Reading Assignment

Paragraphs 1447 to 1687

Session Lecture

Lecture Text

This session begins where the last session left of ad concludes the second part of the Catechism.

VII. The Acts of the Penitent

VIII. The Minister of This Sacrament

IX. The Effects of This Sacrament

X. Indulgences

XI. The Celebration of the Sacrament of Penance

In Brief

Contrition (remorse), Satisfaction (repairing what is possible), and firm purpose of amendment (what joins the latter to the former and vice versa) is a crucial part of the sacrament of reconciliation, one cannot put a wool over God's eyes so as to obtain forgiveness (which is already a self-sacrificial act) as though it is permission to sin. Rather, Contrition and firm purpose of amendment are the two dispositions necessary to receive forgiveness of any type or magnitude, in a way that is both genuine and effectual. This forgiveness as received from God though is sacramental i.e. it bestows grace, so it is not only an offense that punishment or retribution will not be exacted for it is a strengthening of our nature against temptation to those sins and heals much of the hurt they created. However, justice still is an actuality with regard to the temporal effects the sin created, these are not unbound by the sacrament. This is why reparation must be sought others are concerned and realities brought about but the sin must be dealt with in humanity. Children conceived must be raised, betrayals must be mitigated, and psychological wounds will need to be healed in the course of a lifetime, gossip must cease, and the offense mitigated. This sacrament in summary is meant to bring the kingdom of God from the brokenness that is our hearts, relationships, and world. It is a very direct expression of what the life, death, and resurrection of Christ accomplished. "Behold the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sins of the world". Being able to confess one's sins to a person with severe protection and also to God is not only therapeutic but symbolic. Our sins concern both God and man, even our private sins. In His Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliatio et paenitentia (15-16), John Paul II says, "...every sin is social insofar as and because it also has social repercussions...To speak of social sin means in the first place to recognize that, by virtue of human solidarity which is as mysterious and intangible as it is real and concrete, each individual's sin in some way affects others. This is the other aspect of that solidarity which on the religious level is developed in the profound and magnificent mystery of the communion of saints, thanks to which it has been possible to say that "every soul that rises above itself, raises up the world." To this law of ascent there unfortunately corresponds the law of descent. Consequently, one can speak of a communion of sin, whereby a soul that lowers itself through sin drags down with itself the church and, in some way, the whole world. In other words, there is no sin, not even the most intimate and secret one, the most strictly individual one, that exclusively concerns the person committing it. With greater or lesser violence, with greater or lesser harm, every sin has repercussions on the entire ecclesial body and the whole human family". Thus, the effects of this sacrament are that it reconciles us with the Church and God, anticipates the coming judgment.

Indulgences are a hot topic among some circles who think that is the CHurch pretending to sell salvation and some may even claim that not only is this not possible it was not the Church's to sell. The Church defines an indulgence as follows: "An indulgence is a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions through the action of the Church which, as the minister of redemption, dispenses and applies with authority the treasury of the satisfactions of Christ and the saints." (CCC 1471) This means that it is something of the Church's to give and at the same time very much not a "get out of hell free card", nor is it really its own thing since it is so bound up in repentance.

ARTICLE 5: THE ANOINTING OF THE SICK

I. It's Foundation in the Economy of Salvation

II. Who Receives and Who Administers This Sacrament?

III. How Is This Sacrament Celebrated?

IV. The Effects of the Celebration of This Sacrament

V. Viaticum, the Last Sacrament of the Christian

In Brief

"Illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude". This sacrament is ordered to help us along this path. It goes without saying that death is eminent and whether we are curred of one disease another more deadly will come. Any form of healing or illness is permitted by God according to His plan of salvation. Christ has made suffering to mean salvation and redemption rather than only destruction, death itself was transformed. Rather than an only a divergent effect of sin from God and life, both suffering and death are now a path to God, to walking with Christ in His Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. This path ends with everlasting life. The effects of this sacrament are a particular gift of the Holy Spirit, union with the passion of Christ, ecclesial grace, and preparation for the journey after death.

CHAPTER THREE: THE SACRAMENTS AT THE SERVICE OF COMMUNION

ARTICLE 6: THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS

I. Why Is This Sacrament Called "Orders"?

II. The Sacrament of Holy Orders in the Economy of Salvation

III. The Three Degrees of the Sacrament of Holy Orders

IV. The Celebration of This Sacrament

V. Who Can Confer This Sacrament?

VI. Who Can Receive This Sacrament?

VII. The Effects of the Sacrament of Holy Orders

In Brief

This type of sacrament is aimed at the salvation of others. The first three sacraments bring one into the meaning of and vocation of Christianity. The next two heal us where it is most needed. These, however, are consecration of mission. The Priesthood was well prefigured in the Old Testament, fulfilled by Christ who in everything He did model the priesthood to His disciples and sent the twelve about that exact mission. Every one of the baptized shares in the priesthood of Christ, but it is only the ordained that are sharers in the sacrificial mission of Christ, which extends forth grace through sacraments. In fact, like marriage the grace of this sacrament is lived out every day. However, even though Christ had the one priesthood, there is yet two participation in theat priesthood which have been evident from the day of Penetcost. The Apostles preached and brought the sacraments with them, and the rest of the Christian people recieved what they brought. It is ordained priests which are given the supernatural calling to be a conduit of Christ's authortiy over spiritual realities, which being a minister of the sacraments require. After all, it is not they who pull God down to us but they for whom God comes to us. Being of similar nature to Baptism and Confirmation, the effects are similar in nature but differing in boundary. The effects are an indelible character/mark on the soul ("you are a priest forver") and grace of the Holy Spirit seen according to the manner of service for which each was made and called to, most clearly in the difference between the three degrees between Bishop, Priest, and Deacon, which have been so differentiated according to Tradition and the practical needs of the people conisder along side the ability of the person to recieve graces and live them according to the Church's expectations.

ARTICLE 7: THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

I. Marriage in God's Plan

II. The Celebration of Marriage

III. Matrimonial Consent

IV. The Effects of the Sacrament of Matrimony

V. The Goods and Requirements of Conjugal Love

VI. The Domestic Church

In brief: 

Marriage is the only naturally occurring sacrament i.e. it is the only sacrament whose matter existed "from the beginning" and the form of which is written from eternity into man biologically. Marriage is a total gift of self-one to a member of the opposite sex and when made a sacrament by God and the spouses witnessed properly by at least a deacon of the Church, each spouse becomes a key part in the salvation of the other. The gift of self that vocations require of man are itself an image of Christ's love for the Church, nevertheless, marriage is the image of that love, which takes on a physical expression in Holy Matrimony alone. From such love, comes forth new creation. The height of love that this sacrament affords, makes free, and right God (through the the authorship of our bodies) brigns forth new members of His family. Therefore, any misuse of the sexual facilities whether in the heart, mind, or body are an act of sacrilege and disavow God's creative love in the name of pleasure.

CHAPTER FOUR: OTHER LITURGICAL CELEBRATIONS

ARTICLE 1: SACRAMENTALS

ARTICLE 2: CHRISTIAN FUNERALS

I. The Christian's Last Passover

II. The Celebration of Funerals

From a psychological perspective, the funeral rites of the Church are a great gift. They provide those who mourn with both closure and a rightly ordered hope of seeing the beloved deceased again through prayer for them (assisting them if applicable on their way to heaven) and through inspiring the faithful present all the more to strive for heaven. Of course, we hope our loved ones are not among those who are unrepentant and so we pray to God for mercy upon them (and when they are on earth, we ask Him to flood them with His grace), if they are imperfect and repentant, we thank God for the possibility of purgatory, if they are perfect then they would go straight to heaven.

Compendium of the Catholic Church Reading

Questions 303-356

Questions answered by the Catechism and Compendium.

THE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE AND RECONCILIATION

THE SACRAMENT OF ANOINTING OF THE SICK

CHAPTER THREE - The Sacraments at the Service of Communion and Mission

THE SACRAMENT OF HOLY ORDERS

THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY

CHAPTER FOUR - Other Liturgical Celebrations.

THE SACRAMENTALS

CHRISTIAN FUNERALS

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