5 minute read
Ask a Franciscan
Pat McCloskey, OFM
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Material is grouped thematically under headings such as forgiveness, Jesus, moral issues, prayer, saints, redemption, sacraments, Scripture—and many more! By Pat McCloskey, OFM
Advent Calendars Can Keep Us Focused Where do these come from? How can I find one?
According to Aletia.com, Gerhard Lang, a printer in Germany, made the first one in 1908. His mother used to attach 24 little candles to a piece of cardboard; he decided to substitute small colored pictures onto the cardboard.
Later little doors were added to be opened each day, revealing a biblical picture or symbol. More elaborate calendars have contained a chocolate or some other treat for each day.
Advent begins this year on November 29. Many calendars are perpetual ones, starting on December 1 and ending with December 25. In their own way, they remind us that God has always journeyed with and loved the human family.
An Internet search will reveal many types of Advent calendars for every budget.
‘Say’ Mass? ‘Pray’ the Mass? I remember hearing priests talk about “saying” Mass at a particular time and place. Now I hear people talk about “praying” the Mass.
I’ve been to many Masses in various settings over the years. Some were celebrated very prayerfully. Others, not so much. The first group included moderate speed, good inflection on the part of readers and presiders, and generous use of pauses. God’s word was heard but was also being felt.
Why the difference?
The most obvious difference is that “saying” Mass emphasizes the priest’s role; “praying” the Mass, on the other hand, acknowledges the action of the faith community gathered there.
Vatican II’s Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy calls for the “full, conscious, and active participation” of those present at the Eucharist. Was everyone engaged in such participation at the Masses that you didn’t find very inspiring? Does the presider deserve all the credit for the Masses that did inspire you? I suspect that you will answer no to both of those questions.
In any large gathering for Mass, people can be at very different places in life. One person has just lost a close friend or relative to cancer; someone else is rejoicing in the birth of a healthy child or grandchild. One couple has recently celebrated a major wedding anniversary while another person’s divorce has just been finalized.
We bring all of life to the Eucharist. A Mass that you experienced as very profound may not be remembered that way by someone else. What seemed very ho-hum to you may have been exactly what someone else there needed to hear that day.
When people celebrate 50 years of married love, they celebrate not simply the high points of those years but also (mostly?) the very ordinary moments that have brought them to that extraordinary day. Anyone tempted to live only for the high points will probably not experience many of them.
Accepting the kingdom of God means being wide open to God’s grace, being content with any place at the heavenly banquet, and rejoicing in whoever is across from me or next to me.
When the kingdom of God has taken deep root in a person’s life, there is no sense of “If only I had X, then my life would be complete.” God is enough for those who accept God’s values and the kingdom that these promote.
We say the “Glory Be to the Father” prayer very often, but
do the words as it was in the beginning belong there? God
certainly has no beginning.
In this prayer, the words in the beginning refer not to God’s beginning but to the world’s beginning.
What are the correct initials to place after the name of a person who belongs to the Secular Franciscan Order?
The initials are OFS, an acronym for the Latin title of this group.
What is the best Bible in English for a Catholic to buy?
The New American Bible translation is the one that most people hear at Mass. The New Revised Standard Version has a Catholic edition that is also very good.
Some parishioners at prayer healing sessions claim to have visions and messages from Mary and other saints. Is this real?
If these visions and revelations are indeed from God, they should be building up the body of Christ, as St. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians, chapters 12 and 13. Please compare everything you hear to the public revelation we have in the Bible.
Some Mass prayers and readings do not portray God as a loving, forgiving heavenly Father. Is this done to promote Mass attendance out of fear of God?
Catholic liturgy reflects the range of biblical images of God. A “holy fear” is part of an adult faith, but that is not its deepest foundation. To get beyond thinking of God as a police officer waiting to catch us doing wrong, some Christians have mentally turned God into a senile grandfather unable to tell right from wrong, justice from injustice.
In John 17:12, Jesus prays to God the Father: “While I was with them [his disciples], I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Did Judas Iscariot truly have a choice?
The language of predestination assumes that God lives in time the same way that we humans do: one moment after another (chronological time). But that forces a human limitation onto God. Doing that is an unintentional but subtle form of idolatry. What if God is present to time immediately and not sequentially? Although Judas was indeed free, he made a very bad choice, but he may have repented before taking his own life.
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