“Excuse me, you’ve got some dirt on your head.” Every year someone says that to me on Ash Wednesday. Maybe it has happened to you too. In the past it used to frustrate me, but in recent years I have come to see it as a great opportunity to evangelize, to share with someone about the most important person in my life: Jesus Christ.
The word “infallible” does not mean that the Pope is perfect. It also does not mean that the Pope knows everything. Instead, infallibility only applies when the Pope speaks about solemn, official teachings on faith and morals, and he can’t ever change, add, or subtract Christian doctrine.
He only helps define or explain what we already believe, and he doesn’t do it on his own. The infallible teachings of the Pope are the result of many years – sometimes hundreds of years – of consultation with the other bishops and theologians of the Church. He is, in effect, voicing the belief of the whole Church.
Catholics do not pray to statues.
That would be idolatry and therefore, a violation of the First Commandment. If a person prays to a statue out of superstition, believes that the statue has special powers or is even God – that is idolatry.
However, this is not what Catholics do when they pray in front of a statue. Catholics worship with their whole person and all of the senses. A statue, or any other piece of religious art, is intended to draw the soul deeper into prayer by helping the senses to recall the mystery that it represents.
When we skip Mass on Sunday, we are violating our covenant with God. We are saying to God, “I don’t need to be united to you. I don’t need to worship you.” It may seem innocent, but we are actually declining His marriage proposal. We are not showing up for our own wedding.
When we make a decision to deny His invitation to covenant we are saying we don’t want a relationship with Him. Because our God loves us and is a gentleman, he allows us to do this.
However, it’s a grave sin to miss Mass.
Why is it that Christmas and Easter are the only two times during the year that you have to leave for church an hour early to get a seat? It’s sad but true. What is even sadder is the reaction that regular Mass-goers give on Easter and Christmas to others who don’t come the rest of the year.
We dug into our Life Teen video archives and pulled out this video on the Apostle’s creed. Give it a watch!
Picture it: You’re in a hurry. You’re focused on school or work or family or friends, where there are a thousand things going on. You stop “real quick” to eat in the middle of the day. Halfway through the meal – or a little while after – you remember it’s Friday. And it’s Lent! And that’s a burger in your stomach!! In the words of Homer Simpson, “D’oh!”
Q: In the part of the Mass when the priest says something along the lines of, “When I say the word, I shall be healed.” What “word” are they referring to?
A: Actually the priest is praying for God’s grace and mercy.
My suggestion to you is follow the example of the Holy Father and listen to your Bishop.
And now for the real answer.
That is that you can be married outside as long as the priest who is doing the ceremony gets permission from his Bishop.
It is certain the choice of anyone to disagree with the personal teachings of the Church, but let me just say this…why?
There’s a new Missal coming out. Not like the kind of missile that supervillians try to shoot into space – a new Roman Missal, which is basically the instruction book for the Mass. Starting sometime next year, the USCCB (the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) will implement a new translation of what we say and hear at Mass. Maybe it’s just because I’m a Church nerd, but I’m unbelievably excited about this. All the changes are available to look at online (http://www.usccb.org/romanmissal), and I’ve been going over them since they were released. So why is this exciting? Why am [...]
Olivia, Fr. J, and Matt Smith help explain why the Church says the Eucharist is a Catholic-only thing.
