparitions of the alleged "Lady" were reported on seventeen occasions that year, until the climax revelation of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception took place. In 1862, Pope Pius IX authorized Bishop Bertrand-Sévère Laurence to permit the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes. On 3 July 1876, the same Pontiff officially granted a Canonical Coronation to the image that used to be in the courtyard of what is now part of the Rosary Basilica. The image of Our Lady of Lourdes has been widely copied and reproduced, often displayed in shrines and homes, often in garden landscapes. Soubirous was later canonized as a Catholic saint.

Additionally, Pope Pius XII wrote an encyclical about this entitled, Le Pelerinage de Lourdes, wherein he warns against materialism on the centenary of the apparitions at Lourdes. Furthermore, there is an additional account regarding the water flowing from a spring at Lourdes about which Wikipedia says:

"Lourdes water is water which flows from a spring in the Grotto of Massabielle in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France. The location of the spring was described to Bernadette Soubirous by an apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes on 25 February 1858. Since that time many thousands of pilgrims to Lourdes have followed the instruction of Our Lady of Lourdes to "drink at the spring and bathe in it". Lourdes water is considered non-liturgical holy water. Although never formally encouraged by the Church, Lourdes water has become a focus of devotion to the Virgin Mary at Lourdes. Since the supposed apparitions, many people have claimed to have been cured by drinking or bathing in it, and the Lourdes authorities provide it free of charge to any who ask for it."

These things are presented first to show how they tie into today's Scripture reading from Genesis 3:9-24. As the reader knows, Eve had succumbed to the serpent's temptation and had eaten of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The serpent was condemned to crawl on his belly and eat the dust of the Earth all his life, and while he would strike at the heel of Man's offspring (a reference to Christ), the woman (a reference to the Virgin Mary) would crush his head. Woman was condemned to bear children in pain and travail, and to be subject to Man as master. Man himself was condemned to toil for his bread among the thistles and thorns, eventually returning to the dust of the ground from which he had been made. St. Paul explains this well in Romans 5:12-21 where he explains that through old Adam sin and death entered the world, and through the new Adam righteousness and eternal. In Romans 8:18-25 St. Paul also describes how all creation is groaning in it bondage to decay which began at the sin of old Adam and Eve, and how the New Adam (because of the obedience of the New Eve - Mary) will set us all free.

But what is it that sets us free to eternal life? Genesis 3:22-24 tells us:

Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever” - therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

And what is this Tree of Life? St. Peter alludes to what this is when he is brought before the Sanhedrin for preaching the Gospel in Acts 5:30-31.

The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

And St. Paul explains further in Galatians 3:13-14.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree”— that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

And what is the fruit of this Tree? St. John tells us in the Bread of Life Discourse in John 6:22-71 with verses 51 and 53 through 58 giving an unmistakable explanation.

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live for ever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh."

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.”

The fruit of the Tree of Life is the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ. That Tree which stands in one point at Calvary (space) some 2000 years ago (time) exists forever in space-time. During every Eucharist at Holy Mass (for Catholics) or Divine Liturgy (for Orthodox) that Tree becomes revealed and we the baptized members of the Body of Christ partake of its fruit. Having sinned against God by partaking of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve without Baptism were forbidden to partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life. 1st Peter 3:18-22 explains:

For Christ also died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit; in which he went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

We must be baptized into the Body of Christ - the Church - before we can partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life which is the Cross. So how does this relate to the story of Our Lady of Lourdes? Well first we have to look at a few more passages of Sacred Scripture. Genesis 2:8-10 states:

And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.

The prophet Ezekiel in the Old Testament has a vision (or series of visions) where (after the destruction of Jerusalem and Solomon's Temple therein, and the deportation of Judah to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar) he sees the new Temple of God presumably at the end of time. In chapter 47 he describes water flowing from the Temple and trees lining either side of the river. These trees make stagnant water fresh, enabling fish to live and providing fruit for food and leaves for healing, neither withering nor dying.

St. John in Revelation 22:1-7 describes essentially the same thing. Verses 1 through 5 state:

Then he showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There shall no more be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him; they shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. And night shall be no more; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they shall reign for ever and ever.

Tree of Life
12 Kinds of Fruit

Notice the reference to the 12 kinds of fruit on the Tree of Life, hence the depiction of the 12 Apostles on the icon for the Tree of Life depicted above.

Miraculous healing has often been attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Lourdes. According to St. John that healing of body and soul derives from leaves of the Tree of Life, which is nourished by the water flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. That water is the baptismal water which flowed with the sacrificial blood that poured from Jesus' side when He was pierced with a lance in John 19:31-37. That's the water (the Genesis water, the Ezekiel water, the Revelation water) which flows from the Temple, hence the symbolism of the water from the spring in the Grotto of Massabielle in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, France.

Consistent with all this, today Fr. Kirby administered the Sacrament of Anointing the Sick at Mass, reading first from James 5:14-15.

Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Father gave examples of miraculous healing he had seen as a result of this Sacrament. But he cautioned us by explaining that while God does miraculously heal to provide a spiritual lesson, sometime even though we may be sick or injured, a healing is not required because it would not provide a spiritual benefit. Sometimes we are exactly where we ought to be. My second sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous some 30 years ago would have agreed with Father. he often told me that I don't get to tell God what to do or how to do it. Having turned my will and my life over to His care, what He chooses to do with my life from that moment forward is none of my business. Further, I don;t get to order Him in what to do for another. Rather, we must pray for God's will to be done on Earth as it is in Heaven just as the Lord's prayer would have us pray. And my biological father often said that God does heal, but in three different ways and it isn't up to us to tell Him which one to use:

• Divinely
• By medical instrumentality
• By calling the sick or injured one home to Heaven

All these things I was reminded of today at Holy Mass. Things from AA meetings three decades ago, from daily Bible readings, and from my father's talks when I was a child all seemed to come together in one big lesson. The Tree of Life is the Cross, the fruit is Jesus' Body and Blood, and healing happens in His time and in His way.

Inventarium Morale - Sacramentum Poenitentiae et Reconciliationis

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time for which the Scripture reading are:

• False and True Worship: Isaiah 58:7-10
• Blessings of Righteousness: Psalm 112:4-9
• Proclaiming Christ Crucified: 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
• Salt and Light: Matthew 5:13-16

Fr. Kirby at Our Lady of Grace continued his dialog on the Seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church. Eastern Orthodox Churches who have a valid episcopate and priesthood, and valid sacraments, call these Holy Mysteries. This time Father focused on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation, also called Confession. My apologies to the readership that I failed to take written notes and my memory cannot do Father's homily justice. It was orthodoxy par excellence. So I will give my personal experience below that Father's homily brought to the forefront of my mind.

As I mentioned in a previous post - Dies Festus Praesentationis Nostri Domini in Templo - this Sacrament holds a very special place in my heart because of the moral inventory steps in AA and similar 12 Step Programs:

• Step 4: Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves
• Step 5: Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
• Step 10: Continued to take personal inventory, and when we were wrong, promptly admitted it.

Further, in today's Old Testament reading from Isaiah I was remind of some of my favorite defects of character (as we say in 12 step programs), "oppression, false accusation and malicious speech," and equally some of my favorite shortcomings, "failing to share and help others."

It was some 30 years ago when I first came into the AA Program that my sponsor had me write my 4th Step moral inventory - all these defect of character (the things I do which I ought not to do) and shortcomings (where I come short: the things I do not do that I ought to do). The inventory was some 33 pages long. Then we recited the Third Step Prayer before he had me read it to him in the 5th Step:

God, I offer myself to Thee To build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy love and Thy way of life.

After listening to my moral inventory, he told me that I was no Adolf Hitler - I don't rank that high in the scheme of evil - and that I was just a garden variety drunken dope fiend, a regular megalomaniac. Then he told me to read it to my psychotherapist and my priest confessor (who was his sponsor in AA). After receiving Absolution he said I could then burn the paper on which my moral inventory was written.

This practice of moral inventory which is continued in the 10th Step stood me well in sobriety. Indeed, Father Kirby said something in his homily with which my sponsor would have agreed. Any time I feel angry or resentful or bitter or jealous or emotionally out of sorts, it's time for a moral inventory. Father even said from the pulpit that that is when he goes to his confessor, and that he does not understand how one can be authentically Christian and not practice this Sacrament.

Early in 2007 (sober then for 21 years) I went through a very traumatic experience that turned my life upside down and wrenched my heart out of my chest. It was worse than heroin withdrawals. So I drove my car out of the driveway and my home and reached my hand in my pocket to grab my Rosary. I prayed to our Blessed Mother and turned down the road to go to my priest for Confession. He told me what any good priest would have told me who knows something about alcoholism and drug addiction: don't drink, go to meetings and talk with my sponsor.

You see, amici, it didn't matter if I was right in this emotional turmoil or not. In fact, my sponsor always reminded me that the 10th Step says, "Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it." It says nothing about when we are right. In fact, nothing is more irritating than a self-righteous alcoholic. The point is that I had done wrong and now I was reaping the consequences of that wrong and those consequences included a devastation turmoil which could not be avoided. If I had been practicing my moral inventory - or Confession - with true contrition all along, maybe the turmoil would not have happened or would not have been as bad. But suffice it to say that having gone directly to Confession, I did not drink or drug that evening.

What I have found in my years of sobriety is this: first, a moral inventory is a MORAL inventory. While this isn't AA, that means a thorough review based on the 10 Commandments (always a good place to start) which themselves are the epitome of all good morality.

After Mass I thanked Father for his timely homily, explaining to him how this Sacrament recalls the moral inventory of my early days in AA, and how if it were not for this Sacrament I would have died underneath a railroad bridge with a heroin needle in my veins long ago. Unfortunately, from time to time I need a crisis in my life to remind me that I am going off the beam and must avail myself of this Sacrament once again. For me, neglecting this practice means that hell can start right here and right now with a snort of cocaine, a drink of vodka, or a puff of marijuana; hell won't wait till I am dead. And frankly, I am not willing to go through that kind and degree of misery and pain tonight.

As Father Zuhlsdorf always says at his blog:

GO TO CONFESSION!

Ite Missa Est

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time for which the Scripture Readings include the following:

• Judgement on Israel's Enemies: Zephaniah 2:3; 3:12-13
• Praise for God's Help: Psalm 146:6-10
• Christ the Power and Wisdom of God: 1st Corinthians 1:26-31
• The Beatitudes: Matthew 5:1-12

As usual, Father Kirby gave an excellent homily at Our Lady of Grace, focusing on another of the Seven Sacraments, this time the Eucharist and the importance of attending Sunday Mass.

Venerable Abp Fulton Sheen

Father began by recounting a story of Archbishop Fulton Sheen before the age of television. There was a time when he would travel around the country giving a talk on the importance of the Mass. Having heard the same speech at least 90 different times, Archbishop Sheen's driver said to him that he could now deliver the speech. So on one such speaking engagement the Archbishop and the driver exchanged places, each dressing up as the other, and the driver flawlessly gave the the talk, at the end of which an astute person in the congregation asked a theologically difficult question. The driver (who was in disguise of the Archbishop) stated to the Congregation that the question was so ridiculous and so simple that he would let his driver (the real Archbishop Sheen but unknown to the congregants) answer the question.

Attending Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation are a requirement for one to be Catholic. Of course, that is not the only requirement as we see from the Beatitudes in today's Gospel reading. However, the Eucharist in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is the source and summit of our Faith, giving us the graces that we need to live out the Beatitudes in our lives.

The Mass is not about we we receive but about what we give: our past week, our labors, our sadness, our laughter, our happiness, our pain, our joy, indeed, all our lives.

Our sacrifice without the Sacrifice of Jesus in the Eucharist is offensive to God the Father. As Isaiah 64:6 states:

We have all become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
We all fade like a leaf,
and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

What we offer to God is presented first during the Offertory as we prepare our hearts and during the offering itself when we give 10% of our income as tithes. Thus these words are said:

PRIEST: Pray brothers and sisters, that our sacrifice may be acceptable to God the almighty Father.
CONGREGATION: May the Lord accept the sacrifice at your hands for the praise and glory of His name, for our good, and the good of all His Church.

At every Mass Jesus re-presents his one time for all Sacrifice for all humanity. ASIDE: here an important distinction is to be made for the Protestants who deny the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. The Sacrifice which Jesus made on Calvary is made present again, hence the term "re-presented." It is NOT a mere symbol or representation. It is a presence shown to us again in this fashion. END ASIDE

It is to Jesus that we give our hearts and all of our previous week, both the good and the bad. Any focus on discipleship without the Mass is not possible, for in the Mass we receive the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in order that our souls will be healthy just when we take medication for our physical selves, our bodies will be healthy. And thus, the Mass is about what we are called to live: the Beatitudes of today's Gospel reading. We need the grace necessary to overcome egotism, narcissism, resentment, pride, hubris, backbiting, and all the defects of character and shortcoming separating us from God. And we need the grace to share that which we have received.

Catholics do NOT have "services." We have Mass. While sometimes the Protestant language of the Bible-belt south contaminates our speech, it is important to note that NO Protestant service can possibly compare to what we have: Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. Protestants do NOT believe in the Real Presence of Jesus. They deny what John 6:53-58:

53 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you; 54 he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever.

ASIDE: similarly to Catholics, Eastern Orthodox likewise have a valid Eucharist in their Divine Liturgy and a valid Priesthood to "confect" or "consecrate" the elements - bread and wine - to become Jesus' Body and Blood. It can also be argued that Orthodox Anglicans (those not in communion with Canterbury or the ECUSA) who have a valid Episcopate lineage (e.g., cross-pollination from Eastern Orthodoxy) and who believe in the Real Presence of Jesus likewise have a valid Eucharist. But NO Protestant sect - Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, Nazarene, etc. - has Jesus in the Eucharist. This however does NOT mean that they are completely devoid of Jesus. The reader would be well advised to read Dominus Iesus by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith concerning the unicity and salvific universality of Jesus Christ and the Church. All that is being said is that Protestants, because of their rebellion against the Body of Christ in the 16th century, do not have the fullness of Truth, and most are today in that state due to ignorance of history and Christian tradition before their particular religious denomination (more than 33 thousand now) sprung up. END ASIDE

Now at the end of Mass the celebrant (priest or bishop) proclaims the phrase "Ita Missa Est." From my early Latin days in high school I would translate this as "Go, it is sent," where "it" may refer to the "Congregatio." Father Kirby rather humorously gave this translate: "Get out of here." The point he was making is this: Get out of Mass and shine Jesus' face of light before the world. The Altar where we receive Him in the Eucharist is where we obtain our strength, our food and our mission, and when during the Mass itself  the bells ring is where we silent offer Him our bodies, our blood and our wills just as He offered His own to the Father. Thus must we go to share His mission with the world.

Sacramentum Confirmationis

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Yesterday evening at the Vigil Mass for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time at Our Lady of Grace, Father Kirby gave a homily on the Sacrament of Confirmation. The Scripture Readings included the following:

• The Promise of Salvation Under a New Davidic King: Isaiah 8:23-9:3
• Triumphant Song of Confidence: Psalm 27:1-14
• Divisions in the Church: 1st Corinthians 1:10-17
• The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry: Matthew 4:12-23

Verses 18 to 23 of today's Gospel reading record the calling of the first disciples:

As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him.

There must have been great surprise here. Jesus simply says, "Come after me..." Without hesitation Peter and Andrew, then James and John left everything else to go. The Lord says the same to us. We must leave everything behind to follow Him. All else is secondary. In order to succeed in doing that, we have the Sacraments, and of particular note are the first two Sacraments of Initiation:

• Baptism: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4
• Confirmation: Baptism, the Eucharist, and the sacrament of Confirmation together constitute the "sacraments of Christian initiation," whose unity must be safeguarded. It must be explained to the faithful that the reception of the sacrament of Confirmation is necessary for the completion of baptismal grace. For "by the sacrament of Confirmation, [the baptized] are more perfectly bound to the Church and are enriched with a special strength of the Holy Spirit. Hence they are, as true witnesses of Christ, more strictly obliged to spread and defend the faith by word and deed." CCC 1285

Sts. Paul and Timothy

Confirmation completes baptism through the descent of the Holy Spirit on the baptized believer. Indeed, in 2nd Timothy 1:6-7 St. Paul chastises St. Timothy with these words:

Hence I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power and love and self-control.

In Confirmation we receive the fire of the Holy Spirit. And as Romans 8:11 promises:

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you.

Our desire and yearning should therefore be for this indwelling of the Holy Spirit, an example of which is provided by the following story. There was once a young boy who was about to be Confirmed. He had a younger sister. Throughout their lives what one child was given would be balanced with a gift for the other child. Each child was treated equally and fairly. No one received anything that the other did not receive similarly. So when the younger sister learned that her older brother was soon to receive the Holy Spirit, she too expected the same. Her parents explained to her that she was not yet of the age required for Confirmation. She questioned more and received the same response. At the unfairness of it all she screamed and fell to the floor, wiggling about, having a fit, exclaiming, "But I want the Holy Spirit too!" What a fine Pentecostal she made! Such should ever be our desire and yearning for God's Spirit.

Today's Ruins at Ephesus

Acts 19-1-6 tells an interesting story about St. Paul's first visit to the Church at Ephesus:

While Apol′los was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have never even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them; and they spoke with tongues and prophesied. There were about twelve of them in all.

The faithful at Ephesus had been baptized, but they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. By the imposition of the hands of St. Paul, the Sacrament of Confirmation was therefore administered to them.

Now how shall the world know that We carry the Holy Spirit? St. Paul tells the Church at Galatia how in Galatians 5:22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.

If we bear this fruit, then we have the Holy Spirit. The means by which St. Paul on his initial visit to Ephesus questioned the Ephesians on whether or not they had received the Holy Spirit upon first believing is likely because he did not see the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. So then we must ask ourselves whether or not people around us see the fruit of God's Spirit in us. The unbeliever naturally doubts God's presence in our lives, and thus we must die daily to ourselves. As Galatians 5:24 states:

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

In this way the world will know that the Holy Spirit has come.

Ecce Agnus Dei

John the Baptist
"Behold the Lamb of God"

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Earlier this evening I went to the Saturday Vigil Mass at Our Lady of Grace for the Second Sunday in Ordinary Time. The Scripture readings included the following:

• The Servant's Mission in Isaiah 49:3-6
• Thanksgiving for Deliverance in Psalm 40:2-10
• St. Paul's Salutation to the Church at Corinth in 1st Corinthians 1:1-3
• The Lamb of God in John 1:29-34

Father Kirby as usual gave an excellent homily. He opened with a little story from one of his previous experiences. He had been in a small town with an assortment of Protestant ecclesial communities: Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, etc., as well as his Catholic Parish. This town was infested with a growing squirrel population about which something had to be done. One Protestant community decided to hire an exterminator and the result was dead squirrels everywhere, and that turned out to be not such a good public relations move. Another tried to understand what was causing the population outbreak and its efforts were equally fruitless. So finally it was up to the Catholic Parish to try something. The pastor thereof one day arrived back with super soaker water guns. Everyone there thought that a little strange. So someone asked the Pastor, "Why, Father, all these super soakers?" Father responded, "I thought we would baptized the little critters. In that way we would only have to worry about them showing up on Christmas and Easter as most of the rest of the Catholics normally do."  The point in all this is that sadly many of us Catholics do not bother to live out our Baptism but once or twice a year.

Now while I cannot recall all that Father Kirby said (I really need to start taking notes!), the gist of it was in the selected Scripture passages below. I think what may have prompted him to go along this line was today's Gospel from the first chapter of St. John where John the Baptist sees Jesus and declares:

I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘On whomever you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the holy Spirit.’

Concerning Baptism St. Paul says in Romans 6:3-4:

Or are you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life.

And again in Colossians 2:11-13 St. Paul explains:

In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by hand, by stripping off the carnal body, with the circumcision of Christ. You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And even when you were dead [in] transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him, having forgiven us all our transgressions...

1st Peter 3:18-22 goes on to explain:

For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. This prefigured baptism, which saves you now. It is not a removal of dirt from the body but an appeal to God for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers subject to him.

The point in all this is that Baptism is the Sacrament which opens up to us all the other graces that God has to bestow on us. But if we do not live out our Baptism in our lives, then we will be incapable of receiving those graces. Indeed, just as we look at our priests as being an example of piety and holiness, so does the unbaptized pagan look upon us who are but members of the Laity, and the reason why is because of that indelible mark which Baptism places on our souls. We are therefore called to be a witness in deed and in word, acting and speaking the truth with humility and kindness and mercy and grace. Our Catholicism is not to be relegated to just Christmas and Easter. It is to be a daily exercise of faith stemming from that first Sacrament, our Baptism.

Homilia de Sacramentis in Epiphania

Epiphany

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Hic Dies est Epiphania Domini. Today is the Epiphany of the Lord. The Scripture readings include the following:

• Nations Come To Zion: Isaiah 60:1-6
• Prayer for Guidance and Support for the King: Psalm 72:1-13
• Commission to Preach God's Plan to the Gentiles: Ephesians 3:2-6
• The Visit of the Wise Men: Matthew 2:1-12

As usual Father Kirby at Our Lady of Grace gave an outstanding homily at the 0900 Mass. I cannot possibly do him justice, for the summary below is entirely too inadequate. I sincerely urge every person reading this who lives in the area of southern Charlotte, western Waxhaw, northern Lancaster and in Indian Land proper to make it a point to visit and listen and learn. It is nowadays very rare to be privileged to listen to orthodoxy and unapologetic truth from the pulpit, whether Catholic, Protestant or Easter Orthodox.

Father Kirby took the opportunity of Epiphany - when the Three Wise Men gave gifts to Jesus as a toddler - to discuss the seven Sacraments of the Church. Considering what happened yesterday (see the discussion of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick at Gratias pro Venerata Rocio Ávila-Ramírez de Weddington UMC in this blog), this was quite a coincidence, but as my sponsor in Alcoholics Anonymous would always say, coincidence is just God's way of revealing His anonymity.

First, the Seven Sacraments and their Biblical basis are listed in the charts below from the Free Sacraments Chart at Defenders of the Christian Faith run by Catholic Apologist Steve Ray:

Sacraments - Sheet 1

Sacraments - Sheet 2

Second, Father Kirby went through each of these Sacraments and explained them.

Baptism and Confirmation place an indelible mark ("tatoo" in today's vernacular) on the soul. Thus, if one ends up in hell, then that mark will burn on one's soul for all eternity. When was the last time you heard a priest actually TALK about hell to his congregation and WARNED them of the consequences of neglecting the Faith?

The Eucharist - the partaking of Jesus' actual Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity - we celebrate every Sunday. Missing Sunday Mass is of the same gravity as murder and adultery. Neglecting the Sabbath is a violation of the Third Commandment - "Remember to keep Holy the Sabbath Day." This is no different than the Fifth Commandment - "Thou shalt not kill" - and the Sixth - "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Furthermore, when we walk into the Sanctuary, why are our voices hushed? Because we are in the Presence of the Living God in the Tabernacle. That is where the Real Presence of Jesus is. How can we go for more than a week without our spiritual food when we feed our bodies three times a day? And what happens when we deny our spiritual selves of Sunday Mass? Spiritual starvation, that's what!

Anointing of the Sick isn't just for people at death's door. It is a command for anyone who is sick. As James 5:14-15 says, "Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven." People when fallen ill often say, "That's ok, Father. I am alright." Well, you're not alright. You need the Sacrament just as you need your doctor. This is why when you are sick, you find it difficult to pray. The sickness can affect not just your body, but infect your soul as well, hence the need for the Sacrament.

Confession is a requirement, not an option. Too many people today have given up the practice of Confession. But it is the normal means through which we may seek forgiveness of mortal sin. Father Kirby explained that even he goes to Confession once a month, and that periodic moral inventory taking is essential to good spiritual health. The Sacrament is medicinal, not punitive.

ASIDE: As a recovering alcoholic and drug addict, I thank God for this Sacrament. It is just like doing the 4th and 10th Steps moral inventory in AA. And in fact, when I go to Confession I actually go through the list of the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20, identifying where I have failed (again!), and doing what Bill Wilson said to do in the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous: identifying unsaleable goods and trash canning them. For me, this is the real way to do my moral inventory, and without doing it I would surely drink or drug again (not to mention the fact that I would go to hell and for me that would start immediately with the first drink or drug). END ASIDE.

Holy Orders is another Sacrament that leaves an indelible mark on the soul. Priests and Bishops are put into a position of authority. But Father Kirby mentioned how surprised he is at the familiarity with which some people treat their priest (particularly in email). He explained that as a child the priest was one of the most revered figures around, and sometimes today non-Catholics have more respect for a priest than many Catholics do. He also explained that while sometimes he may question something that the Diocesan Bishop may say or direct, he nevertheless obeys the authority duly appointed over him, and that is how we should act towards our priest. Too often today we think we are the only authority unto ourselves - narcissism and egotism - and out of pride we don't want to defer to anyone else over us, but that's not what Jesus told us to do.

Matrimony is a Sacrament also - one man and one women marries in the sight of a deacon or a priest, NOT a Justice of the Peace. This is another Sacrament that has been subject to abuse. But we all know what Jesus commanded in Matthew 19:1-12.

Father Kirby ended by explaining that the Magi came to visit Jesus by one path - having followed the Bethlehem Star. But they left by a different path. We too have come to Jesus. Now we can leave via a different path thanks to the Sacraments. Jesus was given the gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh; but Jesus has given us in a sense gifts through the Sacraments.  

Gratias pro Venerata Rocio Ávila-Ramírez de Weddington UMC

Amici, Americani, Compatriotae,

Skin Burns Resulting from Boiling Water

Yesterday early afternoon my wife's niece (who lives with us) was preparing tea in the Filipino tradition. Having boiled water in a kettle and having placed large tea bags in a glass picture, she commenced to pour the 212 F liquid into the 70 F container. Of course this was a challenge to the laws of physics. When hot liquid is poured into a cold and brittle container, the inside wall of the container tries to expand but the outside wall has contracted. This is due to the 142 F temperature differential. Glass, being made of silicon dioxide molecules in a crystal lattice structure, has little to no ductility. So under the expansive stresses on the inside wall and compressive stresses on the outside wall, the crystals (instead of sliding) shear away from each other suddenly and without warning. This happened and the glass catastrophically cracked, spilling the hot liquid on the thighs of my wife's niece. Third degree burns resulted and a trip to the emergency room of the local hospital ensued. The staff - receptionists, physicians, and nurses - all operated with alacrity, efficiency and effectiveness, administering large quantities of opiates for pain relief and cleaning the wounds. By early evening she was back home and in bed, though both legs were wrapped in gauze bandages.

Now when this happened, being a devout Catholic, I immediately thought of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick as delineated in James 5:13-16:

13 Is any one among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praise. 14 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders [ πρεσβυτέρους in Greek ] of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 15 and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.16 Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.

However, because my wife's niece is Protestant - Methodist to be specific - and because Protestant sacramental practice is quite different (if existent at all), I made effort to locate a clergy person within the ecclesial community of which she is a member to come and pray for her. I sent a message via Facebook Messenger to her community, the Weddington United Methodist Church. A person monitoring FB messenger contacted the community's lead pastor, Rev. Dr. Terry Moore, who in turn assigned the task for visitation and prayer to Rev. Rocio Ávila-Ramírez. I was happily and gratefully surprised with the responsiveness of the Weddington UMC because staff at that community doesn't know me from Adam, yet they responded as if they had known me all along. Such is true Christian charity (Latin - caritas).

Rev. Rocio
Avila-Ramerez

Now the reader should bear in mind that last night temperature had dipped to the mid 20 F (somewhere around - 6 C), and it was a Saturday evening after a bad winter storm for the area of Charlotte, NC and Lancaster, SC. Yet in spite of this cold and inclement condition, and in spite of her duties to her husband and her children, Rev. Rocio braved the elements and drove to the hospital to pray from my wife's niece. She did not find my wife's niece there because the physician in charge had just released her into the care of my wife and myself, and we had brought her home. So she telephoned me on my cell (Weddington UMC having had the foresight to provide my cell phone number). I went to the hospital where her car was sitting, picked her up and drove her to our home so that she could pray over my wife's niece. Using my 1979 Anglican Book of Common Prayer Rev Rocio prayed and provided counsel and consolation, after which I returned her to her vehicle at the hospital.

Again I was impressed that Rev Rocio put her personal needs on a Saturday evening aside to come to the home of a perfect stranger - and a Catholic at that! - to minister to a person whom she hardly knew. While of course we who are Catholic have theological differences with Methodists, it is this Christian charity (caritas) which we all would do well to emulate in our lives. I have to ask myself: would I be willing to go out in the winter cold in the dead of night with a stranger to help an injured person whom I hardly knew? Rev Rocio did precisely that and imitated the best in the Story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37.

The following is addressed to my Catholic readers. Yes, we know that the Catechism of the Catholic Church spells out what the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick entails and who can administer it:

1516 Only priests [ bishops (ἐπισκόποις) and presbyters (πρεσβυτέρους) ] are ministers of the Anointing of the Sick.

1517 Like all the sacraments the Anointing of the Sick is a liturgical and communal celebration, whether it takes place in the family home, a hospital or church, for a single sick person or a whole group of sick persons. It is very fitting to celebrate it within the Eucharist, the memorial of the Lord's Passover. If circumstances suggest it, the celebration of the sacrament can be preceded by the sacrament of Penance and followed by the sacrament of the Eucharist. As the sacrament of Christ's Passover the Eucharist should always be the last sacrament of the earthly journey, the "viaticum" for "passing over" to eternal life.

1518 Word and sacrament form an indivisible whole. the Liturgy of the Word, preceded by an act of repentance, opens the celebration. the words of Christ, the witness of the apostles, awaken the faith of the sick person and of the community to ask the Lord for the strength of his Spirit.

1519 The celebration of the sacrament includes the following principal elements: the "priests of the Church" - in silence - lay hands on the sick; they pray over them in the faith of the Church - this is the epiclesis proper to this sacrament; they then anoint them with oil blessed, if possible, by the bishop. These liturgical actions indicate what grace this sacrament confers upon the sick.

We also know that in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis Pope St John Paul II explained why only men and not women can be ordained to the priesthood (and thus, a woman cannot administer the Sacraments, including the Anointing of the Sick):

[The Church] holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God's plan for his Church....

...the Church "does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination."

However, all that said does NOTHING to diminish the great service which Rev. Rocio rendered last night for a member of her ecclesial community. And when someone is in utter and unremitting pain from third degree burns, one doesn't argue theology but does what is best to render the most comfort. My wife's niece is Protestant, and out of respect for her I sought out what would give her the most comfort. Additionally, while Catholics do not accept a female priesthood, Rev. Rocio deserves every bit of my respect in having tried to do what in her lights is the Lord's work. My job is to facilitate that demonstration of caritas and not be a theological stick in the mud. Therefore I say to Rev. Rocio:

Tibi multas gratias ago!