By: Bernadette Parrott
Welcome to our Faith Renewal Series that is exploring The ABCs of Being Catholic. We are invited on a journey through the alphabet to explore Catholic terms, beliefs, and traditions. In this post we focus on the letter “G”. Every few days we will add another term beginning with “G” to this post.
If you missed our Introduction to this series <click here>. To go back to the letter “F” <click here>. To go to the letter “H” <click here>.
Gifts of the Holy Spirit
February 8, 2021
We are called to transform the world!
We have looked at the Fruits of the Holy Spirit already (during our focus on the letter “F”). Let’s take a step back and look at the Gifts from which the Fruits flow.
We are showered with the Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit at our baptism. At our Confirmation, these gifts are strengthened, and we are then called to be a witness, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to the state of grace we have been freely given.
Since we are children of God first and foremost, we long to be with Him and so too to share Him with others. Like every gift we are given we choose to accept it, we choose to open it and we choose to display it or use it. The gift is already there, and we will never be asked to return it. These gifts are simply ours. We cannot live the Christian life we are invited to live without them. With them and through them, we are called to transform the world!
Let’s take some time and open these gifts. How can I use them to transform the world?
Wisdom
Wisdom is the first and highest gift of the Holy Spirit. In it we find the perfection of the faith. Through wisdom, we are able to judge all things as God sees them and exercise good judgement. We see and recognize truth and use that truth to glorify God by choosing Godly solutions to problems. It is with this gift we find the wisdom to answer the question “What would Jesus do?”
Understanding
Understanding helps us to better understand what God has revealed. With this gift of intelligence and enlightenment, we desire to contemplate the things of God and truly come to grasp the very essence of the truths of the Catholic Faith. We move into relationship with God.
Counsel
The third gift of the Holy Spirit is also known as Right Judgement. Through this gift we are able to teach and inform, guide and direct, warn and admonish, recommend and encourage and with confidence stand up for the truths of our Faith. We know the Holy Spirit is our guide when we stand up and defend the truth.
Fortitude
Fortitude is also known as Courage. The gift empowers us to stand up for God and His truth and to face evil without fear. Even in difficult situations, we still strive to do what is right and remain joyful in the Lord. With Fortitude we find the strength of the martyrs to be unwavering in our commitment to God.
Knowledge
Knowledge allows a person to understand with certainty the meaning and purpose God has for their life. It is a call to action. With this gift we are enabled to see the things of the world as they really are. We are able to see the circumstance of our life the way that God sees them and with trust in the Holy Spirit, we can determine God’s purpose for our lives and then live our life accordingly.
Piety
Piety brings us to the willingness to worship and serve God. It goes beyond a sense of duty to love. All service to God is offered up to Him in and with love. This gift of the Holy Spirit helps us in our worship of God and our respect for all people and all things connected to God. Piety is a personal holiness which includes devotion to God, prayer, virtue, goodness, decency, innocence, the avoidance of sin and the obedience to God’s will.
Fear of the Lord
Fear of the Lord is also called Awe and Wonder. It awakens in us the desire to never offend God so as to become separated from His love for us. It puts God into a proper perspective. We come to understand the greatness and awesomeness of the Lord and our relationship to Him. It allows us to recognize everything we are is because of God’s great love for us. We recognize that we are totally dependent on Him. With this gift we have come full circle. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom. We desire to offer praise, worship and adoration to God.
So, what are we called to with the grace of each of these gifts?
- Wisdom – What would Jesus do? Are my eyes open to see the truths of God’s goodness?
- Understanding – How can I enrich my relationship with God and to enhance my understanding of the truths of my faith?
- Counsel – Do I have the courage to stand up and defend my faith?
- Fortitude – Do I have the courage to remain faithful with a joyful heart even through difficulties?
- Knowledge – What is God’s purpose for my life?
- Piety – Do I love God above all things? Do I recognize I am nothing without Him?
- Fear of the Lord – Do I see God in all things? Do I see God in me?
Gospel
February 4, 2021
The word “Gospel” means “Good News”. So, I guess a good question to ask would be: why is this news good?
There are four authentic accounts of the life, death, and Resurrection of Jesus. These four Books are divinely inspired. Although penned by ordinary men, their true author is the Holy Spirit, and the truth of this Good News was given to us by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Each Gospel shares with us individual snapshots – individual portraits of Christ, his life, his ministry, his death. Just as a husband and wife would share their wedding day from different perspectives, so too, the authors of the Gospels, share their encounters and experiences from their personal perspective.
Let’s take a brief look at each of the Gospels and their writers. Perhaps one Gospel calls to you in a special way.
- Matthew was written to the Jews who had become Christian and portrays Christ as the King of the Jews.
- Mark was written to the Romans and portrays Christ as a Servant of God.
- Luke was written to the Greek and portrays Christ as the Son of Man.
- John was written to all men and portrays Christ as the Son of God.
Matthew often quoted from the Old Testament, and his Gospel show that Jesus is truly the Messiah, the One who fulfilled God’s promises to save His people and presents Jesus as the new Moses, leading God’s people out of slavery. His Gospel emphasizes that all who follow Jesus are true followers of God. In this Gospel we find: the Sermon on the Mount, instruction to 12 disciples for their mission, parables about Kingdom of Heaven, teaching on meaning of discipleship, and teaching about end of present age and the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Can you find God speaking to you through the words of Matthew? Which teaching reaches into your heart and transforms your life?
Mark emphasizes what Jesus did rather than his words and teachings. It begins with the voice of John crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the Lord. In many ways this Gospel is similar to Matthew and nearly every story in Mark is retold in Matthew. But there are major differences. Mark is very concerned about who Jesus was and is. It uses simple and direct links showing the relationship between Jesus and the suffering servant of Isaiah. His Gospel is based on what St. Peter preached and was especially written to Christians being persecuted for following Jesus. In his words, we find the reassurance that no matter how much we suffer, God is always with us. His Gospel is the shortest of the four Gospels and the first to be written.
Can you find God speaking to you through the words of Mark? Which teaching reaches into your heart and transforms your life?
Luke’s Gospel is filled with a concern for people with all kinds of needs and a note of joy is also prominent. It begins with Zechariah offering sacrifice and great emphasis is placed on prayer and the Holy Spirit where we encounter John filled with the Spirit, the Spirit overshadowing Mary, Elizabeth and Zechariah filled with Spirit and the Spirit leading Jesus into the desert. Only in this Gospel do we find the Song of the Angels, the shepherd’s visitation at the birth of Jesus, Jesus in the Temple as a boy, and the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Lost Son. He also gives us the fullest Nativity account and presents three major events before the beginning of Jesus’ public life. Through Luke we find God reaching down into our lives. Also in Luke, we find the retelling of the repentant woman, the friendship of Zacchaeus, salvation of the good thief and several appearance of Jesus after his Resurrection. When reading the Gospel of Luke, I encourage you also to read the Acts of the Apostles, almost treating them as Volume 1 and 2. Luke emphasizes God has reached into history through His Spirit and has formed a community, a Church. He makes it clear that salvation comes through membership in the Spirit-filled community.
Can you find God speaking to you through the words of Luke? Which teaching reaches into your heart and transforms your life?
John writes so that we come to believe Jesus is the promised Messiah, Son of God, and that through our faith in him, we may have life. It begins at the beginning with introducing us to Jesus, the Word – the Word of God. It stands alone from the other three Gospels (called the Synoptic Gospels). He emphasis the gift of eternal life through Christ, The Way, The Truth, and The Life. He symbolically uses common things to point to spiritual realities. It was the last of Gospels to be written and it introduces us to deeper insights into the meaning of the life and mission of Jesus. John emphasized the deity of Christ. In John we find the discourse on the Bread of Life. Chapters 1-13 contain revelation of the Word as eternal, Second Person of the Trinity. To present Jesus as the promised Messiah we find in this Gospel a number of miracles including the changing of water into wine and the curing of the son of the royal official in Capernaum, the curing of the paralytic, the multiplication of the loaves, Jesus walking on the water, the miraculous catch of fish, the curing of man born blind, the raising of Lazarus, and the Resurrection of Jesus. There can be no doubt Jesus is the true Messiah, the Saviour of the World. Chapters 13-21 reveals to us the intimate and significant events in Jesus’ life – the Last Supper, His Passion and death and His Resurrection. Jesus gives the New Commandment – ‘that you love one another, even as I have love you, that you also love one another’. Jesus reveals himself as God’s love personified. He is the vine and we are the branches.
Jesus institutes the sacrament of the Eucharist, strengthening our union with Him. John’s account of the Passion and death of our Lord is personal. He opens our eyes to the circumstances of that day – the casting of lots for Jesus’ seamless tunic, the darkness, Jesus’ farewell words to His Mother and his beloved Apostle, the tearing of the veil of the temple, the Jews who witness the Jesus’ death and are overcome with fear, and the rising of the dead out of their graves. He also focuses on the wound in Christ’s side caused by the lance with blood and water flowing from it. Again, John wants us to know that, without doubt, that Christ’s death brings about the foundation of the Church and the Sacraments. He takes the time to recount everything ensuring the truth of the Resurrection – the discovery of the empty tomb and the physical reality of the body of the Risen Jesus.
Can you find God speaking to you through the words of John? Which teaching reaches into your heart and transforms your life?
Do you want to know who Jesus was and is? Do you seek to have an intimate relationship with Him? Look no further. You will find all you need in the divinely inspired writing of the four Gospel writers – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I invite us all to continually seek Him and build for ourselves the friendship we are called to.
God
February 1, 2021
Would you be able to
define,
describe,
and answer this question:
Who is God?
As Catholics, we proclaim aloud every Sunday the answer to the question in our Creed. ‘I believe in God, the Father Almighty…and in Jesus Christ, his only Son…in the Holy Spirit.’
Let’s look a little deeper into it though and start at the beginning…
In the beginning God created heaven and earth.
Genesis 1:1
God created man in the image of himself, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:26-27
Who is God? He has been revealed to us through Holy Scripture and our Catholic theology and doctrine has been defined for us through time. Scripture opens to us who God is. We see the Holy Church defining the definition at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD (where our Nicene Creed comes from) and further defined at the First Vatican Council in 1868. Heinrich Joseph Dominicus Denzinger was a leading German Catholic theologian and author of the Handbook of Creeds and Definitions. The Handbook is commonly referred to as “Denzinger”. Here is his definition:
The one absolutely and infinitely perfect spirit who is the Creator of all. In the definition of the First Vatican Council, fifteen internal attributes of God are affirmed, beside his role as Creator of the universe: “the holy, Catholic, apostolic Roman Church believes and professes that there is one true, living God, the Creator and Lord of heaven and earth. He is almighty, eternal, beyond measure, incomprehensible, and infinite in intellect, will and in every perfection. Since He is one unique spiritual substance, entirely simple and unchangeable, He must be declared really and essentially distinct from the world, perfectly happy in Himself and by his very nature, and inexpressibly exalted over all things that exist or can be conceived other than Himself.
Denzinger 3001
The Catechism of the Catholic Church adds to this description:
God is Ineffable (too great to be described or explained), Three persons (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) but one essence (the Holy Trinity). He is merciful, gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.
CCC 202 and 210
If we look at “God is ineffable” we then find that what is left is: God is love, and out of that love he created. He created me. And that great love created in me in the desire for relationship with Him. I am compelled to seek Him. He upholds and sustains this beautiful world we call home and all that surrounds me on earth and in the heavens. Everything good comes from God!
We find in Exodus, Moses seeking his God and he finds Him. What would seem a simple question opens for us the door to an intimate relationship. Have you ever forgotten someone’s name? You know who they are, you recognize them from past encounters, but for the life of you, you cannot remember their name? It’s the worst feeling – the sense of losing that person’s identity and relationship to you. God answers Moses “I am who I am (Exodus 3:14).
God is.
Moses did not ask where did you come from? He had faith. He answered “Here I am, Lord (Exodus 3:4). He obeyed when instructed to remove his sandals for he was standing on holy ground (Exodus 3:5).
What does this relationship call each of us to then? Will we answer as Moses did – here I am! Will we accept God’s invitation to service and to love? Will we cry out in thanksgiving for all that God enriches our lives with? Will we be people of action, recognizing the dignity of every person since we are all made in the image of God? Will be stewards and caretakers? Will we be people of faith?
Genuflection
January 25, 2021
So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend,
Philippians 2:10
in heaven and on earth and under the earth
Here’s one of those ‘why do Catholic do what they do’ things!
We sit, we stand, we bow, we genuflect, we kneel. Each action and gesture has meaning and purpose.
Sitting shows reverence is a communal action of respect, aware of the actions around us and in recognition of biblical posture of sitting. When we stand it is out of attentive respect, ready for action. When we take a simple bow, we come in humility with respect and reverence to another person or object. With a profound bow we show an expression of adoration. When we genuflect, it is with profound reverence in the presence of Christ in the Tabernacle. We kneel when the Blessed Sacrament is exposed to us.
Which parts of the Mass can you attribute to the liturgical actions and gestures? From the moment we enter the church, even before we have taken our seats, we genuflect (or bow if unable to genuflect), for Christ is present in the Tabernacle. We stand during our prayers; we sit at the readings and stand for the proclamation of the Gospel. We sit for the homily and kneel at the Consecration. We stand for the remaining prayers of the Eucharistic Prayer. To end our time of presence with our Lord, when we depart from His Holy Church, we genuflect again. So much richness is contained in these actions and gestures that volumes have been written on just this subject alone. I invite all of us, the next time we participate in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, to pay attention to these actions and gestures. I know its is extraordinary right now, but to really bring the Mass home with you, I encourage everyone to participate fully by sharing in the correct actions during the Mass.
Genuflection is an abbreviated version of kneeling and an action of reverence.
If you stood in the presence of our Lord, would you not fall to your knees?
So, when is it proper to genuflect? Most certainly when we pass before the Blessed Sacrament in the Tabernacle, and especially, if you do not kneel, before the Blessed Sacrament when Jesus is exposed in the Monstrance during adoration. It is also a common and proper practice to genuflect when we enter and leave our pew before and at the conclusion of the Mass.
Our interior attitude should be reflected in our outward actions, not so everyone can see, but because we recognize, in humility, that Jesus is present among us. Everything should flow from respect and reverence and worship.
It is proper to genuflect upon your right knee. The General Instruction of the Roman Missal states: “a genuflection, made by bending the right knee to the ground, signifies adoration, and therefore it is reserved for the Most Blessed Sacrament.” (No. 274) Genuflection to the left knee was historically used to pay honour to kings and emperors, but the right knee was reserved to God alone as a sign of divine worship.
Let’s turn again to the Mass. I invite us to pay close attention to the actions of our Priest. How many times do they genuflect during the Mass? Three.
- After the elevation of the Body of Christ
- After the elevation of the Precious Blood
- Before Holy Communion
There are other occasions that we genuflect as well. They include but are not limited to:
- During the Angelus at the words “and the Word was made flesh”
- Good Friday to the Holy Cross
Is it too much to ask this little thing of us?
Every knee shall bow
Every tongue confess
That Jesus Christ is Lord
If you missed our Introduction to this series <click here>. To go back to the letter “F” <click here>. To go to the letter “H” <click here>.