Catholic Replies
Q. I have heard it said that Jeremiah 10:1-5 forbids Christmas trees, and implicitly all Christmas decorations. Your comments, please. — G.P., via e-mail.
A. Here is the passage in question:
“Thus says the Lord: Learn not the customs of the nations, / and have no fear of the signs of the heavens, / though the nations fear them. / For the cult idols of the nations are nothing, / wood cut from the forest, / Wrought by craftsmen with the adze, / adorned with silver and gold, / With nails and hammers they are fastened, / that they may not totter. / Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field are they, they cannot speak; / they must be carried about, / for they cannot walk. / Fear them not, they can do no harm, / neither is it in their power to do good.”
May we suggest that the most astute Bible scholar who ever lived would have trouble finding anything in that passage that forbids Christmas trees? Jeremiah is condemning the worship of idols made from wood, silver, and gold, not putting up Christmas trees. Later in the same chapter, he calls these wooden idols “dumb and senseless / . . . . Nothingness are they, a ridiculous work; / they will perish in their time of punishment.”
In contrast to these lifeless idols, says the prophet, “no one is like you, O Lord, / great are you, / great and mighty is your name. / Who would not fear you, / King of the nations, / for it is your due. / Among all the wisest of the nations, / and in all their domain, / there is none like you.”
If people worshiped Christmas trees, then perhaps the words of Jeremiah would make some sense. But there is nothing in the decorating of a Christmas tree that remotely resembles an idolatrous practice.
Q. Since Satan has billions of evil spirits at his command, does it not follow that men and women would be able to form better consciences if they were aware that Satan has assigned a personal evil spirit to subtly present to them the world’s view of how they should think? — T.F., Kentucky.
A. However many evil spirits there are in the world, there are at least that many good spirits called angels. Each one of us, as you know, has a particular guardian angel to guide and protect us from the temptations of the Evil One, and we should begin each day by praying, “Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God’s love commits me here. Ever this day be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen.”
In his book The Diary of An American Exorcist, Msgr. Stephen Rossetti said that “angels and demons are everywhere. We do not know their exact number, but we know it is very large. St. Thomas said, ‘Hence it must be said the angels…exist in exceeding great number, far beyond all material multitude.’ He also suggested, ‘More angels stood firm than sinned’. . . . The Italian priest and mystic Padre Pio (1887-1968) said, ‘There are so many [demons] that if they were capable of assuming a form as tiny as a grain of sand, they would block out the sun’” (p. 34).
On the other hand, said Msgr. Rossetti, “holy angels have a mission to protect and guide according to God’s will. They do not try to possess or dominate. They are instruments of God’s love, and thus they enhance our freedom. Demons are out to possess, to control, to dominate and ultimately to destroy. Thus, demons try to infest places and establish dominion, all for their evil purposes. If given an opening, either through human sin or human invitation, the demons are able to possess people and places” (pp. 34-35).
He said that “the countless numbers of demons would like nothing better than to control people, things, and places in God’s creation. For a limited time, Satan and his demons are allowed to wreak havoc on this material world. But when the end-time comes, they will be cast permanently into Hell, and their influence will be limited to the confines of Hell” (p. 35).
Q. The attached notice appeared in our parish bulletin. Is this just for our diocese, where there is no bishop and a shortage of priests, or is it for the whole country? It gets complicated for Catholics when they cancel a holy day one year and then reinstate it the next year. — Name and State Withheld.
A. Here is the notice:
“Since Christmas falls on a Saturday this year, it makes it a bit more complicated to know how to fulfill both the Christmas and Sunday obligations. The consensus of many canon lawyers is that each obligation must be fulfilled with a separate Mass. You will need to attend two separate Masses to fulfill the obligation for Christmas and Sunday. The Saturday evening Mass can fulfill the obligation for Christmas OR Sunday, but not both, for the same person. In other words, if one has not attended a Christmas Eve or Christmas morning Mass, but attends Mass Saturday evening, that would fulfill the Christmas obligation, but not the Sunday obligation. One would need to attend Mass again on Sunday. That Saturday evening Mass could also fulfill the Sunday obligation. However, it would not have fulfilled the Christmas obligation.”
This is the policy for the Church throughout the country, not just in your diocese. It is necessary to explain it to the faithful because some Catholics feel put upon to have to attend Mass two days in a row! Imagine the imposition! These folks obviously have no idea of what a great privilege it is to take part in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Nor are they aware of how many of their fellow Catholics around the world don’t even have one Mass available to them or, if there is a Mass, they put their lives in jeopardy by attending.
The complainers about having to go to Mass on Christmas Day and Sunday ought to consider the plight of martyrs from North Africa in the fourth century to Iraq in the twenty-first century, where brave Catholics risked their lives and their freedom because, in their own words, “We cannot live without the Eucharist.”
Q. When a person receives Communion, how long does God stay within our bodies? Does God’s presence in our bodies help us to overcome evil and build up our ability to resist sinning? Is it fair to say that the more we receive Communion, the stronger our faith becomes? — D.L.H., Iowa.
A. God stays within our bodies until the Eucharistic Species (the accident of bread) is digested. As for your other questions, the answer is yes to both of them. Here is an explanation:
Holy Communion will not change our nature as human beings (a nature which is prone to evil because of original sin), nor will it change our particular human tendencies. Holy Communion will elevate our nature, but not replace it with a different sort of nature. The person who has a weakness for alcohol may receive the Eucharist many times and still long for a drink. The person who has a weakness for immoral sexual behavior may receive Communion many times without becoming perfectly chaste.
This is not to say that God could not perform a miracle through the Holy Eucharist; He certainly could. But God has not promised to do so, and we should not expect it.
Jesus does not give Himself to us in Holy Communion to make life easy, but rather to make life beautiful. It is a means of reaching Heaven, not a means of avoiding all problems. In fact, Jesus has warned us that we will at all times have to shoulder crosses and experience difficulties in this life if we are to be His disciples. No matter how many times we receive Communion, we will still have urges to lie, to drink too much, to steal, to sin in other ways. But the more we receive Jesus, the more distasteful sinful actions become to us because they are offensive to the Person whom we love.
That is how Holy Communion lessens our evil inclinations. Not by making us less human, but by making us more courageous. Not by eliminating temptation, but by making us more willing to say no. Not by making life easy, but by helping us to fight hard for what is right and good. Not by giving us a different nature, but by raising the nature we have to a supernatural level. The Holy Eucharist does not change us into another sort of creature, but rather it strengthens our soul to live as a friend of Jesus.
