St. Agnes of Rome

Today we celebrate St. Agnes of Rome. She was born in 291 and died a martyr in 304, at the age of thirteen. She is the patron saint of chastity, gardeners, girls, engaged couples, rape victims, and virgins.

She had many suitors, but Agnes was devoted to purity. Her slighted suitors reported her to the authorities as being a Christian. The Roman Prefect, Sempronius, had her dragged through the streets naked to a brothel. One version of the story is that whoever tried to rape her was struck blind. A trial followed and she was condemned to die. She was tied to a stake to burn, but the wood would not burn, so an officer of the troops drew his sword and beheaded her – some versions say he stabbed her in the throat.

Agnes beatae virginis (att. St. Ambrose)

The blessed virgin Agnes flies
back to her home above the skies,
and she is born in heav'n above
because she gave her blood in love.

Mature enough to give her life,
though still too young to be a wife,
what joy she shows when death appears
that one would think: her bridegroom nears!

Her captors lead her to the fire
but she refuses their desire,
"For it is not such smold'ring brands
Christ's virgins take into their hands."

"This flaming fire of pagan rite
extinguishes all faith and light.
Then stab me here, so that the flood
may overcome this hearth in blood."

And she was stabbed, and she was brave,
and dying, further witness gave,
for as she fell on bended knee
she wrapped her robes in modesty.

O Virgin-born, all praises be 
to You throughout eternity.
and unto everlasting days
to Father and the Spirit, praise.

Translation c. 2010 Kathleen Pluth. Permission is given for parish use during January 2011. All other rights reserved.

What is the USCCB?

The USCCB is the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. If is comprised of  all active and retired

Latin-rite Catholic and Eastern Catholic bishops (i.e., diocesan, coadjutor, and auxiliary bishops) of the United States and the Territory of the Virgin Island, and the ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.

Its purpose or focus is to support the ministry of bishops. They have two semiannual meetings, in November and June. Between these meetings, the conference is governed by the Administrative Committee.

Its recent initiatives have been:

• In November 2004, the USCCB kicked off the National Pastoral Initiative for Marriage, a multi-year effort to promote traditional marriage values.
• In March 2012, regarding the Federal requirement that employers who do not support contraception but are not religious institutions per se must cover contraception via health insurance, USCCB decided to "continue its 'vigorous opposition to this unjust and illegal mandate'”.



Joseph Edward Kurtz

• In June and July 2012, the USCCB promoted a campaign of events called the Fortnight for Freedom to protest government activities that in their view impinged on their religious liberty.

The current President of the conference is His Excellency Joseph Edward Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville.

Their web site may be found here.

They also have daily Mass scripture readings  that may be found here.

They also have an Issues and Actions page highlighting current issues and suggestions of how you ca help. Please go here.

St. Anthony, Abbot

Today is the feast day of St. Anthony, also know as Anthony of Egypt. We can learn a lot from the lives of

St Anthony, Abbot - Jacopo Pontormo - 1519

the Saints and it is a good practice to become familiar with them - what terrific role models they are. Many are patron saints and it is also rewarding to ask for their intercession.

From the Roman Divine Office, Matins, Reading 3:

When Anthony of Egypt entered a church and heard the words of the Gospel, "If you will be perfect, go, sell all that you have and give to the poor," he took them as if said to him personally, thinking that this is how Christ should be obeyed. And so, having sold his family possessions and distributed the money to the poor, he withdrew to the vast solitudes of Egypt. He was so fired with zeal for all virtues that, whenever he saw anyone praiseworthy for excelling in any virtue, he strove to imitate him. None was more disciplined than he, none more watchful. He was so great a terror to the demons that many persons throughout Egypt who were troubled by them were set free merely by invoking Anthony's name. And so. famous for his holiness and his miracles, when he had drawn innumerable other men and women to follow his example, he departed this life in the hundred and fifth Year of his age, on January 17.

St. Anthony of Egypt was born around 251 A.D. and died in 356 A.D. We know most about St. Anthony from a biography of Anthony's life by Athanasius of Alexandria. I read this a long ago and recall it was very interesting. He is the first known ascetic and hermit going into the wilderness. An ascetic practices severe self-discipline and abstention from all forms of indulgence.

He is the patron of skin diseases, basket makers, brushmakers, and gravediggers. Shingles are often called St. Anthony's Fire.

Want to know more?
Wikipedia article here.

Sanctifying Grace

The last post on Baptism mentioned Sanctifying Grace, so I thought that would be good for my next post.

Wikepedia says:

"Grace has been divided by some theologians into two forms, Sanctifying Grace and Actual Grace. Sanctifying grace, also known as habitual grace, is the divine life that is believed to infuse the believer's soul at justification (normatively at baptism) and, through the spirit of adoption, transforms the sinner into a holy child of God. As such Christians are believed to participate in the Divine Sonship of Jesus Christ. With this divine sonship comes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Sanctifying grace remains permanently in the soul as long as one does not reject one's adopted sonship by committing a mortal sin, which severs one's friendship with God. Less serious sins, venial sins, incur loss of merit. However, God is infinitely merciful, and sanctifying grace can always be restored to the penitent heart, normatively in the Sacrament of Reconciliation (or Sacrament of Penance). Actual grace is supernatural help from God that is punctual, rather than habitual. Since the end and aim of all actual grace is directed to the production of sanctifying grace where it does not already exist, or to retain and increase it where it is already present, its excellence, dignity, and importance become immediately apparent; for holiness and the sonship of God depend solely upon the possession of sanctifying grace, wherefore it is frequently called simply grace without any qualifying word to accompany it as, for instance, in the phrases "to live in grace" or "to fall from grace".

I thought the Baltimore Catechism's Milk Bottle would be helpful here"

We live in a very secular world. Like it or not, aware of it or not, if has its effect on us, it influences us. Many base their decisions and opinions on what society teaches, or what our neighbors say instead of what the Church teaches.So we need to constantly recharge our batteries, so to speak. The best ways to receive grace are through the Mass and the Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation. But we also receive grace by reading the Bible, praying, works of mercy, etc.

There is a saying you are what you eat, but you are also who your friends are. Are they leading you to God or away from Him? You may want to evaluate this and perhaps build relationships with other practicing Catholics.

Want to know more? CCC 2000.

The Wikipedia article can be found here. Our Protestant brothers and sisters have a different view on grace. this article presents the different views.

Saint Thomas Aquinas is THE authority on grace. If you want to get really deep into it you can visit the New Advent page here. But we need to keep things a lot more simple here, so I'm going for the milk bottle.

Baptism

Where to start?

Since Baptism is the first of the Sacraments of Initiation, I thought I would start here.

Every time we make the Sign of the Cross we should be mindful of our own Baptism.

What day were you baptized?

Recently, on January 8th, Pope Francis spoke of Baptism. He asked: “Do you know the date of your Baptism?” And I realized I never thought about the date of my Baptism. But we should. It was a most important day of our lives. On that day we became a sister or brother to our Lord Jesus Christ, we became part of the Church, and we received the promise of salvation.

So I had to go searching for my Baptismal Certificate. I was baptized on August 22nd.  So from now on I’m going to celebrate and commemorate my Baptism as a Birthday, or my Names Day.

Pope Francis said: “To know the date of our Baptism is to know a blessed day. The danger of not knowing is that we can lose awareness of what the Lord has done in us, the memory of the gift we have received. Thus, we end up considering it only as an event that took place in the past – and not by our own will but by that of our parents – and that it has no impact on the present. We must reawaken the memory of our Baptism. We are called to live out our Baptism every day as the present reality of our lives. If we manage to follow Jesus and to remain in the Church, despite our limitations and with our weaknesses and our sins, it is precisely in the Sacrament whereby we have become new creatures and have been clothed in Christ. It is by the power of Baptism, in fact, that, freed of original sin, we are inserted into Jesus' relation to God the Father; that we are bearers of a new hope, for Baptism gives us this new hope: the hope of going on the path of salvation our whole life long. And this hope nothing and no one can extinguish, for it is a hope that does not disappoint. Remember, hope in the Lord never disappoints.”

So you might want to consider making the day of your child’s Baptism a day of celebration too.

The Effects of the Sacrament of Baptism:

Baptism has six primary effects, which are all supernatural graces:

The removal of the guilt of both Original Sin (the sin imparted to all mankind by the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden) and personal sin (the sins that we have committed ourselves).

The remission of all punishment that we owe because of sin, both temporal (in this world and in Purgatory) and eternal (the punishment that we would suffer in hell).

The infusion of grace in the form of sanctifying grace (the life of God within us); the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit; and the three theological virtues.

Becoming a part of Christ.

Becoming a part of the Church, which is the Mystical Body of Christ on earth.

Enabling participation in the sacraments, the priesthood of all believers, and the growth in grace.

Want to know more? The Catechism of the Catholic Church 1213 and following.

You may recall this picture that went viral a few years back of Valentino Mora's Baptism in Cordova, Spain where the photograph picked up the water forming a Rosary.

Introduction

Reading a rather dated Catholic weekly I learned that 10 million Catholics have left the faith, and that one of three from a Catholic background have left the Church. Although the article indicated there were many reasons for this exodus, it cited poor catechesis as a main factor. In my parish ministries I have found it to be true. As a general statement Catholics don't know their faith.

We have just passed through the Year of Faith. We were asked to learn our faith, to live out faith and to share our faith. There are also the efforts of the new evangelization. So I have asked myself: What can I do?

So the thought I had was to start this blog with the main emphasis being on catechesis. I envision posting once a week. Hopefully there will be some logic to my entries though I do not plan a systematic approach. From time to time I will make entries that interest me or come to mind.

Of course anyone can go to the Catechism and read it, but I hope this blog will be less formal and will have photos and I hope interesting to its readers.

This is also an opportunity for me to get to know my faith more, for I will need to brush up or learn to various topics I present.

Your feedback is most welcome.

Jules-Alexis Muenie - The Catechism Lesson