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What Is Divine Grace?… Sanctifying Grace: Light Excludes Darkness

August 20, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 3 In the previous article, we investigated the nature, purpose, and work of actual grace. In this article, we will look at sanctifying grace. We have seen that actual grace, although supernatural, is transient, not permanent. It is like an electric current which, passing for an instant through the wire wound around an iron bar, gives the bar a momentary magnetic power. It is different from sanctifying grace, because sanctifying grace is both supernatural and permanent. Actual grace enables us to act the part of friends of God, whereas sanctifying grace makes us friends of God. It is like the electric power in a storage battery. Can a sinner receive actual grace? Yes. Both…Continue Reading

Celebration Of The Sacrament Of Penance

August 19, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By DON FIER The doctrine of indulgences, as we have seen over the past two weeks, is an important part of the life of the Church. Although the Catholic understanding of indulgences has been clouded by abuses, most notably in the 16th century when Martin Luther posted his Ninety-Five Theses, its roots go back to the beginning of the Church and its principles are clearly present in Sacred Scripture. St. John Paul II adeptly described indulgences as “the expression of the Church’s full confidence of being heard by the Father when — in view of Christ’s merits and, by his gift, those of Our Lady and the saints — she asks him to mitigate or cancel the painful aspect of…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

August 18, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

Q. You have expressed your disagreement in the past with the practice of omitting “hard sayings” from the Mass readings or giving the option of using the “shorter version” of a reading, which usually means leaving out a strong passage. I noticed that this happened with the Gospel for the 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Is this what you had in mind? — P.G., via e-mail. A. Yes, it is. The shorter form of the Gospel for that day included Jesus’ comparison of the Kingdom of Heaven with a treasure buried in a field or a merchant finding a “pearl of great price.” The longer version, which would have added about 45 seconds to the reading, talked about the Kingdom…Continue Reading

God’s Inscrutable And Unsearchable Ways

August 17, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-First Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 22:19-23 Romans 11:33-36 Matt. 16:13-20 In the second reading today, St. Paul marvels at the depth of the riches, the wisdom, and the knowledge of God. He proclaims that God’s judgments are inscrutable and His ways are unsearchable. Of course, in our humanness, we often seem to think we know a better way. When we see the problems in the world and in the Church, we can all envision a way that would be better in the moment. If, for instance, we look at an injustice, we can naturally state that to act with justice would have been better. We can say that same thing about any…Continue Reading

Canon Lawyer… Notes Clergy Confusion About Preaching On Contraception, Related Issues

August 16, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By DEXTER DUGGAN Part 1 PHOENIX — A member of the leadership team of the Diocese of Phoenix explored contraception and related issues in an interview with The Wanderer after he preached on the topics during July 22-23 weekend Masses at one of the large diocesan parishes, St. Thomas the Apostle, in a residential area of Phoenix. Fr. Chris Fraser, JCL, ordained a priest for this diocese in 2001, earned a licentiate in canon law in 2006 at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. Upon graduation, he returned here to work full time in the diocesan tribunal, where he has served as judicial vicar since late 2007. During a Q-and-A interview, which will be continued next week in…Continue Reading

A Leaven In The World… Marian Pilgrimage Leads To The Eucharistic Lord

August 14, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK I share with you this week the extraordinary journey I took to two places I have visited before, but which number among the very few that one can visit again and again without fear of exhausting their spiritual riches. Can you name a rock star who draws a crowd every night of the week without even being physically present? Although our Lady’s appearances to visionaries Bernadette and Lucia, Jacinta, and Francisco ceased many years ago, the throngs of faithful continue to come. They flock to the once filthy and abandoned grotto where the Mother of God promised happiness only in the next life to a poor and illiterate girl, Bernadette. Lourdes is second only to…Continue Reading

What Is Divine Grace?. . . Acts That Are Pleasing To God

August 13, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM Part 1 “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” So many times, we repeat this prayer, recalling the great day when our Lady said “yes” to the angel and God entered human history and walked the Earth bodily as one of us. And as Mary became the Mother of God Incarnate, we praise and thank her for accepting the invitation of God. Notice that the angel said she was “full of grace.” In this series of articles, we will study what is that “grace” that filled her being to overflowing. A general definition of grace is this: Grace is a supernatural gift created by God that enables us to participate in the…Continue Reading

Indulgences

August 12, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By DON FIER Part 2 The Church’s authoritative teaching on indulgences, as we saw last week, is based on her doctrine of the Communion of Saints. In this “supernatural unity of the Mystical Body of Christ,” states the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), “a perennial link of charity exists between the faithful who have already reached their heavenly home, those who are expiating their sins in purgatory, and those who are still pilgrims on earth” (nn. 1474, 1475). Between them takes place a wonderful exchange of all good things: The Church is able to draw upon the superabundant treasury of merits gained by Christ and all the saints and apply them toward the remission of the temporal punishment due…Continue Reading

Catholic Replies

August 11, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

Editor’s Note: Continuing our summary of the six appearances of Our Lady of Fatima 100 years ago, here is an account of what happened on August 19, 1917. No, that date is not a misprint. As the children were preparing to go to the Cova on the 13th, as our Lady had requested, the administrator of the region where Fatima was located, an atheist named Oliveira Santos, came to their village and offered to drive them to the Cova. But instead he took them to the city of Ourem and put them in jail. He wanted to prove that the apparitions were a hoax and to force the children to tell him the secret that had been confided to them.…Continue Reading

We Are Called To Be Saints

August 10, 2017 Our Catholic Faith Comments Off

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twentieth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 56:1, 6-7 Romans 11:13-15, 29-32 Matt. 15:21-28 God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable. These words from the second reading are a great consolation to all of us. We know how many times we have offended God by our sins and might at times wonder if God is going to reject us because of those sins. We know God will never reject us if we come to Him humbly and are repentant, but our own emotions and the temptations of the vile creature make us wonder sometimes. This passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, however, is a statement far broader than our own subjective standing…Continue Reading

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