Our Joy in Being
Catholic
(Our Catholic Customs and Beliefs) OSWALD HIRMER and the Diocesan Animation Team of the Diocese of Mthatha
PHILIPPINES
OUR JOY IN BEING CATHOLIC (Our Catholic Customs and Beliefs) Oswald Hirmer and the Diocesan Animation Team of the Diocese of Mthatha Copyright © 2007 by the Diocese of Mthatha Biblical Texts used in this work are taken from “The New American Bible.” Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. 20017, USA. Cf. “The African Bible” © Paulines Publications Africa, Nairobi 1999. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher. Published and distributed by Paulines Publishing House Daughters of St. Paul 2650 F. B. Harrison Street 1300 Pasay City, Philippines E-mail: edpph@paulines.ph Website: www.paulines.ph Cover design: Ann Marie Nemenzo, FSP Inside illustrations: Rexie San Luis (Stations of the Cross) Renato Cortez (Mysteries of the Rosary) 1st Printing 2016 ISBN 978-971-590-798-9
at the service of the Gospel and culture
Contents Introduction We Are Happy to Belong to the Worldwide Catholic Family 1. We Believe in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church 2. We Catholics Accept the Pope in Rome as the Successor of Peter and Head of Our Family 3. We Catholics Accept the Bishops as Successors of the Apostles We Catholics Have Developed Many Customs Which Make Us Feel at Home in the Church 4. We Catholics Love the Crucifix of Jesus and the Statues of Our Saints 5. On Good Friday We Honor the Crucifix of Jesus with Special Gratitude and Love 6. The 14 Stations of the Cross Belong to an Old Custom in Our Catholic Family 7. The Tabernacle and the Sanctuary Light in Our Catholic Churches Remind Us that Jesus Remains in Our Midst Forever 8. The Benediction Service in Our Catholic Church Helps Us to Adore Jesus and Receive His Special Blessing 9. We Catholics Love to Bless Ourselves and Others with Holy Water 10. Incense Adds a Festive Note to Our Services 11. By Making the Sign of the Cross, We Catholics Confess in Public That We Love Jesus and Put Ourselves under His Protection We Catholics Love Mary Our Mother 12. Jesus on the Cross Made Mary, Our Mother 13. We Catholics Love to Greet Mary with the Words of the Bible: “Hail Mary–Blessed Are You” 14. We Ask Mary to Pray for Us as She Prayed for the People at the Wedding Feast at Cana 15. The Rosary Is the Journey through the Life of Jesus in the Company of Mary 16. The Angelus-Prayer Reminds Us Catholics of the Dramatic Event when Jesus Became a Human Being in the Womb of Mary
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17. Mary Is the Mother of God. Mary’s Child Was Fully God and Fully Human 18. We Catholics Rejoice in the Immaculate Conception of Mary in the Womb of Her Mother Anne 19. We Catholics Rejoice over Mary’s Assumption into Heaven Body and Soul– the Same that Will Happen to All Followers of Christ
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Our Catholic Family Embraces the Living and the Dead 20. The Saints in Heaven Are Our “Ancestors” in the Faith 21. How We Catholics Remain in Contact with Our Dead 22. We Catholics Believe in the “Communion of Saints”
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The Angels of God Protect Us Against the Evil Spirits 23. We Catholics Trust in the Protection of Our Guardian Angels
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We Catholics Believe in Both the Bible and Tradition 24. How the Bible Emerged from a Living Tradition 25. We Catholics Believe that the Bible Is the Inspired Word of God 26. How We Catholics Use the Bible in Church and at Home
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We Catholics Believe in the Sacrament of Priesthood and in the Common Priesthood of All Believers 27. The Sacrament of Priesthood Is a Total Gift, Coming from God–not a “Commissioning” by the Faithful 28. The Common Priesthood of All Believers Was Already Exercised by Mary Under the Cross
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89 90 92
The Celebration of the Eucharist Is the Heart of Our Catholic Family 29. At the Eucharist We Actualize the Paschal Mystery of Christ 30. The Eucharist Is Jesus in Person Among Us 31. The Eucharist Is the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross 32. The Eucharist Is the Sacrifice of the Whole Church Community 33. The Eucharist Is the Feast of Unity (The Pain of Disunity at the Table of the Lord) 34. The Eucharist Is the Feast of Thanksgiving 35. The Eucharist Is the Wedding Feast of the Lamb
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Through the Seven Sacraments Jesus Accompanies Us Through Life 36. The Seven Sacraments 37. Through the Sacrament of Penance We Celebrate God’s Forgiveness in Our Catholic Family 38. Through the Sacrament of Marriage We Make God’s Faithful Love Visible in Our Catholic Family
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107 112 116
123 127
Women and Men of Consecrated Life 39. Sisters, Monks and Consecrated Lay People Are a Great Treasure in Our Catholic Family
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Holy Week Is Our Greatest Catholic Family Feast 40. A Quick Walk through Holy Week 41. Easter Is the Greatest Feast in Our Catholic Family and a Foretaste of the Eternal Feast in Heaven
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Appendix 42. The Five Precepts (Laws) of the Church 43. The Poor and the Catholic Church 44. Abortion and the Catholic Church 45. No Divorce, No Polygamy in the Catholic Church 46. Our Catholic Attitude towards Sexual Behavior (Sexual Love) Is Part of the Wonderful Cosmos of Love 47. The Teaching of the Church about Sexual Behavior 48. Homosexual Acts 49. Our Catholic Family Is Called to Renew Itself Continuously on the Journey of Love
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Index
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150 152 155 157
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All this makes us feel at home and very happy. As we continue our walk, we discover the place of honor which we give to the Bible in our Catholic home. We ask ourselves: “Where does the Bible come from? How do we Catholics use the Bible in church and at home?� (Numbers 24-26) The mother of the house leads us to the Upper Room where Jesus is waiting for us. He shares with us his heartfelt desire to remain in close contact with us through the Seven Sacraments, especially through his wonderful gift of the Eucharist (Numbers 29-37). Then we talk about Marriage and about the Consecrated Life of Sisters and Brothers in convents and monasteries as well as in the world (Numbers 38-39). At the end of our visit we discover the deeper meaning of the Holy Week: Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. We come to understand why we Catholics celebrate Easter, not Good Friday, as the greatest feast in the Church. Easter opens for us the window to our eternal home where all tears will be wiped away and death be devoured (Numbers 40-41). It is the risen Lord in the midst of our worldwide Catholic family who is the overflowing and inexhaustible source of Our Joy In Being Catholic. I invite all our Catholic Christians to consult this book when their faith is being questioned by personal doubts or by other Christians. It may especially be helpful for young people who are preparing themselves for the Sacrament of Confirmation. Mthatha, Feast of the Epiphany 2007 + Oswald Hirmer
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e are happy to belong to the worldwide Catholic family
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e Catholics have developed many customs which make us feel at home in the Church
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We Catholics Love the Crucifix of Jesus and the Statues of Our Saints When we enter a Catholic Church we see a crucifix of Jesus and statues of the saints. Even in our homes, we Catholics love to hang up a crucifix and display statues or pictures of holy people. There are people who accuse us “You Catholics adore the crucifix of wood and statues of stone. The Bible says: ‘You shall not erect an idol or a sacred pillar for yourselves, nor shall you set up a stone figure for worship in your land’”(Lv 26:1). We answer gently and with respect We Catholics never adore a crucifix made of wood or stone. We adore the living Jesus who remains among us until the end of time. The crucifix, however, reminds us of Jesus who died for us on the cross and it inspires us to love him more. Let us think of a photo of our parents, which we hang up in our homes. It reminds us of them and of all the love they have given us while they were alive. In a similar way, the crucifix on the wall or a statue of Jesus reminds us of the love of Jesus and of what he has done for us. We Catholics also like to display statues in our homes, for example, statues of our Mother Mary, St. Joseph, St. Teresa, and St. Francis etc. Again, we do not adore these statues of wood or stone. We display them because we love these holy people. They are our brothers and sisters in the faith. We even call them our ancestors in the faith. Why should we not display their pictures and statues? 30
In short We Catholics adore the risen Christ in our midst and no one else. Wooden crosses remind us of Jesus who died for us on the cross. They inspire us to love Jesus more and carry our own cross together with him. Statues of holy people remind us of our brothers and sisters in the faith, as a family album reminds us of our parents, brothers and sisters. We Catholics love statues and pictures of holy people because they encourage us to follow Christ as they did. Therefore, statues and pictures belong to the “home decoration� of our Catholic home where we feel welcomed and accepted by the whole family. The Bible and Statues The Bible tells us about wooden statues in the Temple of Jerusalem and of a metal snake which Moses had to display, on the order of the Lord. 31
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e Catholics love Mary, our Mother
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Jesus on the Cross Made Mary Our Mother It was on the cross that Jesus gave us Mary to be our mother. So we read in scripture:
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother: “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to his disciple (John): “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home (Jn 19:25-27).
The Catholic Church is the family where Mary is at home even to this very day. We have accepted her and love her as children love their mother.
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13 We Catholics Love to Greet Mary with the Words of the Bible: “Hail Mary–Blessed Are You”
It is our Catholic custom to pray: “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.” These words are taken straight from the Bible. They are the words of Gabriel, the Archangel, and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. We Catholics do not get tired of greeting Mary as the Archangel Gabriel and Elizabeth, the cousin of Mary, praised and greeted her:
Gabriel said: “Hail [Mary], full of grace the Lord is with you.” Lk 1:28
Elizabeth said: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb [Jesus!]” Lk 1:42 53
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We Ask Mary to Pray for Us as She Prayed for the People at the Wedding Feast at Cana When we Catholics pray the “Hail Mary,” we conclude with the following words: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death.” We Catholics believe that our mother Mary will intercede for us with God as she did at the wedding feast of Cana (Read John 2:1-11). So we read: “When the wine ran short, the Mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” At first, Jesus refused to help. His “hour” had not come yet, as he said, because he waited for his heavenly Father to tell him what to do. But after the intercession of Mary, God the Father told Jesus what to do. We see Jesus helping the worried bride and bridegroom by changing water into wine. Remembering what she said at the wedding feast of Cana, “Do whatever he tells you” we Catholics today still approach our Mother Mary in prayer:
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.
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The Rosary Is the Journey through the Life of Jesus in the Company of Mary A short history of how the rosary became a prayer for Catholics Since olden times, the Priests, Sisters, and Brothers used the 150 Psalms for their daily prayers. However, this was difficult for the faithful in their homes. In olden days, the Psalms had to be copied out by hand because books could not be printed as they are today. Besides that, many of the people could not read or write. Therefore, the people of God invented the rosary. They prayed the “Hail Mary” 150 times and meditated on the childhood, suffering and resurrection of Jesus while they were praying. It was Pope John Paul II who added in the five mysteries of the public life of Jesus and called them “mysteries of light.” When our Lady, the Virgin Mary, appeared to the children in Lourdes and Fatima, she always encouraged them to pray the rosary. When we pray the rosary, we use beads for counting. This makes it easy for us to travel the “Rosary Journey” in the loving company of Mary.
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