Sunday 6th October 2024

Home » Our Catholic Faith » Currently Reading:

A Leaven In The World… Human Communio Needs Divine Communion

May 28, 2018 Our Catholic Faith No Comments

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK

The fires deep within the Earth which, while controlled, do great good for our planet can sometimes break free from their bounds and wreak widespread destruction. Molten lava consumes and destroys all in its path; homes, cars, trees, human beings, and all living things are melted and burned to cinders as fuel to feed its ferocious fires.
As we see with the recent eruptions of the volcano in Hawaii, what is good and necessary for the benefit of our green Earth at the same time also possesses the power to eradicate life and flourishing once loosed upon the land, freed from the strictures put in place to guide it toward a beneficial outcome.
So, also, human nature has been endowed with great power in sexuality. The forces of marital love have been placed in nature to bring about a beneficial result. Once loosed from its natural discipline of marriage together with the sacramental graces of matrimony, however, the fires of passion put in place to co-create and nurture human life can become a destructive force that militates against the greater good of persons.
The so-called LGBTQ alphabet soup of misnomers about sexuality is based on a false conception torn loose from the guidance of nature. Human love and flourishing, given such great power by God, the divine source of the fires of love in the human heart and mind, have here become destructive, torn loose from their beneficial discipline in disregard for the power of God meant to be shared by one man and one woman alone within marriage.
Only man and woman can become one flesh. To them alone is entrusted the capability of taking what was incomplete and becoming whole through their exclusive marital embrace, expressed by physical, genital, life-giving union. Their love is total, embracing the whole of life, until death. Their love is called to be open to new life, shunning contraception because it is always used with an anti-life will. Their love is exclusive, meant to be shared by them alone.
Holy matrimony is the power of God placed sacramentally within our hands to channel the volcanic forces of sexual power and love entrusted to man and woman. In our day the movement to redefine marriage, in denial of the truth about man and woman, has been loosed upon the land. One aspect of sexuality, the unitive, has been sundered from the other aspect of marriage, the procreative.
An assent to a lie, a repeat of the disobedience of the first man and woman, is all the Devil needs to achieve his victory. The moment man and woman agree that love and life can be divorced in their marital embrace they reenact the original rebellion of the Garden and suffer its dire consequences. Their love and life together as persons in communion is dangerously compromised and in need of the saving effects of the Lord for healing.
Here faith comes in to strengthen and affirm what is known through nature. It is scientifically demonstrable that the one marital act contains with it both the union of man and woman and the power together to conceive a new life.
We also know by Revelation, however, that “what God has joined man must not divide” (Mark 10:9). The obedience of faith and morals forbids that we would use our human ingenuity in an evil way to frustrate God’s beautiful design, which always keeps life and love together. Science has attempted, however unsuccessfully, to exclude the procreative aspect from the one marital act. The artificial methods of contraception remain frustrated, however, because they are never capable of completely excluding the power of life that God has joined to love. No method of contraception can achieve its goal 100 percent of the time. Man’s rebellion always leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.
Flowing from the original lie about the exclusive love of man and woman and the exclusion of life from their embrace is the campaign to redefine marriage. If marriage is no longer always about conception, the argument goes, than neither is it always only about man and woman.
This false claim rests in part upon the conjecture that some persons are “made that way” and, because of that, must be allowed to act on same-sex attraction. The argument is then advanced that two men or two women must also be affirmed completely, to include the ability to become “married.”
The Pope recently appeared to add fuel to this sulfurous fire by his alleged comments to Juan Carlos Cruz, a victim of Fr. Fernando Karadima in Chile. Francis’ recent meetings with him and other victims was a moving and beautiful exercise of the healing power entrusted by Christ to His Church. What was not helpful, however, was his comment, no matter how motivated by good will, which asserted something which he could not possibly know: “God made you that way.”
Making things up to help another person feel better happens all too often, but is certainly something which the Holy Father should never allow himself to do.
The Pope, in these private and personal remarks, separates himself from the Holy Spirit, if he does not teach that same-sex attraction, no matter why experienced, does not come from God because it is disordered and a temptation toward evil. The Church in no way mitigates the dignity of human persons when she asserts this. She teaches what she knows is true for the sake of human dignity and its ordering toward the highest good of eternal salvation.
What exactly “accompaniment” means, as touted by the Holy Father, when it comes to Catholics or others who experience same-sex attraction, remains largely undefined. This was demonstrated once again by a vague article, “Italian archbishop endorses a ‘new pastoral attitude’ for LGBT Catholics,” by Bishop Matteo Zuppi in America magazine. While stating that Church teaching won’t change, he doesn’t make clear what exactly accompaniment means in practical terms beyond what parishes already do.
A man named Albert, on Twitter, in reaction, wrote: “Given the recent ‘gay is ok’ comments, the only accompaniment is to Hell.” While this may be somewhat draconian, it makes it plain that for many accompaniment amounts to code language for toleration and even approval of those who act on their SSA attractions.
Accompaniment is human “communio” based on sacramental Communion. Every parish has a strong vertical “communio” based on worship of God and the Real Presence of Christ received sacramentally in holy Mass. Building horizontal community outside of the Mass is sometimes a more difficult task.
Accompaniment for all persons will happen when a parish enables broad opportunities for friendship built on dialogue and shared experience.
One of the ways in which our parish offers this is brunch at the hall following Traditional Latin Mass every Sunday, something that has been done for nearly thirty years now. Sincere friendships are evident when parishioners, married and single, spend hours enjoying each other’s companionship, a human accompaniment built on the solid and holy foundation of the divine, the friendship of God Himself in true worship of holy Mass.
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever.
@MCITLFrAphorism

Share Button

2019 The Wanderer Printing Co.

Vatican and USCCB leave transgender policy texts unpublished

While U.S. bishops have made headlines for releasing policies addressing gender identity and pastoral ministry, guidelines on the subject have been drafted but not published by both the U.S. bishops’ conference and the Vatican’s doctrinal office, leaving diocesan bishops to…Continue Reading

Biden says Pope Francis told him to continue receiving communion, amid scrutiny over pro-abortion policies

President Biden said that Pope Francis, during their meeting Friday in Vatican City, told him that he should continue to receive communion, amid heightened scrutiny of the Catholic president’s pro-abortion policies.  The president, following the approximately 90-minute-long meeting, a key…Continue Reading

Federal judge rules in favor of Gov. DeSantis’ mask mandate ban

MIAMI (LifeSiteNews) – A federal judge this week handed Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis another legal victory on his mask mandate ban for schools. On Wednesday, Judge K. Michael Moore of the Southern District of Florida denied a petition from…Continue Reading

The Eucharist should not be received unworthily, says Nigerian cardinal

Priests have a duty to remind Catholics not to receive the Eucharist in a state of serious sin and to make confession easily available, a Nigerian cardinal said at the International Eucharistic Congress on Thursday. “It is still the doctrine…Continue Reading

Donald Trump takes a swipe at Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him

Donald Trump complained about Catholics and Jews who did not vote for him in 2020. The former president made the comments in a conference call featuring religious leaders. The move could be seen to shore up his religious conservative base…Continue Reading

Y Gov. Kathy Hochul Admits Andrew Cuomo Covered Up COVID Deaths, 12,000 More Died Than Reported

When it comes to protecting people from COVID, Andrew Cuomo is already the worst governor in America. New York has the second highest death rate per capita, in part because he signed an executive order putting COVID patients in nursing…Continue Reading

Prayers For Cardinal Burke . . . U.S. Cardinal Burke says he has tested positive for COVID-19

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal Raymond L. Burke said he has tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19. In an Aug. 10 tweet, he wrote: “Praised be Jesus Christ! I wish to inform you that I have recently…Continue Reading

Democrats Block Amendment Banning Late-Term Abortions, Stopping Abortions Up to Birth

Senate Democrats have blocked an amendment that would ban abortions on babies older than 20 weeks. During consideration of the multi-trillion spending package, pro-life Louisiana Senator John Kennedy filed an amendment to ban late-term abortions, but Democrats steadfastly support killing…Continue Reading

Transgender student wins as U.S. Supreme Court rebuffs bathroom appeal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed a victory to a transgender former public high school student who waged a six-year legal battle against a Virginia county school board that had barred him from using the bathroom corresponding…Continue Reading

New York priest accused by security guard of assault confirms charges have now been dropped

NEW YORK, June 17, 2021 (LifeSiteNews) — A New York priest has made his first public statement regarding the dismissal of charges against him.  Today Father George W. Rutler reached out to LifeSiteNews and other media today with the following…Continue Reading

21,000 sign petition protesting US Catholic bishops vote on Biden, abortion

More than 21,000 people have signed a letter calling for U.S. Catholic bishops to cancel a planned vote on whether President Biden should receive communion.  Biden, a Catholic, supports abortion rights and has long come under attack from some Catholics over that…Continue Reading

Bishop Gorman seeks candidates to fill two full time AP level teaching positions for the 2021-2022 school year in the subject areas of Calculus/Statistics and Physics

Bishop Thomas K. Gorman Regional Catholic School is a college preparatory school located in Tyler, Texas. It is an educational ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Tyler led by Bishop Joseph Strickland. The sixth through twelfth grade school provides a…Continue Reading

Untitled 5 Untitled 2

Attention Readers:

  Welcome to our website. Readers who are familiar with The Wanderer know we have been providing Catholic news and orthodox commentary for 150 years in our weekly print edition.


  Our daily version offers only some of what we publish weekly in print. To take advantage of everything The Wanderer publishes, we encourage you to su
bscribe to our flagship weekly print edition, which is mailed every Friday or, if you want to view it in its entirety online, you can subscribe to the E-edition, which is a replica of the print edition.
 
  Our daily edition includes: a selection of material from recent issues of our print edition, news stories updated daily from renowned news sources, access to archives from The Wanderer from the past 10 years, available at a minimum charge (this will be expanded as time goes on). Also: regularly updated features where we go back in time and highlight various columns and news items covered in The Wanderer over the past 150 years. And: a comments section in which your remarks are encouraged, both good and bad, including suggestions.
 
  We encourage you to become a daily visitor to our site. If you appreciate our site, tell your friends. As Catholics we must band together to rediscover our faith and share it with the world if we are to effectively counter a society whose moral culture seems to have no boundaries and a government whose rapidly extending reach threatens to extinguish the rights of people of faith to practice their religion (witness the HHS mandate). Now more than ever, vehicles like The Wanderer are needed for clarification and guidance on the issues of the day.

Catholic, conservative, orthodox, and loyal to the Magisterium have been this journal’s hallmarks for five generations. God willing, our message will continue well into this century and beyond.

Joseph Matt
President, The Wanderer Printing Co.

Untitled 1

Catechism

Today . . .

This week at the Synod on Synodality — revolution or much ado about nothing?

Perhaps it is in the very nature of the Synod on Synodality to take steps back after having taken several steps forward. But the tone of the opening days of the synod’s final general assembly makes it apparent that, for the moment, there is no talk of revolution within the Church.  That tone was set days before the gathering got underway this week at the Vatican, when in his speech in Belgium on Sept. 27, Pope Francis…Continue Reading

Wyoming doctor fired by GOP governor for opposing child ‘sex changes’ asks to be reinstated

(The Daily Signal) — Wyoming’s governor removed a doctor from the state’s board of medicine because the doctor supported a law banning “gender-affirming care” for minors. The doctor is suing, and his lawyers are filing a motion Tuesday asking the court to reinstate him on the medical board. His legal team also revealed that more than 5,000 Wyoming residents have signed a petition asking the governor to reinstate him

Pro-life leaders express disgust with ‘fully booked’ mobile Planned Parenthood unit at DNC

(LifeSiteNews) — Planned Parenthood was “fully booked” with 25 appointments to dispense abortion pills at a mobile center on Monday and Tuesday during the Democratic National Convention (DNC). “Twenty-five innocent human beings whose lives are being ended at the DNC. And this is done as a political statement,” pro-life activist Lila Rose remarked Tuesday on her podcast.

Pope Francis acknowledges conference for ‘LGBT Catholics’

Pope Francis this week said he is “united in prayer” with those participating in a conference for Catholics who identify as LGBT taking place this weekend in Washington, D.C. Father James Martin, a controversial Jesuit priest who founded the pro-LGBT group Outreach in 2022, reportedly asked Pope Francis if he would like to send a greeting to the group’s 2024 gathering, taking place Aug. 2–4 at Georgetown University. Cardinal Wilton Gregory of Washington is scheduled to celebrate Mass on Saturday at…Continue Reading

Senators Slam Army After Presentation Calls Pro-Life Americans Terrorists

Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Ted Budd (R-NC), along with Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) and their colleagues, sent a letter to Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth demanding answers after an anti-terrorism training conducted at Fort Liberty, North Carolina depicted Pro-Life Americans as terrorists. “We write regarding social media reports that anti-terrorism training conducted at Ft. Liberty, North Carolina depicts Pro-Life Americans as terrorists. Specifically, the slides identify National Right to Life, ‘Choose Life’ license plate holders, and…Continue Reading

The King of Kings

Cindy Paslawski We are at the end of the Church year. We began with Advent a year ago, commemorating the time awaiting the coming of the Christ and we are ending these weeks later with a vision of the future, a vision of Christ the King of the Universe on His throne before us all.…Continue Reading

7,000 Pro-Lifers March In London

By STEVEN ERTELT LONDON (LifeNews) — Over the weekend, some seven thousand pro-life people in the UK participated in the March for Life in London to protest abortion.They marched to Parliament Square on Saturday, September 2 under the banner of “Freedom to Live” and had to deal with a handful of radical abortion activists.During the…Continue Reading

An Appeal For Prayer For The Armenian People

By RAYMOND LEO CARDINAL BURKE (Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke on August 29, 2023, issued this prayer for the Armenian people, noting their unceasing love for Christ, even in the face of persecution.) + + On the Feast of the Beheading of St. John the Baptist, having a few days ago celebrated the…Continue Reading

Robert Hickson, Founding Member Of Christendom College, Dies At 80

By MAIKE HICKSON FRONT ROYAL, Va. (LifeSiteNews) — Robert David Hickson, Jr., of Front Royal, Va., died at his home on September 2, 2023, at 21:29 p.m. after several months of suffering and after having received the Last Rites of the Catholic Church. He was surrounded by friends and family.Robert is survived by me —…Continue Reading

The Real Hero Of “Sound of Freedom”… Says The Film Has Strengthened The Fight Against Child Trafficking

By ANA PAULA MORALES (CNA) —Tim Ballard, a former U.S. Homeland Security agent who risked his life to fight child trafficking, discussed the impact of the movie Sound of Freedom, which is based on his work, in an August 29 interview with ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. “I’ve spent more than 20 years helping…Continue Reading

Advertisement

Our Catholic Faith (Section B of print edition)

Catholic Replies

Editor’s Note: This lesson on medical-moral issues is taken from the book Catholicism & Ethics. Please feel free to use the series for high schoolers or adults. We will continue to welcome your questions for the column as well. The email and postal addresses are given at the end of this column. Special Course On Catholicism And Ethics (Pages 53-59)…Continue Reading

Color Politics An Impediment To Faith

By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK The USCCB is rightly concerned about racism, as they should be about any sin. In the 2018 statement Open Wide Our Hearts, they affirm the dignity of every human person: “But racism still profoundly affects our culture, and it has no place in the Christian heart. This evil causes great harm to its victims, and…Continue Reading

Trademarks Of The True Messiah

By MSGR. CHARLES POPE (Editor’s Note: Msgr. Charles Pope posted this essay on September 2, and it is reprinted here with permission.) + + In Sunday’s Gospel the Lord firmly sets before us the need for the cross, not as an end in itself, but as the way to glory. Let’s consider the Gospel in three stages.First: The Pattern That…Continue Reading

A Beacon Of Light… The Holy Cross And Jesus’ Unconditional Love

By FR. RICHARD D. BRETON Each year on September 14 the Church celebrates the Feast Day of the Exultation of the Holy Cross. The Feast Day of the Triumph of the Holy Cross commemorates the day St. Helen found the True Cross. It is fitting then, that today we should focus on the final moments of Jesus’ life on the…Continue Reading

Our Ways Must Become More Like God’s Ways

By FR. ROBERT ALTIER Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time (YR A) Readings: Isaiah 55:6-9Phil. 1:20c-24, 27aMatt. 20:1-16a In the first reading today, God tells us through the Prophet Isaiah that His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. This should not come as a surprise to anyone, especially when we look at what the Lord…Continue Reading

The Devil And The Democrats

By FR. DENIS WILDE, OSA States such as Minnesota, California, Maryland, and others, in all cases with Democrat-controlled legislatures, are on a fast track to not only allow unborn babies to be murdered on demand as a woman’s “constitutional right” but also to allow infanticide.Our nation has gotten so used to the moral evil of killing in the womb that…Continue Reading

Crushed But Unbroken . . . The Martyrdom Of St. Margaret Clitherow

By RAY CAVANAUGH The late-1500s were a tough time for Catholics in England, where the Reformation was in full gear. A 1581 law prohibited Catholic religious ceremonies. And a 1584 Act of Parliament mandated that all Catholic priests leave the country or else face execution. Some chose to remain, however, so they could continue serving the faithful.Also taking huge risks…Continue Reading

Advertisement(2)