Byline: Father Reginald Martin

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Eternal Life

What Is Purgatory?

Father Reginald Martin

June 29, 2022 7:10 am June 29, 2022

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Popular images of purgatory are probably inspired by Dante and expanded upon by imaginative artists, often with an aim to thrill or horrify their audience. As a result, Catholics lose…

Popular images of purgatory are probably inspired by Dante and expanded upon by imaginative artists, often with an aim to thrill or horrify their audience. As a result, Catholics lose sight of what ought to be a consoling article of faith, and Protestants are confused or scandalized by what appears to be a jumbled scam devised to subvert or avoid God’s justice.

What the Church teaches about purgatory is very simple: “The souls of the just which, in the moment of death, are burdened with venial sins or temporal punishment due to sins, enter purgatory.” Our belief in purgatory is based on a passage from 2 Maccabees, in which the Jewish hero, Judas Maccabeus, orders prayers and sacrifices for slain patriots, that their sins might be forgiven. Jesus, too, speaks of the possibility of forgiveness after death when he teaches, “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven … in this age or in the age to come” (Mt 12:32).

We must remember one thing: purgatory is not a “second chance”; it is the final step for righteous individuals who, before death, lacked an opportunity to atone for venial sins or do sufficient penance for serious sins already confessed.

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Sacraments

Communal Celebration of Anointing

Father Reginald Martin

June 16, 2022 11:04 am June 16, 2022

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Catholics growing up before the Second Vatican Council knew the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick as “Extreme Unction,” a blessing reserved for those at the point of death….

Catholics growing up before the Second Vatican Council knew the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick as “Extreme Unction,” a blessing reserved for those at the point of death. As these individuals were usually in hospitals, the sacrament was, necessarily, administered privately.

The council fathers determined the sacrament is “not for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as anyone of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time … to receive this sacrament has certainly arrived” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, No. 73). Because we are baptized into communion with one another, the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, like all the sacraments, has a social dimension. Therefore, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church observes, “The Anointing of the Sick is a liturgical and communal celebration” (No. 1517). To anoint those who are ill or elderly in a parish (or other common) liturgical gathering visibly manifests the invisible bonds that unite us.

The same text from the Catechism also reminds us that although, at one time, we might have referred to the anointing of the sick as “Last Rites,” this misidentifies the sacrament. The Eucharist “should always be the last sacrament of the earthly journey … for ‘passing over’ to eternal life.”

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Liturgy

Proper Genuflection?

Father Reginald Martin

June 12, 2022 7:40 am June 12, 2022

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What’s the proper way to genuflect? The General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM) states, “A genuflection, made by bending the right knee to the ground, signifies adoration, and therefore…

What’s the proper way to genuflect? The General Instruction on the Roman Missal (GIRM) states, “A genuflection, made by bending the right knee to the ground, signifies adoration, and therefore it is reserved for the Most Blessed Sacrament, as well as for the Holy Cross from the solemn adoration during the liturgical celebration on Good Friday until the beginning of the Easter Vigil.… All who pass before the Most Blessed Sacrament genuflect, unless they are moving in procession” (No. 274).

This explains the “what” and “how” of genuflecting. To understand the “why” we need look no further than the courtesy we offer guests — or consider the respect we show individuals when we are introduced to them. In each case we make some sign to acknowledge and honor the individual. It may be nothing more than standing and extending our hand when a person comes into the room, or nodding when another extends a hand to us; the point is, we recognize the person and make a gesture that sets the individual apart, if only momentarily.

When we enter a church, we enter God’s house. Genuflecting before the tabernacle acknowledges God as our host and expresses thanks for the invitation that draws us into communion with His Son.

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The Church

What Is an Apostolic Nuncio?

Father Reginald Martin

June 9, 2022 7:18 am June 9, 2022

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Bureaucracy is a notion currently held in little esteem. In the first quarter of the last century, however, Max Weber, a critic of economic and social organization, published a thesis…

Bureaucracy is a notion currently held in little esteem. In the first quarter of the last century, however, Max Weber, a critic of economic and social organization, published a thesis in which he argued that bureaucracy — if managed efficiently — provides the ideal model for a business or other organization. Over history, he argued, one such “ideal bureaucracy” has been the Roman Church.

A nuncio is often referred to as an “ambassador,” representing the interests of the Church in a foreign country’s highest assembly — for example, the United Nations. A nuncio enjoying voting rights is titled “delegate,” otherwise he is an “observer.” The nuncio’s chief task is to strengthen bonds between the Holy See and any local church (see Code of Canon Law 364).

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Sacraments

Communion More Than Once A Day?

Father Reginald Martin

June 7, 2022 8:07 am June 7, 2022

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The Church’s Code of Canon Law (updated in 1983) allows the faithful to receive communion twice in the same day, provided they attend the Mass at which they receive the…

The Church’s Code of Canon Law (updated in 1983) allows the faithful to receive communion twice in the same day, provided they attend the Mass at which they receive the Eucharist. Thus an individual may receive Communion at a daily Mass, and again at a wedding, funeral or other ritual (see Canon 917).

Insisting an individual attend the Mass at which she or he receives Communion stresses the communal aspect of the Eucharist. At Mass, the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy” (No. 1326). We also unite ourselves with other members of Christ’s Body. The rule also discourages overzealous or superstitious souls from wandering from church to church and taking part in no more of the Mass than the Communion rite.

Deacons who assist at more than two Masses must excuse themselves from receiving Communion after the second, but the law does not apply to the dying, and states, “The Christian faithful who are in danger of death, arising from any cause, are to be nourished by holy Communion in the form of viaticum. Even if they have received Communion in the same day [they] are strongly urged to receive again” (Canon 921).

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Scripture

What Did Adam and Eve Know?

Father Reginald Martin

June 1, 2022 7:00 am June 1, 2022

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When it considers our first parents and their original sin, the Catechism of the Catholic Church observes: “A spiritual creature, man can live this friendship [with God] only in free…

When it considers our first parents and their original sin, the Catechism of the Catholic Church observes: “A spiritual creature, man can live this friendship [with God] only in free submission to God. The prohibition against eating ‘of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ spells this out: ‘for in the day that you eat of it, you shall die’” (No. 396). The tree, the Catechism teaches, represents the limits human creatures must be prepared to embrace. We depend upon God; our freedom is subject to God’s law.

God’s command not to eat from that tree in the Garden could not have been clearer; nor could the threatened consequences. That much, at least, Adam and Eve must have known. Likewise, they must have understood they were risking God’s friendship by their disobedience. However, we may assume they were unaware of the consequences for future generations and the results that have been fully explained only by later theologians.

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