For those of you who have not read Pope John Paul II's work, Theology of the Body, here it is in full. Enjoy :)
(Click on the title for the link)
Mar 13, 2010
Jan 12, 2010
The Crisis of Faith | By Fr. John Hardon, S.J.
Taken from http://www.ignatiusinsight.com/features2005/jhardon_crisisoffaith_may05.asp
The Crisis of Faith By Father John Hardon, S.J.
Every rational human being believes. When we believe we accept the word of another person. Someone knows that something is true, either from experience or reason, and we accept what he tells us because we trust that he knows what he is talking about and is not deceiving us.
On this basis the only unbeliever would be a person who is completely out of his mind. We believe that the persons whom we call our father and mother are our parents. We believe that what we are buying is what the store tells us is worth paying for. We believe that the lessons we learned in childhood are true. Who would even enter marriage unless both partners believed in the spouse with whom they were entering matrimony?
In a word, faith is part of our very nature as rational human beings. However, it is one thing to believe in other people and something else to believe in God. To believe in what people tell us is called human faith. To believe in what God has revealed is called Divine faith. To be still more clear, Divine faith properly so called is the assent of our intellect to what God has revealed, not because we comprehend what God tells us it true, but only because we accept a truth on His authority who can neither deceive, or be deceived.
God cannot deceive because He is all good and therefore cannot tell a lie. He cannot be deceived because He knows all things and therefore can never be wrong.
St. John the Evangelist raises one of the most embarrassing questions in the Bible. How is it, he asked, that we who are so ready to believe in men are so slow to believe in God? The answer is painfully obvious. We are so slow to believe in God because what He demands of us is nothing less than to accept incomprehensible mysteries which are beyond our human capacity even to conceive before they are revealed, and beyond our grasp to fully penetrate even after they are revealed.
We see that faith and revelation are related as cause and effect. God reveals Himself, who He is and what He wants; if we respond we believe.
All of this has been a prelude to the real message of this article, for the present crisis in the Catholic Church is really a crisis of faith.
What is the Crisis?
A crisis in general is a situation that was unexpected but that poses certain grave problems for urgent solution. It is in the nature of a disaster, but not quite. More accurately, it could be described as impending disaster that calls for immediate and drastic action. If action is promptly and properly taken, the impending disaster will not occur. In fact, as a result of meeting the serious problems that a crisis raises, great good will come from having risen to the critical situation.
When we say that the Church is faced with a crisis of faith, we mean just that. It is a critical period in the Church's life when millions of her faithful are confused about their beliefs. They are uncertain about what as Catholics they are to hold. And as a result they are emotionally insecure, bewildered and, in Christ's words, wandering as sheep without a shepherd.
Wherein precisely lies the crisis? It might be described as a communitarian state of mind which differs somewhat in different people. But many of them are in one of three mental attitudes towards even the most sacred mysteries of Divine revelation.
Some are in open rebellion against the faith of their fathers. They resent the fact that, as some will tell you, they had been brainwashed to believe what modern science, or scholarship, or study, or the social sciences, or psychology now show to have been useful props in the past, or perhaps convenient labels for the unknown, but these beliefs are no longer tenable today.
Other people are not yet ready to discard the Faith they may still cherish with one part of their being, maybe for emotional or ritual or personal reasons. But they have serious doubts about so much of what Catholics used to believe with the naivete of children. Some articles of faith they are willing to admit, but others they have strong reservations about.
There is so much talk nowadays about collegiality that what used to be called the papal primacy is, for such people, no longer an established article of faith.
There are so many theories going the rounds about transfinalization and transignification that belief in the real bodily presence of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist, for such people, is uncertain to say the least. That is why some priests are so casual in their indiscriminate giving of Holy Communion to anyone, whether Catholic or Protestant or, for that matter, Jewish or Hindu.
There is so much speculation everywhere, they feel, about Christ's personality, that it seems to them that to bring Christ down to our own level we must make Him a human person, who perhaps, in the Nestorian fashion, was also divine; but He only gradually developed His full awareness of who He was. He could not, it is thought, have been truly human if from the first moment of His existence He was conscious of His dual identity.
There are so many problems raised by the demographic experts, and the social scientists about the expanding world population, that not a few people seriously doubt the teaching of the Church on contraception. And besides, rearing a normal family in contraceptive societies like America would place an intolerable burden on Catholics. So they settle for questioning the Church's magisterium and follow instead the teaching of the Church's sworn enemies.
Among priests, they have heard and read so much about being open to the Spirit, so much about problems of identity, so much about optional celibacy, so much about leadership instead of authority, about relating to the world, about cultic mentality instead of sound involvement, about the Eucharist as a meal, and confession being emotionally harmful, so much about a functional priesthood, so much about the hierarchy as teachers, indeed, but not divinely authorized to command obedience.
We have acquired a whole new vocabulary about relevance, and involvement and harmonization and power politics and the third way and sensitivity programs and ritual preoccupation and respectful disobedience and communal discernment and institutionalism, that it is no wonder so many have serious doubts not only about this or that feature of Catholic life, but even about its value at all.
Given all that is happening, a third group of people are not rejecting the Faith or in serious doubt about Catholic doctrine, but they are bewildered. Modern popes have addressed in their documents the synonyms for bewilderment that besets millions of the still faithful faithful. They are confused, and distraught, and perplexed, and worried and some are all but crushed by the spectacle of a post-conciliar Church that is caught up in an interior convulsion of spirit that has rocked all of Christendom to its foundations.
In spite of brave words to the contrary, anyone familiar with what is happening is concerned; and the spectacle shows no signs of an early abating.
Why the Crisis?
Sheer realism, then, requires that we admit there is a crisis of faith in the Church. What are we to make of it? How to explain it? Why is there a crisis at all? By now many explanations have been given and they all have merit, insofar as they honestly face the facts and concede what those who still believe firmly are convinced is true: that for numerous still nominal Catholics, and for not a few of their clerical, religious and lay leaders, the unqualified faith of Catholic Christianity has been weakened and for some of them has been lost.
What complicates the issue and, in fact, is part of the crisis, is that not infrequently those who no longer interiorly believe in the integrity of God's revelation insist that they are not only Christians and Catholics but frankly better Christians and better Catholics than those whom they condescendingly call pre-counciliar, or anti-intellectual, or simply unaware of what is going on. There is no point here in answering the learned objections brought up against the historic faith of the Catholic Church. Nor is there room in the present context for dealing at length with those who speak of discontinuity of faith in place of continuity, or who opt for a continuing revelation that erases the notion of a completed revelation in the person of Jesus Christ and the apostolic age, or who insist on redefining every single premise of the Church's perennial teaching, in favor of a process theology in which everything - including God - is said to be in perpetual and never-ending change.
Why did such a crisis come about in the first place? Surely no phenomenon is without some explanation, and this one better be explained. The explanation is not hard to find. There is a crisis of faith in the Catholic Church because there has been an intrusion of alien ideas.
The moment we say this, however, we are immediately confronted with the two terms, "intrusion" and "alien ideas," for the simple reason that those responsible for the crisis will deny either that there has been an intrusion or that the new ideas are anything else except that they are "new," but they should not be called alien.
An idea is alien to any religion when it openly contradicts what that religion stands for. For example: the Catholic Church has always believed that God is all perfect because He is infinite. There are now writers, ostensibly Catholic, who say the opposite, that God is finite and, in fact, He needs us to reach whatever perfection He will eventually attain.
The Catholic Church has always believed that God became man in the Person of Jesus Christ. There are now learned writers who deny this: they believe that Jesus is somehow divine because God was close to Him, but He is really only human, the Man from Nazareth.
The Catholic Church has always believed that Christian marriage is an indissoluble union of one man and one woman until death. There are now presumably Catholic moralists who say that is part of the past. From now on (they say) even sacramental marriages can and should be dissolved with the freedom to enter a second or a third partnership after divorce.
The Catholic Church has always believed that Jesus Christ practiced the counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience, and those who receive the grace are urged to follow His example. But now there are ostensibly Catholic proponents of a new spirituality that erases this whole tradition. Instead of celibacy they propose meaningful relationships with persons of the opposite or same sex; instead of actual poverty they would substitute a subjective concern for the poor, and instead of obedience they promote shared responsibility or group consensus to replace authority.
But if these ideas are alien, in the sense of foreign to the Catholic philosophy of life, are they intrusions? Yes, they are on several counts, as anyone who knows what is taking place in the world can testify.
They are first of all an intrusion because they are unjustified by the premises of authentic Roman Catholicism. A finite God is not an infinite God; a merely human Jesus is not the Son of God who became man for our salvation; a sacramental priesthood is not a merely functional ministry; an indissoluble marriage is not a dissoluble marriage; and a purely subjective poverty or nominal celibacy or verbal obedience are not the evangelical counsels that the Church has declared were revealed to us in the life and teaching of the Savior.
Either the Catholic Church remains constant in her fundamental articles of faith, over the centuries, or she is no longer the Church founded by Christ.
These alien ideas are furthermore an intrusion because for many persons they have literally invaded people's minds by unsuspected credence being given to things that appeared orthodox but are in fact heterodox.
It is not to lay blame on particular individuals whose names by now are commonplace to anyone professionally in the sacred sciences. What is beyond question is that in many, perhaps most, cases when these vagrant ideas were first ventilated they seemed so plausible, even persuasive, that it is not surprising there have been so many victims of this massive assault on the believing Catholic mind.
But there is one more reason that must sadly be added to explain why it is justifiable to call what we are describing an invasion of alien ideas. An invasion is, by definition, done not only by an outside force and not only surreptitiously. It is also done coercively.
Of course it is not always by physical force, although physical violence even now is being exercised against millions of our fellow Christians in China, and Africa, where the most inhuman means are used to break down the resistance of priests, religious and the laity - to give up their Catholic heritage.
What is meant by intrusion is the coercive pressure: psychological and social, economic and legal, academic and professional, educational and governmental that cumulatively can become all but irresistible to conformity with the people and agencies and institutions that are in control of today's mind-shaping structures and social communications.
That some of these compulsive elements have also entered the sacred precincts of the Church's organization is not strange. There is a crusade of conformism in societies like America. Woe to anyone who dares to raise a voice in protest or who invokes the rights of conscience to protect himself from those who, in the name of conscience, are demanding allegiance to doctrinaire theories of a structure-less Church, or a cult-less priesthood, or a ruleless religious life, or that every marriage is open to ecclesiastical annulment.
Just one more observation, a plea for confidence, which means implicit trust in God.
No one who knows what the situation is, doubts that the Catholic Church is going through a veritable emergency of faith. What is an emergency but a time for urgent decisions, that is discriminating judgment? What leaders of the Church need to do today is not be shaken by the storm that is raging all around them, but to hold on literally for dear life to what Christ has revealed, to what has been defended for us by the champions of orthodoxy like Athanasius, Augustine, Jerome and Gregory the Great, lived out before us by saints and mystics like Benedict, Francis and Ignatius Loyola, like Clare, Margaret Mary and Teresa, like Elizabeth Seton and Thomas More, and experienced by us in whatever span of life we have so far lived.
There are seductive voices everywhere and some are very erudite. They may also claim numbers on their side. But no, the numbers in favor of the true Faith and the true Church are legion. They are all the myriad souls since Christ ascended to His Father who are now in the Church Triumphant. They are our intercessors before the throne of God, as they are also our consolation that we are not deceived. The present crisis is really a challenge or, better, a glorious opportunity to prove our loyalty to Christ the Truth so that one day we may possess Christ our Life who told us not to fear, "I have overcome the world." So shall we, with the help of His grace, and the Church will be the better and stronger for the experience of these critical times.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you foretold that your Church would suffer opposition and persecution, even as you did. You declared that, so far from being anxious or worried, we should actually rejoice when the world hates us and says all manner of evil against us, for your Name. Give us the courage we need to resist the onslaught of seductive untruth. Above all, give us the confidence to realize that the trials of this life are a prelude to the glory that waits us, provided we have remained unshaken in our allegiance to you and your spouse, the Holy Catholic Church, of which you are the Teacher and the Guide. Amen.
This article originally appeared in the March/April 1996 of The Catholic Faith. Like many of Fr. Hardon’s articles, it was both timely and timeless.
Father John Hardon, S.J. (b. June 18th, 1914 - d. December 30, 2000) was the Executive Editor of The Catholic Faith magazine. He was ordained on his 33rd birthday, June 18th, 1947 at West Baden Springs, Indiana. Father Hardon was a member of the Society of Jesus for 63 years and an ordained priest for 52 years. Father Hardon held a Masters degree in Philosophy from Loyola University and a Doctorate in Theology from Gregorian University in Rome. He has taught at the Jesuit School of Theology at Loyola University in Chicago and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Catholic Doctrine at St. John's University in New York. A prolific writer, he authored over forty books, including The Catholic Catechism, Religions of the World, Protestant Churches of America, Christianity in the Twentieth Century, Theology of Prayer, The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan and two question and answer catechisms on the Holy Father's encyclicals The Gospel of Life and The Splendor of Truth. In addition, he was actively involved with a number of organizations, such as the Institute on Religious Life, Marian Catechists, Eternal Life and Inter Mirifica, which publishes his catechetical courses. For more about Fr. Hardon, visit this page at Dave Armstrong’s website.
The Crisis of Faith By Father John Hardon, S.J.
Every rational human being believes. When we believe we accept the word of another person. Someone knows that something is true, either from experience or reason, and we accept what he tells us because we trust that he knows what he is talking about and is not deceiving us.
On this basis the only unbeliever would be a person who is completely out of his mind. We believe that the persons whom we call our father and mother are our parents. We believe that what we are buying is what the store tells us is worth paying for. We believe that the lessons we learned in childhood are true. Who would even enter marriage unless both partners believed in the spouse with whom they were entering matrimony?
In a word, faith is part of our very nature as rational human beings. However, it is one thing to believe in other people and something else to believe in God. To believe in what people tell us is called human faith. To believe in what God has revealed is called Divine faith. To be still more clear, Divine faith properly so called is the assent of our intellect to what God has revealed, not because we comprehend what God tells us it true, but only because we accept a truth on His authority who can neither deceive, or be deceived.
God cannot deceive because He is all good and therefore cannot tell a lie. He cannot be deceived because He knows all things and therefore can never be wrong.
St. John the Evangelist raises one of the most embarrassing questions in the Bible. How is it, he asked, that we who are so ready to believe in men are so slow to believe in God? The answer is painfully obvious. We are so slow to believe in God because what He demands of us is nothing less than to accept incomprehensible mysteries which are beyond our human capacity even to conceive before they are revealed, and beyond our grasp to fully penetrate even after they are revealed.
We see that faith and revelation are related as cause and effect. God reveals Himself, who He is and what He wants; if we respond we believe.
All of this has been a prelude to the real message of this article, for the present crisis in the Catholic Church is really a crisis of faith.
What is the Crisis?
A crisis in general is a situation that was unexpected but that poses certain grave problems for urgent solution. It is in the nature of a disaster, but not quite. More accurately, it could be described as impending disaster that calls for immediate and drastic action. If action is promptly and properly taken, the impending disaster will not occur. In fact, as a result of meeting the serious problems that a crisis raises, great good will come from having risen to the critical situation.
When we say that the Church is faced with a crisis of faith, we mean just that. It is a critical period in the Church's life when millions of her faithful are confused about their beliefs. They are uncertain about what as Catholics they are to hold. And as a result they are emotionally insecure, bewildered and, in Christ's words, wandering as sheep without a shepherd.
Wherein precisely lies the crisis? It might be described as a communitarian state of mind which differs somewhat in different people. But many of them are in one of three mental attitudes towards even the most sacred mysteries of Divine revelation.
Some are in open rebellion against the faith of their fathers. They resent the fact that, as some will tell you, they had been brainwashed to believe what modern science, or scholarship, or study, or the social sciences, or psychology now show to have been useful props in the past, or perhaps convenient labels for the unknown, but these beliefs are no longer tenable today.
Other people are not yet ready to discard the Faith they may still cherish with one part of their being, maybe for emotional or ritual or personal reasons. But they have serious doubts about so much of what Catholics used to believe with the naivete of children. Some articles of faith they are willing to admit, but others they have strong reservations about.
There is so much talk nowadays about collegiality that what used to be called the papal primacy is, for such people, no longer an established article of faith.
There are so many theories going the rounds about transfinalization and transignification that belief in the real bodily presence of Christ in the Most Holy Eucharist, for such people, is uncertain to say the least. That is why some priests are so casual in their indiscriminate giving of Holy Communion to anyone, whether Catholic or Protestant or, for that matter, Jewish or Hindu.
There is so much speculation everywhere, they feel, about Christ's personality, that it seems to them that to bring Christ down to our own level we must make Him a human person, who perhaps, in the Nestorian fashion, was also divine; but He only gradually developed His full awareness of who He was. He could not, it is thought, have been truly human if from the first moment of His existence He was conscious of His dual identity.
There are so many problems raised by the demographic experts, and the social scientists about the expanding world population, that not a few people seriously doubt the teaching of the Church on contraception. And besides, rearing a normal family in contraceptive societies like America would place an intolerable burden on Catholics. So they settle for questioning the Church's magisterium and follow instead the teaching of the Church's sworn enemies.
Among priests, they have heard and read so much about being open to the Spirit, so much about problems of identity, so much about optional celibacy, so much about leadership instead of authority, about relating to the world, about cultic mentality instead of sound involvement, about the Eucharist as a meal, and confession being emotionally harmful, so much about a functional priesthood, so much about the hierarchy as teachers, indeed, but not divinely authorized to command obedience.
We have acquired a whole new vocabulary about relevance, and involvement and harmonization and power politics and the third way and sensitivity programs and ritual preoccupation and respectful disobedience and communal discernment and institutionalism, that it is no wonder so many have serious doubts not only about this or that feature of Catholic life, but even about its value at all.
Given all that is happening, a third group of people are not rejecting the Faith or in serious doubt about Catholic doctrine, but they are bewildered. Modern popes have addressed in their documents the synonyms for bewilderment that besets millions of the still faithful faithful. They are confused, and distraught, and perplexed, and worried and some are all but crushed by the spectacle of a post-conciliar Church that is caught up in an interior convulsion of spirit that has rocked all of Christendom to its foundations.
In spite of brave words to the contrary, anyone familiar with what is happening is concerned; and the spectacle shows no signs of an early abating.
Why the Crisis?
Sheer realism, then, requires that we admit there is a crisis of faith in the Church. What are we to make of it? How to explain it? Why is there a crisis at all? By now many explanations have been given and they all have merit, insofar as they honestly face the facts and concede what those who still believe firmly are convinced is true: that for numerous still nominal Catholics, and for not a few of their clerical, religious and lay leaders, the unqualified faith of Catholic Christianity has been weakened and for some of them has been lost.
What complicates the issue and, in fact, is part of the crisis, is that not infrequently those who no longer interiorly believe in the integrity of God's revelation insist that they are not only Christians and Catholics but frankly better Christians and better Catholics than those whom they condescendingly call pre-counciliar, or anti-intellectual, or simply unaware of what is going on. There is no point here in answering the learned objections brought up against the historic faith of the Catholic Church. Nor is there room in the present context for dealing at length with those who speak of discontinuity of faith in place of continuity, or who opt for a continuing revelation that erases the notion of a completed revelation in the person of Jesus Christ and the apostolic age, or who insist on redefining every single premise of the Church's perennial teaching, in favor of a process theology in which everything - including God - is said to be in perpetual and never-ending change.
Why did such a crisis come about in the first place? Surely no phenomenon is without some explanation, and this one better be explained. The explanation is not hard to find. There is a crisis of faith in the Catholic Church because there has been an intrusion of alien ideas.
The moment we say this, however, we are immediately confronted with the two terms, "intrusion" and "alien ideas," for the simple reason that those responsible for the crisis will deny either that there has been an intrusion or that the new ideas are anything else except that they are "new," but they should not be called alien.
An idea is alien to any religion when it openly contradicts what that religion stands for. For example: the Catholic Church has always believed that God is all perfect because He is infinite. There are now writers, ostensibly Catholic, who say the opposite, that God is finite and, in fact, He needs us to reach whatever perfection He will eventually attain.
The Catholic Church has always believed that God became man in the Person of Jesus Christ. There are now learned writers who deny this: they believe that Jesus is somehow divine because God was close to Him, but He is really only human, the Man from Nazareth.
The Catholic Church has always believed that Christian marriage is an indissoluble union of one man and one woman until death. There are now presumably Catholic moralists who say that is part of the past. From now on (they say) even sacramental marriages can and should be dissolved with the freedom to enter a second or a third partnership after divorce.
The Catholic Church has always believed that Jesus Christ practiced the counsels of chastity, poverty, and obedience, and those who receive the grace are urged to follow His example. But now there are ostensibly Catholic proponents of a new spirituality that erases this whole tradition. Instead of celibacy they propose meaningful relationships with persons of the opposite or same sex; instead of actual poverty they would substitute a subjective concern for the poor, and instead of obedience they promote shared responsibility or group consensus to replace authority.
But if these ideas are alien, in the sense of foreign to the Catholic philosophy of life, are they intrusions? Yes, they are on several counts, as anyone who knows what is taking place in the world can testify.
They are first of all an intrusion because they are unjustified by the premises of authentic Roman Catholicism. A finite God is not an infinite God; a merely human Jesus is not the Son of God who became man for our salvation; a sacramental priesthood is not a merely functional ministry; an indissoluble marriage is not a dissoluble marriage; and a purely subjective poverty or nominal celibacy or verbal obedience are not the evangelical counsels that the Church has declared were revealed to us in the life and teaching of the Savior.
Either the Catholic Church remains constant in her fundamental articles of faith, over the centuries, or she is no longer the Church founded by Christ.
These alien ideas are furthermore an intrusion because for many persons they have literally invaded people's minds by unsuspected credence being given to things that appeared orthodox but are in fact heterodox.
It is not to lay blame on particular individuals whose names by now are commonplace to anyone professionally in the sacred sciences. What is beyond question is that in many, perhaps most, cases when these vagrant ideas were first ventilated they seemed so plausible, even persuasive, that it is not surprising there have been so many victims of this massive assault on the believing Catholic mind.
But there is one more reason that must sadly be added to explain why it is justifiable to call what we are describing an invasion of alien ideas. An invasion is, by definition, done not only by an outside force and not only surreptitiously. It is also done coercively.
Of course it is not always by physical force, although physical violence even now is being exercised against millions of our fellow Christians in China, and Africa, where the most inhuman means are used to break down the resistance of priests, religious and the laity - to give up their Catholic heritage.
What is meant by intrusion is the coercive pressure: psychological and social, economic and legal, academic and professional, educational and governmental that cumulatively can become all but irresistible to conformity with the people and agencies and institutions that are in control of today's mind-shaping structures and social communications.
That some of these compulsive elements have also entered the sacred precincts of the Church's organization is not strange. There is a crusade of conformism in societies like America. Woe to anyone who dares to raise a voice in protest or who invokes the rights of conscience to protect himself from those who, in the name of conscience, are demanding allegiance to doctrinaire theories of a structure-less Church, or a cult-less priesthood, or a ruleless religious life, or that every marriage is open to ecclesiastical annulment.
Just one more observation, a plea for confidence, which means implicit trust in God.
No one who knows what the situation is, doubts that the Catholic Church is going through a veritable emergency of faith. What is an emergency but a time for urgent decisions, that is discriminating judgment? What leaders of the Church need to do today is not be shaken by the storm that is raging all around them, but to hold on literally for dear life to what Christ has revealed, to what has been defended for us by the champions of orthodoxy like Athanasius, Augustine, Jerome and Gregory the Great, lived out before us by saints and mystics like Benedict, Francis and Ignatius Loyola, like Clare, Margaret Mary and Teresa, like Elizabeth Seton and Thomas More, and experienced by us in whatever span of life we have so far lived.
There are seductive voices everywhere and some are very erudite. They may also claim numbers on their side. But no, the numbers in favor of the true Faith and the true Church are legion. They are all the myriad souls since Christ ascended to His Father who are now in the Church Triumphant. They are our intercessors before the throne of God, as they are also our consolation that we are not deceived. The present crisis is really a challenge or, better, a glorious opportunity to prove our loyalty to Christ the Truth so that one day we may possess Christ our Life who told us not to fear, "I have overcome the world." So shall we, with the help of His grace, and the Church will be the better and stronger for the experience of these critical times.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, you foretold that your Church would suffer opposition and persecution, even as you did. You declared that, so far from being anxious or worried, we should actually rejoice when the world hates us and says all manner of evil against us, for your Name. Give us the courage we need to resist the onslaught of seductive untruth. Above all, give us the confidence to realize that the trials of this life are a prelude to the glory that waits us, provided we have remained unshaken in our allegiance to you and your spouse, the Holy Catholic Church, of which you are the Teacher and the Guide. Amen.
This article originally appeared in the March/April 1996 of The Catholic Faith. Like many of Fr. Hardon’s articles, it was both timely and timeless.
Father John Hardon, S.J. (b. June 18th, 1914 - d. December 30, 2000) was the Executive Editor of The Catholic Faith magazine. He was ordained on his 33rd birthday, June 18th, 1947 at West Baden Springs, Indiana. Father Hardon was a member of the Society of Jesus for 63 years and an ordained priest for 52 years. Father Hardon held a Masters degree in Philosophy from Loyola University and a Doctorate in Theology from Gregorian University in Rome. He has taught at the Jesuit School of Theology at Loyola University in Chicago and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Catholic Doctrine at St. John's University in New York. A prolific writer, he authored over forty books, including The Catholic Catechism, Religions of the World, Protestant Churches of America, Christianity in the Twentieth Century, Theology of Prayer, The Catholic Lifetime Reading Plan and two question and answer catechisms on the Holy Father's encyclicals The Gospel of Life and The Splendor of Truth. In addition, he was actively involved with a number of organizations, such as the Institute on Religious Life, Marian Catechists, Eternal Life and Inter Mirifica, which publishes his catechetical courses. For more about Fr. Hardon, visit this page at Dave Armstrong’s website.
Ephesians 4:17-24- Out with the Old in with the new!
I figured that a good place to begin the new year and this new venture into blogging would be to start by examining what we no longer should do. I came across this passage in the course of my daily readings and was struck by its immediate sense of speech and ability to cut to the core of the issue: Paul is outlining here the way many of us have lived. At some point or another in fact I think all of us have fallen into the trap which Paul expunges in his letter to the Ephesians. He speaks about the Gentiles "darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart, they have become callous and have handed themselves over to licentiousness for the practice of every kind of impurity to excess." (Eph4:18-19). This darkening of understanding is a very sad state because it is at that point that one becomes so deluded as to not even realize their separation from God; they literally cannot see the everlasting and ever present light of Christ. Regardless of whether they see it or not, He is there calling to us all. The words Paul uses show the truth of what is happening when we become separated from God: our minds darken, we become callous, hard of heart, and many give up on trying to do any good and submit wholly to vices. It is easier to ignore the fact that this is something we know is wrong and continue to do it even going further still and saturating our minds in our particular vice so we become surrounded by it and feel we cannot escape. But we can. It seems hard but there is a lot of help. God Himself came down to help us and forgive us for doing exactly this.
It always appears to me that one popular attack on Christians and most organized religions is that people who believe are "ignorant" or have a narrow minded perspective. Atheists take pride in feeling superior to believers because they know they are smarter than the billions of fools who still believe we are not random cosmic waste somehow created by the disgusting minutia of science and instead by the grace of God. Paul here preaches the truth against these arguments which are completely backwards. It is not those who have heard the Word of God that are ignorant but those who ignore it out of a desire to seem intelligent or smarter than their creator. They grow callous and bitter and pride overrules true reason. One who lives in darkness grows a new sense of vision that is not true to what is actually there. Everything is hazy and as the pupil dilates its ability to discern truth from fiction blurs completely so the opposite of reality is the only way one sees- an atheist calls truth false and proclaims a false truth. The body in darkness does what is only natural to it which is to seek the light. The eye is looking for Christ constantly but the mind orders the eyelid to remain shut (perhaps they are afraid of being blinded by the truth and forced to see themselves outside the dark niche they’ve dug out). This act is little more respectable than a child sticking their fingers in the ear and saying "I'm not listening na na na na na." It is hard to think of something indeed more narrowminded than this kind of absolute refusal to look at the truth that lies outside of themselves.
This can be an extreme case as with an atheist or a minor case such as many of us have. There are times in our lives when we close our eyes and fall into that darkness. But that fall is not the important part. The important part is the forgiveness granted after genuine sorrow over the sin. We are asked to "put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth." (Eph4:22-24) . We are given an irreversable mark at baptism with the Holy Spirit and are called to live in that new identity through the teachings of Jesus and are even allowed to enter into the Body of Christ through the Eucharist. After all that darkness we are told to enter the beauty of God's light and live our new life there. Do not forget the sins of the past, keep them in mind as to not commit them again, but do not dwell ever again in the darkness that they led to. "Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength!" (Neh8:10). Put on the new self and embrace this happy existence as a child of God!
I'm going to try and write the next post on the passage following this which sets up some of the ways to put on this new self (Eph4:25-32)
~Anthony
It always appears to me that one popular attack on Christians and most organized religions is that people who believe are "ignorant" or have a narrow minded perspective. Atheists take pride in feeling superior to believers because they know they are smarter than the billions of fools who still believe we are not random cosmic waste somehow created by the disgusting minutia of science and instead by the grace of God. Paul here preaches the truth against these arguments which are completely backwards. It is not those who have heard the Word of God that are ignorant but those who ignore it out of a desire to seem intelligent or smarter than their creator. They grow callous and bitter and pride overrules true reason. One who lives in darkness grows a new sense of vision that is not true to what is actually there. Everything is hazy and as the pupil dilates its ability to discern truth from fiction blurs completely so the opposite of reality is the only way one sees- an atheist calls truth false and proclaims a false truth. The body in darkness does what is only natural to it which is to seek the light. The eye is looking for Christ constantly but the mind orders the eyelid to remain shut (perhaps they are afraid of being blinded by the truth and forced to see themselves outside the dark niche they’ve dug out). This act is little more respectable than a child sticking their fingers in the ear and saying "I'm not listening na na na na na." It is hard to think of something indeed more narrowminded than this kind of absolute refusal to look at the truth that lies outside of themselves.
This can be an extreme case as with an atheist or a minor case such as many of us have. There are times in our lives when we close our eyes and fall into that darkness. But that fall is not the important part. The important part is the forgiveness granted after genuine sorrow over the sin. We are asked to "put away the old self of your former way of life, corrupted through deceitful desires, and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self created in God's way in righteousness and holiness of truth." (Eph4:22-24) . We are given an irreversable mark at baptism with the Holy Spirit and are called to live in that new identity through the teachings of Jesus and are even allowed to enter into the Body of Christ through the Eucharist. After all that darkness we are told to enter the beauty of God's light and live our new life there. Do not forget the sins of the past, keep them in mind as to not commit them again, but do not dwell ever again in the darkness that they led to. "Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the Lord must be your strength!" (Neh8:10). Put on the new self and embrace this happy existence as a child of God!
I'm going to try and write the next post on the passage following this which sets up some of the ways to put on this new self (Eph4:25-32)
~Anthony
Jan 8, 2010
Examination of Conscience
This is an examination of conscience that I found on this website: http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwillingshepherds.com%2FExamination.html&h=2514c8f4fb201faa8577cc5ad9966dbd
How are you to make an examination of conscience? THINK ABOUT YOUR SINS.
Examine your conscience:
1. On the Ten Commandments of God.
2. On the Commandments of the Church.
3. On the particular duties of your state of life.
4. On the Seven Deadly Sins.
And consider where in and how often you have offended God by thought, word, deed, or omission. REMEMBER ALWAYS TO COUNT YOUR SINS. There are certain words never to be used in the confessional. Never say sometimes, a good many times, not often, very often. Never use such expressions, because they are all vague, indefinite terms; they do not give the priest any idea of the exact number of one’s sins. Tell what you said, and how many times you said it. Tell what you did, and the number of times you did it. If you cannot give the exact number, give it as nearly as you can. Tell about how often. God does not require impossibilities. Doing the best you can, you need have no fear of telling a lie. To come as nearly as you can to the number is not lying. It is all you can do. But if you find this too difficult, because you have been absent from Confession a long time, then give an average number of the sins you have committed daily or weekly or monthly. Put one day or one week or one month with another, and see about how often in a day or in the week or in the month you have been in the habit of committing each sin. Moreover, have some system in examining yourself and in telling your sins. Follow the order of the commandments. Separate your different sins, one kind from another, and count how many you have of each. Act like a man who has a quantity of money of different denominations. He separates the different pieces according to their value, and, counting each kind, soon knows the value of the whole.
If a person cannot read let some one read the Examine of Conscience for him. Remember you must COUNT YOUR SINS before going to confession.
EXAMINE OF CONSCIENCE
First Commandment
I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.
I denied, or doubted my faith _____ Times a week, or month.
I murmured against God _____ Times a week, or month.
I despaired of His mercy _____ Times a week, or month.
I missed my daily prayers _____ Times a week, or month.
I went to places of false worship _____ Times a week, or month.
I talked against the Church, priests, or faith _____ Times a week, or month.
I went to fortune tellers _____ Times a week, or month.
I was dealing with the occult-i.e. Ouija Board _____ Times a week, or month
I was guilty of superstitious practices _____ Times a week, or month.
I was guilty of excessive materialism _____ Times a week, or month.
I was guilty of malice (deliberate choice of evil) _____ Times a week, or month
I read books contrary to faith _____ Times a week, or month.
In counting your sins, if you cannot give the exact number, average, tell as nearly as you can, about how often you have committed each.
Second Commandment
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
I swore by name of God (Blasphemy) _____ Times a week, or month.
I swore by name of Jesus (Blasphemy) _____ Times a week, or month.
I cursed others by saying: God damn you _____ Times a week, or month.
I cursed my children and wife _____ Times a week, or month.
I cursed in the hearing of the young _____ Times a week, or month.
I perjured myself by swearing falsely in court _____ Times a week, or month.
I took rash and unnecessary oaths _____ Times a week, or month.
I provoked others to curse _____ Times a week, or month.
I did not prevent cursing when I could and should _____ Times a week, or month.
I spoke against saints, holy things and pious practices. _____ Times a week, or month.
Third Commandment
Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day.
I missed Mass on Sunday & Holydays through my fault _____ Times a week, or month.
I spent a great part of these days in sinful occupations _____ Times a week, or month.
I was late for Mass by my own fault _____ Times a week, or month.
I kept my wife, children or employees from Mass _____ Times a week, or month.
I assisted at Mass with willful distractions _____ Times a week, or month.
I engaged in servile works on Sunday and Holydays without necessity _____ Times a week, or month.
Fourth Commandment
Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother.
1. Duty of Children
I disobeyed my parents/teachers/leaders in important matters _____ Times a day, or week.
I caused them to be angry: I grieved them _____ Times a day, or week.
I used insulting language to them _____ Times a day, or week.
I kept or wasted my wages I should have given to them _____ Times.
I did not support them _____ Times.
I incited my brothers and sisters against them _____ Times.
I neglected to write them, or send them help _____ Months _____ years.
I neglected them in sickness, in death _____ Months _____ years
2. Duties of Husbands and Fathers
I grieved, abused, struck my wife _____ Times
I accused her wrongfully _____ Times
I neglected to provide for my family _____ Times
I gave my children bad example _____ Times
I failed to correct their faults _____ Times
I neglected to instruct them in religion _____ Times
I interfered with their religious vocation _____ Times
3. Duties of Wives and Mothers
I disobeyed my husband _____ Times.
I caused my children to disobey and dishonor him _____ Times.
I talked of his faults to my children or neighbors _____ Times.
I neglected to correct my children _____ Times.
I gave them bad example _____ Times.
I did not instruct them in their religion _____ Times.
I interfered with their religious vocation _____ Times.
Under this commandment masters and mistresses, employers and employees should examine themselves on their respective duties.
Fifth Commandment
Thou shalt not kill.
I was angry _____ Times.
I caused others to become angry _____ Times.
I was quarreling or fighting _____ Times.
I desired the death of others _____ Times.
I cherished hatred to others _____ Times.
I've used or approved of artificial birth control _____ Times.
I refused to speak or to be reconciled to others _____ Times.
I caused the death of another by negligence _____ Times.
I brought dishonor to family, school, community, or the Church _____ Times.
I have been guilty of detraction (telling an unkind truth about another) _____ Times.
I led others to commit sin, by word or example _____ Times.
I Used illegal drugs _____ Times.
For physicians, parents, others, - caused, counseled, consented to abortion. Abortion is a case reserved by the Holy See to Bishops.
Sixth Commandment and Ninth Commandment
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.
Here the penitent must seriously consider past thoughts, words, and actions against these commandments. If one had the misfortune to break them, one must tell whether one is single or married; whether thoughts, words, desires, or acts referred to single or married persons or relatives.
I had premarital sex, including oral sex, intercourse, impure touching of another _____ Persons_____ Times.
I took pleasure in impure thoughts _____ Times a day.
I had impure desires _____ Times a day
I spoke immodestly in the hearing of _____ Persons_____ Times a day.
I boasted of sins of impurity _____ Times a day_____ a week.
I sang or listened to immodest songs _____ Times a day_____ a week.
I read immodest books, papers, or writings _____ Times.
I was guilty of immodest looks _____ Times a week
I kept, showed, looked at immodest pictures/pornographic material _____ Times a week.
I went to immodest places of amusement _____ Times a week.
I was guilty of immodest acts (See note above, and tell what these acts were) _____ Times.
I committed homosexuals actions _____ Persons_____ Times.
I committed immodest acts alone _____ Times.
I was guilty of the sin of Onanism (masturbation, withdrawal method) _____ Times.
In the Book of Genesis Onan was commanded by his father to impregnate the widow of his slain brother and to raise the offspring of the union. In order to avoid raising descendants for his late brother, however, Onan engaged in coitus interruptus.
There are hidden sins known only to God and the sinner. These he must also tell, and the number of times.
Seventh Commandment and Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.
I stole goods to the amount of $ _____, _____ Times.
I destroyed property, defrauded insurance companies $ _____, _____ Times.
I took from my employers $ _____, _____ Times.
I stole $____ worth, but restored, though able to return all, only $______ Worth
I wasted time for which I was paid work, value of $ _____, _____ Times.
I injured others in their employment or goods $ _____, _____ Times.
I neglected to pay my bills, just debts, amounting to $ _____, _____ Times.
I defrauded in weights and measures $ _____, _____ Times.
I defrauded those employed by me $ _____, _____ Times.
I unjustly deferred the payment of their wages $ _____, _____ Times.
I desired to possess unjustly my neighbor’s goods _____ Times.
Eighth Commandment
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
I told lies _____ Times.
I seriously injured my neighbor’s character, by publishing his secret faults _____ Times.
I carried stories and caused trouble _____ Times.
I told a deliberate lie to the injury of my neighbor _____ Times.
I spoke without necessity of the known faults of others _____ Times.
I've broken promises deliberately _____ Times.
I am guilty of calumny-telling lies about one another _____ Times.
I failed to defend my neighbor’s character _____ Times.
I encouraged detraction or calumny, or listened to it with complacency _____ Times.
I failed to make reparation for sins of tongue _____ Times.
Commandments of the Church
I neglected my yearly confession and Easter Communion _____ Times.
I attempted marriage contrary to the law of the Church _____ Times.
I neglected, when able, to support the Church _____ Times.
I ate meat on days of abstinence, without permission or necessity. _____ Times.
I caused others to eat meat on days of abstinence _____ Times.
I broke the fasts of the Church _____ Times.
I caused others to break the fasts of the Church _____ Times.
The Seven Deadly Sins
I was guilty of gluttony _____ Times.
I was drunk _____ Times.
I caused others to be drunk _____ Times.
I gave liquor to those drunk _____ Times.
I was slothful in religious exercises _____ Times.
I was lazy and idle _____ Times.
I was envious _____ Times.
I was yearning for impure pleasures _____ Times.
I have had an immoderate desire for earthly goods _____ Times.
I have had an inordinate desire for revenge _____ Times.
I was proud _____ Times
The Four Sins Crying to Heaven for Vengeance
Willful murder (including abortion) _____ Times.
The sin of Sodom. (unnatural sex) _____ Times.
Oppression of the poor. _____ Times.
Defrauding laborers of their wages. _____ Times
The Six Sins against the Holy Ghost
Presumption of God's mercy-sinning and saying God must forgive me _____ Times.
Despair-to believe that god will refuse to forgive you _____ Times.
To attack as false or questioning the known truth. _____ Times.
Envy at another's spiritual good _____ Times.
Obstinacy in sin-refusing to stop known sinful behavior _____ Times.
Final impenitence-refusing to accept God's mercy at moment of death _____ Times.
Nine Ways of being Accessory to Another's Sin
By counsel-talking one into sin _____ Times.
By command-telling one to sin _____ Times.
By consent- agreeing with the sin _____ Times.
By provocation- to pressure one into sin _____ Times.
By praise or flattery- congratulating the sin committed by others _____ Times.
By concealment- covering up the sin for another _____ Times.
By partaking- approving sin by assisting in it _____ Times.
By silence-by not speaking up against the sin _____ Times.
By defense of the ill done- rationalizing the sin done or will be done _____ Times.
Also, don't forget to always confess all Venial sins that you might have committed-i.e., ingratitude, reckless driving, selfishness, rudeness etc.
[for more on sin: http://communityofhopeinc.org/Catholic%20Beliefs/sin.htm#7%20failures ]
How are you to make an examination of conscience? THINK ABOUT YOUR SINS.
Examine your conscience:
1. On the Ten Commandments of God.
2. On the Commandments of the Church.
3. On the particular duties of your state of life.
4. On the Seven Deadly Sins.
And consider where in and how often you have offended God by thought, word, deed, or omission. REMEMBER ALWAYS TO COUNT YOUR SINS. There are certain words never to be used in the confessional. Never say sometimes, a good many times, not often, very often. Never use such expressions, because they are all vague, indefinite terms; they do not give the priest any idea of the exact number of one’s sins. Tell what you said, and how many times you said it. Tell what you did, and the number of times you did it. If you cannot give the exact number, give it as nearly as you can. Tell about how often. God does not require impossibilities. Doing the best you can, you need have no fear of telling a lie. To come as nearly as you can to the number is not lying. It is all you can do. But if you find this too difficult, because you have been absent from Confession a long time, then give an average number of the sins you have committed daily or weekly or monthly. Put one day or one week or one month with another, and see about how often in a day or in the week or in the month you have been in the habit of committing each sin. Moreover, have some system in examining yourself and in telling your sins. Follow the order of the commandments. Separate your different sins, one kind from another, and count how many you have of each. Act like a man who has a quantity of money of different denominations. He separates the different pieces according to their value, and, counting each kind, soon knows the value of the whole.
If a person cannot read let some one read the Examine of Conscience for him. Remember you must COUNT YOUR SINS before going to confession.
EXAMINE OF CONSCIENCE
First Commandment
I am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not have strange gods before me.
I denied, or doubted my faith _____ Times a week, or month.
I murmured against God _____ Times a week, or month.
I despaired of His mercy _____ Times a week, or month.
I missed my daily prayers _____ Times a week, or month.
I went to places of false worship _____ Times a week, or month.
I talked against the Church, priests, or faith _____ Times a week, or month.
I went to fortune tellers _____ Times a week, or month.
I was dealing with the occult-i.e. Ouija Board _____ Times a week, or month
I was guilty of superstitious practices _____ Times a week, or month.
I was guilty of excessive materialism _____ Times a week, or month.
I was guilty of malice (deliberate choice of evil) _____ Times a week, or month
I read books contrary to faith _____ Times a week, or month.
In counting your sins, if you cannot give the exact number, average, tell as nearly as you can, about how often you have committed each.
Second Commandment
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
I swore by name of God (Blasphemy) _____ Times a week, or month.
I swore by name of Jesus (Blasphemy) _____ Times a week, or month.
I cursed others by saying: God damn you _____ Times a week, or month.
I cursed my children and wife _____ Times a week, or month.
I cursed in the hearing of the young _____ Times a week, or month.
I perjured myself by swearing falsely in court _____ Times a week, or month.
I took rash and unnecessary oaths _____ Times a week, or month.
I provoked others to curse _____ Times a week, or month.
I did not prevent cursing when I could and should _____ Times a week, or month.
I spoke against saints, holy things and pious practices. _____ Times a week, or month.
Third Commandment
Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath Day.
I missed Mass on Sunday & Holydays through my fault _____ Times a week, or month.
I spent a great part of these days in sinful occupations _____ Times a week, or month.
I was late for Mass by my own fault _____ Times a week, or month.
I kept my wife, children or employees from Mass _____ Times a week, or month.
I assisted at Mass with willful distractions _____ Times a week, or month.
I engaged in servile works on Sunday and Holydays without necessity _____ Times a week, or month.
Fourth Commandment
Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother.
1. Duty of Children
I disobeyed my parents/teachers/leaders in important matters _____ Times a day, or week.
I caused them to be angry: I grieved them _____ Times a day, or week.
I used insulting language to them _____ Times a day, or week.
I kept or wasted my wages I should have given to them _____ Times.
I did not support them _____ Times.
I incited my brothers and sisters against them _____ Times.
I neglected to write them, or send them help _____ Months _____ years.
I neglected them in sickness, in death _____ Months _____ years
2. Duties of Husbands and Fathers
I grieved, abused, struck my wife _____ Times
I accused her wrongfully _____ Times
I neglected to provide for my family _____ Times
I gave my children bad example _____ Times
I failed to correct their faults _____ Times
I neglected to instruct them in religion _____ Times
I interfered with their religious vocation _____ Times
3. Duties of Wives and Mothers
I disobeyed my husband _____ Times.
I caused my children to disobey and dishonor him _____ Times.
I talked of his faults to my children or neighbors _____ Times.
I neglected to correct my children _____ Times.
I gave them bad example _____ Times.
I did not instruct them in their religion _____ Times.
I interfered with their religious vocation _____ Times.
Under this commandment masters and mistresses, employers and employees should examine themselves on their respective duties.
Fifth Commandment
Thou shalt not kill.
I was angry _____ Times.
I caused others to become angry _____ Times.
I was quarreling or fighting _____ Times.
I desired the death of others _____ Times.
I cherished hatred to others _____ Times.
I've used or approved of artificial birth control _____ Times.
I refused to speak or to be reconciled to others _____ Times.
I caused the death of another by negligence _____ Times.
I brought dishonor to family, school, community, or the Church _____ Times.
I have been guilty of detraction (telling an unkind truth about another) _____ Times.
I led others to commit sin, by word or example _____ Times.
I Used illegal drugs _____ Times.
For physicians, parents, others, - caused, counseled, consented to abortion. Abortion is a case reserved by the Holy See to Bishops.
Sixth Commandment and Ninth Commandment
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.
Here the penitent must seriously consider past thoughts, words, and actions against these commandments. If one had the misfortune to break them, one must tell whether one is single or married; whether thoughts, words, desires, or acts referred to single or married persons or relatives.
I had premarital sex, including oral sex, intercourse, impure touching of another _____ Persons_____ Times.
I took pleasure in impure thoughts _____ Times a day.
I had impure desires _____ Times a day
I spoke immodestly in the hearing of _____ Persons_____ Times a day.
I boasted of sins of impurity _____ Times a day_____ a week.
I sang or listened to immodest songs _____ Times a day_____ a week.
I read immodest books, papers, or writings _____ Times.
I was guilty of immodest looks _____ Times a week
I kept, showed, looked at immodest pictures/pornographic material _____ Times a week.
I went to immodest places of amusement _____ Times a week.
I was guilty of immodest acts (See note above, and tell what these acts were) _____ Times.
I committed homosexuals actions _____ Persons_____ Times.
I committed immodest acts alone _____ Times.
I was guilty of the sin of Onanism (masturbation, withdrawal method) _____ Times.
In the Book of Genesis Onan was commanded by his father to impregnate the widow of his slain brother and to raise the offspring of the union. In order to avoid raising descendants for his late brother, however, Onan engaged in coitus interruptus.
There are hidden sins known only to God and the sinner. These he must also tell, and the number of times.
Seventh Commandment and Tenth Commandment
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.
I stole goods to the amount of $ _____, _____ Times.
I destroyed property, defrauded insurance companies $ _____, _____ Times.
I took from my employers $ _____, _____ Times.
I stole $____ worth, but restored, though able to return all, only $______ Worth
I wasted time for which I was paid work, value of $ _____, _____ Times.
I injured others in their employment or goods $ _____, _____ Times.
I neglected to pay my bills, just debts, amounting to $ _____, _____ Times.
I defrauded in weights and measures $ _____, _____ Times.
I defrauded those employed by me $ _____, _____ Times.
I unjustly deferred the payment of their wages $ _____, _____ Times.
I desired to possess unjustly my neighbor’s goods _____ Times.
Eighth Commandment
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
I told lies _____ Times.
I seriously injured my neighbor’s character, by publishing his secret faults _____ Times.
I carried stories and caused trouble _____ Times.
I told a deliberate lie to the injury of my neighbor _____ Times.
I spoke without necessity of the known faults of others _____ Times.
I've broken promises deliberately _____ Times.
I am guilty of calumny-telling lies about one another _____ Times.
I failed to defend my neighbor’s character _____ Times.
I encouraged detraction or calumny, or listened to it with complacency _____ Times.
I failed to make reparation for sins of tongue _____ Times.
Commandments of the Church
I neglected my yearly confession and Easter Communion _____ Times.
I attempted marriage contrary to the law of the Church _____ Times.
I neglected, when able, to support the Church _____ Times.
I ate meat on days of abstinence, without permission or necessity. _____ Times.
I caused others to eat meat on days of abstinence _____ Times.
I broke the fasts of the Church _____ Times.
I caused others to break the fasts of the Church _____ Times.
The Seven Deadly Sins
I was guilty of gluttony _____ Times.
I was drunk _____ Times.
I caused others to be drunk _____ Times.
I gave liquor to those drunk _____ Times.
I was slothful in religious exercises _____ Times.
I was lazy and idle _____ Times.
I was envious _____ Times.
I was yearning for impure pleasures _____ Times.
I have had an immoderate desire for earthly goods _____ Times.
I have had an inordinate desire for revenge _____ Times.
I was proud _____ Times
The Four Sins Crying to Heaven for Vengeance
Willful murder (including abortion) _____ Times.
The sin of Sodom. (unnatural sex) _____ Times.
Oppression of the poor. _____ Times.
Defrauding laborers of their wages. _____ Times
The Six Sins against the Holy Ghost
Presumption of God's mercy-sinning and saying God must forgive me _____ Times.
Despair-to believe that god will refuse to forgive you _____ Times.
To attack as false or questioning the known truth. _____ Times.
Envy at another's spiritual good _____ Times.
Obstinacy in sin-refusing to stop known sinful behavior _____ Times.
Final impenitence-refusing to accept God's mercy at moment of death _____ Times.
Nine Ways of being Accessory to Another's Sin
By counsel-talking one into sin _____ Times.
By command-telling one to sin _____ Times.
By consent- agreeing with the sin _____ Times.
By provocation- to pressure one into sin _____ Times.
By praise or flattery- congratulating the sin committed by others _____ Times.
By concealment- covering up the sin for another _____ Times.
By partaking- approving sin by assisting in it _____ Times.
By silence-by not speaking up against the sin _____ Times.
By defense of the ill done- rationalizing the sin done or will be done _____ Times.
Also, don't forget to always confess all Venial sins that you might have committed-i.e., ingratitude, reckless driving, selfishness, rudeness etc.
[for more on sin: http://communityofhopeinc.org/Catholic%20Beliefs/sin.htm#7%20failures ]
On Confession
We are bound to take care of our bodies, if they are out of health, and to do our best to preserve life. To shorten one's existence by want of care, miserliness or weariness of life is a most grievous sin. If then it is so important to provide what is necessary for the body, it must be far more important to attend to the health of the soul. Sin exposes a soul to danger of death, by robbing it of sanctifying grace, and makes it God's enemy, bringing it into a state in which it can never enjoy the contemplation of God. It is therefore a most sacred duty, incumbent upon everyone, who has killed his soul by mortal sin, to revive it by the Sacrament of Penance, called, for that very reason, the Sacrament of the Dead.
This should be done as soon as possible, for otherwise there is danger of yielding to further temptation. "Every sin," says St. Gregory, "has the unhappy result of leading us on to further sin, unless it be immediately wiped out." A soul deprived by sin of God s grace is so weak as to yield to the slightest temptation, and the sinner is like a man on the brink of a precipice; he slips and falls, and soon has no power to save himself; he dashes headlong into the lowest depths.
If anyone, conscious of mortal sin, does not at once confess it, but waits a long time, perhaps a whole year, before doing so, he deprives himself of all merit even for good works performed during this period. His soul, dead in mortal sin, can gain no merit for eternal life. His prayers, works, almsgiving and other good works deserve no eternal reward, and are no more pleasing to God than Cain's sacrifice, which won him no merit, because his soul was already dead in the grievous sin of envy.
St. Arsenius once saw in a vision the pitiable state of souls, defiled with mortal sin that they are unwilling to remove by Confession. An angel appeared to him and said: "Come with me, I will show you how men busy themselves in the world." St. Arsenius was at once transported to a great forest, where there was a man trying to carry a great bundle of wood on his shoulders. The load being too heavy, he went to fetch some more logs, as if having a greater weight to carry he would be better able to lift it.
The angel then led Arsenius to a spring, where were some people engaged in drawing water and pouring it into a barrel full of holes. Whilst the saint gazed in wonder at this strange proceeding, the angel said: "Come with me; I will show you something still more surprising," and they walked on until they met two men, who were trying in vain to pass through a doorway. Each of them was holding the end of an iron bar, and as this was longer than the doorway was wide, the ends always struck the wall, and their efforts to enter were in vain. Arsenius could not help laughing. "Tell me," said he to the angel, "who these fools are and what they want to do." The angel looked grave, however, as he replied: "These men resemble all proud people, who fancy themselves irresistible; they may try very hard to enter heaven, but they will not humble themselves so as to pass through the narrow gate. The man with the bundle of wood is like a sinner who, instead of diminishing his load by Confession and Penance, adds to it by bad Confessions, until at last he is crushed under the ever-increasing burden. The people pouring water into the barrel full of holes are like those who do many good works, but also commit many sins ; and because they do not at once repent of their sins and confess them, all the merit of their good works, performed whilst they are in a state of mortal sin, is lost.
Someone may argue that all this does not concern him, for he never falls into very great sins, and therefore in his case Confession once in the year is sufficient. This argument is suggested by the evil one, and unhappily he succeeds in inducing many to act upon it; but if anyone wishes to lead a happy life, he must go to Confession several times in the year, even if he has not any great sin upon his conscience.
If we are conscious only of venial sins, we ought to go frequently to Confession;
(1) in order to keep our souls in a state of purity;
(2) in order to guard ourselves from falling into grievous sin;
(3) in order to confess our sins better.
Our souls are the dwelling-places of God. St. Paul says: "Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the .Spirit of God dwelleth in you? But if any man violate the temple of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy : which you are." (I. Cor. iii, 16, 17).
1. God dwells, sometimes personally, always by grace, in our souls, but mortal sin drives Him out and destroys the beauty of His dwelling. God cannot remain in a soul disfigured by impurity; but venial sin does not so utterly ruin its beauty, though it tarnishes and dims it. Nothing unclean can come to God, and therefore a soul, clouded by venial sin, cannot be admitted to His presence until it has been cleaned either by Penance or in purgatory. Venial sins are like dust in a room; they require to be cleared away frequently, for they accumulate day by day. We are told that even the just man sins seven times each day, and we are constantly committing small sins; we say our prayers carelessly, we eat and drink too much, we tell little lies, and indulge in vanity, in dress and foolish conversations.
Unless these things are confessed from time to time, at the end of a year they have accumulated until there seems no end to them. Whoever desires to keep his soul pure and clean in God's sight should go often to Confession, for thus its full beauty is maintained.
2. Frequent Confession guards us from falling into grievous sin. When St. Louis of France was on his deathbed, he gave much good advice to his son, and urged him to go often to Confession and to choose a prudent confessor. His great desire was for his son to live and die a good Christian, and he knew that the devil is sure to tempt those who abandon the practice of frequent Confession because they have no very great sins on their conscience.
As long as we are not in a state of mortal sin, we have the help of God s grace and our will is free, so that we can resist temptation; but each sin committed weakens our powers of resistance and renders the action of grace less effectual. Unless we go often to Confession, whence can we derive the courage, strength and resolution that are necessary to prevent our falling into sin.
If we are not to be overcome, we must not wait until we have actually fallen, but disclose the first attacks and suggestions of the evil one to an experienced confessor. Frequent Confession secures for us great graces, that strengthen us to resist all temptation. Our Lord revealed to St. Bridget that whoever desired to receive and retain the grace and the Holy Spirit, must often confess his sins and disclose even his smallest faults and omissions to the priest, in order to be cleaned from them.
3. Frequent Confession enables us to confess our sins better. What would be the state of a room that was put in order only once in the year? How long it would take to make it clean and neat again! Who finds it easier to pay his debts the man who pays what he owes every week? or the one who settles his accounts only once in the year?
By going often to Confession, we clear away the dirt as it comes, and do not allow great quantities to accumulate; we can be sure that we have confessed everything; whereas one who approaches the Sacrament very seldom finds it almost impossible to detect his sins, and is apt to complain that he can find nothing to say when he goes to Confession at Easter. St. Charles Borromeo, archbishop of Milan, and St. Francis of Sales, bishop of Geneva, used to make their Confession every week; Pope Clement VIII. every evening, and also St. Francis Xavier confessed every day with the greatest contrition and humility, if he had a priest at hand to hear him, and yet he was a great saint, whose whole life was devoted to the service of God and his neighbour.
Let us resolve to overcome our indolence and indifference at least to the extent of going to Confession once a fortnight or once a month, even if we have no grave sins to confess; and if we are so unhappy as to fall into mortal sin, let us hasten at once to confess it, lest delay prove our ruin.
Taken from:"SHORT SERMONS ON CATHOLIC DOCTRINE A PLAIN AND PRACTICAL EXPOSITION OF THE FAITH IN A SERIES OF BRIEF DISCOURSES FOR THE ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR" BY THE REV. P. HEHEL, SJ.
Aug 22, 2009
Introduction
This is my first blog post here. Mostly I started it so I can subscribe to some blogs, but I thought, "hey, I can use this". So, here we go.
I put some meditations on Facebook, which I am going to probably transfer to this site.
I put some meditations on Facebook, which I am going to probably transfer to this site.
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