Laudet Dominum

Some of the most beautiful paintings and other artistic creations have the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph as their inspiration. There’s good reason for this: the Holy Family is truly the exemplar of what family life is about, and is a model for us in our families today.

It seems like family life is becoming less and less prominent in our culture today. Rampant divorce, children out-of-wedlock, contraception and abortion, changing definitions of marriage, and more seem almost diabolical in their attacks on family life and what it means to be a family. It would be good, then, to look at what the Church has traditionally taught about marriage and family life.

In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph #2201, we are given two purposes for marriage and family: 1) “the good of the spouses”; 2) “procreation and education of children”. In addition, paragraph #2204 calls the family “a domestic church”.

This means that first and foremost, marriage and family life is pointed towards salvation. The love between a husband and wife must be oriented in a way that leads the spouses into deeper relationship with each other while mutually guiding towards heaven together. This love must be self-giving between the spouses, and not selfish. A married couple I knew long before seminary were fond of saying, “Marriage is not 50/50, but 100/100.” Each person who is married should desire that their spouse accompany them into the Kingdom of Heaven, and live their lives seeking the fulfillment of that desire.

The second purpose of marriage is more than a little controversial today. Children are not seen as an essential element arising from marriage and special gifts from God. Instead, they are seen as a perk to be demanded if wanted, or burden if not desired. As Christians, we recognize, as the Church does, that marriage exists especially for raising, educating, and protecting children. Culturally, marriage exists for the nurturing and development of the next generation.

This leads into the concept of the family as a “domestic church”. In the same way that the Catholic Church exists to guide and educate all of us members in the way of salvation, spouses are tasked with guiding and educating the members of their family – including themselves – how to live the Faith in their daily lives. This task is so important that the Church clearly calls parents the first and most important educators in their children’s Faith.

With all the concerns and challenges regarding marriage and family life in our culture today, we as Christians need to be more conscious of living family life to its fullest. Families are the most important structure within both our country and the Church, so we need families to live that faith with boldness!

This week, we’re going to wrap up the discussion on the message to Sr. Agnes in Akita, Japan, by her guardian angel. As I’ve said before, this message calling for us as disciples to do acts of prayer, penance, and sacrifice isn’t new, but has been a part of the call to discipleship from even before Our Lord’s ministry here on earth. I do believe, however, that this call is needed as much now as ever, both for the liturgical season of Advent and for the good of the world in the future.

We know that all things done by God come in His time, which rarely coincides with our own plans and timing. However, I don’t believe that it was mere chance that the message came out right before Advent. The season of Advent is one of preparing the way for Our Lord in our lives, as we heard from John the Baptist last week and Jesus this week in the Gospels. Just as John sought to prepare the people of Israel for the coming of Our Lord, Advent is a time to prepare ourselves for His coming into our lives now and His judgment at His return.

The acts of prayer, penance, and sacrifice have been given to us by our Heavenly Father in order to do that preparation. We are being called as disciples to do these acts in order to open ourselves to Jesus, know Him better, and follow Him. If we perform these acts of prayer, penance, and sacrifice out of love for Him, they will prepare His way in our lives.

I also believe that the call to acts of prayer, penance, and sacrifice has a communal aspect. There’s no doubt that we live in divided times. Political rivalries have flared up into outright anger and hatred. People have banded up into groups, and these groups are fighting against each other, sometimes physically. Even within the Church, disagreements result in arguing and yelling instead of trying to find common ground.

When we commit ourselves to acts of prayer, penance, and sacrifice, we can offer those acts for the good of others. As disciples, one important way we can show our love for neighbor is by praying for them and their needs. The very act of reaching out and serving our neighbors can be an act of penance. We can perform a work of sacrifice by giving something we have to a neighbor in need without counting the cost. I firmly believe that many divisions in our world and Church today would cease if we performed these acts of prayer, penance, and sacrifice for the good of our neighbor, especially for those we disagree.

As we have reached the halfway point of Advent, this is a good time to evaluate how we are doing in preparing the way of the Lord, and recommit ourselves to acts of prayer, penance, and sacrifice! Come, Lord Jesus!

We are continuing with our discussion regarding the message to Sr. Agnes in Akita, Japan, calling us to perform acts of prayer, penance, and sacrifice. This week, we have reached the topic of acts of sacrifice.

Sacrifice is a difficult thing. It’s not easy. It’s not something we generally look forward to doing. In fact, human nature is such that we try to avoid it as much as possible. Sacrifice can take us out of our comfort zone in ways we might not understand.

However, sacrifice is also essential to growing spiritually. When we talk about sacrifice, we generally think of two ideas: the Sacrifice of Our Lord on the Cross, which we participate in through the Mass; and personal sacrifices. In either sense, sacrifice is giving something to God as a gift for the sake of our salvation. It is through the Sacrifice of Our Lord that we can give up small things out of love for Him, uniting our dying-to-self to His death on the Cross.

The most commonly understood form of personal sacrifice is the idea of giving something up for Lent. Along with that, abstaining from meat on Fridays is also a form of personal sacrifice. These two ancient practices are things we shouldn’t keep just within the season of Lent. Abstaining from something we enjoy for the sake of God is an incredible act of love for Him, which he rewards with many graces. Even very simple sacrifices can be very beneficial for us spiritually.

As I wrote previously, the three acts of prayer, penance, and sacrifice are connected, so prayer and penance can be forms of sacrifice. Praying the Rosary instead of watching TV or other forms of entertainment is a powerful sacrifice. Performing an act of penance instead of indulging a personal desire can be a great sacrifice as well. Fasting from a meal and using the time for prayer can greatly benefit us spiritually (and in many cases, physically!).

There is much more we can do to make small, personal sacrifices. Ultimately, through sacrifice, we “take up [our] Cross and follow [Jesus]” (Matthew 16:24). We embrace the Cross as our instrument of salvation, and it leads us deeper into our relationship with Christ. May we truly “Lift High the Cross” through our sacrifices, for our sake and the salvation of the world!

We’re continuing our discussion of the call from Akita, Japan, to commit ourselves to works of prayer, penance, and sacrifice. Since we discussed acts of prayer last week, this week is dedicated to discussing acts of penance.

I would venture that the average Catholic really only thinks of penitential acts as something we do after receiving Confession. It is true that part of receiving Confession is a commitment to performing a small penitential act, usually a prayer of one sort or another. However, performing penance is far more than just that one common situation.

Penance ultimately is the act of following Our Lord’s call to take up our crosses and follow Him. (Matthew 16:24) It is sorrow for our sins and an interior conversion of heart that leads to a turning of our lives away from sin and conversion back to God. While penance begins interiorly, in the depths of our souls, it shows itself through outward works of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

As I wrote last week, the acts of prayer, penance, and sacrifice are connected, so one of the most important forms of penance is prayer. This is why the penance for the Sacrament of Confession is often a prayer or series of prayers. When we take time throughout our day for prayer, we are taking time to reconnect with God and allow Him to bring about that conversion of heart. Prayer itself can also be penitential, such as the Penitential Rosary of St. Padre Pio, with each Hail Mary replaced by an Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.

Fasting is another concept that we generally have a narrow understanding. Mention fasting, and many Catholics will likely talk about giving up something for Lent, or Friday Fish Fries, or fasting from food on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday. While these are all forms of fasting, there is more to it than the simple acts of giving things up. Fasting is about self-denial, especially of things that we desire but are not necessarily needs. We can make small acts of fasting throughout our daily lives by denying ourselves something we might enjoy and offer it especially to God in prayer.

Finally, almsgiving is not just a pitch for giving more money to the parish. When we give financially of ourselves to God through almsgiving, we are once again committing acts of self-denial with our goods and money. We are telling God that we want to trust Him more and follow Him with everything, even our finances. This is hard for many of us, as there is a strong drive to keep up with neighbors and family members in particular material goods and prosperity. Almsgiving fights against this temptation.

There is much more that could be discussed regarding penance. I invite everyone to examine the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 1430–1439, for more information.