Pentecost

At different times popes of recent years have called for a new Pentecost in the Church: Pope St John XXIII in 1962, Pope Paul VI in 1975 and Pope St John Paul II in 1992. To that end we need to ensure that we have an adequate understanding of this great feast. It is not the sole preserve of people who participate in charismatic church movements nor is its significance limited to the one day of the year. The feast has implications for the whole of the Church and the whole of the liturgical year. Without the Holy Spirit the Church is simply another man made institution with all of the flaws and limitations that this brings. 

One way of looking at the feast, to deepen our understanding of it, is to treat it as we do the Resurrection, that is, to look at its effect on the disciples. Led by Peter they lost their fear and proclaimed the Gospel regardless of the risk of persecution or befalling the same fate that Jesus received. Their whole manner of life was changed. They did not disperse as the disciples who went on the road to Emmaus tried to do. Rather, they remained in community and supported one another in solidarity: 

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved." (Acts 2: 42-47) 

Does that sound like our parish? Does the wider community look upon us in the same way? If the Holy Spirit is indeed part of our lives and prayer we will all be conformed to represent Christ to the world as did the Church in its earliest days.

Thank You for Seminary Appeal Donations

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Seminary Appeal. We have received approximately $3,000 so far. Donors will be edified to know that the ordained ministry is an essential and constitutive part of the life of the Church and has been so from the beginning. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church #830 we read: "First, the Church is catholic because Christ is present in her. "Where there is Christ Jesus, there is the Catholic Church." In her subsists the fullness of Christ's body united with its head; this implies that she receives from him "the fullness of the means of salvation" which he has willed: correct and complete confession of faith, full sacramental life, and ordained ministry in apostolic succession. the Church was, in this fundamental sense, catholic on the day of Pentecost and will always be so until the day of the Parousia." The ordained priesthood is essential to the life of the Church: "The ministerial priesthood is therefore necessary for a community to exist as "Church": "The ordained priesthood ought not to be thought of as existing (...) posterior to the ecclesial community, as if the Church could be imagined as already established without this priesthood". Indeed, were a community to lack a priest, it would be deprived of the exercise and sacramental action of Christ, the Head and Pastor, which are essential for the very life of every ecclesial community." (Ecclesiae de mysterio, 3) Please continue to pray for priestly vocations and encourage those who are considering a call to the priesthood to do so with courage and generosity.

Ascension Sunday

Previously, I have been puzzled that St Luke has two accounts of the Ascension especially since his Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles are the two parts of a continuous work. Reading an insight from Fr Justin Taylor sm has been of help: "The narrative of Christ's ascension into heaven in Acts parallels that in Luke 24:50-51, but whereas the earlier account demonstrates that the risen Jesus is high priest and king (cf. Ps 110:1-4; Heb 8: 1; 10:11-13), the later account has different emphases, seeking to show Jesus as the new Elijah and also as the Son of Man." ("Acts of the Apostles" in The New International Commentary, 1510) The first account, as I see it, shows that Jesus in the Resurrection is victorious and glorified. His Ascension signals the end of his earthly ministry. The second account shows how Jesus passes the mantle of his ministry to the Church. Like Elisha, the disciple of Elijah (1 Kings 2: 9-15), the Church receives a double portion of the ascended Master's spirit, this time, at Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-13). This event looks forward as the Church takes up the mission of Christ and its completion at the end of time when the Son Man comes again in glory. This means we are not disheartened by Jesus ascending to heaven and his seeming absence rather we are encouraged to continue his work and join him in his glory. 

6th Sunday of Easter

Today's Gospel says of the Holy Spirit: "This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. you know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you." (Jn 14: 17) We sometimes need to be reminded how precious the gift of baptism is. The Holy Spirit acts on the people of the world but it is we, who have been baptised, have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us. The prayer of exorcism prayed during an infant baptism says: "We pray for this child: set him (her) free from original sin, make him (her) a temple of your glory, and send your Holy Spirit to dwell with him (her)." In a world of relativism to some think sacraments are an optional extra or, even worse, irrelevant. To us, who believe, the Holy Spirit is essential and we cannot live without the sacraments. How can this divergance come about? St Paul wrote: "Those who are unspiritual do not receive the gifts of God's Spirit, for they are foolishness to them, and they are unable to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. Those who are spiritual discern all things , and they are themselves subject to no one else's scrutiny. 'For who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Cor. 2: 14-16)

Directions for Receiving Holy Communion from Other Christians

Parishioners have asked whether they can validily and licitly receive Holy Communion when they attend funerals or other celebrations of the Eucharist at churches run by the Society of Saint Pius X. The short answer is "yes." 

The longer answer is found in consideration of the 1983 Code of Canon Law. For parishioners, who usually attend Mass at one of the churches of the Catholic Parish of Whanganui, the following applies:

Can.844 §2. Whenever necessity requires it or true spiritual advantage suggests it, and provided that danger of error or of indifferentism is avoided, the Christian faithful for whom it is physically or morally impossible to approach a Catholic minister are permitted to receive the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick from non- Catholic ministers in whose Churches these sacraments are valid.

For parishioners of a SSPX parish or any of the Eastern Churches such as the Greek or Russian Orthodox the following applies:

Can 844 §3. Catholic ministers administer the sacraments of penance, Eucharist, and anointing of the sick licitly to members of Eastern Churches which do not have full communion with the Catholic Church if they seek such on their own accord and are properly disposed.  This is also valid for members of other Churches which in the judgment of the Apostolic See are in the same condition in regard to the sacraments as these Eastern Churches.

In addition, Catholics do not receive at Protestant Communion services:

Can.844 §1. Catholic ministers administer the sacraments licitly to Catholic members of the Christian faithful alone, who likewise receive them licitly from Catholic ministers alone, without prejudice to the prescripts of §§2, 3, and 4 of this canon, and can. 861, §2.

however, for members of those congregations, the following applies:

Can 844 §4. If the danger of death is present or if, in the judgment of the diocesan bishop or conference of bishops, some other grave necessity urges it, Catholic ministers administer these same sacraments licitly also to other Christians not having full communion with the Catholic Church, who cannot approach a minister of their own community and who seek such on their own accord, provided that they manifest Catholic faith in respect to these sacraments and are properly disposed.

The assessment as to when the conditions are met belongs to the pastor of the parish. In general, practising Catholics are unlikely to abuse the situation and are well aware of their obligation to attend Mass in a church which is good standing with the Supreme Pontiff and the College of Bishops.

5th Sunday of Easter

Philip says to Jesus: "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." (Jn 14: 8) Earlier, in the Gospel of John, Philip says of Jesus: "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote" (Jn 1: 45) but now he struggles to understand how Jesus reveals the Father. The question I have is - what would count to convince Philip and indeed me, also? What would be enough? When I look at atheists and agnostics who challenge the Church regarding matters of faith I see that nothing will ever suffice. They have a pre-determined ideology that precludes regarding anything as being credible because for them faith in God is by definition irrational. Any miracle or other proof must have any explanation, regardless of how unlikely it may be, which will exclude recognising the living God for who he is thereby compelling my assent of faith. 

So what is Jesus response? He points Philip first of all to his words. We need to trust what Jesus says and to believe what the Scriptures say about him. Second, Jesus points to the works of relationship that he has with the Father and how the works of the Father are manifested in him. This is a relationship of perfect love and trust which shows forth the life of the Holy Trinity. Third, there are the works themselves: "Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves." (Jn 14: 11) The miracles Jesus performed, including the resurrection, speak of a power that is proper to God and no one else. Fourth, Jesus invites Philip to look at the works of those who believe in him. These speak of Christ's ongoing presence in the world through the Church. It is fitting, therefore, to look for proof of what Christ claimed in the lives of the saints.

4th Sunday of Easter

Today has become an opportunity for the Church to focus on priestly vocations with "Good Shepherd Sunday." I think it is important that we not only pray for more priests but also ensure we have an adequate understanding of who they are. This is because so often in New Zealand we absorb any number of wrong ideas about priesthood from the media or Protestant churches whose understanding of ministry is radically different. The starting point has to be that we are all "priestly" through our baptism. All of us have been incorporated in Christ - priest, prophet and king. However, this priesthood is exercised in different modes. The ordained priest acts in persona Christi capitis - in the person of the Christ the Head. This is an ontological, ie. to do with being, change brought about through the laying on of hands whereby a man is conformed to act as Christ the Good Shepherd so as to use his baptismal gifts in a different way. He is no longer oriented in his Christian life towards the world but towards the well being primarily of the Church through the provision of the sacraments. This is not a functional distinction, it relates to the whole person. Vatican II puts it this way: "Though they differ from one another in essence and not only in degree, the common priesthood of the faithful and the ministerial or hierarchical priesthood are nonetheless interrelated: each of them in its own special way is a participation in the one priesthood of Christ. The ministerial priest, by the sacred power he enjoys, teaches and rules the priestly people; acting in the person of Christ, he makes present the Eucharistic sacrifice, and offers it to God in the name of all the people. But the faithful, in virtue of their royal priesthood, join in the offering of the Eucharist. They likewise exercise that priesthood in receiving the sacraments, in prayer and thanksgiving, in the witness of a holy life, and by self-denial and active charity." (Lumen Gentium, 10) The priest therefore is not a "boss," "manager" or "administrator" rather he is a special presence of Christ, in the midst of the people, called to serve as Christ the Good Shepherd served.