WEDNESDAY
May 3, 2000
volume 11, no. 86

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APPRECIATING THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF OUR FAITH Series         INTRODUCTION

    Every day we present a short point that helps bring into focus the treasures of the Roman Catholic Church that comprise the great Deposit of Faith.

    It is no secret that over the past thirty years fewer and fewer know their Faith and it shows with the declining number of vocations, parish participation and attendance at Holy Mass. We have the new Catechism of the Catholic Church but for the common man, the one brought up on sound bites and instant gratification, it is more of a text book and that in itself prompts them to shy away from such a tome. So what's a loyal Catholic to do in evangelizing to fellow Catholics and understand their Faith? Our answer: go back to basics - to the great Deposit of Faith. We have the Baltimore Catechism which, for unknown and ridiculous reasons, was shelved after Vatican II. We have the Holy Bible but there are so many newer versions that the Douay-Rheims and Confraternity Latin Vulgate in English versions, the ones used for so long as the official Scriptural text authorized by the Church, seem lost in a maze of new interpretations that water down the Word. This is further complicated by the fact there are so few Douay-Rheims editions in circulation though it is available on the net at DOUAY-RHEIMS BIBLE. We have so many Vatican documents available at the Vatican web site and other excellent Catholic resource sites that detail Doctrine, Dogma and Canon Law. We have the traditions, and the means of grace but how do we consolidate all these sources into one where it is succinct and easy to understand? We have the perfect vehicle. It is called "My Catholic Faith", now out of print, that was compiled by Bishop Louis Laravoire Morrow and published by My Mission House. This work ties in Scriptural references, the Sacraments, Dogmas, Doctrines, Traditions, Church documents, Encyclical and Papal decrees to clearly illustrate the Faith in simple, solid and concise terms that all can understand and put into practice. We will quote from this work while adding in more recent events and persons when applicable since the book was written in the late forties during the pontificate of Pope Pius XII. We also quote from the Catholic Almanac published by Our Sunday Visitor for the Roman Curial offices and from Old Testament Confraternity Edition and New Testament Confraternity Edition of the Saint Joseph New Catholic Edition of the Holy Bible.

    Nothing in Holy Mother Church's teaching has changed and therefore we feel confident that these daily "points of enlightenment" will help more Catholics better understand their faith, especially those who were not blessed with early formation of the faith in the home and their parish school. Regardless of where any Catholic is in his or her journey toward salvation, he or she has to recognize that the Faith they were initiated into at the Sacrament of Baptism is the most precious gift they have been given in life. For points covered thus far, click on APPRECIATING THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF OUR FAITH


installment 163:
Sanctifying Grace part one

        A soul in the state of grace is very beautiful in the sight of God. Then we are friends and children of God and heirs of Heaven; then we are like the very angels. We must always try to avoid sin.

        But when the soul has lost the grace of God by mortal sin, nothing on earth can be uglier in God's sight. If we are so careful about our personal appearance before mortals, how much ore should we be careful about the appearance of our immortal soul, that God may be pleased with us.

        Grace is a supernatural give of God bestowed on us through themerits of Jesus Christ for our salvation. "And He said: 'This is why I said to you, 'No one can come to Me unless he is enabled to do so by My Father''" (John 6:66).

        Grace is a favor, a free gift, granted to us though we have no claim to it. God grants us graces because He is good, not because we deserve them. God grants us graces for the sake of His Son, Who died on the cross to earn for us these graces; we men can never merit these graces. "All have sinned and have need of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ" (Romans 3:23-24).

        The Holy Spirit dispenses the graces of God merited by Our Lord Jesus Christ; He bestows and perfects what is already earned. In a similar manner the sun does not make the plants, but develops what is already planted; without the sun plants would die and be useless to man.

        The supernatural is that which is beyond natural powers. It is of two kinds:

  • (a) When the fact is beyond natural powers in the manner of occurrence: as when a blind man instantly can see; and
  • (b) When the fact fundamentally and entirely surpasses all powers of the natural order: as when God imparts a part of His life to man through the gift of sanctifying grace.

        The assistance of the Holy Spirit is necessary. Without the help of the graces that He dispenses, with merely natural powers, we cannot do the least work to merit salvtion. Without God, we are nothing.

        In order to reach Heaven, we need God's grace; so we say with the Apostles: "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything, as from ourselves but our sufficiency is from God" (2 Corinthians 3-5); "By the grace of God I am what I am...I have labored more than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

    Tomorrow: Sanctifying Grace part two

          

May 3, 2000
volume 11, no. 86
APPRECIATING THE PRECIOUS GIFT OF OUR FAITH

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