Catholic Replies
Q. I am a 78-year-old senior citizen who attends Mass every day and receives Holy Communion. I am hard of hearing, which makes it difficult to go to Confession, especially when I have to wear a mask. How do I receive the Sacrament of Penance? — B.M., New York.
A. Speak to your pastor about this. He will surely find a way for you to go to Confession. He should be able to lower his mask if he is a safe distance from you so that you can grasp what he is saying.
By the way, you are to be commended for being so conscientious about going to Confession. There are many other Catholics with no hearing loss who can’t be bothered to seek forgiveness for their sins. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to hear the priest tell them to abandon their sinful lifestyle.
Q. I think that you gave an incomplete answer in a recent column in regard to Christ rising “again” from the dead in the Apostles’ Creed. The Creed says that He “was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. On the third day he rose again.”
This is a reference that He rose first releasing the souls stuck in the world of the dead since the sin of Adam and Eve and then rose again to the world of the living on the third day. Because of original sin, all the descendants from Adam and Eve — Cain and Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses — on to Christ were denied access to Heaven after death and their souls were stuck in a holding state for thousands of years. It was why it was necessary for Christ to come to redeem the world and the realm of the dead. — M.S., via e-mail.
A. In our recent column, we said that the meaning of “again” in this case was “back into a former position or condition (he is well again).” Jesus died, but is now alive again after rising from the dead. According to the Catechism (n. 632), “the frequent New Testament affirmations that Jesus was ‘raised from the dead’ presuppose that the crucified one sojourned in the realm of the dead prior to his resurrection. This was the first meaning given in the apostolic preaching to Christ’s descent into hell: that Jesus, like all men, experienced death and in his soul joined the others in the realm of the dead. But he descended there as Savior, proclaiming the Good News to the spirits imprisoned there.”
The next paragraph (n. 633) says that “‘it is precisely these holy souls, who awaited their Savior in Abraham’s bosom, whom Christ the Lord delivered when he descended into hell.’ Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.”
The Catechism (n. 635) says that “Christ went down into the depths of death so that ‘the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.’ Jesus, ‘the Author of life,’ by dying destroyed ‘him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and [delivered] all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.’ Henceforth the risen Christ holds ‘the keys of Death and Hades,’ so that ‘at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth’ [Rev 1:18; Phil 2:10].”
We don’t see anything in the Catechism to support your argument that Jesus rose twice — once when releasing the souls of the just from the world of the dead and again when He returned to the world of the living. The Catechism (n. 637) says only that “in his human soul united to his divine person, the dead Christ went down to the realm of the dead. He opened heaven’s gates for the just who had gone before him,” and then He rose from the dead.
Q. So, as Jesus entered Jerusalem, the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him” (John 12:19). The whole world indeed! And Pope St. John Paul II’s encyclical Ecclesia de Eucharistia emphasizes this reality. At every Mass each of us, and all of us, mystically join the “crowd” welcoming Him, and following Him, into Jerusalem, there to witness and be part of all the events that occurred. You’d think we’d hear about this astonishing gift over and over in Church teaching. Instead, crickets.
Thus, most Catholics simply are unaware of their actual presence at those events. They are left to puzzle out the transcendence on their own, experientially. Why do you suppose there is such a reluctance on the part of the Magisterium to underline this truth? — B.C., Virginia.
A. But the Magisterium has repeatedly underlined this truth not only in the encyclical you mentioned but also in various other documents, including the Catechism of the Catholic Church. We agree that this truth is not often passed along to the faithful in the pews, but it should be.
One of the priests in our parish always uses the First Eucharistic Prayer at Mass, which contains the words, “In humble prayer we ask you, almighty God, command that these gifts be borne by the hands of your holy Angel to your altar on high in the sight of your divine majesty, so that all of us, who through this participation at the altar receive the most holy Body and Blood of your Son, may be filled with every grace and heavenly blessing.”
We often find ourselves looking to see the Angel who is carrying the gifts from our parish liturgy to the liturgy going on permanently in Heaven, but we haven’t been blessed with that marvelous experience.
Nevertheless, the celebrant at Mass should periodically remind the faithful that they are not just taking part in some boring ritual in their parish church, but in fact are united with their fellow Catholics all over the world and with the saints and angels in Heaven.
As Pope St. John Paul II said in Ecclesia de Eucharistia:
“There is an aspect of the Eucharist which merits greater attention: In celebrating the sacrifice of the Lamb, we are united to the heavenly ‘liturgy’ and become part of that great multitude which cries out: ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb!’ (Rev. 7:10). The Eucharist is truly a glimpse of heaven appearing on earth. It is a glorious ray of the heavenly Jerusalem which pierces the clouds of our history and lights up our journey” (n. 19).
Q. It seems that there is not unanimous agreement among clergy that a Catholic is one for life because of his Baptism. I recently sent the following letter to Msgr. Charles Pope’s Q and A column in Our Sunday Visitor: “Are Catholics who reject the Church’s teachings on the Mass, the Trinity, the virgin birth of Christ, abortion, etc., no longer Catholics, or are they one for life because of their Baptism?” You might be interested in Msgr. Pope’s reply. — J.C., Ontario, Canada.
A. We are always interested in anything Msgr. Pope writes. Here is his answer as it appeared in Our Sunday Visitor:
“Regarding baptism, the Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms the following: ‘Baptism seals the Christian with the indelible spiritual mark (character) of his belonging to Christ. No sin can erase this mark, even if sin prevents baptism from bearing the fruits of salvation. Given once for all, baptism cannot be repeated’ (n. 1272).
“If one were to reject the teachings you mentioned, he would seriously harm his communion and unity with the Church. At times the Church must ask those who intentionally dissent to assess their own communion with the Church, and to no longer celebrate a communion that is seriously impaired by refraining from receiving Holy Communion. In rare cases, the Church may see a need to formally declare that an excommunication exists.
“Even in such cases, one can never utterly lose the status of belonging to Christ. By analogy, even if a son or daughter of yours were to wander far from you, live in total contradiction to what you believe, and even curse you to your face, this would not change the fact that they are your son or daughter.”
Q. As an orthodox Roman Catholic who is absolutely in love with the Church and who has prayed for the current Pope from the first day of his papacy, I am hopeful that when the time comes, the new Pope will be the truly man of God, Robert Cardinal Sarah. — G.P., Florida.
A. We agree that Cardinal Sarah would be a great Pope, but it is unlikely since he is 75 years old. For evidence of his great wisdom and holiness, see his book The Day Is Now Far Spent.
