Let Us Return to the Sacraments

 

Let me preface this post by admitting that although I was raised in the Catholic faith and attended Catholic school from grades K -8, I knew very little about the benefits of receiving the sacraments until I began studying about them at the graduate level at the age of 52. Therefore, I would be extremely overjoyed if this post sheds some light for those much younger on just how fortunate we are as Catholics to have the sacraments at our disposal.

We are privileged because Jesus instituted the sacraments for us during his earthly ministry intending them to be conduits of sanctifying grace. Sanctifying grace is what helps us to be holy. It is that marvelous, supernatural sharing-in-God’s-own-life.

It is disturbing to see friends and family members who have wandered from the practice of their Catholic Faith, who no longer baptize their children, reconcile their relationships with God by seeking His mercy, forgiveness, and peace through the Sacrament of Reconciliation/Confession,  or get married in the Church and receive the grace conferred through the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, which when cooperated with helps married couples live in accordance with God’s will.

Similar to my own past experience, I believe many Catholics, including fallen away Catholics, no longer practice their Faith, including attendance and participation at Mass and the reception of the sacraments, because they no little about the richness of these awesome gifts given to us by Christ. Perhaps they were never properly taught about the Faith during the formative years, or later in life never bothered to invest the time and effort to learn more about our Catholic Faith. 

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and the grace conferred through the reception of the sacraments have not come to us without an enormous price. These gifts were earned by the merits of our Savior, Jesus Christ, through his life, passion, death, and resurrection, which is the reason why they must never be taken for granted. Think about the period during which we could not attend Mass during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is important  also to remember that we must be properly disposed to receive the sacraments and willing to cooperate with the grace conferred. Taking time to learn about the sacraments and the ways in which we can cooperate with the grace they confer is a great way to start.

Believe me, we have God’s riches at our disposal within the Sacraments of the Catholic Church. In these turbulent times, the sacraments are gifts we should receive and cherish often.

Learn a little more about the sacraments by following the two links below:

USCCB / Sacraments

EWTN / The Seven Sacraments

Don't Miss the Call!

Sometimes I wonder how many calls to the priesthood have gone unanswered. I sometimes feel that I could be counted among those whom have ignored or failed to answer such a call.

I recall an experience I had around the age of ten. I constructed an altar in my attic and even made a thurible out of an old Campbell’s soup can and a string in order to incense the altar. Oh, yeah, I would light up a Kingsford charcoal briquette in that can and incense around the altar before pretending to celebrate Mass. Wow, if my Mom only knew how many times a house fire was imminent! I was an altar boy at the time and loved to serve at Mass and pray the responses in Latin, even though I didn’t understand half of what I was saying. I memorized all of the Latin responses in order to be able to serve. Was this a call to the priesthood? I’m not certain, but looking back, it sure doesn’t seem like normal activity for a ten year old boy.

Fifty years have passed since that initial “calling,” yet despite being a father of seven children and a husband, something still stirs in my heart when I’m at Mass and participate attentively as I observe the celebrant, through the grace conferred through the sacrament of Holy Orders, become instrumental in changing the ordinary gifts of bread and wine into the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of our Lord.

I write this post in hopes of reaching out to all the young men who think they may have experienced a call to the priesthood. If you think you are being called, please don’t ignore or dismiss it. Pray about it and follow up on it by speaking to your parish priest, spiritual director, or diocesan director of religious vocations, parents and grandparents. Let us all pray for an increase in vocations to the priesthood, as well as for all the priests and religious throughout the world whom have answered the call! 

 

So Many Good, Dedicated, and Holy Catholic Priests

There have been, and still are so many good, holy, and dedicated Catholic priests serving God in this world! This thought comes to mind each time the media focuses the world’s attention on something negative concerning Catholic priests. By no means am I trying to lessen the serious nature of such incidents. The point is that the same amount of attention should be given to the far greater number of positive instances of self-sacrificing service given by our Catholic clergy from the Holy Father on down!

I’ll share with you the story of Father Vincent Capodanno, a priest who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic actions while serving as Chaplain with the Marines in Vietnam.

Fr. Capodanno’s story was written by Father Daniel L. Mode in a book entitled, The Grunt Padre. A DVD of the same title is also available. The video contains powerful and moving accounts by Marines who were ministered to by Fr. Capodanno on the battlefield on the day that he gave his life! If you’re looking for a tearjerker, this is it, and it’s REAL!

The following 6-minute video is part of an interview with Mr. James Capodanno on the 40th anniversary of his brother’s death.