5th Sunday of Easter
Fr. Philip Neri Powell OP
OLR, NOLA
[After
reading the archbishop's letter reinstating the Sunday Mass
obligation June 6th. . .]
Hear
again what the Lord teaches: “Just
as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the
vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.” I'll put this in
less-literary terms for you: you cannot “grow in holiness as a
Catholic” on your own. Neither can I. To be Catholic is to be a
member of the Body, attached to the vine of the Church, receiving
nourishment and support from the source of our salvation – Christ
Jesus. There is no such thing as a “personal Catholic,” or a
“private Catholic,” or a “do-it-yourself Catholic.” You are a
fruit-producing branch attached to the vine of Christ's Body, the
Church; or, you are not. So, how do we remain “in Christ”? How do
I stay attached to the vine and produce good fruit? Archbishop Aymond
notes one way we have of staying attached to Christ – the
obligation to attend Sunday Mass. This obligation has been dispensed
for the last year b/c of COVID. Come June 6th
– the Solemnity of Corpus
Christi
– that obligation will be re-instated. And thanks be to God that we
are so obliged! If you, like me, struggle to grow in holiness, a firm
rule always helps!
You
see, the Church is an expert in human nature, an ancient Mother who
understands her children. Every child sees “the rules” as unjust,
unfair, maybe even mean-spirited. Surely, true freedom comes from
having no rules, no laws, no restrictions whatsoever! And that would
be true if there were no natural or supernatural consequences to our
behavior. But we know – our choices have consequences; our actions
cause effects. So, Holy Mother Church, in all her ancient wisdom,
lays down a few rules for us to follow. One of these rules is: “You
must attend Mass every Sunday and all holy days of obligation.”
Missing a holy day or Sunday Mass when you could've attended is a
mortal sin. This is the minimum required to stay attached to the vine
of Christ and produce good fruit. NB. you
are not required to receive communion every time you attend Mass.
In fact, if you are carrying a mortal sin, you should not receive
communion! To help with this problem, Mother Church requires that we
all go to confession at
least
once a year. The older Catholics among us will remember this rule as
“the Easter Duty.” Why all these rules? Didn't we get rid of
these after VC2? No, we didn't. What we got rid of (apparently) is
the truth that these rules are in place not to control us but to help
us remain in Christ.
The
Easter season is quickly coming to a close. We are on the edge of the
summer months and Ordinary Time, that time of year where we turn
toward Everyday Holiness and the sometimes sweaty work of repairing
and fortifying our relationship with Christ. Where to start? Easy! Go
to confession. A broken vessel cannot hold water. A broken soul
cannot receive grace. Going to confession can be scary. You're
worried that Father will laugh at you, or yell at you, or maybe be
shocked at your sins. I can guarantee you none of that will happen.
Priests are sinners too. We go to confession. And we've heard it all
before. I've been hearing confessions for 16yrs. There is no new sin
under the sun. Whether it's been a week since your last confession or
30yrs. . .come in and repair your relationship with God so that you
can receive the Body and Blood of Christ at Mass and produce
excellent fruit. The Church's rules are given to us to strengthen us,
to point us in the right direction, to guide us around obstacles to
holiness. So, bend a little and grow a lot. Your immortal soul
depends on it!
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