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The reason this blog is called "Iceman for Christ" is I was a member of Navel Mobile Construction Battalion that complete construction of the South Pole Station in 1974. At that time there was only one priest in Antarctica and I was asked by him to give the eucharistic to my fellow Catholics at a protestant service celebrated by the Battalion Chaplin on Sundays. At that time only priestly consecrated hands could give the eucharist. There were not eucharist ministers at that time. I was given permission by a letter from the bishop to handled our Lord. Years later I was reading the bible and read "and you shall take me to the ends of the earth." I reflected on it for a second and thought Yes, been there done that. Be not afraid and serve Christ King. Greater is HE; than he who is in the world.

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Friday, March 31, 2023

 Meditation


"The soul offers to the Immaculata its acts of love, not as an object delivered to any mediator, but in property, in full and exclusive property because it understands that the Immaculata offers such acts to Jesus as though they were hers; that is to say, she offers them to Jesus without stain, immaculate. Jesus then offers them to the Father. This way, the soul becomes more and more of the Immaculata, just as the Immaculata is of Jesus, and Jesus is the Father's." (KW 1310)


Militia of the Immaculata | P.O. Box 5547Peoria, IL 61601


Introduction to Leviticus

Leviticus[1] begins, Moses has just led the Israelites out of Egypt in one of the most exciting adventures of all time. Burning Bush. Amazing plagues. A march through the sea. Meeting God on a mountain. So, after all that, there's only one thing a red-hot writer can do when folks are begging for more. Give the people what they want—twenty-four chapters filled with lists of laws, along with a couple blink-and-they're gone stories where people die because they sinned. Hmmm.

At first glance, Leviticus would seem to be The Phantom Menace of the Bible, just with purity rules and animal sacrifice instead of the taxation of trade routes. And you know what? Our response to Leviticus isn't just a modern one. Way back in the 2nd century CE, an influential Christian theologian named Origen wrote:

Provide someone with a reading from Leviticus and at once the listener will gag and push it away as if were some bizarre food. He came, after all, to learn how to honor God, to take in the teachings that concern justice and piety. But instead he is now hearing about the ritual of burnt sacrifices!

The thing is, unlike Jar Jar Binks, Leviticus was indeed what the people wanted. It was a way for people to make sense of everyday life. Violence, community, money, power—even if the Bible doesn't always match our own sense of what's right, it definitely provided answers for the masses back in the day. Remember, this was a world where sacrificing animals taught the importance of respecting animal life. A ban on tattoos helped curb slavery. Being fair in business meant forcing people to give back what they've bought. And laws on sexual intercourse—well, those might not have actually been about sex at all. So, as you roam around Leviticus, remember to check your preconceptions at the giant curtain that is the Tabernacle's door. These boring laws are biblical Transformers—much more than meets the eye.

Why Should I Care?

Gay rights. Immigrant rights. Atheism. And yes, even vampires and child sacrifice. Leviticus might have been written for goat herders and farmers more than 2500 years ago, but in recent years, it has moved from the margins to the mainstream in pop culture and political debates.

Yet for all the t-shirts, internet memes, magazine essays, and YouTube videos using quotes from Leviticus to make their point, how all these verses fit together can be as hard to figure out as why God thinks it's an abomination to wear a polyester-cotton blend. Sure, it's a steep mountain to climb, but it's worth it. Leviticus is a treasure trove of rich ideas that are all the more valuable because only a clever few dare to find them.

  • Books from Dracula to The Hunger Games have built on images from Leviticus to create compelling (and not-so-compelling) worlds.
  • A co-founder of PayPal and early investor in Facebook used insights from Leviticus to build a billion-dollar empire and promote social change.
  • Long before Xbox and smart phones, Leviticus used virtual space and gaming to map out new strategies for day-to-day life.
  • New generations of readers are discovering that what Leviticus says about ethics, community and scientific progress may not be as archaic as it seems.

So, come on. Let's crack open the doors of this sealed chamber and light up the place with a little strange fire. Pretty soon everyone will marvel at your level-12 literary intelligence when you show them that the so-called most boring book of the Bible is actually more than just a bunch of dusty old rules about cows and pigs and sacrifices and why sex is eeeeeeeevil.

MARCH 31 Fifth Week of Lent Friday of Sorrows 

Leviticus, Chapter 19, verse 14

You shall not insult the deaf, or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but you shall FEAR your God. I am the LORD.

 

Be like your Heavenly Father; God is not a bully. Christ was often confronted by the bullies of his time. When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them [a scholar of the law] tested him by asking, “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.” (Mt. 22:34-40)

 


The modern world attempts to bully the faithful into abandoning their relationship with the Lord. Saint Pope Pius X was a pope, who resisted the bullying of the modern world by establishing an oath against modernism[2]. The crux of this oath has five main points:

1.     I profess that God is the origin and end of all things.

2.     I accept and acknowledge the external proofs of revelation, that is, divine acts and especially miracles and prophecies as the surest signs of the divine origin of the Christian religion.

3.     I believe with equally firm faith that the Church, the guardian and teacher of the revealed word, was personally instituted by the real and historical Christ.

4.     I sincerely hold that the doctrine of faith was handed down to us from the apostles through the orthodox Fathers in exactly the same meaning and always in the same purport.

5.     I hold with certainty and sincerely confess that faith is not a blind sentiment of religion welling up from the depths of the subconscious under the impulse of the heart and the motion of a will trained to morality; but faith is a genuine assent of the intellect to truth.

Another way the world and the modernist clerics are attempting to put blinders on us is to bully us into being okay with transgenderism. By the way today is International Transgender Day of Visibility. This is what the catechism of the church states on this subject.[3] Note as of this date the USCCB has made no statement on the Transgender shooter in Tennessee. One wonders—maybe they are into National Tater Day or Cesar Chavez Day.

Sexual Identity

 

(No. 2333) “Everyone, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. Physical, moral, and spiritual difference and complementarity are oriented toward the goods of marriage and the flourishing of family life. The harmony of the couple and of society depends in part on the way in which the complementarity, needs, and mutual support between the sexes are lived out.”

 

(No. 2393) “By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity.”

 

Body and Soul

 

(No. 364) “The human body shares in the dignity of "the image of God": it is a human body precisely because it is animated by a spiritual soul, and it is the whole human person that is intended to become, in the body of Christ, a temple of the Spirit: Man, though made of body and soul, is a unity. Through his very bodily condition he sums up in himself the elements of the material world. Through him they are thus brought to their highest perfection and can raise their voice in praise freely given to the Creator. For this reason man may not despise his bodily life. Rather he is obliged to regard his body as good and to hold it in honor since God has created it and will raise it up on the last day.”

 

Modesty

 

(No. 2521) “Purity requires modesty, an integral part of temperance. Modesty protects the intimate center of the person. It means refusing to unveil what should remain hidden. It is ordered to chastity to whose sensitivity it bears witness. It guides how one looks at others and behaves toward them in conformity with the dignity of persons and their solidarity.”

(No. 2522) “Modesty protects the mystery of persons and their love… Modesty is decency. It inspires one's choice of clothing. It keeps silence or reserve where there is evident risk of unhealthy curiosity. It is discreet.”

(No. 2523) “There is a modesty of the feelings as well as of the body. It protests, for example, against the voyeuristic explorations of the human body in certain advertisements, or against the solicitations of certain media that go too far in the exhibition of intimate things. Modesty inspires a way of life which makes it possible to resist the allurements of fashion and the pressures of prevailing ideologies.” Updated August 7, 2019 2

 

Privacy

 

(No. 1907) “First, the common good presupposes respect for the person as such. In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person. Society should permit each of its members to fulfill his vocation. In particular, the common good resides in the conditions for the exercise of the natural freedoms indispensable for the development of the human vocation, such as ‘the right to act according to a sound norm of conscience and to safeguard . . . privacy, and rightful freedom also in matters of religion.’”

 

Mutilation

 

(No. 2297) “Except when performed for strictly therapeutic medical reasons, directly intended amputations, mutilations, and sterilizations performed on innocent persons are against the moral law.” 

Feast of the Seven Dolor’s of the Blessed Virgin Mary

(FRIDAY IN PASSION WEEK.)

THE part which the Blessed Virgin took in the sufferings and death of her beloved Son has induced the Church to give her the glorious title of Queen of Martyrs. The feast of the Seven Dolors was first instituted by the Council of Cologne, in the year 1423, in order to make amends for what the Hussites had done against the veneration of the Blessed Virgin, whom they, like all heretics, had assailed with many calumnies and insults; in particular, rejecting the image of the Mother of Dolors with the body of her dead Son resting upon her lap.

This feast was originally called the feast of the Compassion of

the Blessed Virgin.

At the presentation of Jesus in the temple Simeon had predicted that the suffering of the Son would be the suffering of the Mother also: Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrection of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be contradicted; and thy own soul a sword shall pierce (Luke ii. 34, 35). The ignominy, insults, and cruelties inflicted on Him were to be so many swords piercing her heart. Remember, therefore, on this day the seven dolors which the Blessed Virgin experienced:

1. At the circumcision of her Son.

2. At her flight into Egypt with Him.

3. On losing Him for three days in the temple.

4. At the sight of Him carrying the cross.

5. At His death.

6. When beholding His side pierced with a spear, and His body taken down from the cross.

7. At His burial. Make an act of contrition for your sins, which helped so much to cause the sufferings and death of Jesus, and resolve firmly that you will no more grieve the hearts of Jesus and Mary by sin. Ask her to assist you at your death by her powerful intercession, that then she may show herself to you as a mother, and obtain from her beloved Son grace for you.

The Introit of the Mass is as follows: “There stood by the cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen” (John xix.). “Woman, behold thy son,” said Jesus, and to the disciple: “Behold thy mother.” Glory be to the Father…

Prayer. O Lord, in Whose passion, according to the prophecy of Simeon, a sword of sorrow pierced the most sweet soul of Mary, mother and virgin, grant, in Thy mercy, that we may call to mind with veneration her transfixion and sufferings; and by the glorious merits and prayers of all the saints, who stood faithfully by the cross, interceding for us, may experience the happy effects of Thy passion. Amen.

EPISTLE. Judith xiii. 23-25.

The Lord hath blessed thee by His power, because by thee He hath brought our enemies to naught. And Ozias, the prince of the people of Israel, said to her, Blessed art thou, O daughter, by the Lord the most high God, above all women upon the earth. Blessed be the Lord Who made heaven and earth, Who hath directed thee to the cutting off the head of the prince of our enemies. Because He hath so magnified thy name this day, that thy praise shall not depart out of the mouth of men who shall be mindful of the power of the Lord forever, for that thou hast not spared thy life, by reason of the distress and tribulation of thy people, but hast prevented our ruin in the presence of our God.

GOSPEL. John xix. 25-27.

At that time: There stood by the cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen. When Jesus therefore had seen His Mother and the disciple standing whom He loved, He saith to His Mother: Woman, behold thy son. After that, He saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour the disciple took her to his own.

Friday of Sorrows[1]

                                        

 A special commemoration, one week before Good Friday, of Mary's compassion for (literally, "suffering with") Her innocent son.

The Friday of Sorrows is a solemn pious remembrance of the sorrowful Blessed Virgin Mary on the Friday before Palm Sunday held in the fifth week of Lent (formerly called "Passion Week"). In Divine Worship: The Missal it is called Saint Mary in Passiontide and sometimes it is traditionally known as Our Lady in Passiontide.

In certain Catholic countries, especially in Mexico, Guatemala, Italy, Peru, Brazil, Spain, Malta, Nicaragua and the Philippines, it is seen as the beginning of the Holy Week celebrations and termed as Viernes de Dolores (Friday of Sorrows). It takes place exactly one week before Good Friday, and concentrates on the emotional pain that the Passion of Jesus Christ caused to his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is venerated under the title Our Lady of Sorrows. In certain Spanish-speaking countries, the day is also referred to as Council Friday, because of the choice of John 11:47-54 as the Gospel passage read in the Tridentine Mass on that day (which is now read in slightly expanded form on Saturday of the fifth week of Lent), which recounts the conciliar meeting of the Sanhedrin priests to discuss what to do with Jesus. Like all Fridays in Lent, this Friday is a day of abstinence from meat, unless the national episcopal conference has indicated alternative forms of penance. A similar commemoration in sympathy with the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Solitude is held on Black Saturday.

                                            

Prayers for the Dead[2] 

Relationships never end and neither should our prayers for the dead. In addition to PRAYERS, we should also offer up Masses for them and offer indulgences for their benefit. The dead cannot pray for themselves but they can pray for us and we in turn should pray for them. 

Fasting and Mortification[3]

 

Modern man and the media often portray persons that fast as deranged, passé or even ignorant. However, fasting and bodily discipline are truly the marks of a man or woman of mature intellect which has mastery over not only the mind but also the body and spirit. St. Paul put it in stronger terms, “put to death therefore what is earthly in you (Col. 3:5).” Jesus has also said, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Christ knew we become attached to created things and to the pleasure they bring us. St. Augustine said that sin begins as a turning away from God and a turning toward lesser goods. When we sin, we don’t choose evil. We choose something less than God and His will. Our bodies want more than they need, so we must give them less than they want. Our bodies must be subject to our reason—or our reason will soon be subjected to our bodies. St. Paul went even further. “I pommel my body and subdue it” (1 Cor. 9:27). Nevertheless, our goal should be to let our reason/soul cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

 

Chassidic philosophy[4] demonstrates three ways in which the body and soul can interact:

 

Ø  The soul can try and mitigate the urges of the body. Things that look good, taste good and feel good are stimulating and addictive. Most of us live life with our body in the driver’s seat. The soul just can’t compete. And so, the soul tries to negotiate reasonably, and encourages moderation.

Ø  Or, the soul can choose to reject the body and abhor anything associated with materialism. The soul-driven person would then rebel against society’s shallow and false veneers. Simplicity and ascetism become the ultimate goals of the soul.

Ø  The third scenario is not a compromise between the first two. It is an entirely new approach, where the body and soul learn to work together. The soul neither leans towards the body nor rejects it. It does not react; it pro-acts. In a proactive position, the soul directs and channels the body’s inclination in a constructive way. In this last approach, instead of repressing the body’s needs, the soul views them as an opportunity to serve God in a whole new way.

Ø  Using the third approach we should fast with a purpose like Moses or Elijah for example before going into God’s presence or to strengthen us or for the benefit of others. Jesus fasted not because He needed to, but as a model for us. We should make self-sacrifices in an effort to make others happy or out of love for our God to share in his plan of salvation.

Lenten Calendar[5] 

                                            

Read: Wherefore, we ask, urgently and prayerfully, that we, as people of God, make of the entire Lenten Season a period of special penitential observance. Following the instructions of the Holy See, we declare that the obligation both too fast and to abstain from meat, an obligation observed under a stricter formality by our fathers in the faith, still binds on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. No Catholic Christian will lightly excuse himself from so hallowed an obligation on the Wednesday which solemnly opens the Lenten season and, on that Friday, called Good because on that day Christ suffered in the flesh and died for our sins. . .. Gratefully remembering this, Catholic peoples from time immemorial have set apart Friday for special penitential observance by which they gladly suffer with Christ that they may one day be glorified with Him. This is the heart of the tradition of abstinence from meat on Friday where that tradition has been observed in the holy Catholic Church.

 

(1966 USCCB Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, no. 12 and no. 18)

 

Reflect: "If you have fasted two or three days, do not think yourself better than others who do not fast. You fast and are angry; another eats and wears a smiling face." 
St. Jerome, Letters, 22.37

 

Pray: Pray that abstinence from some of your favorite things this Lenten season will help bring you closer to God long after the season is over. 

 

Act: Take note of the meatless meals you have enjoyed this Lent. Add your favorites to your familys regular meal rotation once Lent is over.  


Fasting and Mortification[8]

 

Modern man and the media often portray persons that fast as deranged, passé or even ignorant. However, fasting and bodily discipline are truly the marks of a man or woman of mature intellect which has mastery over not only the mind but also the body and spirit. St. Paul put it in stronger terms, “put to death therefore what is earthly in you (Col. 3:5).” Jesus has also said, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Christ knew we become attached to created things and to the pleasure they bring us. St. Augustine said that sin begins as a turning away from God and a turning toward lesser goods. When we sin, we don’t choose evil. We choose something less than God and His will. Our bodies want more than they need, so we must give them less than they want. Our bodies must be subject to our reason—or our reason will soon be subjected to our bodies. St. Paul went even further. “I pommel my body and subdue it” (1 Cor. 9:27). Nevertheless, our goal should be to let our reason/soul cooperate with the Holy Spirit.

 

Chassidic philosophy[9] demonstrates three ways in which the body and soul can interact:

 

Ø  The soul can try and mitigate the urges of the body. Things that look good, taste good and feel good are stimulating and addictive. Most of us live life with our body in the driver’s seat. The soul just can’t compete. And so, the soul tries to negotiate reasonably, and encourages moderation.

Ø  Or, the soul can choose to reject the body and abhor anything associated with materialism. The soul-driven person would then rebel against society’s shallow and false veneers. Simplicity and ascetism become the ultimate goals of the soul.

Ø  The third scenario is not a compromise between the first two. It is an entirely new approach, where the body and soul learn to work together. The soul neither leans towards the body nor rejects it. It does not react; it pro-acts. In a proactive position, the soul directs and channels the body’s inclination in a constructive way. In this last approach, instead of repressing the body’s needs, the soul views them as an opportunity to serve God in a whole new way.

 

Using the third approach we should fast with a purpose like Moses or Elijah for example before going into God’s presence or to strengthen us or for the benefit of others. Jesus fasted not because He needed to, but as a model for us. We should make self-sacrifices in an effort to make others happy or out of love for our God to share in his plan of salvation. By dying to self, daily, we prepare ourselves for our own moment of death.

 

Fitness Friday-Sleeping Workout

 

Recognizing that God, the Father created man on Friday the 6th day I propose in this blog to have an entry that shares on how to recreate and renew yourself in strength, mind, soul and heart.

 

Having trouble sleeping? Try some light catholic reading.

 

The reading of all good books is like conversation with the finest men of the past centuries.”  This quote is by the famous philosopher Descartes.  Although I am not a fan of everything Descartes has to say, I don’t think he’s too far off here.  Reading a good book by a good author is indeed like having a conversation with them.  By reading their book you’re looking into their mind, experiencing their world, and learning their wisdom. In my opinion there are no greater people to have “conversations” with through their writing than Catholic saints.  Catholic saints have written some of the most beautiful literature which inspires, educates, encourages, and informs us how to live a holy and happy life.  Here is a list of ten classic Catholic books which any and every Catholic should read at some point in their life.

 

*If you’re not much of a reader, or if you don’t have much free time to pick up a book, many of these classic Catholic books have audio book versions.

 

·       The Imitation of Christ by St. Thomas a Kempis



·       Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska by St. Maria Faustina Kowalska

·       Dark Night of the Soul ­by St. John of the Cross

·       The Way of Perfection by St. Teresa of Avila

·       The Story of a Soul by St. Therese of Lisieux

·       An Introduction to the Devout Life by St. Francis de Sales

·       City of God by St. Augustine

·       Summa Theologica by St. Thomas Aquinas

·       The Interior Castle by St. Teresa of Avila

·       The Confessions by St. Augustine

 

As you can tell, this list of great Catholic books by wonderful Catholic saints is in no particular order.  These are just 10 of the many Catholic books written by wonderful saints who have so much timeless wisdom to share.  Who wouldn’t want to have a conversation with any of these wonderful saints?  What books would you add to this list of classic Catholic books?  What does your favorite classic Catholic books list look like?

Rene Descartes[10] born March 31, 1596

Rene Descartes (1596-1650), founder of Analytical Geometry and Modern Philosophy

In the beginning of his Meditations (1641) Descartes wrote: 

“I have always been of the opinion that the two questions respecting God and the Soul were the chief of those that ought to be determined by help of Philosophy rather than of Theology; for although to us, the faithful, it be sufficient to hold as matters of faith, that the human soul does not perish with the body, and that God exists, it yet assuredly seems impossible ever to persuade infidels of the reality of any religion, or almost even any moral virtue, unless, first of all, those two things be proved to them by natural reason. And since in this life there are frequently greater rewards held out to vice than to virtue, few would prefer the right to the useful, if they were restrained neither by the fear of God nor the expectation of another life.” (Descartes 1901).

 

“It is absolutely true that we must believe in God, because it is also taught by the Holy Scriptures. On the other hand, we must believe in the Sacred Scriptures because they come from God.” (Descartes 1950, Letter of Dedication).

 

“And thus, I very clearly see that the certitude and truth of all science depends on the knowledge alone of the true God, insomuch that, before I knew him, I could have no perfect knowledge of any other thing. And now that I know him, I possess the means of acquiring a perfect knowledge respecting innumerable matters, as well relative to God himself and other intellectual objects as to corporeal nature.” (Descartes 1901, Meditation V).

 

Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART FOUR: CHRISTIAN PRAYER

SECTION ONE-PRAYER IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

CHAPTER TWO-THE TRADITION OF PRAYER

2650 Prayer cannot be reduced to the spontaneous outpouring of interior impulse: in order to pray, one must have the will to pray. Nor is it enough to know what the Scriptures reveal about prayer: one must also learn how to pray. Through a living transmission (Sacred Tradition) within "the believing and praying Church," The Holy Spirit teaches the children of God how to pray.

2651 The tradition of Christian prayer is one of the ways in which the tradition of faith takes shape and grows, especially through the contemplation and study of believers who treasure in their hearts the events and words of the economy of salvation, and through their profound grasp of the spiritual realities they experience.

THIS WE BELIEVE

PRAYERS AND TEACHINGS OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The Seven Sacraments[11] 

The English word "sacrament" comes from Latin sacramentum, which means "mystery" or "rite" in classical Latin (although it also came to mean an "obligation" or "oath" in Medieval Latin).
It is related to the Latin adjective sacra ("holy") and verb sacrare ("to devote, consecrate, make holy"). The Latin Vulgate Bible uses sacramentum 16 times (8x OT; 8x NT) to translate Greek mystērion

On the other hand, the Greek word μυστήριον (mystērion, something "secret" or "hidden"; used 28 times in the NT) is translated by several different words in the Latin Vulgate Bible:

 

  • mysterium (19 times in the Vulgate NT: Matt 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10; Rom 11:25; 16:25; 1 Cor 2:7; 4:1; 13:2; 14:2; 15:51; Eph 3:4; 6:19; Col 1:26; 2:2; 4:3; 2 Thess 2:7; 1 Tim 3:9; Rev 10:7; 17:5)
  • sacramentum (8 times: Eph 1:9; 3:3, 9; 5:32; Col 1:27; 1 Tim 3:16; Rev 1:20; 17:7)
  • testimonium (only once: 1 Cor 2:1)
  • All three of these Latin words could be translated "mystery," but mysterium more often connotes the invisible or hidden dimensions, while sacramentum more often refers to the visible or symbolic aspects of a spiritual or divine mystery. 

In a sense, Jesus Christ himself can be called "the mystery of salvation" or "the sacrament of God," since he, through his incarnation, made visible to us the mystery of the invisible God.
Similarly, the Church as a whole is sometimes called "the sacrament of salvation," since it is "the sign and the instrument of the communion of God and men" (CCC §780; cf. §§774-776).

The word "sacrament" most commonly refers to seven particular rites or rituals performed in and by the Church.

  • Many older Catholics will still remember the very brief definition from the Baltimore Catechism (1941): "A sacrament is an outward sign instituted by Christ to give grace." (§304).
  • The current official Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994; 2nd edition 1997), gives a more extended definition:
    • "The sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the church, by which divine life is dispensed to us. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They bear fruit in those who receive them with the required dispositions." (CCC §1131; see also "Sacrament" in the CCC's Glossary).
  • These sacraments are considered "Sacraments of Christ," "Sacraments of the Church," "Sacraments of Faith," "Sacraments of Salvation," and "Sacraments of Eternal Life" (CCC §§1113-1134).
  • The seven sacraments can be subdivided into three sub-groups:
    • three "Sacraments of Christian Initiation" (Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist);
    • two "Sacraments of Healing" (Penance/Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick);
    • two "Sacraments of Vocation" (Holy Orders/Ordination and Matrimony/Marriage; also referred to as "Sacraments at the Service of Communion").

Daily Devotions

·       Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them in fasting: Today's Fast: An End to Addictions

·       Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus

·       Offering to the sacred heart of Jesus

·       Make reparations to the Holy Face

·       30 Days with St. Joseph Day 12

·       Drops of Christ’s Blood

·       Iceman’s 40 devotion

·       Universal Man Plan

·       Soup and Stations

·       Operation Purity




[2]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/view.cfm?id=5732

[4] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896

[7] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40 Catholic Customs and their biblical roots. Chap. 40. Prayers for the Dead.

[8] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40 Catholic Customs and their biblical roots. Chap. 27. Fasting and Mortification.

                                            

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