necessity, baptize a person wishing to receive Baptism, if they know how
to baptize and seriously wish to do what the Church of Christ does when
it baptizes. You cannot baptize a person against his will. Neither can
you baptize an infant whose parents are unwilling to have the child
baptized, or when the child will not be brought up in the Catholic
religion. But if the child is dying, it can and should be baptized, even
without the consent of the parents.
"Use of reason." Because the person must intend to do what Our Lord
ordered to be done in giving Baptism; and a little child could not
understand, and could not therefore baptize.
156 Q. How is Baptism given?
A. Whoever baptizes should pour water on the head of the person to be
baptized, and say, while pouring the water: I baptize thee in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
When the priest baptizes in the church, he uses consecrated water--that
is, water blessed for that purpose on Holy Saturday, and mixed with holy
oil. When he or any other, in case of necessity, baptizes in a private
house, he may use plain, clean water, and he baptizes without the other
ceremonies used in the church. Remember, in Baptism you can use ordinary
clean water, warm or cold. When the priest or anyone baptizes by simply
pouring the water and pronouncing the words of Baptism, we call it
private Baptism. The Baptism given in church with all the ceremonies is
called solemn Baptism. Any person baptized privately should be brought
to the church afterwards to have the rest of the ceremonies performed.
It will increase your respect for the Sacrament to know what ceremonies
are used in solemn Baptism, and what they signify. The following things
must be prepared: the holy oils, a little salt, a little pitcher or
something similar to pour the water from, a vessel to receive the water
when poured, some cotton, two stoles, one white and one purple, towels,
a white cloth, candle, and candlestick.
All being ready, the person holding the infant takes it on the right
arm, face up, and the priest, having learned the name it is to be given,
begins by asking the one to be baptized, "What do you ask of the Church
of God?" And the godparents answer for the child, "Faith." If the person
receiving Baptism is capable of answering for himself, he must do so.
Then the priest exhorts the child to keep the Commandments and love God;
then he breathes three times upon it and bids the evil spirit depart. He
next prays for the child and puts a little salt into its mouth, as a
sign of the wisdom that Faith gives, and again prays for the child. Then
he places the end of his stole over it as a sign that it is led into the
Church; for Baptism is given in a place called the baptistery, railed
off from the church and near the door, because formerly the ceremony up
to this point was performed outside the church, and at this part of the
ceremony the person was led in to be baptized. Then before Baptism the
person says the Creed and the Our Father; for when a grown person is to
be baptized he must first be instructed in all the truths of religion,
and he must say the Creed to show that he believes them. Again the
priest prays and places a little spittle on the ears and nose of the
child, using at the same time the words used by Our Lord when He spit
upon the ground, and rubbing the spittle and clay upon the eyes of the
blind man, healed him. (John 9:6). The priest next asks the child if it
renounces the devil and all his works and pomps--that is, vanities and
empty shows; and having received the answer anoints it with holy oil on
the breast and back. Then he again asks for a profession of faith, and
finally baptizes it. After Baptism he anoints its head with holy chrism,
places a white cloth upon it to signify the purity it received in
Baptism, and as a sign that it must keep its soul free from sin. Then he
places in its hand a lighted candle, to signify the light of faith it
has received in Baptism. We are baptized at the door of the church to
show that without Baptism we are out of the Church. We are often signed
with the Sign of the Cross to remind us that our salvation is due to the
Cross and Passion of Our Lord. The priest's stole is placed over us to
show that the Church takes us under its protection and shields us from
the power of the devil. We are anointed as a sign that we are freed from
our sins and strengthened to fight for Christ. The white cloth or
garment is placed upon us to remind us of the glory of the Resurrection;
the light is placed in our hand to show that we should burn with
Christian charity.
*157 Q. How many kinds of Baptism are there?
A. There are three kinds of Baptism: Baptism of water, of desire, and of
blood.
*158 Q. What is Baptism of water?
A. Baptism of water is that which is given by pouring water on the head
of the person to be baptized, and saying at the same time, I baptize
thee in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
*159 Q. What is Baptism of desire?
A. Baptism of desire is an ardent wish to receive Baptism, and to do all
that God has ordained for our salvation.
"Ardent wish" by one who has no opportunity of being baptized--for no
one can baptize himself. He must be sorry for his sins and have the
desire of receiving the Baptism of water as soon as he can; just as a
person in mortal sin and without a priest to absolve him may, when in
danger of death, save his soul from Hell by an act of perfect contrition
and the firm resolution of going to confession as soon as possible.
Baptism of desire would be useful and necessary if there was no water at
hand or no person to baptize; or if the one wishing to be baptized and
those about him did not know exactly how Baptism was to be given--which
might easily happen in pagan lands. One thing you must especially
remember in giving Baptism in case of necessity: namely, that it would
not do for one person to pour the water and another to say the words.
The same person must do both, or the Baptism will not be valid. If you
are called to baptize in case of necessity, be very careful to observe
the following points, otherwise the Baptism will not be valid: use clean
water and nothing but water--no other liquid would do. Say every one of
the exact words: "I baptize thee in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost." It would not do to say, "I baptize thee in
the name of God"; or, "I baptize thee in the name of the Blessed
Trinity"; nor would it do to say simply, "In the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," without saying, "I baptize thee."
Say the words at the same time you pour the water, and be sure the water
touches the skin. It would not do to pour the water simply on the hair.
You must not sprinkle the water, but pour it upon the head.
When you have followed the above instructions carefully and are sure you
have baptized properly, never under any circumstance repeat the Baptism
on the same person. It is a sin to try to baptize more than once when
you know Baptism can be given only once. The sight of the person dying
and the fact that you are called for the first time may cause you to be
somewhat excited; but be calm, remember the importance of the Sacrament,
and you will administer it as directed. Parents should not baptize their
own children in case of necessity, if there is any other person present
who can validly do it. Remember those who administer Baptism contract a
spiritual relationship with the person they baptize (not with his
parents). If they wished, years afterwards, to marry the person they
baptized, they must make this relationship known to the priest.
Sponsors are not necessary in private Baptism. A person may be sponsor
for a child in Baptism without being present at the Baptism, provided
someone else holds the child in his name and answers the questions he
himself would answer if he were present. Such a sponsor is said to stand
for the child by proxy, and he, and not the one who holds the child, is
then the real godparent when, at the request of the parents or priest he
has consented to be sponsor.
*160 Q. What is Baptism of blood?
A. Baptism of blood is the shedding of one's blood for the faith of
Christ.
Baptism of blood, called martyrdom, is received by those who were not
baptized with water, but were put to death for their Catholic faith.
This takes place even nowadays in pagan countries where the missionaries
are trying to convert the poor natives. These pagans have to be
instructed before they are baptized. They do everything required of
them, let us suppose, and are waiting for the day of Baptism. Those who
are being thus instructed are called Catechumens. Someday, while they
are attending their instructions, the enemies of religion rush down upon
them and put them to death. They do not resist, but willingly suffer
death for the sake of the true religion. They are martyrs then and are
baptized in their own blood; although, as we said above, blood would not
do for an ordinary Baptism even when we could not get water; so that if
a person drew blood from his own body and asked to be baptized with it,
the Baptism would not be valid. Neither would they be martyrs if put to
death not for religion or virtue but for some other reason--say
political.
*161 Q. Is Baptism of desire or blood sufficient to produce the effects
of Baptism of water?
A. Baptism of desire or of blood is sufficient to produce the effects of
the Baptism of water, if it is impossible to receive the Baptism of
water.
*162 Q. What do we promise in Baptism?
A. In Baptism we promise to renounce the devil with all his works and
pomps.
*163 Q. Why is the name of a saint given in Baptism?
A. The name of a saint is given in Baptism in order that the person
baptized may imitate his virtues and have him for a protector.
The saint whose name we bear is called our patron saint. This saint has
a special love for us and a special care over us. People take the names
of great men because they admire their good qualities or their great
deeds. So we take saints' names because we admire their Christian
virtues and great Christian deeds. We should, therefore, read the life
of our patron saint and try to imitate his virtues, and the day on which
the Church celebrates the feast of our patron saint should be a great
day for us also. The Church generally celebrates the saint's feast on
the day on which he died, that is, as we believe, the day on which he
entered into Heaven.
*164 Q. Why are godfathers and godmothers given in Baptism?
A. Godfathers and godmothers are given in Baptism in order that they may
promise in the name of the child what the child itself would promise if
it had the use of reason.
*165 Q. What is the obligation of a godfather and a godmother?
A. The obligation of a godfather and a godmother is to instruct the
child in its religious duties if the parents neglect to do so or die.
This is a very important obligation, and we should be faithful in the
fulfillment of it before God. Godfathers and godmothers are also called
sponsors. The following persons cannot be sponsors: (1) All persons not
Catholics, because they cannot teach the child the Catholic religion if
they do not know it themselves. (2) All persons who are publicly leading
bad lives; for how can they give good examples and teach their godchild
to be good when they themselves are public sinners? (3) All persons who
are ignorant of their religion should not take upon themselves the
duties of godparents. Therefore parents should select as sponsors for
their children only good, practical Catholics--not Catholics merely in
name, but those who live up to their faith, and who will be an example
for their children. To repeat what has already been said, godparents
contract a spiritual relationship with their godchild, and in the event
of marriage, they must make known this relationship to the priest. The
godfather and the godmother do not contract a relationship between
themselves, or with the child's parents, but only with the child so that
neither the godfather nor the godmother could later marry their godchild
without first obtaining proper dispensation; that is, permission from
the Church granted by the bishop or Pope. With regard to names, parents
should never be induced by any motive to give their child some foolish
or fancy name taken from books, places, or things. Above all, they
should never select the name of any enemy of the Church or unbeliever,
but the name of one of God's saints who will be a model for the child.
Whatever name is taken, if it be not a saint's name, the name of some
saint should be given as a middle name. If this has been omitted in
Baptism, it should be supplied in Confirmation, at which time a new name
can be added. Again, if a saint's name has been taken in Baptism it
should not be shortened or changed so as to mean nothing; as, for
example, Mazie, Miz, etc., for Mary. When your correct name is mentioned
your saint is honored, and I might say invoked, because it should remind
you of him. For that reason you should not have meaningless or foolish
pet names, known only to your family or your friends.
Lesson 15
ON CONFIRMATION
166 Q. What is Confirmation?
A. Confirmation is a Sacrament through which we receive the Holy Ghost
to make us strong and perfect Christians and soldiers of Jesus Christ.
In Baptism we are made Christians, but we are not very strong in our
faith till the Holy Ghost comes in Confirmation. You remember how timid
the Apostles were before the coming of the Holy Ghost, and how firm and
determined in their faith they were afterwards; and how fearlessly they
preached even to those who crucified Our Lord. "Soldiers," because we
must fight for our salvation against our three enemies, the devil, the
world, and the flesh. Our Lord is our great leader in this warfare, and
we must follow Him and fight as He directs. A soldier that fights as he
pleases and not as his general commands, will surely be beaten.
167 Q. Who can administer Confirmation?
A. The bishop is the ordinary minister of Confirmation.
"Ordinary," because in some very distant countries where on account of
the small number of Christians they have as yet no bishops, the Pope
allows some priest to give Confirmation; but then he must use the holy
oil consecrated by a bishop, and cannot consecrate oil himself.
168 Q. How does the bishop give Confirmation?
A. The bishop extends his hands over those who are to be confirmed,
prays that they may receive the Holy Ghost, and anoints the forehead of
each with holy chrism in the form of a cross.
*169 Q. What is holy chrism?
A. Holy chrism is a mixture of olive oil and balm, consecrated by the
bishop.
The oil signifies the strength we receive, and the balm that we should
be free from the corruption of sin, and give forth the sweetness of
virtue.
170 Q. What does the bishop say in anointing the person he confirms?
A. In anointing the person he confirms the bishop says: I sign thee with
the Sign of the Cross, and I confirm thee with the chrism of salvation,
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
*171 Q. What is meant by anointing the forehead with chrism in the form
of a cross?
A. By anointing the forehead with chrism in the form of a cross is
meant, that the Christian who is confirmed must openly profess and
practice his faith, never be ashamed of it, and rather die than deny it.
"Openly profess"--that is, acknowledge that he is a Catholic when it is
necessary to do so. He need not proclaim it in the streets. "Practice"
it without regard for what other people think, say, or do. "Ashamed" of
a religion so glorious as the Catholic religion? Would we not be proud
to belong to a society of which kings and princes were members? Well, a
few centuries ago nearly all the kings, princes, and great men of the
earth were Catholics. All the saints were Catholics. All the Popes were
Catholics. At present over three hundred million people in the world are
Catholics. This Church was founded when Christ Our Lord was on earth,
and is nearly two thousand years old. All the other churches are only a
few hundred years old. We ought, therefore, to be proud of our religion,
for which and in which so many noble persons died. We should feel proud
that we are Catholics; while Protestants should feel ashamed in our
presence, for they have deserted the true standard of Christ, and
followed some other leader who set up a religion of his own in
opposition to the true Church of Our Lord. They will not have the cross
or crucifix, the standard of Christ, in their churches or houses or
about their persons, and yet they claim to be Christians redeemed by the
Cross. We are called upon to defend or profess our religion when we have
to do what the Church and God require us to do: for example, hear Mass
on Sundays and holy days; abstain from the use of fleshmeat on Ash
Wednesday and the Fridays of Lent, fast on fast-days, and the like, when
we are among persons not Catholics.
*172 Q. Why does the bishop give the person he confirms a slight blow on
the cheek?
A. The bishop gives the person he confirms a slight blow on the cheek to
put him in mind that he must be ready to suffer anything, even death,
for the sake of Christ.
173 Q. To receive Confirmation worthily is it necessary to be in the
state of grace?
A. To receive Confirmation worthily it is necessary to be in the state
of grace.
*174 Q. What special preparation should be made to receive Confirmation?
A. Persons of an age to learn should know the chief mysteries of faith
and the duties of a Christian, and be instructed in the nature and
effects of this Sacrament.
How can one be a good soldier who does not know the rules and
regulations of the army nor understand the commands of his general? How
can one be a good Christian who does not understand the laws of the
Church and the teachings of Christ? The "nature"--that is, understand
the Sacrament itself. "Effects"--that is, what it does in our souls.
175 Q. Is it a sin to neglect Confirmation?
A. It is a sin to neglect Confirmation, especially in these evil days
when faith and morals are exposed to so many and such violent
temptations.
"Temptations"--from the sayings and writings of the enemies of religion.
To neglect it when we have an opportunity of receiving it without any
very great difficulty would be a sin. When persons have been unfortunate
enough to grow up without Confirmation, they should come at any time in
their lives to receive it, and not be ashamed to do so on account of
their age or condition in life.
Lesson 16
ON THE GIFTS AND FRUITS OF THE HOLY GHOST
*176 Q. What are the effects of Confirmation?
A. The effects of Confirmation are an increase of sanctifying grace, the
strengthening of our faith, and the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
"Increase," because we must be in a state of grace, that is, having
already sanctifying grace in our souls when we receive Confirmation.
"Strengthening," so that we have no doubt about the doctrines we
believe.
*177 Q. What are the gifts of the Holy Ghost?
A. The gifts of the Holy Ghost are wisdom, understanding, counsel,
fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.
*178 Q. Why do we receive the gift of fear of the Lord?
A. We receive the gift of fear of the Lord to fill us with a dread of
sin.
On account of the goodness of God and the punishment He can inflict.
*179 Q. Why do we receive the gift of piety?
A. We receive the gift of piety to make us love God as a Father, and
obey Him because we love Him.
*180 Q. Why do we receive the gift of knowledge?
A. We receive the gift of knowledge to enable us to discover the will of
God in all things.
*181 Q. Why do we receive the gift of fortitude?
A. We receive the gift of fortitude to strengthen us to do the will of
God in all things.
Some know the will of God--what they should do--but they have not the
courage to follow the dictates of their conscience. For example, a
person goes with bad company: the gift of knowledge will teach him that
he should give it up; but the gift of fortitude will enable him to do
what his conscience shows him to be right.
*182 Q. Why do we receive the gift of counsel?
A. We receive the gift of counsel to warn us of the deceits of the
devil, and of the dangers to salvation.
The devil is much wiser than we are, and has much more experience, being
among the people of the world ever since the time of Adam--about 6,000
years. He could therefore easily deceive and overcome us if God Himself
by the gift of counsel did not enable us to discover his tricks and
expose his plots. When at times we are tempted, our conscience warns us,
and if we follow the warning we shall escape the sin. Counsel tells us
when persons or places are dangerous for our salvation.
*183 Q. Why do we receive the gift of understanding?
A. We receive the gift of understanding to enable us to know more
clearly the mysteries of faith.
"Mysteries," truths we could never know by reason, but only by the
teaching of God; and the gift of understanding enables us to know better
what His teaching means. The Apostles heard and knew what Our Lord
taught, but they did not fully understand the whole meaning till the
Holy Ghost had come.
*184 Q. Why do we receive the gift of wisdom?
A. We receive the gift of wisdom to give us a relish for the things of
God and to direct our whole life and all our actions to His honor and
glory.
"Relish," a liking for, a desire for.
*185 Q. Which are the beatitudes?
A. The beatitudes are:
(1) Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
(2) Blessed are the meek, for they shall possess the land.
(3) Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
(4) Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice, for they
shall be filled.
(5) Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
(6) Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.
(7) Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children
of God.
(8) Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for
theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
The beatitudes are part of a sermon Our Lord once preached to the people
on the Mount. (Matt. 5). When Our Lord wished to preach, the Jews would
not always allow Him to enter their synagogues or meeting houses; so He
preached to the people in the open air. Sometimes He stood in a boat by
the seashore; sometimes on a little hill, with the people standing or
sitting near Him. Did you ever think how you would have acted if you
lived at that time and were present when Our Lord preached? How anxious
you would have been to get near to Him? How you would have pushed your
way through the crowd and listened to every word? Why, then, do you
sometimes pay so little attention in church or at instructions when the
words of Our Lord are repeated to you? Our Lord instituted a Church
which, as we know, is sometimes called the kingdom of Heaven. In this
sermon He laid down the condition for being good subjects of His
kingdom; that is, He gives the virtues we should practice to be good
children of the Church. He tells us what rewards we shall have for
practicing these virtues and leading a holy life: namely, God's grace
and blessing in this world and everlasting glory in Heaven.
(1) "Poor in spirit." One is poor in spirit if he does not set his heart
upon riches and the goods of this world in such a way that he would be
willing to offend God in order to possess them, or rather than part with
them. Thus one who has no money but who would do anything to get it,
would be poor, but not poor in spirit, and therefore not among those Our
Lord calls blessed. If we are really poor and wish to be poor in spirit
also, we must be contented with our lot--with what God gives us--and
never complain against Him. No matter how poor, miserable, or afflicted
we may be, we could still be worse, since we can find others in a worse
condition than we are. We do not endure every species of misery, but
only this or that particular kind; and if the rest were added, how much
worse our condition would be! The very greatest misery is to be in a
state of sin. If we are poor and in sin, our condition is indeed
pitiable, for we have no consolation; but if we are virtuous in poverty,
bearing our trials in patience and resignation for the love of God, we
have the rich treasures of His grace and every assurance of future
happiness. On the other hand, if one is very rich and gives freely and
plentifully to the poor and works of charity, and is willing to part
with riches rather than offend God, such a one is poor in spirit and can
be called blessed. It is a great mistake to risk our souls for things we
must leave to others at our death. Sometimes those who leave the
greatest inheritance are soonest forgotten and despised, because the
money or property bequeathed gives rise to numerous lawsuits, quarrels
and jealousies among the relatives, and thus becomes a very curse to
that family, whose members hate one another on its account. Or it may
happen that the heirs thoughtlessly enjoy and foolishly squander the
wealth the man, now dead, has labored so hard to accumulate, while he,
perhaps, is suffering in Hell for sins committed in securing it. Again,
how many children have been ruined through the wealth left them by their
parents! Instead of using it for good purposes they have made it a means
of sin; often lose their faith and souls on account of it; and in their
ingratitude never offer a prayer or give an alms for the soul of the
parent, who in his anxiety to leave all to them left nothing in charity
to the Church or the poor. Surely it is the greatest folly to set our
hearts upon that which can be of no value to us after death. When a
person dies men ask: What wealth has he left behind? But God and the
angels ask, What merits has he sent before him?
(2) "Possess the land"--that is, the promised or holy land, which was a
figure of the Church. Therefore it means the meek shall be true members
of Our Lord's Church here on earth and hereafter in Heaven, and be
beloved by all.
(3) "That mourn." Suffering is good for us if we bear it patiently. It
makes us more like Our Blessed Lord, who was called the Man of Sorrows.
(4) "Justice"--that is, all kinds of virtue. "Filled"--that is, with
goodness and grace. In other words,
if we ask and really wish to become virtuous, we shall become so. St.
Joseph is called in Holy Scripture "a just man," to show that he
practiced every virtue.
(5) If we are "merciful" to others, God will be merciful to us.
(6) "Clean of heart"--that is, pure in thoughts, words, deeds, and
looks.
(7) "Peacemakers." If persons who try to make peace and settle disputes
are called the children of God, those who, on the contrary, try to stir
up dissensions should be called the children of the devil. Never tell
the evil you may hear of another, especially to the one of whom it was
spoken; and never carry stories from one to another: it is contemptible,
and sinful as well. If you have nothing good to say of the character of
another, be silent, unless your duty compels you to speak. Never be a
child of the devil by exciting jealousy, hatred, or revenge in anyone;
but on the contrary, make peace wherever you can, and be one of the
children of God.
(8) "Suffer persecution." Therefore, when you are badly treated on
account of your piety or religion, remember you are like the martyrs of
your holy faith, suffering for virtue and truth, and that you will
receive your reward.
*186 Q. Which are the twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost?
A. The twelve fruits of the Holy Ghost are charity, joy, peace,
patience, benignity, goodness, long-suffering, mildness, faith, modesty,
continency, and chastity.
"Fruits," the things that grow from the gifts of the Holy Ghost.
"Charity," love of God and our neighbor, "Peace" with God and man and
ourselves. With God, because we are His friends. With man, because we
deal justly with all and are kind to all. With ourselves, because we
have a good conscience, that does not accuse us of sin. "Benignity,"
disposition to do good and show kindness. "Long-suffering"--same as
patience. "Modesty, continency, and chastity" refer to purity in
thoughts, words, looks, and actions.
Lesson 17
ON THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE
When Our Blessed Lord redeemed us, He applied the benefits of the
Redemption in the Sacrament of Baptism. By this Baptism He freed us from
sin and the slavery of the devil; He restored us to God's grace; He
reopened for us Heaven; made us once more children of God: in a word, He
placed us in the condition in which we were before our fall through the
sin of our first parents. This was certainly a great kindness bestowed
upon us, and one would think we would never forget it, and never more
lose God's friendship by any fault of ours; especially when we had seen
the great miseries brought upon the world by sin, and had learned
something of Hell where we would have been, and of Heaven which we would
have lost, if Our Lord had not redeemed us. Our Blessed Lord saw,
however, that we would forget His benefits, and again, even after
Baptism, go freely into the slavery of the devil. How, then, could we be
saved? We could not be baptized again, because Baptism can be given only
once. Our good Lord in His kindness instituted another Sacrament, by
which we could once more be freed from sin if we had the misfortune to
fall into it after Baptism--it is the Sacrament of Penance. It is called
the plank in a shipwreck. When sailors are shipwrecked and thrown
helplessly into the ocean, their only hope is some floating plank that
may bear them to the shore. So when we fall after Baptism we are thrown
into the great ocean of sin, where we must perish if we do not rest upon
the Sacrament of Penance, which will bring us once more in safety to the
friendship of God. How very thankful the poor shipwrecked sailors would
be to anyone who would offer them a plank while they are in danger! Do
you think they would refuse to use it? In like manner how thankful we
should be for the Sacrament of Penance, and how anxious we should be to
use it when we arc in danger of losing our souls!
The Sacrament of Penance shows the very great kindness of Our Lord. He
might have said: I saved them once, and I will not trouble Myself more
about them; if they want to sin again, let them perish. But no, He
forgives us and saves us as often as we sincerely call on Him for help,
being truly sorry for our sins. He left this power also to His Apostles,
saying to them: As often as any poor sinner shall come to you and show
that he is truly sorry for his sins, and has the determination not to
commit them again, and confesses them to you, I give you the power to
pardon his sins in the Sacrament of Penance. The forgiveness of your
sins is the chief though not the only blessing you receive in the
reception of this Sacrament, through which you derive so many and great
advantages from the exhortation, instruction, or advice of your
confessor.
Is it not a great benefit to have a friend to whom you can go with the
trials of your mind and soul, your troubles, temptations, sins, and
secrets? You have that friend--the priest in the confessional. He is
willing to help you, for he consecrated his life to God to help men to
save their souls. He is able to help you, for he understands your
difficulties, sins, and temptations, and the means of overcoming them.
He has made these things the study of his life, and derives still
greater knowledge of them from hearing the sad complaints of so many
relating their secret sorrows or afflictions, and begging his advice.
Then you are sure that whatever you tell him in the confessional will
never be made known to others, even if the priest has to die to conceal
it. You might tell your secrets to a friend, and if you afterwards
offended him he would probably reveal all you told him. The priest asks
no reward for the service he gives you in the confessional, but loves to
help you, because he has pledged himself to God to do so, and would sin
if he did not. Some enemies of our holy religion have tried to make
people believe that Catholics have to pay the priest in confession for
forgiving their sins; but every Catholic, even the youngest child who
has been to confession, knows this to be untrue, and a base calumny
against our holy religion; even those who assert it do not believe it
themselves. The good done in the confessional will never be known in
this world. How many persons have been saved from sin, suicide, death,
and other evils by the advice and encouragement received in confession!
How many persons who have fallen into the lowest depths of sin have by
the Sacrament of Penance been raised up and made to lead good,
respectable lives--a blessing to themselves, their families, and
society!
187 Q. What is the Sacrament of Penance?
A. Penance is a Sacrament in which the sins committed after Baptism are
forgiven.
One who has never been baptized could not go to confession and receive
absolution, nor indeed any of the Sacraments.
*188 Q. How does the Sacrament of Penance remit sin, and restore the
soul to the friendship of God?
A. The Sacrament of Penance remits sin and restores the friendship of
God to the soul by means of the absolution of the priest.
"Absolution" means the words the priest says at the time he forgives the
sins. Absolve means to loose or free. When ministers or ambassadors are
sent by our government to represent the United States in England,
France, Germany, or other countries, whatever they do there officially
is done by the United States. If they make an agreement with the
governments to which they are sent, the United States sanctions it, and
the very moment they sign the agreement it is signed and sanctioned by
the authority of our government whose representatives they are, and
their official action becomes the action of the United States itself.
But when their term of office expires, though they remain in the foreign
countries, they have no longer any power to sign agreements in the name
and with the authority of the United States.
You see, therefore, that it is the power that is given them, and not
their own, that they exercise. In like manner Our Lord commissioned His
priests and gave them the power to forgive sins, and whatever they do in
the Sacrament of Penance He Himself does. At the very moment the priest
pronounces the words of absolution on earth his sentence is ratified in
Heaven and the sins of the penitent are blotted out.
It may increase your veneration for the Sacrament to know the precise
manner in which absolution is given. After the confession and giving of
the penance, the priest first prays for the sinner, saying: "May
Almighty God have mercy on you, and, your sins being forgiven, bring you
to life everlasting. Amen." Then, raising his right hand over the
penitent, he says: "May the Almighty and merciful Lord grant you pardon,
absolution, and remission of your sins. Amen." Then he continues: "May
Our Lord Jesus Christ absolve you, and I, by His authority, absolve you
from every bond of excommunication and interdict, as far as I have power
and you stand in need. Then I absolve you from your sins, in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen." At these last
words he makes the Sign of the Cross over the penitent. In conclusion he
directs to God a prayer in behalf of the penitent in the following
words: "May the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the merits of the
Blessed Virgin Mary and of all the saints, and whatsoever good you may
have done or evil you may have suffered, be to you unto the remission of
your sins, the increase of grace, and the recompense of everlasting
life. Amen." Then the priest says, "God bless you," "Go in peace," or
some other expression showing his delight at your reconciliation with
God.
*189 Q. How do you know that the priest has the power of absolving from
the sins committed after Baptism?
A. I know that the priest has the power of absolving from sins committed
after Baptism, because Jesus Christ granted that power to the priests of
His Church when He said: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you
shall forgive, they are forgiven them; whose sins you shall retain, they
are retained."
Every Christian knows Our Lord Himself had power to forgive sins:--(1)
because He was God, and (2) because He often did forgive them while on
earth, and proved that He did by performing some miracle; as, for
example (Mark 2; John 5), when He cured the poor men who had been sick
and suffering for many years, He said to them, "Thy sins are forgiven
thee; arise, take up thy bed, and walk," and the men did so. Since Our
Lord had the power Himself, He could give it to His Apostles if He
wished, and He did give it to them and their successors. For if He did
not, how could we and all others who, after Baptism, have fallen into
sin be cleansed from it? This Sacrament of Penance was for all time, and
so He left the power with His Church, which is to last as long as there
is a living human being upon the earth. Our Lord promised to His
Apostles before His death this power to forgive sins (Matt. 18:18), and
He gave it to them after His resurrection (John 20:23), when He appeared
to them and breathed on them, and said: "Whose sins you shall forgive,
they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are
retained."
*190 Q. How do the priests of the Church exercise the power of forgiving
sins?
A. The priests of the Church exercise the power of forgiving sins by
hearing the confession of sins, and granting pardon for them as
ministers of God and in His name.
The power to forgive sins implies the obligation of going to confession;
because, as most sins are secret, how could the Apostles know what sins
to forgive and what sins to retain--that is, not to forgive--unless they
were told by the sinner what sins he had committed? They could not see
into his heart as God can, and know his sins; and so if the sinner
wished his sins forgiven, he had to confess them to the Apostles or
their successors. Therefore, since we have the Sacrament of Penance, we
must also have confession.
191 Q. What must we do to receive the Sacrament of Penance worthily?
A. To receive the Sacrament of Penance worthily we must do five things:
(1) We must examine our conscience.
(2) We must have sorrow for our sins.
(3) We must make a firm resolution never more to offend God.
(4) We must confess our sins to the priest.
(5) We must accept the penance which the priest gives us.
When we are about to go to confession the first thing we should do is to
pray to the Holy Ghost to give us light to know and remember all our
sins; to fully understand how displeasing they are to God, and to have a
great sorrow for them, which includes the resolution of never committing
them again. The next thing we should do is:
(1) "Examine our conscience"; and first of all we find out how long a
time it is since our last confession, and whether we made a good
confession then and received Holy Communion and performed our penance.
The best method of examining is to take the Commandments and go over
each one in our mind, seeing if we have broken it, and in what way; for
example: First. "I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt not have strange gods
before Me." Have I honored God? Have I said my prayers morning and
night; have I said them with attention and devotion? Have I thanked God
for all His blessings? Have I been more anxious to please others than to
please God, or offended Him for the sake of others? Second "Thou shalt
not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Have I cursed? Have I
taken God's name in vain or spoken without reverence of holy things?
Third. "Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day." Have I neglected to
hear Mass through my own fault on Sundays and holy days of obligation?
Have I kept others from Mass? Have I been late, and at what part of the
Mass did I come in? Have I been willfully distracted at Mass or have I
distracted others? Have I done servile work without necessity? Fourth.
"Honor thy father and thy mother." Have I been disobedient to parents or
others who have authority over me--to spiritual or temporal superiors,
teachers, etc.? Have I slighted or been ashamed of parents because they
were poor or uneducated? Have I neglected to give them what help I could
when they were in need of it? Have I spoken of them with disrespect or
called them names that were not proper? Fifth. "Thou shalt not kill."
Have I done anything that might lead to killing? Have I been angry or
have I tried to take revenge? Have I borne hatred or tried to injure
others? Have I given scandal? Sixth. "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Have I indulged in any bad thoughts, looked at any bad pictures or
objects, listened to any bad conversation, told or listened to bad or
immodest jokes or stories, or, in general, spoken of bad things? Have I
done any bad actions or desired to do any while alone or with others?
Seventh. "Thou shalt not steal." Have I stolen anything myself or helped
or advised others to steal? Have I received anything or part of anything
that I knew to be stolen? Do I owe money and not pay it when I can? Have
I bought anything with the intention of never paying for it or at least
knowing I never could pay for it? Have I made restitution when told to
do so by my confessor; or have I put it off from time to time? Have I
failed to give back what belonged to another? Have I found anything and
not tried to discover its owner, or have I kept it in my possession
after I knew to whom it belonged? Have I cheated in business or at
games? Eighth. "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor."
Have I told lies or injured anyone by my talk? Have I told the faults of
others without any necessity? It is not allowed to tell the faults of
others--even when you tell the truth about them--unless some good comes
of the telling. Ninth. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife." This
can come into our examination on the Sixth Commandment. Tenth. "Thou
shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods." This can come into our
examination on the Seventh Commandment.
After examining yourself on the Commandments of God, examine yourself on
the Commandments of the Church.
First. "To hear Mass on Sundays and holy days of obligation." This has
been considered in the examination on the Third Commandment. Second "To
fast and abstain on the days appointed." Have I knowingly eaten meat on
Ash Wednesday or the Fridays of Lent, or not done some chosen penance on
the other Fridays of the year, or not fasted on Ash Wednesday or Good
Friday, unless I had good reason not to do so on account of poor health
or other reason? Third. "To confess at least once a year." Is it over a
year, and how much over it, since I have been to confession? Fourth. "To
receive Holy Eucharist during the Easter time." Did I go to Holy
Communion between the first Sunday of Lent and Trinity Sunday? If not, I
have committed a mortal sin. Fifth. "To contribute to the support of our
pastors." Have I helped the church and reasonably paid my share of its
expenses--given to charity and the like, or have I made others pay for
the light, heat, and other things that cost money in the church, and
shared in their benefits without giving according to my means? Have I
kept what was given me for the church or other charity, or stolen from
the church and not stated that circumstance when I confessed that I
stole? Sixth. "Not to marry persons who are not Catholics, or who are
related to us within the third degree of kindred, or privately without
witnesses, nor to solemnize marriage at forbidden times." Have I
anything to tell on this Commandment?
After examining yourself on the Commandments of God and of His Church,
examine yourself on the capital sins, especially on "Pride." Have I been
impudent and stubborn, vain about my dress, and the like? Have I
despised others simply on account of poverty or something they could not
help? "Gluttony." Have I ever taken intoxicating drink to excess or
broken a promise not to take it? Have I knowingly caused others to be
intoxicated? "Sloth." Have I wasted my time willfully and neglected to
do my duty at school or elsewhere? After examining yourself on the
Commandments and capital sins, examine yourself on the duties of your
state of life. If you are at school, how have you studied? You should
study not alone to please your parents or teachers, but for the sake of
learning. If you are at work, have you been faithful to your employer,
and done your work well and honestly?
The above method is generally recommended as the best in the examination
of conscience. But you need not follow these exact questions; you can
ask yourself any questions you please: the above questions are given
only as examples of what you might ask, and to show you how to question
yourself. It is useless to take any list of sins in a prayerbook and
examine yourself by it, confessing the sins just as they are given. If
you do take such a list and find in it some questions or sins that you
do not understand, do not trouble yourself about them. In asking
yourself the questions, if you find you have sinned against a
Commandment, stop and consider how many times. There are few persons who
sin against all the Commandments. Some sin against one and some against
another. Find out the worst sin you have and the one you have most
frequently committed, and be sure of telling it.
(2) "Have sorrow for our sins." After examining your conscience and
finding out the sins you have committed, the next thing is to be sorry
for them. The sorrow is the most essential part in the whole Sacrament
of Penance. In this Sacrament there are, as you know, three parts:
contrition, confession, and satisfaction--and contrition is the most
important part. When, therefore, we are preparing for confession, we
should spend just as much time, and even more, in exciting ourselves to
sorrow for our sins as in the examination of our conscience. Some
persons forget this and spend all their time examining their conscience.
We should pray for sorrow if we think we have none. Remember the act of
contrition made at confession is not the sorrow, but only an outward
sign by which we make known to the priest that we have the sorrow in our
hearts, and therefore we must have the sorrow before making the
confession--or at least, before receiving the absolution. Now what kind
of sorrow must we have? Someone might say, I am not truly sorry because
I cannot cry. If some of my friends died, I would be more sorry for that
than for my sins. Do not make any such mistakes. The true and necessary
kind of sorrow for sin is to know that by sin you have offended God, and
now feel that it was very wrong, and that you have from this moment the
firm determination never to offend Him more. If God adds to this a
feeling that brings tears to your eyes, it is good, but not necessary.
(3) Remember real sorrow for sin supposes and contains "a firm
resolution" never to sin again. How can you say to God, "O my God, I am
heartily sorry," etc., if you are waiting only for the next opportunity
to sin? How can we be sorry for the past if we are going to do the same
in the future? Do you think the thief would be sorry for his past thefts
if he had his mind made up to steal again as soon as he had the chance?
Ah, but you will say, nearly all persons sin again after confession. I
know that; but when they were making their confession they thought they
never would, and really meant never to sin again; but when temptation
came, they forgot the good resolution, did not use God's help, and fell
into sin again. I mean, therefore, that at the time you make the act of
contrition you must really mean what you say and promise never to sin,
and take every means you can to keep that promise. If you do fall
afterwards, renew your promise as quickly as possible and make a greater
effort than before. Be on your guard against those things that make you
break your promise, and then your act of contrition will be a good one.
A person may be afraid that he will fall again, but being afraid does
not make his contrition worthless as long as he wishes, hopes, and
intends never to sin again. We should always be afraid of falling into
sin, and we will fall into it if we depend upon ourselves alone, and not
on the help which God gives us in His grace.
(4) "Confess our sins." Having made the necessary preparation, you will
next go into the confessional; and while you are waiting for the priest
to hear you, you should say the Confiteor. When the priest turns to you,
bless yourself and say: "Bless me, father, for I have sinned. It is a
month or a week (or whatever time it may be) since my last confession,
and I have since committed these sins." Then tell your sins as you found
them in examining yourself. In confession you must tell only such things
as are sins. You must not tell all the details and a long story with
every sin. For example, if a boy should confess that he went to see a
friend, and after that met another friend, and when he came home he was
asked what had kept him, and he told a lie. Now, the going to see the
friend and the meeting of the other friend, and all the rest, was not a
sin: the sin was telling the lie, and that was all that should have been
confessed. Therefore, tell only the sins. Then tell only your own sins,
and be very careful not to mention anyone's name--even your own--in
confession. Be brief, and do not say, I broke the First Commandment or
the Second by doing so and so; tell the sin simply as it is, and the
priest himself will know what Commandment you violated. Again, when you
have committed a sin several times a day do not multiply that by the
number of days since your last confession and say to the priest, I have
told lies, for example, four hundred and forty-two times. Such things
only confuse you and make you forget your sins. Simply say, I am in the
habit of telling lies, about so many, three or four--or whatever number
it may be--times a day. Never say "sometimes" or "often" when you are
telling the number of your sins. Sometimes might mean ten or it might
mean twenty times. How then can the priest know the number by that
expression? Give the number as nearly as you can, and if you do not know
the whole number give the number of times a day, etc. Never say "maybe"
I did so and so; because maybe you did not, and the priest cannot judge.
Tell what you consider your worst sin first, then if there be any sin
you are ashamed to tell or do not know how to tell, say to the priest:
"Father, I have a sin I am ashamed to tell, or a sin I do not know how
to tell"; and then the priest will ask you some questions and help you
to tell it. But never think of going away from the confessional with
some sin that you did not tell. The devil sometimes tempts people to do
this, because he does not like to see them in a state of grace and
friends of God. When you are committing the sin, he makes you believe it
is not a great sin, and that you can tell it in confession; but after
you have committed it he makes you believe that it is a most terrible
sin, and that if you tell it, the priest will scold you severely. So it
is concealed and the person leaves the confessional with a new sin upon
his soul--that of sacrilege. When Judas was tempted to betray Our Lord,
he thought thirty pieces of silver a great deal of money; and then,
after he had committed the sin, he cared nothing for the money, but went
and threw it away, and thought his sin so dreadful that he hanged
himself, dying in despair.
It is not necessary to tell the priest the exact words you said in
cursing or in bad conversation, unless he asks you; but simply say,
Father, I cursed so many times. Do not speak too loud in the
confessional, but loud enough for the priest to hear you. If you are
deaf, do not go into the confessional while others are near, but wait
till all have been heard and then go in last, or ask the priest to hear
you someplace else.
(5) Listen attentively to hear what "penance" the priest gives you, and
say the act of contrition while he pronounces the words of absolution;
and above all, never leave the confessional till the priest closes the
little door or tells you to go. If the priest does not say at what
particular time you are to say your penance, say it as soon as you can.
When you have, told all your sins, you will say: "For these and all the
sins of my whole life, especially any I have forgotten, I am heartily
sorry, and ask pardon and penance." Listen to the priest's advice, and
answer simply any question he may ask you. If you should forget a mortal
sin in confession and remember it the same day or evening, or while you
are still in the church, it will not be necessary to wait and go to
confession again. It is forgiven already, because it was included in
your forgotten sins; but you must tell it the next time you go to
confession, saying before your regular confession: In my last confession
I forgot this sin. Of course if you tried to forget your sins your
confession would be invalid. It is only when you examine your conscience
with all reasonable care, and then after all forget some sins, that such
forgotten sins are forgiven.
Never talk or quarrel for places while waiting for confession, and never
cheat another out of his turn in going to confession. It is unjust, it
makes the person angry, and lessens his good disposition for confession.
It creates confusion, and annoys the priest who hears the noise. If you
are in a hurry, ask the others to allow you to go first; and if they
will not be contented and wait, and if you cannot wait, go some other
time, unless you are in the state of mortal sin. In this case you should
go to confession that day, no matter what the inconvenience. Spend your
time while waiting in praying for pardon and sorrow. Never keep the
priest waiting for you in the confessional; pass in as soon as he is
prepared to hear you.
192 Q. What is the examination of conscience?
A. The examination of conscience is an earnest effort to recall to mind
all the sins we have committed since our last worthy confession.
"Worthy confession," because if we made bad confessions we must tell how
often we made them, and whether we received Holy Communion after them or
not, and also all the sins we told in the bad confessions, and all
others committed since the good confession. If, for example, a boy made
a good confession in January, and in confession in February concealed a
mortal sin and went to confession after that every month to December, he
would have to go back to his last good confession, and repeat all the
sins committed since January, and also say that he had gone to
confession once a month and made bad confessions all these times.
*193 Q. How can we make a good examination of conscience?
A. We can make a good examination of conscience by calling to memory the
Commandments of God, the precepts of the Church, the seven capital sins,
and the particular duties of our state in life, to find out the sins we
have committed.
*194 Q. What should we do before beginning the examination of
conscience?
A. Before beginning the examination of conscience we should pray to God
to give us light to know our sins and grace to detest them.
Lesson 18
ON CONTRITION
195 Q. What is contrition or sorrow for sin?
A. Contrition or sorrow for sin is a hatred of sin and a true grief of
the soul for having offended God, with a firm purpose of sinning no
more.
"Offended"--that is, done something to displease Him.
*196 Q. What kind of sorrow should we have for our sins?
A. The sorrow we should have for our sins should be interior,
supernatural, universal, and sovereign.
*197 Q. What do you mean by saying that our sorrow should be interior?
A. When I say that our sorrow should be interior, I mean that it should
come from the heart, and not merely from the lips.
"Interior"--that is, we must really have the sorrow in our hearts. A
boy, for example, might cry in the confessional and pretend to the
priest to be very sorry, and the priest might be deceived and absolve
him; but God, who sees into our hearts, would know that he was not
really sorry, but only pretending, that his sorrow was not interior, but
exterior; and God therefore would withhold His forgiveness and would not
blot out the sins, and the boy would have a new sin of sacrilege upon
his soul; because it is a sacrilege to allow the priest to give you
absolution if you know you have not the right disposition, and you are
not trying to do all that is required for a good confession. So you
understand you might deceive the priest and receive absolution, but God
would not allow the absolution to take effect, and the sins would
remain; for if the priest knew your dispositions as God did, or as you
know them, he would not give you absolution till your dispositions
changed.
*198 Q. What do you mean by saying that our sorrow should be
supernatural?
A. When I say that our sorrow should be supernatural, I mean that it
should be prompted by the grace of God, and excited by motives which
spring from faith, and not by merely natural motives.
"Supernatural"--that is, we must be sorry for the sin on account of some
reason that God has made known to us. For example, either because our
sin is displeasing to God, or because we have lost Heaven by it, or
because we fear to be punished for it in Hell or Purgatory. But if we
are sorry for our sin only on account of some natural motive, then our
sorrow is not of the right kind. If a man was sorry for stealing only
because he was caught and had to go to prison for it, his sorrow would
only be natural. Or if a boy was sorry for telling lies only because he
got a whipping for it, his sorrow would only be natural. Or if a man was
sorry for being intoxicated because he lost his situation and injured
his health, he would not have the necessary kind of sorrow. These
persons must be sorry for stealing, lying, or being intoxicated because
all these are sins against God--things forbidden by Him and worthy of
His punishment. If we are sorry for having offended God on account of
His own goodness, our contrition is said to be perfect. If we are sorry
for the sins because by them we are in great danger of being punished by
God, or because we have lost Heaven by them, and without any regard for
God's own goodness, then our contrition is said to be imperfect.
Imperfect contrition is called attrition.
*199 Q. What do you mean by saying that our sorrow should be universal?
A. When I say that our sorrow should be universal, I mean that we should
be sorry for our mortal sins without exception.
"Universal." If a person committed ten mortal sins, and was sorry for
nine, but not for the tenth, then none of the sins would be forgiven. If
you committed a thousand mortal sins, and were sorry for all but one,
none would be forgiven. Why? Because you can never have God's grace and
mortal sin in the soul at the same time. Now this mortal sin will be on
your soul till you are sorry for it, and while it is on your soul God's
grace will not come to you. Again, you cannot be half sorry for having
offended God; either you must be entirely sorry, or not sorry at all.
Therefore you cannot be sorry for only part of your mortal sins.
*200 Q. What do you mean when you say that our sorrow should be
sovereign?
A. When I say that our sorrow should be sovereign I mean that we should
grieve more for having offended God than for any other evil that can
befall us.
201 Q. Why should we be sorry for our sins?
A. We should be sorry for our sins, because sin is the greatest of evils
and an offense against God our Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer, and
because it shuts us out of Heaven and condemns us to the eternal pains
of Hell.
We consider an evil great in proportion to the length of time we have to
bear it. To be blind is certainly a misfortune; but it is a greater
misfortune to be blind for our whole life than for one day. Sin,
therefore, is the greatest of all evils; because the misfortune it
brings upon us lasts not merely for a great many years, but for all
eternity. Even slight sufferings would be terrible if they lasted
forever, but the sufferings for mortal sin are worse than we can
describe or imagine, and they are forever. The greatest evils in this
world will not last forever, and are small when compared with sin. Sin
makes us ungrateful to God, who gives us our existence.
"Our Preserver," because if God ceased to watch over us and provide for
us, even for a short time, we would cease to exist.
"Our Redeemer," who suffered so much for us.
*202 Q. How many kinds of contrition are there?
A. There are two kinds of contrition: perfect contrition and imperfect
contrition.
*203 Q. What is perfect contrition?
A. Perfect contrition is that which fills us with sorrow and hatred for
sin because it offends God, who is infinitely good in Himself and worthy
of all love.
It can be a very hard thing to have perfect contrition, but we should
always try to have it, so that our contrition may be as perfect as
possible. This perfect contrition is the kind of contrition we must have
if our mortal sins are to be forgiven if we are in danger of death and
cannot go to confession. Imperfect contrition with the priest's
absolution will blot out our mortal sins.
*204 Q. What is imperfect contrition?
A. Imperfect contrition is that by which we hate what offends God
because by it we lose Heaven and deserve Hell; or because sin is so
hateful in itself.
*205 Q. Is imperfect contrition sufficient for a worthy confession?
A. Imperfect contrition is sufficient for a worthy confession, but we
should endeavor to have perfect contrition.
206 Q. What do you mean by a firm purpose of sinning no more?
A. By a firm purpose of sinning no more I mean a fixed resolve not only
to avoid all mortal sin, but also its near occasions.
"Fixed." Not for a certain time, but for all the future.
207 Q. What do you mean by the near occasions of sin?
A. By the near occasions of sin I mean all the persons, places and
things that may easily lead us into sin.
"Occasions." There are many kinds of occasions of sin. First, we have
voluntary and necessary occasions, or those we can avoid and those we
cannot avoid. For example: if a companion uses immodest conversation we
can avoid that occasion, because we can keep away from him; but if the
one who sins is a member of our own family, always living with us, we
cannot so easily avoid that occasion. Second, near and remote occasions.
An occasion is said to be "near" when we usually fall into sin by it.
For instance, if a man gets intoxicated almost every time he visits a
certain place, then that place is a "near occasion" of sin for him; but
if he gets intoxicated only once out of every fifty times or so that he
goes there, then it is said to be a "remote occasion." Now, it is not
enough to avoid the sins: we must also avoid the occasions. If we have a
firm purpose of amendment, if we desire to do better, we must be
resolved to avoid everything that will lead us to sin. It is not enough
to say, I will go to that place or with that person, but I will never
again commit the same sins. No matter what you think now, if you go into
the occasion, you will fall again; because Our Lord, who cannot speak
falsely, says: "He who loves the danger will perish in it." Now the
occasion of sin is always "the danger"; and if you go into it, Our
Lord's words will come true, and you will fall miserably. Take away the
cause, take away the occasion, and then the sin will cease of itself.
Let us suppose the plaster in your house fell down, and you found that
it fell because there was a leak in the water-pipe above, and the water
coming through wet the plaster and made it fall. What is the first thing
your father would do in that case? Why, get a plumber and stop up the
leak in the pipe before putting up the plaster again. Would it not be
foolish to engage a plasterer to repair the ceiling while the pipe was
still leaking? Everyone would say that man must be out of his mind: the
plaster will fall down as often as he puts it up, and it matters not
either how well he puts it up. If he wants it to stay up, he must first
mend the pipe--take away the cause of its falling. Now the occasion of
sin is like the leak in the pipe--in the case of sin, it will very
likely cause you to fall every time. Stop up the leak, take away the
occasion, and then you will not fall into sin--at least not so
frequently.
"The persons" are generally bad companions, and though they may not be
bad when alone, they are bad when with us, and thus we become also bad
companions for them, and occasions of sin.
"The places." Liquor saloons, low theaters, dance halls, and all places
where we may see or hear anything against faith or morals.
"Things." Bad books, pictures, and the like.
Lesson 19
ON CONFESSION
208 Q. What is Confession?
A. Confession is the telling of our sins to a duly authorized priest,
for the purpose of obtaining forgiveness.
"Duly authorized"--one sent by the bishop of the diocese in which you
are.
"Forgiveness." You might tell a priest all your sins while in ordinary
conversation with him, but that would not be confession, because you
would not be telling them to have them pardoned. If a person has lost
the use of his speech, he can make his confession by writing his sins on
a paper and giving it to the priest in the confessional. If the priest
returns the paper the penitent must be careful to destroy it afterwards.
Also, if you have a poor memory you may write down the sins you wish to
confess, and read them from the paper in the confessional; then you also
must be careful to destroy the paper after confession. If a person whose
language the priest does not understand is dying, or is obliged to make
his yearly confession, he must tell what he can by signs, show that he
is sorry for his sins, and thus receive absolution. In a word, the
priest would act with him as he would with one who had lost the use of
his speech and power to write.
209 Q. What sins are we bound to confess?
A. We are bound to confess all our mortal sins, but it is well also to
confess our venial sins.
"Bound"--obliged in such a way that our confession would be bad if we
did not tell them.
"Well," because we should tell all the sins we can remember; but if we
did not tell a venial sin after we had told a mortal sin, our confession
would not be bad. Or if we committed a little venial sin after
confession, that should not keep us from Holy Communion; because the
Holy Communion itself would blot out that and any other venial sin we
might have upon our souls: so that you should never let anything keep
you away, unless you are certain you have committed a mortal sin after
the confession, or have broken your fast.
*210 Q. What are the chief qualities of a good confession?
A. The chief qualities of a good confession are three: it must be
humble, sincere, and entire.
*211 Q. When is our confession humble?
A. Our confession is humble when we accuse ourselves of our sins, with a
deep sense of shame and sorrow for having offended God.
*212 Q. When is our confession sincere?
A. Our confession is sincere when we tell our sins honestly and
truthfully, neither exaggerating nor excusing them.
"Exaggerating." You must never tell in confession a sin you did not
commit, any more than conceal one you did commit. You must tell just the
sins committed, and no more or less; and if you are in doubt whether you
have committed the sin, or whether the thing done was a sin, then you
must tell your doubts to the priest: but do not say you committed such
and such sins when you do not know whether you did or not, or only
because you think it likely that you did.
*213 Q. When is our confession entire?
A. Our confession is entire when we tell the number and kinds of our
sins and the circumstances which change their nature.
"Number"--the exact number, if you know it; as, for example, when we
miss Mass we can generally tell exactly the number of times. But when we
tell lies, for instance, we may not know the exact number: then we say
how often in the day, or that it is a habit with us, etc.
"Kinds"--whether they are cursing, or stealing, or lying, etc.
"Circumstances which change their nature." In the case of stealing, for
example, you need not tell whether it was from a grocery, a bakery, or
dry-goods store you stole, for that circumstance does not change the
nature of the sin: you have simply to tell the amount you took. But if
you stole from a church you would have to tell that, because that is a
circumstance that gives the sin of stealing a new character, and makes
it sacrilegious stealing. Or if you stole from a poor beggar all he
possessed in the world, so that you left him starving, that would be a
circumstance making your sin worse, and so you would have to tell it.
Therefore you have to tell any circumstance that really makes your sin
much worse or less than it seems; all other circumstances you need not
tell: they will only confuse you, and make you forget your sins and
waste the priest's time.
214 Q. What should we do if we cannot remember the number of our sins?
A. If we cannot remember the number of our sins, we should tell the
number as nearly as possible, and say how often we have sinned in a day,
a week, or a month and how long the habit or practice has lasted.
*215 Q. Is our confession worthy if, without our fault, we forget to
confess a mortal sin?
A. If without our fault we forget to confess a mortal sin, our
confession is worthy, and the sin is forgiven; but it must be told in
confession if it again comes to our mind.
216 Q. Is it a grievous offense willfully to conceal a mortal sin in
confession?
A. It is a grievous offense willfully to conceal a mortal sin in
confession, because we thereby tell a lie to the Holy Ghost, and make
our confession worthless.
"A lie to the Holy Ghost." God sees every sin we commit, and in His
presence we present ourselves to the priest in the confessional, and
declare that we are confessing all. If, then, we willfully conceal a sin
that we are bound to confess, God is a witness to our sacrilegious lie.
If I see you in some place to which you were forbidden to go, and you,
knowing that I saw you, positively deny that you were there, your guilt
would be doubly great, for, besides the sin of disobedience committed by
going to the forbidden place, you also resist the known truth, and
endeavor to prove that I, when I declare I saw you, am telling what is
untrue. In a similar manner, concealing a sin in confession is
equivalent to denying before God that we are guilty of it. Besides, it
is a great folly to conceal a sin, because it must be confessed sooner
or later, and the longer we conceal it the deeper will be our sense of
shame for the sacrileges committed. Again, why should one be ashamed to
confess to the priest what he has not been ashamed to do before God,
unless he has greater respect for the priest than he has for the
Almighty God--an absurdity we cannot believe. Moreover, the shame you
experience in telling your sins is a kind of penance for them. Do you
not suppose Our Lord knew, when He instituted the Sacrament of Penance,
that people would be ashamed to confess? Certainly He did; and that act
of humility is pleasing to God, and is a kind of punishment for your
sins, and probably takes away some of the punishment you would have to
suffer for them. Often, too, the thought of having to confess will keep
you from committing the sin. There is another thought that should
encourage us to gladly make a full confession of all our sins, and it is
this: it is easier to tell them to the priest alone than to have them
exposed, unforgiven, before the whole world on the Day of Judgment. Do
not imagine that your confessor will think less of you on account of
your sins. The confessor does not think of your sins after he leaves the
confessional. How could he remember all the confessions he hears--often
hundreds in a single month? And what is more--he does not even wish to
recall the sinful things heard in the confessional, because he wishes to
keep his own mind pure, and his soul free from every stain. The priest
is always better pleased to hear the confession of a great sinner or of
one who has been a long time from the Sacraments, than of one who goes
frequently or who has little to tell. He is not glad, of course, that
the sinner has committed great sins, but he is glad that since he has
had the misfortune to sin so much, he has now the grace and courage to
seek forgiveness. Our Lord once said (Luke 15:7) while preaching, that
the angels and saints in Heaven rejoice more at seeing one sinner doing
penance than they do over ninety-nine good persons who did not need to
do penance. The greater the danger to which a person has been exposed,
the more thankful he and his friends are for escape or recovery from it.
If your brother fell into the ocean and was rescued just as he was going
down for the last time, you would feel more grateful than if he was
rescued from some little pond into which he had slipped, and in which
there was scarcely any danger of his being drowned. So, also, the nearer
we are to losing our, souls and going to Hell, the more delighted the
angels and saints are when we are saved. One who has escaped great
danger will more carefully avoid similar accidents in the future: in
like manner, the sinner, after having escaped the danger of eternal
death by the pardon of his sins, should never again risk his salvation.
217 Q. What must he do who has willfully concealed a mortal sin in
confession?
A. He who has willfully concealed a mortal sin in confession must not
only confess it, but must also repeat all the sins he has committed
since his last worthy confession.
"Willfully." Remember, forgetting is not the same as concealing; but if
you should willfully neglect to examine your conscience or make any
effort to know your sins before going to confession, then forgetting
would be equivalent to concealing. Without any preparation your
confession could hardly be a good one. When you are in doubt whether an
action is sinful or not, or whether you have confessed it before, you
should not leave the confessional with the doubt upon your mind.
It is a foolish practice, however, to be always disturbing your
conscience by thinking of past sins, especially of those that occurred
very early in your life. Sometimes it is dangerous; because if, while
thinking of your past sins, you should take pleasure in them, you would
commit a new sin similar to the past sins in which you take delight.
It is best, therefore, not to dwell in thought upon any particular past
sin with the time, place, and circumstances of its commission; but
simply to remember in general that you have in the past sinned against
this or that Commandment or virtue.
The past is no longer under our control, while the future is, and
becomes for us, therefore, the all-important portion of our lives. Not
unfrequently it may be an artifice of the devil to keep us so occupied
with past deeds that we may not attend to the dangers of the future. Do
not, then, after your confession spend your time in thinking of the sins
you confessed, but of how you will avoid them in the future. When a
wound is healed up, nobody thinks of opening it again to see if it has
healed properly; so when the wounds made in our souls by sin are healed
up by the absolution, we should not open them again.
This is the rule with regard to our ordinary confessions; but we should
sometimes make a general confession. What is a general confession? It is
the confession of the sins of our whole life or of a portion--say one,
two or five, etc., years--of our life. A general confession may be
necessary, useful, or hurtful. It is necessary, as you know, when our
past confessions were bad. It is useful, though not necessary, on
special occasions in our lives; for example, in the time of a retreat or
mission; in the time of preparation for First Communion, Confirmation,
Matrimony, etc., or in preparing for death. It is very useful also for
persons about to change their state of life; for such as are about to
become priests or religious, etc. It is useful because it gives us a
better knowledge of the state of our souls, as we see their condition
not merely for a month or two, but for our whole lifetime. We are
looking at them as God will look at them in the Last Judgment,
considering all the good and evil we have ever done, and comparing the
amount of the one with the amount of the other. We resolve to increase
the good and diminish the evil in our future lives. We promise to do
penance for the past and to avoid sin for the future; and thus we are
benefited in general confession by this judgment of ourselves, as we may
call it.
General confession is hurtful to scrupulous persons. Scrupulous persons
are those who think almost everything they do is a sin. They are always
dissatisfied with their confessions, and fear to approach the
Sacraments. Their conscience is never at ease, and they are forever
unhappy. It is very wrong for them to think and act in this manner, and
they must use every means in their power to overcome their scruples.
Our Lord in His goodness never intended to make us unhappy by
instituting the Sacraments, but on the contrary to make us happy, and
set our minds and consciences at ease in the reception of His grace.
Scrupulous persons must do exactly whatever their confessor advises, no
matter what they themselves may think. Such persons, as you can plainly
see, should not make general confessions, because their consciences
would be more disturbed than pacified by them.
You prepare for general confession as you would for any other, except
that you take a longer time for it, and do not pay so much attention to
your more trifling sins.
218 Q. Why does the priest give us a penance after confession?
A. The priest gives us a penance after confession, that we may satisfy
God for the temporal punishment due to our sins.
"Penance." The little penance the priest gives may not fully satisfy
God, but shows by our accepting it that we are willing to do penance.
What, for example, is a penance of five "Our Fathers" compared with the
guilt of one mortal sin, for which we would have to suffer in Hell for
all eternity? Then think of the penances performed by the Christians
many centuries ago, in the early ages of the Church. There were four
stages of penance. The churches were divided into four parts by railings
and gates. The first railing across the church was at some distance from
the altar, the second was a little below the middle of the church, and
the third was near the door. Those who committed great sins had to stand
clad in coarse garments near the entrance of the church, and beg the
prayers of those who entered. After they had done this kind of penance
for a certain time, they were allowed to come into the church as far as
the second railing. They were allowed to hear the sermon, but were not
permitted to be present at the Mass. After doing sufficient penance,
they were allowed to remain for Mass, but could not receive Holy
Communion. When they had performed all the penance imposed upon them,
they were allowed to receive the Sacraments and enjoy all the rights and
privileges of faithful children of the Church. These penances lasted for
many days and sometimes for years, according to the gravity of the sins
committed. The sins for which these severe penances were performed were
generally sins that had been committed publicly, and hence the penance,
amendment, and reparation had also to be public.
"Temporal Punishment." Every sin has two punishments attached to it, one
called the eternal and the other the temporal. Let me explain by an
example. If I, turning highway robber, waylay a man, beat him and steal
his watch, I do him, as you see, a double injury, and deserve a double
punishment for the twofold crime of beating and robbing him. He might
pardon me for the injuries caused by the beating, but that would not
free me from the obligation of restoring to him his watch or its value,
for the fact that he forgives me for the act of stealing does not give
me the right to keep what justly belongs to him. Now, when we sin
against God we in the first place insult Him, and secondly rob Him of
what is deservedly His due; namely, the worship, respect, obedience,
love, etc., that we owe Him as our Creator, Preserver, and Redeemer.
In the Sacrament of Penance God forgives the insult offered by sinning,
but requires us to make restitution for that of which the sin has
deprived Him. In every sin there is an act of turning away from God and
an act of turning to some creature in His stead. If a soldier pledged to
defend his country deserts his army in time of war, he is guilty of a
dishonorable, contemptible act; but if, besides deserting his own army,
he goes over to aid the enemy, he becomes guilty of another and still
greater crime--he becomes a traitor for whom the laws of nations reserve
their severest penalties. By sin we, who in Baptism and Confirmation
have promised to serve God and war against His enemies, desert Him and
go over to them; for Our Blessed Lord has said: He that is not with Me
is against Me.
We pay the temporal debt due to our sins, that is, make the restitution,
by our penances upon earth, or by our suffering in Purgatory, or by both
combined.
The penances performed upon earth are very acceptable and pleasing to
God; and hence we should be most anxious to do penance here that we may
have less to suffer in Purgatory. St. Augustine, who had been a great
sinner, often prayed that God might send him many tribulations while on
earth, that he might have less to endure in Purgatory. Therefore, after
performing the penance the priest gives you in the confessional, it is
wise to impose upon yourself other light penances in keeping with your
age and condition, but never undertake severe penances or make religious
vows and promises without consulting your confessor. In every case be
careful first of all to perform the penance imposed upon you in the
reception of the Sacrament. The penance given in confession has a
special value, which none of the penances selected by yourself could
have.
If you forget to say your penance, your confession is not on that
account worthless; but as the penance is one of the parts of the
Sacrament, namely, the satisfaction, you should say it as soon as
possible, and in the manner your confessor directs. If you cannot
perform the penance imposed by your confessor, you should inform him of
that fact, and ask him to give you another in its stead.
Indulgences also are a means of satisfying for this temporal punishment.
Sometimes God inflicts the temporal punishment in this world by sending
us misfortunes or sufferings, especially such as are brought on by the
sins committed.
*219 Q. Does not the Sacrament of Penance remit all punishment due to
sin?
A. The Sacrament of Penance remits the eternal punishment due to sin,
but it does not always remit the temporal punishment which God requires
as satisfaction for our sins.
Remember that Baptism differs from Penance in this respect, that
although they both remit sin, Penance does not take away all the
temporal punishment, while Baptism takes away all the punishment, both
eternal and temporal; so that if we died immediately after Baptism we
would go directly to Heaven, while if we died immediately after Penance
we would generally go to Purgatory to make satisfaction for the temporal
debt.
*220 Q. Why does God require a temporal punishment as a satisfaction for
sin?
A. God requires a temporal punishment as a satisfaction for sin to teach
us the great evil of sin, and to prevent us from failing again.
*221 Q. Which are the chief means by which we satisfy God for the
temporal punishment due to sin?
A. The chief means by which we satisfy God for the temporal punishment
due to sin are: prayer, fasting, almsgiving, all spiritual and corporal
works of mercy, and the patient suffering of the ills of life.
"Chief," but not the only means. "Fasting," especially the fasts imposed
by the Church--in Lent for instance. Lent is the forty days before
Easter Sunday during which we fast and pray to prepare ourselves for the
resurrection of Our Lord, and also to remind us of His own fast of forty
days before His Passion. "Almsgiving"--that is, money or goods given to
the poor. "Spiritual" works of mercy are those good works we do for
persons' souls. "Corporal" works of mercy are those we do for their
bodies. "Ills of life"--sickness or poverty or misfortune, especially
when we have not brought them upon ourselves by sin.
*222 Q. Which are the chief spiritual works of mercy?
A. The chief spiritual works of mercy are seven: to admonish the sinner,
to instruct the ignorant, to counsel the doubtful, to comfort the
sorrowful, to bear wrongs patiently, to forgive all injuries, and to
pray for the living and the dead.
"To admonish the sinner." If we love our neighbor we should help him in
his distress, even when it is an inconvenience to us. We should help him
also to correct his faults, we should point them out and warn him of
them. We are obliged to do so in the following circumstances: First.
When his fault is a mortal sin. Second. When we have some authority or
influence over him. Third. When there is reason to believe that our
warning will make him better instead of worse. If our advice only makes
him worse, then we should not say anything to him about his fault, but
keep out of his company ourselves. "Ignorant" especially in their
religion. "Doubtful" about something in religion which you can explain
and make clear to them. "Comfort," saying kind words of encouragement to
them. "Wrongs," things not deserved; for example, persons talking ill
about us, accusing us falsely, etc.; but if the false accusations, etc.,
are going to give scandal, then we must defend ourselves against them.
If, for instance, lies were told about the father of a family, and it
were likely all his children would believe them and lose their respect
for his authority, then he must let them know the truth. But when we
patiently suffer wrongs that injure only ourselves, and that are known
only to God and ourselves, God sees our sufferings and rewards us. What
matters it what people think we are if God knows all our doings and is
pleased with them? "Living"--especially for the conversion of sinners,
or for those who are on their deathbed. "The dead"--those suffering in
Purgatory, especially if we have ever caused them to sin.
*223 Q. Which are the chief corporal works of mercy?
A. The chief corporal works of mercy are seven: to feed the hungry, to
give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to ransom the captive,
to harbor the harborless, to visit the sick, and to bury the dead.
"Ransom the captive"--that is, chiefly those who while teaching or
defending the true religion in pagan lands are taken prisoners by the
enemies of our faith. You have perhaps heard of the Crusades or read
about them in your history. Now let me briefly tell you what they were
and why they were commenced. About the year 570, that is, about thirteen
hundred years ago, when the Christian religion was spread over nearly
the whole world, a man named Mahomet was born in Arabia. He pretended to
be a great prophet sent from God, and gathered many followers about him.
He told them his religion must be spread by the sword. He plundered
cities and towns, and divided the spoils with his followers. He told
them that all who died fighting for him would certainly go to Heaven. In
a short time his followers became very numerous; for his religion was an
easy and profitable one, allowing them to commit sin without fear of
punishment, and giving them share of his plunder. Many others not
influenced by these motives joined his religion for fear of being put to
death. His followers were afterwards called by the general name of
Saracens. They took possession of the Holy Land, of the City of
Jerusalem, of the tomb of Our Lord, and of every spot rendered dear to
Christians by Our Saviour's life and labors there. They persecuted the
Christians who went to visit the Holy Land, and put many of them to
death. When the news of these dreadful crimes reached Europe, the
Christian kings and princes, at the request of the Pope, raised large
armies and set out for the East to war against the Saracens and recover
the Holy Land. Eight of these expeditions, or Crusades, as they are
called, went out during two hundred years, that is, from 1095 to 1272.
Those who took part in them are called Crusaders, from the word cross,
because every soldier wore a red cross upon his shoulder.
Some of these expeditions were successful, and some were not; but, on
the whole, they prevented the Saracens from coming to Europe and taking
possession of it. Many of the Christian soldiers and many of the
pilgrims who visited the Holy Land were taken prisoners by the Saracens
and held, threatened with death, till the Christians in Europe paid
large sums of money as a ransom for their liberty. To free these
captives was a great act of charity, and is one of the corporal works of
mercy. Ransom means to pay money for another's freedom. Even now there
are sometimes captives in pagan lands.
A pilgrim is one who goes on a journey to visit some holy place for the
purpose of thus honoring God. He would not be a pilgrim if he went
merely through curiosity. He must go with the holy intention of making
his visit an act of worship. In our time pilgrimages to the Holy Land,
to Rome, and other places are quite frequent. "To harbor"--that is, to
give one who has no home a place of rest. A harbor is an inlet of the
ocean where ships can rest and be out of danger; so we can also call the
home or place of rest given to the homeless a harbor. "Sick," especially
the sick poor and those who have no friends. "To bury" those who are
strangers and have no friends. All Christians are bound to perform these
works of mercy in one way or another. We have been relieved to some
extent of doing the work ourselves by the establishment of institutions
where these things are attended to by communities of holy men or women
called religious. They take charge of asylums for the orphans, homes for
the aged and poor, hospitals for the sick, etc., while many devote
themselves to teaching in colleges, academies, and schools. But if these
good religious do the work for us, we are obliged on our part to give
them the means to carry it on. Therefore we should contribute according
to our means to charitable institutions, and indeed to all institutions
that promote the glory of God and the good of our religion. To explain
more fully, religious are self-sacrificing men and women who, wishing to
follow the evangelical counsels, dedicate their lives to the service of
God. They live together in communities approved by the Church, under the
rule and guidance of their superiors. Their day is divided between
prayer, labor, and good works, more time being given to one or other of
these according to the special end or aim of the community. The houses
in which they live are called convents or monasteries, and the societies
of which they are members are called religious orders, communities, or
congregations. In some of these religious communities of men all the
members are priests, in others some are priests and some are brothers,
and in others still all are brothers. Priests belonging to the religious
orders are called the regular clergy, to distinguish them from the
secular clergy or priests who live and labor in the parishes to which
they are assigned by their bishops. Sisters and nuns mean almost the
same thing, but we generally call those nuns who live under a more
severe rule and never leave the boundaries of their convent. In like
manner friars, monks, and brothers lead almost the same kind of life,
except that the monks practice greater penances and live under stricter
rules. A hermit is a holy man who lives alone in some desert or lonely
place, and spends his life in prayer and mortification. In the early
ages of the Church there were many of these hermits, or Fathers of the
desert, but now religious live together in communities.
The members of religious orders of men or women take three vows, namely,
of poverty, chastity, and obedience. These orders were founded by holy
persons for some special work approved of by the Church. Thus the
Dominicans were founded by St. Dominic, and their special work was to
preach the Gospel and convert heretics or persons who had fallen away
from the Faith. The Jesuit Fathers were organized by St. Ignatius
Loyola, and their work is chiefly teaching in colleges, and giving
retreats and missions. So also have the Redemptorists, Franciscans,
Passionists, etc., their special works, chiefly the giving of missions.
In a word, every community, of either men or women, must perform the
particular work for which it was instituted.
But why, you will ask, are there different religious orders? In the
first place, all persons are not fitted for the same kind of work: some
can teach, others cannot; some can bear the fatigue of nursing the sick,
and others cannot. Secondly, when Our Lord was on earth He performed
every good work and practiced every virtue perfectly. He fasted, prayed,
helped the needy, comforted the sorrowful, healed the sick, taught the
ignorant, defended the oppressed, admonished sinners, etc. It would be
impossible for any one community to imitate Our Lord in all His works,
so each community takes one or more particular works of Our Lord, and
tries to imitate Him as perfectly as possible in these at least. Some
communities devote their time to prayer; others attend the sick; others
teach, etc.; and thus when all unite their different works the combined
result is a more perfect imitation of Our Lord's life upon earth.
Lesson 20
ON THE MANNER OF MAKING A GOOD CONFESSION
*224 Q. What should we do on entering the confessional?
A. On entering the confessional we should kneel, make the Sign of the
Cross, and say to the priest: "Bless me, Father"; then add, "I confess
to Almighty God, and to you, Father, that I have sinned."
*225 Q. Which are the first things we should tell the priest in
confession?
A. The first things we should tell the priest in confession are the,
time of our last confession and whether we said the penance and went to
Holy Communion.
*226 Q. After telling the time of our last confession and Communion,
what should we do?
A. After telling the time of our last confession and Communion we should
confess all the mortal sins we have since committed, and all the venial
sins we may wish to mention.
"We may wish." We should tell every real sin we have never confessed. If
we have no mortal sin to confess, it is well to tell some kind of mortal
sin we have committed in our past life, though confessed before. We
should do this because when we have only very small sins to confess
there is always danger that we may not be truly sorry for them, and
without sorrow there is no forgiveness. But when we add to our
confession some mortal sin that we know we are sorry for, then our
sorrow extends to all our sins, and makes us certain that our confession
is a good one. If you should hear the sin of another person while you
are waiting to make your own confession, you must keep that sin secret
forever. If the person in the confessional is speaking too loud, you
should move away so as not to hear; and if you cannot move, hold your
hands on your ears so that you may not hear what is being said.
*227 Q. What must we do when the confessor asks us questions?
A. When the confessor asks us questions, we must answer them truthfully
and clearly.
*228 Q. What should we do after telling our sins?
A. After telling our sins we should listen with attention to the advice
which the confessor may think proper to give.
The priest in the confessional acts as judge, father, teacher, and
physician. As judge he listens to your accusations against yourself, and
passes sentence according to your guilt or innocence. As a father and
teacher he loves you, and tries to protect you from your enemies by
warning you against them, and teaching you the means to overcome them.
But above all, he is a physician, who will treat your soul for its ills
and restore it to spiritual health. He examines the sins you have
committed, discovers their causes, and then prescribes the remedies to
be used in overcoming them. When anything goes amiss with our bodily
health we speedily have recourse to the physician, listen anxiously to
what he has to say, and use the remedies prescribed. In the very same
way we must follow the priest's advice if we wish our souls to be cured
of their maladies. Just as a person who is unwell would not go one day
to one physician and the next day to another, so a penitent should not
change confessors without a good reason; and if you have any choice to
make let it be made in the beginning, and let it rest on worthy motives.
In a short time your confessor will understand the state of your soul,
as the physician who frequently examines you does the state of your
body. He will know all the temptations, trials, and difficulties with
which you have to contend. He will see whether you are becoming better
or worse; whether you are resisting your bad habits or falling more
deeply into them; also, whether the remedies given are suited to you,
and whether you are using them properly. All this your confessor will
know, and it will save you the trouble of always repeating, and him the
trouble of always asking. Thus the better your confessor knows you and
all the circumstances of your life, the more will he be able to help
you; for besides the forgiveness of your sins there are many other
benefits derived from the Sacrament of Penance.
But if at any time there should be danger of your making a bad
confession to your own confessor--on account of some feeling of false
shame--then go to any confessor you please; for it is a thousand times
better to seek another confessor than run the risk of making a
sacrilegious confession.
Never be so much attached to any one confessor that you would remain
away from the Sacraments a long time rather than go to another in his
absence.
You should not consider the person in the confessional, but the power he
exercises. You should be anxious concerning only this fact: Is there a
priest there who was sent by Our Lord? Is there a minister of Christ
there who has power to pardon my sins? If so, I will humbly go to him,
no matter who he is or what his dispositions.
*229 Q. How should we end our confession?
A. We should end our confession by saying, "I also accuse myself of all
the sins of my past life," telling, if we choose, one or several of our
past sins.
*230 Q. What should we do while the priest is giving us absolution?
A. While the priest is giving us absolution, we should from our heart
renew the Act of Contrition.
All, especially children, should know this act well before going to
confession.
Lesson 21
ON INDULGENCES
231 Q. What is an indulgence?
A. An indulgence is the remission in whole or in part of the temporal
punishment due to sin.
I have explained before what the temporal punishment is; namely, the
debt which we owe to God after He has forgiven our sins, and which we
must pay in order that satisfaction be made. It is, as I said, the value
of the watch we must return after we have been pardoned for the act of
stealing. I said this punishment must be blotted out by our penance.
Now, the Church gives us an easy means of so doing, by granting us
indulgences. She helps us by giving us a share in the merits of the
Blessed Virgin and of the saints. All this we have explained when
speaking in the Creed of the communion of saints.
*232 Q. Is an indulgence a pardon of sin, or a license to commit sin?
A. An indulgence is not a pardon of sin, nor a license to commit sin,
and one who is in a state of mortal sin cannot gain an indulgence.
If you are in a state of mortal sin you lose the merit of any good works
you perform. God promises to reward us for good works, and if we are in
the state of grace when we do the good works, God will keep His promise
and give us the reward; but if we are in mortal sin, we have no right or
claim to any reward for good works, because we are enemies of God. For
this reason alone we should never remain even for a short time in mortal
sin, since it is important for us to have all the merit we can. Even
when we will not repent and return to Him, God rewards us for good works
done by giving us some temporal blessings or benefits here upon earth.
He never allows any good work to go unrewarded any more than He allows
an evil deed to go unpunished. Although God is so good to us we
nevertheless lose very much by being in a state of mortal sin; for God's
grace is in some respects like the money in a bank: the more grace we
receive and the better we use it, the more He will bestow upon us. When
you deposit money in a savings bank, you get interest for it; and when
you leave the interest also in the bank, it is added to your capital,
and thus you get interest for the interest. So God not only gives us
grace to do good, but also grace for doing the good, or, in other words,
He gives us grace for using His grace.
233 Q. How many kinds of indulgences are there?
A. There are two kinds of indulgences--plenary and partial.
234 Q. What is a plenary indulgence?
A. A plenary indulgence is the full remission of the temporal punishment
due to sin.
"Full remission"; so that if you gained a plenary indulgence and died
immediately afterwards, you would go at once to Heaven. Persons go to
Purgatory, as you know, to have the temporal punishment blotted out; but
if you have no temporal punishment to make satisfaction for, there is no
Purgatory for you. Gaining a plenary indulgence requires proper
dispositions, as you may understand from its very great advantages. To
gain it we must not only hate sin and be heartily sorry even for our
venial sins, but we must not have a desire for even venial sin. We
should always try to gain a plenary indulgence, for in so doing we
always gain at least part of it, or a partial indulgence, greater or
less according to our dispositions.
235 Q. What is a partial indulgence?
A. A partial indulgence is the remission of a part of the temporal
punishment due to sin.
*236 Q. How does the Church by means of indulgences remit the temporal
punishment due to sins?
A. The Church by means of indulgences remits the temporal punishment due
to sin by applying to us the merits of Jesus Christ, and the
superabundant satisfactions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and of the
saints, which merits and satisfactions are its spiritual treasury.
"Superabundant" means more than was necessary. (See explanation of
communion of saints in the "Creed.")
237 Q. What must we do to gain an indulgence?
A. To gain an indulgence we must be in a state of grace and perform the
works enjoined.
"Works"--to visit certain churches or altars; to give alms; to say
certain prayers, etc. For a plenary indulgence it is required in
addition to go to confession and Holy Communion, and to pray for the
intention of our Holy Father the Pope; for this last requirement it is
sufficient to recite one Our Father and one Hail Mary. Now, what does
praying for the intention of the Pope or bishop or anyone else mean? It
does not mean that you are to pray for the Pope himself, but for
whatever he is praying for or wishes you to pray for. For instance, on
one day the Holy Father may be praying for the success of some missions
that he is establishing in pagan lands; on another, he may be praying
that the enemies of the Church may not succeed in their plans against
it; on another, he may be praying for the conversion of some nation, and
so on; whatever he is praying for or wishes you to pray for is called
his intention.
There are three basic ways of gaining a partial indulgence. A partial
indulgence can be gained by: 1) raising one's heart to God amidst the
duties and trials of life and making a pious invocation, even only
mentally; 2) giving of oneself or one's goods to those in need; 3)
voluntarily depriving oneself of something pleasing, in a spirit of
penance.
A partial indulgence is also granted for reciting various well-known
prayers, such as the acts of faith, hope, charity and contrition, and
for performing certain acts of devotion, such as making a Spiritual
Communion.
To gain an indulgence you must also have the intention of gaining it.
There are many prayers that we sometimes say to which indulgences are
attached, and we do not know it. How can we gain them? By making a
general intention every morning while saying our prayers to gain all the
indulgences we can during the day, whether we know them or not. For
example, there is a partial indulgence granted us every time we devoutly
make the Sign of the Cross or devoutly use an article of devotion, such
as a crucifix or scapular, properly blessed by any priest. Many may not
know of these indulgences; but if they have the general intention
mentioned above, they will gain the indulgence every time they perform
the work. In the same way, by having this intention all those who are in
the habit of going to confession every two weeks are able to gain a
plenary indulgence when they fulfill the other prescribed conditions for
gaining a plenary indulgence, even when they do not know that they are
gaining the indulgence.
Since partial indulgences were formerly designated by specific amounts
of time, you sometimes see printed after a little prayer: An indulgence
of forty days, or, an indulgence of one hundred days, or of a year, etc.
What does that mean? Does it mean that a person who said that prayer
would get out of Purgatory forty days sooner than he would have if he
had not said it? No. I told you how the early Christians were obliged to
do public penance for their sins; to stand at the door of the church and
beg the prayers of those entering. Sometimes their penance lasted for
forty days, sometimes for one hundred days, and sometimes for a longer
period. By an indulgence of forty days the Church granted the remission
of as much of the temporal punishment as the early Christians would have
received for doing forty days' public penance. Just how much of the
temporal punishment God blotted out for forty days' public penance we do
not know; but whatever it was, God blotted out just the same for one who
gained an indulgence of forty days by saying a little prayer to which
the indulgence was attached. But why, you may wonder, did the early
Christians do such penances? Because in those days their faith was
stronger than ours, and they understood better than we do the malice of
sin and the punishment it deserves. Later the Christians grew more
careless about their religion and the service of God. The Church,
therefore, wishing to save its children, made it easier for them to do
penance. If it had continued to impose the public penances, many would
not have performed them, and thus would have lost their souls.
Lesson 22
ON THE HOLY EUCHARIST
238 Q. What is the Holy Eucharist?
A. The Holy Eucharist is the Sacrament which contains the body and
blood, soul and divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ under the appearances
of bread and wine.
When we say "contains," we mean the Sacrament which is the body and
blood, etc. The Holy Eucharist is the same living body of Our Lord which
He had upon earth; but it is in a new form, under the appearances of
bread and wine. Therefore Our Lord in the tabernacle can see and hear
us.
*239 Q. When did Christ institute the Holy Eucharist?
A. Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the night
before He died.
"Last Supper," on Holy Thursday night. (See Explanation of the Passion,
Lesson 8, Question 78.)
*240 Q. Who were present when Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist?
A. When Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist the twelve Apostles were
present.
*241 Q. How did Our Lord institute the Holy Eucharist?
A. Our Lord instituted the Holy Eucharist by taking bread, blessing,
breaking, and giving to His Apostles, saying: "Take ye and eat. This is
My body"; and then by taking the cup of wine, blessing and giving it,
saying to them: "Drink ye all of this. This is My blood which shall be
shed for the remission of sins. Do this for a commemoration of Me."
"Eucharist" means thanks. Hence this Sacrament is called Eucharist,
because Our Lord gave thanks before changing the bread and wine into His
body and blood, and because the offering of it to God is the most solemn
act of thanksgiving. "Do this"--that is, the same thing I am doing,
namely, changing bread and wine into My body and blood.
"Commemoration"--that is, to remind you of Me, that you may continue to
do the same till the end of time.
*242 Q. What happened when Our Lord said, "This is My body, this is My
blood"?
A. When Our Lord said, "This is My body," the substance of the bread was
changed into the substance of His body. When He said, "This is My
blood," the substance of the wine was changed into the substance of His
blood.
"Substance" literally means that which stands underneath. Underneath
what? Underneath the outward appearances or qualities--such as color,
taste, figure, smell, etc.--that are perceptible to our senses.
Therefore we never see the substance of anything. Of this seat, for
instance, I see the color, size, and shape; I feel the hardness, etc.;
but I do not see the substance, namely, the wood of which it is made.
When the substance of anything is changed, the outward appearances
change with it. But not so in the Holy Eucharist; for by a miracle the
appearances of bread and wine remain the same after the substance has
been changed as they were before. As the substance alone is changed in
the Holy Eucharist, and as I cannot see the substance, I cannot see the
change. I am absolutely certain, however, that the change takes place,
because Our Lord said so; and I believe Him, because He could not
deceive me. He is God, and God could not tell a lie, because He is
infinite truth. This change is a great miracle, and that is the reason
we cannot understand it, though we believe it. Once at a marriage in
Cana of Galilee (John 2) Our Lord changed water into wine. The people
were poor, and Our Lord, His Blessed Mother, and the Apostles were
present at the wedding when the wine ran short; and our Blessed Lady,
always so kind to everyone, wishing to spare these poor people from
being shamed before their friends, asked Our Lord to perform the
miracle, and at her request He did so, and changed many vessels of water
into the best of wine. In that miracle Our Lord changed the substance of
the water into the substance of the wine. Why, then, could He not change
in the same way and by the same power the substance of bread and wine
into the substance of His own body and blood? When He changed the water
into wine, besides changing the substance, He changed everything else
about it; so that it had no longer the appearance of water, but everyone
could see that it was wine. But in changing the bread and wine into His
body and blood He changes only the substance, and leaves everything else
unchanged so that it still looks and tastes like bread and wine; even
after the change has taken place and you could not tell by looking at it
that it was changed. You know it only from your faith in the words of
our divine Lord, when He tells you it is changed.
Again, it is much easier to change one thing into another than to make
it entirely out of nothing. Anyone who can create out of nothing can
surely change one thing into another. Now Our Lord, being God, created
the world out of nothing; and He could therefore easily change the
substance of bread into the substance of flesh. I have said Our Lord's
body in the Holy Eucharist is a living body, and every living body
contains blood; and that is why we receive both the body and the blood
of Our Lord under the appearance of the bread alone. The priest receives
the body and blood of Our Lord under the appearance of both bread and
wine, while the people receive it only under the appearance of bread.
The early Christians used to receive it as the priest does--under the
appearance of bread and under the appearance of wine; but the Church had
to make a change on account of circumstances. First, all the people had
to drink from the same chalice or cup, and some would not like that, and
show disrespect for the Blessed Sacrament by refusing it. Then there was
great danger of spilling the precious blood, passing it from one to
another; and finally, some said that Christ's blood was not in His body
under the appearance of bread. This was false; and to show that it was
false, and for the other reasons, the Church after that gave Holy
Communion to the people under the appearance of bread alone. The Church
always believes and teaches the same truths. It always believed that the
Holy Eucharist under the appearance of bread contained also Our Lord's
blood; but it taught it more clearly when it was denied.
*243 Q. Is Jesus Christ whole and entire both under the form of bread
and under the form of wine?
A. Jesus Christ is whole and entire both under the form of bread and
under the form of wine.
*244 Q. Did anything remain of the bread and wine after their substance
had been changed into the substance of the body and blood of Our Lord?
A. After the substance of the bread and wine had been changed into the
substance of the body and blood of Our Lord there remained only the
appearances of bread and wine.
245 Q. What do you mean by the appearances of bread and wine?
A. By the appearances of bread and wine I mean the figure, the color,
the taste, and whatever appears to the senses.
"Senses"--that is, eyes, ears, etc. Thus we have the sense of seeing,
the sense of hearing, the sense of tasting, the sense of smelling, the
sense of feeling.
The Holy Eucharist is the body of Our Lord just as long as the
appearances of bread and wine remain, and when they go away Our Lord's
body goes also. For example, if a church, tabernacle and all, was buried
by a great earthquake, and after many years the people succeeded in
getting at the tabernacle and opening it, and then found in the
ciborium--that is, the vessel in which the Blessed Sacrament is kept in
the tabernacle--only black dust, Our Lord would not be there, although
He was there when the church was buried. He would not be there, because
there was no longer the appearance of bread there: it had all been
changed into ashes by time, and Our Lord left it when the change took
place. But if the appearance of bread had remained unchanged, He would
be there even after so many years.
When we receive Holy Communion, the appearance of bread remains for
about fifteen or twenty minutes after we receive, and then it changes or
disappears. Therefore during these fifteen or twenty minutes that the
appearance remains Our Lord Himself is really with us; and for that
reason we should remain about twenty minutes after Mass on the day we
receive, making a thanksgiving, speaking to Our Lord, and listening to
Him speaking to our conscience. What disrespect some people show Our
Lord by rushing out of the church immediately after Mass and Holy
Communion, sometimes beginning to talk or look around before making any
thanksgiving! When you receive Holy Communion, after returning to your
seat you need not immediately begin to read your prayerbook, but may bow
your head and speak to Our Lord while He is present with you. After the
appearances of bread vanish, Our Lord's bodily presence goes also, but
He remains with us by His grace as long as we do not fall into mortal
sin.
*246 Q. What is this change of the bread and wine into the body and
blood of Our Lord called?
A. This change of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Our Lord
is called Transubstantiation.
"Transubstantiation"--that is, the changing of one substance into
another substance; for example, the changing of the wood in a seat into
stone.
*247 Q. How was the substance of the bread and wine changed into the
substance of the body and blood of Christ?
A. The substance of the bread and wine was changed into the substance of
the body and blood of Christ by His almighty power.
*248 Q. Does this change of bread and wine into the body and blood of
Christ continue to be made in the Church?
A. This change of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ
continues to be made in the Church by Jesus Christ through the ministry
of His priests.
249 Q. When did Christ give His priests the power to change bread and
wine into His body and blood?
A. Christ gave His priests the power to change bread and wine into His
body and blood when He said to His Apostles, "Do this in commemoration
of Me."