Editor’s Note: As readers of this column know, we like to quote Fr. George Rutler from time to time because his weekly bulletin columns at the Church of St. Michael in New York City are sources of both information and inspiration. After starting his March 22 column by noting that history is “replete with the failures of famous figures,” such as Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill, he said that these men were famous not for their failures but for their resiliency and courage to get up and fight again, qualities also demonstrated by Jesus on the way to Calvary. Here is Fr. Rutler:
“Churchill said, ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.’ This counsel is more than the banal ‘positive thinking’ of glib men. It is rooted in a genuine humility that is willing to be helped up by a conviction of Providence, rather than refusing to get up out of crippling pride. Still, such persistence was a specimen only of natural virtue. Great figures in history who perdured are not in the choirs of saints unless they have also employed the theological virtues of faith, hope, and love. Not all the great are saints, but all the saints are great. St. John Vianney said: ‘Not all saints started well, but all of them ended well.’
“In the stations of the cross we recollect: ‘Jesus Falls a First Time. Jesus Falls a Second Time. Jesus Falls a Third Time.’ That only makes sense if we also whisper: ‘Jesus gets up a First Time. Jesus gets up a Second Time. Jesus gets up a Third Time.’ When the Anti-Christ tries to push us down, Christ can lift us up to life eternal. ‘Even if good people fall seven times, they will get back up. But when trouble strikes the wicked, that is the end of them’ (Prov. 24:16).”
Q. I know people who go to Holy Communion without much apparent concern for being in the state of grace. This is particularly true at weddings and funerals. Is there a good summary of Church teaching on sinful thoughts and actions that should disqualify a person from receiving our Lord in the Holy Eucharist? — J.C., North Carolina.
A. While there are many places where one can get this kind of information, a very good summary appeared in the 2006 document of the U.S. bishops entitled “Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper”: On Preparing to Receive Christ Worthily in the Eucharist.
“If we are no longer in the state of grace because of mortal sin,” the bishops said, “we are seriously obliged to refrain from receiving Holy Communion until we are reconciled with God and the Church. While we remain members of the Body of Christ and continue to be part of the Catholic Church, we have become lifeless or dead members. We no longer share in the common bond of the divine life of the Holy Spirit.”
The bishops said that “because our sin has separated us from God and from our brothers and sisters in Christ, we have forfeited our right to receive Holy Communion, for the Eucharist by its very nature expresses and nurtures this life-giving unity that the sinner has now lost. St. Paul warned the Corinthians that ‘whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily will have to answer for the body and blood of the Lord’ (1 Cor. 11:27).”
While it is not possible to make a complete list of “thoughts and actions that involve grave matter,” the bishops said, some examples of such thoughts and actions would be:
Believing in or honoring as divine anyone or anything other than the God of the Holy Scriptures.
Swearing a false oath while invoking God as a witness.
Failing to worship God by missing Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation without a serious reason, such as sickness or the absence of a priest.
Acting in serious disobedience against proper authority; dishonoring one’s parents by neglecting them in their need and infirmity.
Committing murder, including abortion and euthanasia; harboring deliberate hatred of others; sexual abuse of another, especially of a minor or vulnerable adult; physical or verbal abuse of others that causes grave physical or psychological harm.
Engaging in sexual activity outside the bonds of a valid marriage.
Stealing in a gravely injurious way, such as robbery, burglary, serious fraud, or other immoral business practices.
Speaking maliciously or slandering people in a way that seriously undermines their good name.
Producing, marketing, or indulging in pornography.
Engaging in envy that leads one to wish grave harm to someone else.
Q. There is a popular devotion to the Drops of Blood lost by Jesus on the way to Calvary, bearing five great promises. The prayers and promises were reportedly given to Saints Elizabeth of Hungary, Matilda, and Bridget and carry the imprimatur of Pope Leo XIII, given on April 5, 1890. I have since read that this devotion was declared “apocryphal” in the Acts of the Holy See. What am I to believe? — W.K., New Jersey.
A. According to a card promoting the devotion, a person who recites two Our Fathers, two Hail Marys, and two Glory Bes each day for three years will receive a plenary indulgence, will be free from the pains of Purgatory, will get the same benefits even he dies before completing the three years, will be credited at death as if he had shed all his blood for the faith, and Jesus will “descend from Heaven to take your soul and that of your relatives, until the fourth generation.”
These promises sound far-fetched to us. For example, one who receives a plenary indulgence, which is the removal of all temporal punishment due to sin, shouldn’t have to experience the pains of Purgatory at all. And how likely is it that Jesus will come down to take to Heaven not only the soul of the one making the devotion, but also all of his relatives down to the fourth generation, even those who may not be as holy as the person saying the prayers each day?
Apparently, the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation of Indulgences and Holy Relics, after examining the devotional leaflets and with the approval of Pope Leo XIII on May 26, 1898, sent out a decree stating that “the aforementioned leaflets, or those differing but little according to various editions, be prohibited and that the indulgences claimed by them be altogether condemned as false and apocryphal.”
So it would seem prudent to stay away from this devotion.
However, there is a worthwhile one concerning the wounds of Christ that was given to Sr. M. Martha Chambon, a Visitation Order nun in Chambery, France, sometime in the late 1860s. During many visits to Sr. Chambon, Jesus granted her contemplation of His five Holy Wounds and gave her the power to unite her sufferings with His to bring about the release of souls in Purgatory.
Here are Jesus’ words to her:
“The benefit of the Holy Wounds causes graces to descend from Heaven and the souls in Purgatory to ascend there. Every time you look at the Divine crucified with a pure heart, you will obtain deliverance for five souls from Purgatory, one at each source. If your heart is very pure and well-detached, you will also obtain the same favor at each station in making the Way of the Cross, through the merits of each of my wounds. When you offer my Holy Wounds for sinners, you must not forget to do so for the souls in Purgatory, as there are but few who think of their relief. The Holy Wounds are the treasure of treasures for the souls in Purgatory.”
The Holy Wounds devotion can be carried out with rosary beads by saying on the Our Father bead, “Eternal Father, I offer You the wounds of Our Lord Jesus Christ to heal the wounds of our souls,” and on the Hail Mary beads, “My Jesus, pardon and mercy through the merits of your Holy Wounds.”
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