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Here is the indulgence Calendar for December.
And the blank calendar if you want to fill in all your own names
You know ever since I’ve started the indulgence calendar stuff (I don’t think I’d call it a ministry) things have happened to make it difficult. Last month the difficult reached the blog but that suggests it’s something worthwhile.
Sir Humphrey: The church [of England] is looking for a candidate [for bishop] to maintain the balance.
The Bursar: What balance?
Sir Humphrey: Between those who believe in God and those who don’t.
The Bursar: Is there anyone in the church that doesn’t believe in God?
Sir Humphrey: Yes, most of the Bishops.
Yes Prime Minister The Bishop’s Gambit 1986
Lord Germain: Whatever may be the outcome of this, I shall not forget your [Friar Tuck’s] interference (rides away)
Sir William of Marksbury: I advise you father to be a little more restrained. It’s not a very sound idea to make an enemy of that particular lord.
Friar Tuck: Nor of my particular LORD Sir William.
The Adventures of Robin Hood Friar Tuck 1955
One of the spiritual works of mercy in the Catholic Church is to admonish the sinner, that is warn a person who is sinning that their actions put their soul at risk. However in the modern “touchy feely” church this is often forgotten or ignored by clergy who either:
or
This situation is exacerbated when the sin is public and even celebrated. To confront such a person brings a risk in terms of reputation and responses.
And that brings us to Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone who will not rule out excommunication in the case of Catholic pols who publicly advocate abortion. As he puts it:
You cannot be a good Catholic and support expanding a government-approved right to kill innocent human beings.
And he also notes that during the civil rights era Excommunication was put to good use to cause public Catholic to repent from serious sin
On April 16, 1962, he [Archbishop Joseph Rummel] followed through, excommunicating a former judge, a well-known writer and a segregationist community organizer. Two of the three later repented and died Catholics in good standing.
You see that’s the point. If you are actually interested in saving souls and the normal methods do not work Excommunication is a powerful tool. It may not work in every case as noted above but that was two souls saved out of three.
Now of course there was a time when the threat of excommunication carried a lot of weight, when people of power actually believed and feared for their souls to wit:
These days however you are more likely to get a Catholic Pol and a Catholic Bishop more in line with my Sir Humphrey Quote than the Friar Tuck quote.
The real question is this: Do they actually believe? For a pol who doesn’t actually believe excommunication will not move them but the other question is do you have clergy who actually believe?
Clergy who believe will take this passage from the prophet Ezekiel to heart:
Thus the word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me.
If I say to the wicked man, You shall surely die; and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live: that wicked man shall die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death.
If, on the other hand, you have warned the wicked man, yet he has not turned away from his evil nor from his wicked conduct, then he shall die for his sin, but you shall save your life.
If a virtuous man turns away from virtue and does wrong when I place a stumbling block before him, he shall die. He shall die for his sin, and his virtuous deeds shall not be remembered; but I will hold you responsible for his death if you did not warn him.
When, on the other hand, you have warned a virtuous man not to sin, and he has in fact not sinned, he shall surely live because of the warning, and you shall save your own life.
Ezekiel 3:17-21
A member of clergy who either does not actually believe or fears man more than God will not act or wish to rock the boat.
But a member of clergy who not only takes this passage to heart, but has actual love for the sinner, a love strong enough to bear the opprobrium of a post Christian society will act both for his own sake and that of the sinner. And when the slings and arrows come his way he will comfort himself with Christ’s words:
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matt: 5:12
The September indulgence calendars for those who have taken up this devotion that we stated on the site is now up.
As before both the regular indulgence calendar with names for you to earn indulgences for that day, and a blank indulgence calendar for those who wish to fill in your own names in or take it as a template to create your own indulgence calendar for your parish or group. are up.
In addition to this post both Calendars will also be available in the links section of this blog under “Catholic” immediately and at the WQPH 89.3 FM web site eventually.
As always these indulgences are available under the normal conditions which are listed on the calendars: The norms are as follows:
If you want to know what an indulgence is check here or an entry from the Catholic Encyclopedia of a century ago or check out EWTN here.
Courage is the first of human virtues because it makes all others possible.
Aristotle
If you are a Roman Catholic who went to mass Sunday you heard the readings from Lectionary 122 for the 21st Sunday in ordinary time. and if you paid attention to your Missal you might be subject to an Irony overload.
Everywhere that mass took place the faithful heard the same reading from the Book of Joshua 24:1-2, 15-18 where Joshua gives the people a choice to follow God or no declaring: “As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord”.
And also everywhere that mass took place that reading from Joshua was followed by the same responsorial Psalm verses from Psalm 34 (Ps 34:2-3, 16-17, 18-19, 20-21) with the refrain: “Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.”.
But depending on where you went to mass and the choice of the Pastor the next reading might have been different. The Lectionary calls for the 2nd reading to be from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians 5:21-32 which goes like this:
Brothers and sisters:
Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.
However an option is given to reduce this reading to Ephesians 5:2a, 25-32 adding the 1st part of verse 2 which looks like this (omitted verses in strikethrough, added verse in underline)
Brothers and sisters:
Live in love, as Christ loved us.
Be subordinate to one another out of reverence for Christ. Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body. As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything.Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. So also husbands should love their wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.
So as you can see rather than both Husbands and wives being subordinate to one another and each having duties the duties of the wife are omitted while the duties of the Husband are retained. This is done to avoid the anger of feminists within the church which is very ironic given that once you have exercised your option on the 2nd reading all congregations are given the same final Gospel reading, the end of Jesus the bread of life discourses in the Gospel of John 6:60-69 begins:
Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?”
However Jesus rather than equivocating or ducking the issue or offering an alternate teaching challenges his disciples:
Since Jesus knew that his disciples were murmuring about this, he said to them,
“Does this shock you? What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and life. But there are some of you who do not believe.”
Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe and the one who would betray him. And he said,“For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by my Father.”
Jesus doesn’t back down one jot and because of this some of his disciples leave
As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.
At this Jesus turns to the twelve. Rather than having second thoughts about his teaching he doubles down and gives the same option to the apostles who come back with the right answer
Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
So think about that for a second. The very week that Jesus in the Gospel stands up for his teaching even if it costs him many disciples the US Bishops precede that critical moment with the option for the local pastor to run for cover in case anyone might be offended by divinely inspired scripture. This is a shame because the church teaches us that courage is one of the four cardinal virtues.
The irony is palatable, but not as palatable as the cowardice
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