1846 The Gospel is the revelation in Jesus Christ of God’s mercy to sinners.113 The angel announced to Joseph: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”114 The same is true of the Eucharist, the sacrament of redemption: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”115
1847 “God created us without us: but he did not will to save us without us.”116 To receive his mercy, we must admit our faults. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”117
1848 As St. Paul affirms, “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.”118 But to do its work grace must uncover sin so as to convert our hearts and bestow on us “righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ ourLord.”119 Like a physician who probes the wound before treating it, God, by his Word and by his Spirit, casts a living light on sin:
Conversion requires convincing of sin; it includes the interior judgment of conscience, and this, being a proof of the action of the Spirit of truth in man’s inmost being, becomes at the same time the start of a new grant of grace and love: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” Thus in this “convincing concerning sin” we discover a double gift: the gift of the truth of conscience and the gift of the certainty of redemption. the Spirit of truth is the Consoler.120
1849 Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man and injures human solidarity. It has been defined as “an utterance, a deed, or a desire contrary to the eternal law.”121
1850 Sin is an offense against God: “Against you, you alone, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight.”122 Sin sets itself against God’s love for us and turns our hearts away from it. Like the first sin, it is disobedience, a revolt against God through the will to become “like gods,”123 knowing and determining good and evil. Sin is thus “love of oneself even to contempt of God.”124 In this proud self-exaltation, sin is diametrically opposed to the obedience of Jesus, which achieves our salvation.125
1851 It is precisely in the Passion, when the mercy of Christ is about to vanquish it, that sin most clearly manifests its violence and its many forms: unbelief, murderous hatred, shunning and mockery by the leaders and the people, Pilate’s cowardice and the cruelty of the soldiers, Judas’ betrayal – so bitter to Jesus, Peter’s denial and the disciples’ flight. However, at the very hour of darkness, the hour of the prince of this world,126 The sacrifice of Christ secretly becomes the source from which the forgiveness of our sins will pour forth inexhaustibly.
1852 There are a great many kinds of sins. Scripture provides several lists of them. the Letter to the Galatians contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit: “Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.”127
1853 Sins can be distinguished according to their objects, as can every human act; or according to the virtues they oppose, by excess or defect; or according to the commandments they violate. They can also be classed according to whether they concern God, neighbor, or oneself; they can be divided into spiritual and carnal sins, or again as sins in thought, word, deed, or omission. the root of sin is in the heart of man, in his free will, according to the teaching of the Lord: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man.”128 But in the heart also resides charity, the source of the good and pure works, which sin wounds.
1854 Sins are rightly evaluated according to their gravity. the distinction between mortal and venial sin, already evident in Scripture,129 became part of the tradition of the Church. It is corroborated by human experience.
1855 Mortal sin destroys charity in the heart of man by a grave violation of God’s law; it turns man away from God, who is his ultimate end and his beatitude, by preferring an inferior good to him. Venial sin allows charity to subsist, even though it offends and wounds it.
1856 Mortal sin, by attacking the vital principle within us – that is, charity – necessitates a new initiative of God’s mercy and a conversion of heart which is normally accomplished within the setting of the sacrament of reconciliation:
When the will sets itself upon something that is of its nature incompatible with the charity that orients man toward his ultimate end, then the sin is mortal by its very object . . . whether it contradicts the love of God, such as blasphemy or perjury, or the love of neighbor, such as homicide or adultery…. But when the sinner’s will is set upon something that of its nature involves a disorder, but is not opposed to the love of God and neighbor, such as thoughtless chatter or immoderate laughter and the like, such sins are venial.130
1857 For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent.”131
1858 Grave matter is specified by the Ten Commandments, corresponding to the answer of Jesus to the rich young man: “Do not kill, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and your mother.”132 The gravity of sins is more or less great: murder is graver than theft. One must also take into account who is wronged: violence against parents is in itself graver than violence against a stranger.
1859 Mortal sin requires full knowledge and complete consent. It presupposes knowledge of the sinful character of the act, of its opposition to God’s law. It also implies a consent sufficiently deliberate to be a personal choice. Feigned ignorance and hardness of heart133 do not diminish, but rather increase, the voluntary character of a sin.
1860 Unintentional ignorance can diminish or even remove the imputability of a grave offense. But no one is deemed to be ignorant of the principles of the moral law, which are written in the conscience of every man. the promptings of feelings and passions can also diminish the voluntary and free character of the offense, as can external pressures or pathological disorders. Sin committed through malice, by deliberate choice of evil, is the gravest.
1861 Mortal sin is a radical possibility of human freedom, as is love itself. It results in the loss of charity and the privation of sanctifying grace, that is, of the state of grace. If it is not redeemed by repentance and God’s forgiveness, it causes exclusion from Christ’s kingdom and the eternal death of hell, for our freedom has the power to make choices for ever, with no turning back. However, although we can judge that an act is in itself a grave offense, we must entrust judgment of persons to the justice and mercy of God.
1862 One commits venial sin when, in a less serious matter, he does not observe the standard prescribed by the moral law, or when he disobeys the moral law in a grave matter, but without full knowledge or without complete consent.
1863 Venial sin weakens charity; it manifests a disordered affection for created goods; it impedes the soul’s progress in the exercise of the virtues and the practice of the moral good; it merits temporal punishment. Deliberate and unrepented venial sin disposes us little by little to commit mortal sin. However venial sin does not set us in direct opposition to the will and friendship of God; it does not break the covenant with God. With God’s grace it is humanly reparable. “Venial sin does not deprive the sinner of sanctifying grace, friendship with God, charity, and consequently eternal happiness.”134
While he is in the flesh, man cannot help but have at least some light sins. But do not despise these sins which we call “light”: if you take them for light when you weigh them, tremble when you count them. A number of light objects makes a great mass; a number of drops fills a river; a number of grains makes a heap. What then is our hope? Above all, confession.135
1864 “Whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”136 There are no limits to the mercy of God, but anyone who deliberately refuses to accept his mercy by repenting, rejects the forgiveness of his sins and the salvation offered by the Holy Spirit.137 Such hardness of heart can lead to final impenitence and eternal loss.
Original Sin (Aquinas 101)
What is sin? Feeling Broken? How to Find True Happiness | Fr. Mike Schmitz | SEEK25
What’s the Difference Between Mortal and Venial Sins? (Aquinas 101)
Mortal vs Venial Sin | What’s the Difference?
Do We Really Inherit Original Sin from Adam and Eve? (Aquinas 101)
Bishop Barron on Original Sin
Why Confess Your Sins to a Priest? (Aquinas 101)
Cardinal Arinze clearly explains Mortal Sin
Mortal vs. Venial Sin
WHAT REALLY HAPPENS WHEN WE SIN – MINUTE 9’44
DIFFERENT PARTS OF SIN
LOS 3 PECADOS – EJERCICIOS ESPIRITUALES DE SAN IGNACIO DE LOYOLA
1440 Sin is before all else an offense against God, a rupture of communion with him. At the same time it damages communion with the Church. For this reason conversion entails both God’s forgiveness and reconciliation with the Church, which are expressed and accomplished liturgically by the sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation.38
Only God forgives sin
1441 Only God forgives sins.39 Since he is the Son of God, Jesus says of himself, “The Son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins” and exercises this divine power: “Your sins are forgiven.”40 Further, by virtue of his divine authority he gives this power to men to exercise in his name.41
1442 Christ has willed that in her prayer and life and action his whole Church should be the sign and instrument of the forgiveness and reconciliation that he acquired for us at the price of his blood. But he entrusted the exercise of the power of absolution to the apostolic ministry which he charged with the “ministry of reconciliation.”42 The apostle is sent out “on behalf of Christ” with “God making his appeal” through him and pleading: “Be reconciled to God.”43
Reconciliation with the Church
1443 During his public life Jesus not only forgave sins, but also made plain the effect of this forgiveness: he reintegrated forgiven sinners into the community of the People of God from which sin had alienated or even excluded them. A remarkable sign of this is the fact that Jesus receives sinners at his table, a gesture that expresses in an astonishing way both God’s forgiveness and the return to the bosom of the People of God.44
1444 In imparting to his apostles his own power to forgive sins the Lord also gives them the authority to reconcile sinners with the Church. This ecclesial dimension of their task is expressed most notably in Christ’s solemn words to Simon Peter: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”45 “The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of the apostles united to its head.”46
1445 The words bind and loose mean: whomever you exclude from your communion, will be excluded from communion with God; whomever you receive anew into your communion, God will welcome back into his. Reconciliation with the Church is inseparable from reconciliation with God.
The sacrament of forgiveness
1446 Christ instituted the sacrament of Penance for all sinful members of his Church: above all for those who, since Baptism, have fallen into grave sin, and have thus lost their baptismal grace and wounded ecclesial communion. It is to them that the sacrament of Penance offers a new possibility to convert and to recover the grace of justification. the Fathers of the Church present this sacrament as “the second plank [of salvation] after the shipwreck which is the loss of grace.”47
1447 Over the centuries the concrete form in which the Church has exercised this power received from the Lord has varied considerably. During the first centuries the reconciliation of Christians who had committed particularly grave sins after their Baptism (for example, idolatry, murder, or adultery) was tied to a very rigorous discipline, according to which penitents had to do public penance for their sins, often for years, before receiving reconciliation. To this “order of penitents” (which concerned only certain grave sins), one was only rarely admitted and in certain regions only once in a lifetime. During the seventh century Irish missionaries, inspired by the Eastern monastic tradition, took to continental Europe the “private” practice of penance, which does not require public and prolonged completion of penitential works before reconciliation with the Church. From that time on, the sacrament has been performed in secret between penitent and priest. This new practice envisioned the possibility of repetition and so opened the way to a regular frequenting of this sacrament. It allowed the forgiveness of grave sins and venial sins to be integrated into one sacramental celebration. In its main lines this is the form of penance that the Church has practiced down to our day.
1448 Beneath the changes in discipline and celebration that this sacrament has undergone over the centuries, the same fundamental structure is to be discerned. It comprises two equally essential elements: on the one hand, the acts of the man who undergoes conversion through the action of the Holy Spirit: namely, contrition, confession, and satisfaction; on the other, God’s action through the intervention of the Church. the Church, who through the bishop and his priests forgives sins in the name of Jesus Christ and determines the manner of satisfaction, also prays for the sinner and does penance with him. Thus the sinner is healed and re-established in ecclesial communion.
1449 The formula of absolution used in the Latin Church expresses the essential elements of this sacrament: the Father of mercies is the source of all forgiveness. He effects the reconciliation of sinners through the Passover of his Son and the gift of his Spirit, through the prayer and ministry of the Church:
God, the Father of mercies,
through the death and the resurrection of his Son
has reconciled the world to himself
and sent the Holy Spirit among us
for the forgiveness of sins;
through the ministry of the Church
may God give you pardon and peace,
and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.48
1450 “Penance requires . . . the sinner to endure all things willingly, be contrite of heart, confess with the lips, and practice complete humility and fruitful satisfaction.”49
Contrition
1451 Among the penitent’s acts contrition occupies first place. Contrition is “sorrow of the soul and detestation for the sin committed, together with the resolution not to sin again.”50
1452 When it arises from a love by which God is loved above all else, contrition is called “perfect” (contrition of charity). Such contrition remits venial sins; it also obtains forgiveness of mortal sins if it includes the firm resolution to have recourse to sacramental confession as soon as possible.51
1453 The contrition called “imperfect” (or “attrition”) is also a gift of God, a prompting of the Holy Spirit. It is born of the consideration of sin’s ugliness or the fear of eternal damnation and the other penalties threatening the sinner (contrition of fear). Such a stirring of conscience can initiate an interior process which, under the prompting of grace, will be brought to completion by sacramental absolution. By itself however, imperfect contrition cannot obtain the forgiveness of grave sins, but it disposes one to obtain forgiveness in the sacrament of Penance.52
1454 The reception of this sacrament ought to be prepared for by an examination of conscience made in the light of the Word of God. the passages best suited to this can be found in the moral catechesis of the Gospels and the apostolic Letters, such as the Sermon on the Mount and the apostolic teachings.53
The confession of sins
1455 The confession (or disclosure) of sins, even from a simply human point of view, frees us and facilitates our reconciliation with others. Through such an admission man looks squarely at the sins he is guilty of, takes responsibility for them, and thereby opens himself again to God and to the communion of the Church in order to make a new future possible.
1456 Confession to a priest is an essential part of the sacrament of Penance: “All mortal sins of which penitents after a diligent self-examination are conscious must be recounted by them in confession, even if they are most secret and have been committed against the last two precepts of the Decalogue; for these sins sometimes wound the soul more grievously and are more dangerous than those which are committed openly.”54
When Christ’s faithful strive to confess all the sins that they can remember, they undoubtedly place all of them before the divine mercy for pardon. But those who fail to do so and knowingly withhold some, place nothing before the divine goodness for remission through the mediation of the priest, “for if the sick person is too ashamed to show his wound to the doctor, the medicine cannot heal what it does not know.”55
1457 According to the Church’s command, “after having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year.”56 Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion, even if he experiences deep contrition, without having first received sacramental absolution, unless he has a grave reason for receiving Communion and there is no possibility of going to confession.57 Children must go to the sacrament of Penance before receiving Holy Communion for the first time.58
1458 Without being strictly necessary, confession of everyday faults (venial sins) is nevertheless strongly recommended by the Church.59 Indeed the regular confession of our venial sins helps us form our conscience, fight against evil tendencies, let ourselves be healed by Christ and progress in the life of the Spirit. By receiving more frequently through this sacrament the gift of the Father’s mercy, we are spurred to be merciful as he is merciful:60
Whoever confesses his sins . . . is already working with God. God indicts your sins; if you also indict them, you are joined with God. Man and sinner are, so to speak, two realities: when you hear “man” – this is what God has made; when you hear “sinner” – this is what man himself has made. Destroy what you have made, so that God may save what he has made …. When you begin to abhor what you have made, it is then that your good works are beginning, since you are accusing yourself of your evil works. the beginning of good works is the confession of evil works. You do the truth and come to the light.61
Satisfaction
1459 Many sins wrong our neighbor. One must do what is possible in order to repair the harm (e.g., return stolen goods, restore the reputation of someone slandered, pay compensation for injuries). Simple justice requires as much. But sin also injures and weakens the sinner himself, as well as his relationships with God and neighbor. Absolution takes away sin, but it does not remedy all the disorders sin has caused.62 Raised up from sin, the sinner must still recover his full spiritual health by doing something more to make amends for the sin: he must “make satisfaction for” or “expiate” his sins. This satisfaction is also called “penance.”
1460 The penance the confessor imposes must take into account the penitent’s personal situation and must seek his spiritual good. It must correspond as far as possible with the gravity and nature of the sins committed. It can consist of prayer, an offering, works of mercy, service of neighbor, voluntary self-denial, sacrifices, and above all the patient acceptance of the cross we must bear. Such penances help configure us to Christ, who alone expiated our sins once for all. They allow us to become co-heirs with the risen Christ, “provided we suffer with him.”63
The satisfaction that we make for our sins, however, is not so much ours as though it were not done through Jesus Christ. We who can do nothing ourselves, as if just by ourselves, can do all things with the cooperation of “him who strengthens” us. Thus man has nothing of which to boast, but all our boasting is in Christ . . . in whom we make satisfaction by bringing forth “fruits that befit repentance.” These fruits have their efficacy from him, by him they are offered to the Father, and through him they are accepted by the Father.64
Bishop Fulton Sheen on Confession: “Nudity of the Soul”
Confession (Part 1): What You Didn’t Know – Explaining the Faith
Confession (Part 2): What You Didn’t Know – Explaining the Faith
LONG EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE WITH THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF GOD AND THE PRECEPTS OF THE CHURCH.
Can You Go to Confession If You’re Not Sorry? (Aquinas 101)
Why Confess Your Sins to a Priest? (Aquinas 101)
Is My Confession Really a Secret? Explaining the Seal of Confession (Aquinas 101)
The Meaning of Penance – Marian Friars Minor
A Word About Frequent Confession
CONFESIÓN – Examen de conciencia
I. Mi relacionamiento con Dios y con el mundo sobrenatural
¿He usado todos los medios que están a mi alcance – Sacramentos, oraciones, buenas compañías, etc. – para llegar a amar a Dios de todo corazón y sobre todas las cosas?
¿Guardo algún apego a personas, objetos y defectos que disminuyen mi amor a Dios?
¿Busco mostrar mi gratitud y confianza en Dios por la frecuencia en los sacramentos – especialmente la Comunión y la Confesión – y por las oraciones bien hechas?
¿Me distraigo en la Santa Misa, hago mi Confesión sin arrepentimiento, y mis oraciones con disipación?
¿Falté por culpa propia a Misa los domingos y días de precepto?
¿En la Iglesia, o en otros lugares santos, cometí irreverencias con risas, bromas, conversaciones o palabras inútiles?
¿Asistí a Misa sin atención? ¿Me distraje voluntariamente durante el Santo Sacrificio?
¿Escondí algún pecado grave en la Confesión?
¿Fui a dormir sin haber hecho todas mis oraciones diarias?
¿He sido infiel a la Religión, dudando de la Fe, leyendo escritos o asistiendo programas de televisión contrarios a la Iglesia Católica?
¿Tengo vergüenza de ser Católico, Hijo de Dios y (si hizo la consagración) esclavo de Nuestra Señora?
¿Defendí la honra de la Iglesia cuando se presentó la ocasión? ¿O me tomé de respeto humano?
¿Hice uso, sin respeto, del nombre de Dios y de los Santos?
¿Pensé o hablé con desprecio de Dios, de los Santos, de las cosas sagradas (blasfemias)?
¿Juré en falso, o sin necesidad?
¿Utilicé frases de la Sagrada Escritura para hacer bromas?
¿Llegué a frecuentar el culto de otras religiones?
¿Me he acercado por cualquier motivo – bromas, juegos, etc. – con prácticas supersticiosas (hechizos, magias, adivinaciones, simpatías, etc.)?
¿Asistí reuniones espíritistas?
¿Reclamé contra la voluntad de Dios cuando me sucedió alguna dificultad?
¿Quise, por vanidad y por orgullo, llamar la atención de los otros, desviándolos de Dios?
¿Acepté con placer orgulloso los elogios que me hicieron, juzgándome superior a los otros?
¿Perdí mucho tiempo delante del espejo, por vanidad, o hablé mucho de mí mismo, a fin de engrandecerme?
II. Del trato con mis hermanos en la Fe ¿Respeté y obedecí a mis superiores? ¿Les falté el respeto por palabras, gestos o murmuraciones?
¿Causé peleas o desuniones entre mis prójimos, especialmente entre mis hermanos en la Fe y en la Vocación?
¿Guardé rencor y resentimiento en relación a quien me ofendió o me hizo algún mal?
¿Deseé el mal a alguien por motivos egoístas? ¿Llegué a desear la muerte a alguien?
¿Maté o agredí gravemente a alguien?
¿Tuve envidia del prójimo al ver sus cualidades o sus bienes? ¿Hablé mal de alguien por envidia o algún otro motivo?
¿Injurié o insulte al prójimo? ¿Familiares? ¿Superiores? ¿Sacerdotes?
Al ver defectos o faltas de mis prójimos, ¿busqué ayudarlos con mis oraciones, palabras, o comunicando a mis superiores?
¿Divulgué, sin necesidad, los defectos o las faltas de mi prójimo? ¿Exageré sus pecados o defectos?
¿Me alegré con la desgracia de mi prójimo?
¿Me apropié de algo perteneciente a otro? ¿O deseé hacerlo?
¿Guardé injustamente objetos prestados o encontrados? ¿Restituí lo que robé o dañifiqué a otro?
¿Mentí o deformé la verdad alguna vez? ¿En materia grave?
¿Abrí cartas, e-mails o anotaciones de otro, sin autorización? ¿Fue de algún superior?
¿Di escándalos, o hice alguna cosa que pudiese llevar a alguien a ofender a Dios?
¿Mostré imágenes o videos inmorales a otros?
¿Llevé a alguien a ver algo contario a la pureza por televisión o en internet?
¿Miré a alguien con intenciones impuras?
¿Hice gestos indecentes?
¿Llevé a alguien al pecado de impureza por convite, malos ejemplos o gestos?
III. Mi respeto con el “Templo de Dios” que soy
¿Tomé alguna actitud contraria a mi altísima condición de Hijo de Dios? Como, por ejemplo, comer o beber demás, perjudicando mi salud.
¿Deseé la muerte? ¿Busqué, de alguna forma, perjudicar mi salud, o hasta suicidarme?
¿Mantuve deseos o pensamientos impuros, voluntariamente?
¿Tuve malas conversaciones, vi revistas, programas, imágenes o videos inmorales?
¿Oí músicas contrarias a la virtud de la pureza?
¿Hablé con otras personas acerca de temas impuros? ¿Con personas del mismo o de otro género?
¿Miré con mala intención cosas contrarias a la castidad?
¿Pequé por toques, o acciones impuras? ¿Sólo, o con otras personas? ¿Del mismo o de otro género?
¿Fui lento en alejar los pensamientos y deseos impuros?
¿He huído de las malas ocasiones?
¿Escondí alguno de esos pecados en la confesión, por miedo, o por vergüenza?
Cuando estuve solo, ¿tomé actitudes vulgares, indecentes o impuras?
UN EXAMEN DE CONCIENCIA (DEL RITUAL ROMANO DE LOS SACRAMENTOS)
El sacramento de la Penitencia tiene cinco momentos: 1) Examen de conciencia; 2) Dolor de los pecados; 3) Propósito de la enmienda; 4) Ritual del sacramento en el confesonario; 5) Cumplir la penitencia que te mande el confesor. Antes de empezar este examen, lo más importante: haz un acto de presencia de Dios, e invoca al Espíritu Santo para que te ilumine. Se trata de mirarte como te mira Dios, como Él te ve: no es una mera instrospección. Hay cosas que no ves de ti mismo: pide al Señor que te ilumine allí donde no llegan tus ojos. -Todo parte de la rectitud del corazón y el deseo auténtico del encuentro con Dios: ¿Me acerco al Sacramento de la Penitencia con deseo sincero de purificación, de conversión, de renovación de vida y de una amistad más profunda con Dios? ¿O más bien lo considero como algo molesto que sólo se recibe muy raramente? -¿He olvidado o callado deliberadamente algún pecado grave en mis confesiones anteriores? -¿He cumplido la penitencia? ¿He reparado las injusticias cometidas? ¿Me he esforzado por llevar a la práctica los propósitos y enmendar la vida según el Evangelio? A la luz de la Palabra de Dios examina tu vida. Te ayudará especialmente hacerlo ante el sagrario. No tengas prisa. EN RELACIÓN A DIOS. El Señor dice: “Amarás al Señor , tu Dios, con todo tu corazón” -¿Está mi corazón dirigido hacia Dios, de tal manera que con verdad lo ame sobre todas las cosas, como un hijo a su padre, cumpliendo fielmente sus mandamientos? ¿Me he preocupado preferentemente por las cosas temporales? ¿Tengo pureza de intención en mis acciones? -¿Es firme mi fe en Dios que nos ha hablado por medio de su Hijo? ¿He adherido con firmeza a la doctrina de la Iglesia? ¿Me he preocupado por adquirir instrucción cristiana, escuchando la Palabra de Dios, participando en la catequesis, evitando lo que atenta contra la fe? ¿He profesado siempre con valor y sin temor la fe en Dios y en la Iglesia? ¿Me he mostrado de buena gana como cristiano en la vida pública y privada? -¿He hecho las oraciones en la mañana y en la noche? ¿Es mi oración un verdadero diálogo de la mente y del corazón con Dios, o sólo un rito externo? ¿He ofrecido a Dios los trabajos, alegrías y sufrimientos? ¿He recurrido a Él en las tentaciones? -¿Tengo reverencia y amor al nombre de Dios, o lo he ofendido con blasfemias, juramentos falsos o indebidos? ¿He faltado el respeto a la Santísima Virgen o a los santos? -¿He honrado el domingo, día del Señor y las fiestas de precepto de la Iglesia, participando en los actos litúrgicos, sobre todo en la Misa, de una manera activa, piadosa y atenta? ¿He observado los preceptos de la confesión anual y de la comunión pascual? -¿Tengo, tal vez, otros dioses, es decir, cosas que me preocupan o en las que confío más que en Dios, como son las riquezas, las supersticiones, el espiritismo o la magia? EN RELACIÓN A LOS DEMÁS: El Señor dice: “Amaos los unos a los otros, como Yo os he amado” -¿Tengo amor verdadero a mi prójimo, o he abusado de mis hermanos utilizándolos para mi provecho personal, haciéndoles lo que no deseo para mí mismo? ¿He sido para ellos causa de escándalo grave con mis palabras y acciones? -¿He contribuido al bien y a la alegría de los demás miembros de mi familia, mediante la paciencia y el amor sincero? ¿He sido obediente con mis padres, los he respetado y ayudado en sus necesidades espirituales y materiales? ¿Me he preocupado, como padre, por la educación cristiana de los hijos, y los he ayudado con el buen ejemplo y la autoridad paterna? ¿Como esposo o esposa, he sido fiel a mi cónyuge en mis deseos y en mis relaciones con los demás? -¿He hecho partícipes de mis bienes a los que son más pobres que yo? ¿He hecho lo posible por defender a los oprimidos, socorrer a los necesitados, ayudar a los pobres? ¿O he despreciado al prójimo, especialmente a los pobres, los débiles, los ancianos, los extranjeros, o los hombres de otras razas? -¿Es mi vida un cumplimiento de la misión que he recibido al ser confirmado? ¿He participado en las obras de apostolado y de caridad de la Iglesia y en la vida de la Parroquia? ¿He prestado mi ayuda a la Iglesia en sus necesidades, y he orado por ellas, v.g. por la unidad de la Iglesia, por la evangelización de los pueblos, por el reino de la paz y la justicia? -¿Me he preocupado por el bien y el progreso de la comunidad humana dentro de la cual vivo? ¿O solamente de mis ventajas personales? ¿He participado, según mis posibilidades, en la promoción de la justicia, la honestidad de las costumbres, la concordia, la caridad, en la sociedad humana? ¿He cumplido los deberes cívicos? ¿He pagado los impuestos? -¿He sido justo, responsable y honesto en mi trabajo u oficio prestando con amor mi servicio a la sociedad? ¿He pagado el justo salario a los quienes trabajan para mí? ¿He cumplido las promesas y contratos? -¿He mostrado a las autoridades la obediencia y el respeto debidos? -¿Si tengo algún cargo, o ejerzo autoridad, uso de ello para mi interés personal o para el bien de los demás, en espíritu de servicio? -¿He sido fiel y veraz? ¿O he perjudicado a los demás con palabras falsas, calumnias, detracciones, juicios temerarios, violaciones del secreto? -¿He causado daño a la vida, la integridad física, la fama, la honra o los bienes de los demás? ¿Les hice algún daño? ¿He aconsejado o procurado el aborto? ¿He odiado al prójimo? ¿He tenido pleitos, enemistades, insultos o cóleras con los demás? ¿He rehusado culpablemente, por egoísmo, dar testimonio de la inocencia del prójimo? -¿He robado o dañado, o deseado injusta o desordenadamente los bienes del prójimo? ¿He procurado restituir lo ajeno y reparar el daño? -¿Si he padecido injurias, he estado dispuesto a la paz, por amor de Cristo, y a perdonar, o he guardado odio y deseos de venganza? EN RELACIÓN A UNO MISMO: El Señor dice: “Sed perfectos como el Padre celestial” ¿Cuál es la orientación fundamental de mi vida? ¿Estoy animado por la esperanza de la vida eterna? ¿Me he esforzado por adelantar en la vida espiritual, por medio de la oración, la lectura de la Palabra de Dios, la participación de los Sacramentos y la mortificación? ¿He reprimido los vicios, las inclinaciones y pasiones malas, como son la envidia y la gula? ¿He sido soberbio y jactancioso, menospreciado a los demás y creyéndome superior a ellos? ¿He sido presumido delante de Dios? ¿He impuesto a los demás mi voluntad, sin respetar la libertad y los derechos ajenos? ¿Qué uso he hecho del tiempo, de las fuerzas y los dones que he recibido de Dios como los “talentos del Evangelio”? ¿He usado de estas cosas para buscar mi perfección o he sido ocioso y perezoso? ¿He soportado con paciencia los dolores y contrariedades de la vida? ¿Cómo he llevado en mi cuerpo la mortificación para completar lo que falta a la pasión de Cristo? ¿He guardado la ley de la abstinencia y del ayuno? -¿He guardado mis sentidos y todo mi cuerpo en pudor y castidad, como Templo del Espíritu Santo destinado a la resurrección y a la gloria, y como señal del amor que Dios fiel tiene para con los hombres, señal que plenamente se manifiesta en el Sacramento del Matrimonio? ¿He manchado mi cuerpo con la fornicación, la masturbación, las palabras y pensamientos indignos, pornografía, malos deseos o acciones? ¿Me he dejado arrastrar por el deleite? ¿He tenido lecturas o conversaciones o frecuentado espectáculos o diversiones contrarios a la honestidad cristiana y humana? ¿He sido causa, por mi indecencia, de pecado de los demás? ¿He observado la ley moral en el uso del matrimonio? ¿He actuado contra mi conciencia, por temor o hipocresía? -¿He buscado siempre obrar con la verdadera libertad de los hijos de Dios, según la ley del Espíritu, o he sido esclavo de mis pasiones? -ACTO DE CONTRICCIÓN (DOLOR DE LOS PECADOS)- Puedes rezar el “Señor mío Jesucristo”, el “Yo confieso”… Señor mío Jesucristo, Dios y hombre verdadero, Creador Padre, y Redentor mío: Por ser Vos quien sois, bondad infinita, y porque os amo sobre todas las cosas, me pesa de todo corazón el haberos ofendido. También me pesa porque podéis castigarme con las penas del infierno. Ayudado de vuestra divina gracia me propongo firmemente nunca más pecar, confesarme y cumplir la penitencia que me fuere impuesta. Amén. Después, te acercas al confesonario y sigues el siguiente ritual: RITUAL DEL SACRAMENTO DE LA CONFESIÓN: En el confesonario sigues este ritual. Comienzas: 1) Al entrar se dice como saludo: «Ave María Purísima» 2) Se hace la señal de la cruz: «En el nombre + del Padre, y del Hijo…» 3) Dices cuánto hace de la última confesión. 4) A continuación, confiesas los pecados. Recuerda que la confesión ha de ser: -CLARA: sin ambigüedades, llamando a cada cosa por su nombre. -CONCRETA: precisando la naturaleza y la especie del pecado, y si es necesario, circunstancias. -CONCISA: di los pecados, pero sin convertirlo en un relato de acontecimientos, alargando más de lo debido la confesión. Si hay personas esperando fuera a confesar, quizá sea conveniente quedar con el sacerdote en otro momento para una dirección espiritual. -COMPLETA: se han de decir todos los pecados. (CONSEJO: comienza por lo que más te cuesta decir). 5) El sacerdote te puede preguntar, dar consejos. 6) Te pone la penitencia y te da la ABSOLUCIÓN. No se reza en el confesonario el «Señor mío Jesucristo». 7) Fuera ya del confesonario, haces la penitencia.
Why do Catholics confess their sins to priests? Why do Catholics call priests “Father”?
Why Confess to a Priest When Jesus Already Paid the Price?
Why do Catholics confess their sins to a priest?
CONTRITION VERSUS ATTRITION – SAINT PETER VERSUS JUSDAS ISCARIOTE
Perfect contrition is sorrow for one’s sins based on the selfless motive of love for God and sorrow for having offended him. Attrition is sorrow for one’s sins based on the fear of punishment.
Gregorian Masses take their name from Saint Gregory the Great, who was sovereign Pontiff from 590 to 604.
St. Gregory the Great contributed to the spread of the pious practice of having these Masses celebrated for the deliverance of the souls from purgatory. In his Dialogues, he tells us that he had Masses on thirty consecutive days offered for the repose of the soul of Justus, a monk who had died in the convent of St. Andrew in Rome. At the end of the thirtieth Mass, the deceased appeared to one of his fellow monks and announced that he had been delivered from the flames of Purgatory.
SAINT BENEDICT
Saint Benoît : sa vie, ses miracles, sa médaille, pourquoi le prier
BIOGRAPHY OF SAINT BENEDICT
Benedict of Nursia (Latin: Benedictus Nursiae; Italian: Benedetto da Norcia; 2 March 480 – 21 March 547), often known as Saint Benedict, was an Italian Catholic monk. He is famed in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old Catholic Churches. In 1964, Pope Paul VI declared Benedict a patron saint of Europe
¿Sabías que San Benito tiene dos fechas litúrgicas?
_Historia:_ A finales del siglo V, un joven llamado Benito de una familia de la antigua nobleza romana, decidió entregarse por completo a Dios. La gracia divina le dijo en lo más íntimo de su alma: “Hijo mío, te quiero y te quiero por entero. ¿Te entregas por completo?” Y él respondió: “Sí, me entrego por completo”.
Pero pronto se dio cuenta de que para entregarse plenamente al servicio de Dios no podía permanecer en la mezcla de barbarie y cultura romana decadente en la que se encontraba la sociedad de su época. Así que se retiró solo, abandonando a su familia, sus estudios y su carrera, buscando un lugar solitario donde pudiera vivir en soledad. ¿Y para qué? ¡Para ser santo!
_(En la foto, la antigua casa donde vivía San Benito cuando estudiaba en Roma; hoy en día es una iglesia confiada por la diócesis de Roma a los Heraldos del Evangelio. Para conocer: https://youtu.be/B3XPb9QbRVA)_
El joven san Benito abandonó todo para entregarse enteramente a Dios. Encontró un lugar solitario llamado Subiaco, donde se alojó en una pequeña cueva. Durante los tres años que vivió en esa gruta, sintió que algo muy grande pasaba en el Cielo cada vez que daba un paso en el amor y la fidelidad a Dios. Sintió todo el odio del demonio hacia él por lo hostil y dañino que era para el demonio su entrega a Dios.
Durante este período, el joven sufrió las más duras tentaciones diabólicas. Fuertemente probado en una ocasión contra la virtud de la pureza, se encontró a punto de ceder e incluso abandonar su soledad. Ayudado, sin embargo, por la gracia divina, se arrojó a un matorral de espinas y ortigas, en el que se revolvió durante largo tiempo. Se fue con todo el cuerpo herido, pero con el alma libre de tentaciones.
_(En la foto: el monasterio construido en el lugar de la sagrada gruta de San Benito en Subiaco. Para conocer más: https://youtu.be/2z0IbqmMPJc)_
Durante los tres años que San Benito pasó en completo aislamiento en Subiaco, se difundió la fama de su santidad. Había muerto el superior de un grupo de ermitaños que hacía mucho tiempo que existían en esa región, y vinieron a pedirle que fuese su nuevo superior. Al principio Benito se negó, diciendo que su carisma era muy diferente a la forma de vida de ellos. Sin embargo, ante la gran insistencia de los religiosos, acabó aceptando el cargo. Al poco tiempo, sin embargo, estos frailes tibios, lamentando haber elegido como superior a un Santo que les exigía el camino de la perfección, decidieron entonces matarlo poniendo veneno en su vino. Cuando se le presentó el vaso de cristal que contenía el vino, Benito hizo una gran señal de la cruz sobre el vaso el cual milagrosamente estalló. Entendiendo bien lo que eso significaba, el Santo abandonó el mismo día el monasterio de monjes relajados y regresó a la soledad de su cueva.
Atraídos por el brillo de sus virtudes y la fama de sus milagros, muchos hombres fueron a la cueva a vivir bajo la dirección de San Benito. Así, se formaron sucesivas comunidades. En total, San Benito erigió allí doce monasterios, eligiendo un abad para cada casa: estaba fundada así la Orden Benedictina. En esa época, Subiaco comenzó a ser visitado también por importantes personajes de Roma que traían a sus hijos para que fuesen educados por los nuevos monjes. Pero, en todos los tiempos y lugares, es característico de los Santos ser objeto de la incomprensión y del odio de los secuaces del diablo. El párroco de una iglesia cercana a Subiaco, lleno de envidia, comenzó a denigrar la forma de vida de Benito, tratando de alejar a todos los que podía de su santa influencia. Al ver frustrados sus esfuerzos, le envió a Benito como regalo un pan envenenado para matarlo. San Benito entretanto se dio cuenta y mandó a un cuervo a llevarse el pan en su pico a un lugar donde nadie pudiera encontrarlo.
Los hechos son del libro sobre la vida de San Benito, que fue escrito por uno de sus discípulos, el papa San Gregorio Magno. Ahí consta el poder exorcístico y milagroso de San Benito.
Este poder se extiende desde el Cielo hasta nuestros días por medio de la Medalla de San Benito. La Medalla se bendice con un rito del Bendicional Romano, y protege contra las insidias del diablo. Además nos ayuda a obtener la salud de alma y cuerpo.
En la cara de la medalla está San Benito. En una mano tiene el libro de su Regla para los Monasterios y en la otra sostiene la Cruz que nos recuerda los milagros del Santo hechos por la señal de la Cruz y el trabajo de benedictinos en la evangelización y civilización de Europa llevando la Cruz de la Salvación. La unión entre la Cruz y el nombre del Santo consta desde antiguo por los milagros de varios Santos, discípulos de San Benito, haciendo la señal de la Cruz e invocando el nombre de su fundador: Benito.
A la derecha de San Benito está la copa envenenada, rota cuando trazó la señal de la Cruz. A la izquierda hay un cuervo con el pan envenenado enviado por un sacerdote envidioso. Encima vemos escrito: _Crux S. Patris Benedicti_ (La Cruz del Santo Padre Benito) y en el borde de la medalla: _Eius in obitu nostra praesentia muniamur_ (Que seamos protegidos por su presencia en la hora de nuestra muerte). Los benedictinos siempre han considerado a su Fundador un patrón para la buena muerte.
En el reverso de la medalla de San Benito, la Cruz domina. En los brazos de la Cruz están las letras iniciales de una oración en latín: _Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux! Nunquam Draco Sit Mihi Dux!_ (¡Que la santa Cruz sea mi luz! ¡Que el dragón nunca sea mi guía!).
Las cuatro letras en los círculos alrededor de la Cruz significan: Cruz del Santo Padre Benito.
Las letras en el borde son las iniciales de una oración de exorcismo contra satanás: _Vade Retro Satana! Nunquam Suade Mihi Vana! Sunt Mala Quae Libas. Ipse Venena Bibas!_ (¡Retírate satanás! ¡Nunca me aconsejes tus vanidades! Lo que me ofreces es malo. ¡Bebe tú mismo tu veneno!)
La historia de la Medalla de San Benito remonta al siglo XVII cuando en Nattenberg, Alemania, en un proceso contra unas mujeres acusadas de brujería ellas reconocieron que nunca habían podido influir malignamente contra el monasterio benedictino de Metten porque estaba protegido por una cruz especial. Comenzaron las investigaciones sobre esa cruz y en cierto momento se encontró que en las tapias del monasterio se hallaban pintadas varias cruces con letras que no supieron descifrar: eran las letras que hoy en día están en la Medalla de San Benito. Comenzaron a buscar en la antigua biblioteca del monasterio. Ahí se encontró la clave de las misteriosas siglas en un libro del siglo XIV donde aparece un dibujo de San Benito alzando una cruz que contenía parte del texto que se encontraba sólo en sus letras iniciales en las cruces pintadas en las tapias del monasterio, y en la mano portaba una banderola con la continuación del texto que completaba todas las siglas hasta aquel momento misteriosas.
Testimonio sobre la medalla de San Benito que recibió el año pasado:_ Desde hace 10 años padecía de una dolencia de calcificaciones en el hombro derecho. Fui tratada quirúrgicamente pero las piedras eran muy grandes y no consiguieron romperlas ni disolverlas. Los dolores eran tremendos y los calmantes no hacían efecto. En la última crisis ya no había más que aguantar el dolor. No podía dormir, ni vestirme ni asearme y en esta situación comencé a rezar a San Benito pidiendo el milagro de mi curación. La dolencia no remitía y entonces conseguí una medalla de San Benito que fue bendecida por un sacerdote de los Heraldos del Evangelio en la Misa que se celebró el año pasado al final de la novena. Lo coloqué en un vaso de agua, bebí tres vasos de ésa agua y dejé la medalla dos días en mi hombro. Al tercer día despareció el dolor. Fui al traumatólogo y cuando vió la radiografía me dijo: es inexplicable, sólo puedo decirte que no hay resto de las piedras, está completamente limpia!!!!! Éste es el milagro que me ha hecho San Benito.
Aquí están dos de los innumerables milagros de la Medalla de San Benito.
En un campo de remolacha, varios tipos de insectos causaron grandes daños. El dueño del campo enterró Medallas de San Benito en las esquinas del campo. El día siguiente el campo ya estaba diferente y no se encontró ningún insecto más en los cultivos. Impulsado por este milagro, el hombre decidió comprobar las medallas enterradas. Pero qué asombrado quedó cuando encontró cada medalla rodeada de miles y miles de insectos secos. Esta milagrosa colección de insectos muertos fue cuidadosamente guardada como prueba del poder de la Medalla de San Benito.
En el año 1897 un joven de 16 años que sufría de epilepsia se puso la Medalla de San Benito y se curó inexplicablemente. Permaneció curado durante varios años, pero en cierto momento la enfermedad volvió a aparecer. Esto pronto se hizo explicable, porque la medalla se había perdido. Rápidamente se consiguió una nueva medalla, y la enfermedad no volvió a manifestarse.
La protección contra las asechanzas del demonio puede ser visto como el principal objetivo de la medalla de San Benito.
A un hombre, apartado de la Fe, que se estaba muriendo, su hermana le intentaba convencer de confesarse y recibir los últimos Sacramentos, pero él lo negaba obstinadamente. Después de insistir durante muchos días sin resultado, ella puso una medalla de San Benito debajo de la almohada de su hermano: en menos de 5 minutos los demonios que impedían su reconciliación con Dios habían huido y él pidió para que su hermana llamara un sacerdote. Así murió en amistad con Dios.
También hay muchos relatos de misioneros en las que consta la ayuda de la medalla contra los animales que más recuerdan al demonio, como serpientes, escorpiones, insectos etc. Comenta un monje benedictino que en Asia, después de una picadura de escorpión, nunca falla el efecto curativo del agua en que se ha puesto la medalla de San Benito, de modo que en algunos lugares la llaman la “medalla del escorpión”
_Oración:_
¡Oh Glorioso San Benito!, patrón de Europa y padre espiritual de la Civilización Cristiana, te suplicamos gracias abundantes de conversión y santificación a fin de superar la crisis que asola actualmente nuestra sociedad.
Concédenos tu espíritu contemplativo para hacer nuestras obligaciones diarias con los ojos fijos en el Cielo.
Finalmente, por tu poder exorcístico, rogamos tu protección contra toda acción del maligno.
Amén.
_(Pídanse ahora las gracias personales que se desean alcanzar…)_
San Benito, ¡ruega por nosotros! _(tres veces)_
SAINT PORPHYRIOS
With the Eyes of the Soul: The Life of St. Porphyrios
This is the way we should see Christ. He is our friend, our brother; He is whatever is good and beautiful. He is everything. Yet, He is still a friend and He shouts it out, “You’re my friends, don’t you understand that? We’re brothers. I’m not…I don’t hold hell in my hands. I am not threatening you. I love you. I want you to enjoy life together with me.”
Love Christ and put nothing before His Love. He is joy, He is life, He is light. Christ is Everything. He is the ultimate desire, He is everything. Everything beautiful is in Christ.
Somebody who is Christ’s must love Christ, and when he loves Christ he is delivered from the Devil, from hell and from death.
The life of the parents is the only thing that makes good children. Parents should be very patient and ‘saintlike’ to their children. They should truly love their children. And the children will share this love! For the bad attitude of the children, says father Porphyrios, the ones who are usually responsible for it are their parents themselves. The parents don’t help their children by lecturing them and repeating to them ‘advices’, or by making them obeying strict rules in order to impose discipline. If the parents do not become ‘saints’ and truly love their children and if they don’t struggle for it, then they make a huge mistake. With their wrong and/or negative attitude the parents convey to their children their negative feelings. Then their children become reactive and insecure not only to their home, but to the society as well.
Troparion
(Podoben: “O citizen of the desert…”)
O ye faithful, let us honor Porphyrios, / the offspring of Euboia the Elder of all Greece, / an initiate of theology, and a true lover of Christ; / from childhood he was filled with divine gifts; / those possessed by demons are delivered, the sick are healed, and they cry with faith: / “Glory to Him Who strengthened you. / Glory to Him Who sanctified you. / Glory to Him Who, through you, works healings for all.”
Santa Teresa Benedicta de la Cruz
Saint Thomas Becket
Archbishop of Canterbury (29 December): Butler’s Lives of the Saints
Saint Thomas
What Happened to the Disciple Thomas?
Saint Brigid
The Miraculous Cloak of St. Brigid
St. Josephine Bakhita – February 8
Catherine Labouré
L’extraordinaire histoire de Catherine Labouré et de la médaille miraculeuse
Humility can be simply defined as knowing your place and taking your place. The Little Arab, St. Miriam of Jesus Crucified, gives us a remarkable example of humility as well as some little teachings on this necessary virtue that she spoke while in a rapture. Here is one of them… “Be little, little, like earthworms. If you are (underground) and someone walks over you, you remain untouched. But if you appear above ground, you will be crushed… For the worm, when the ice comes, the earth is its warmth; when the sun comes, the earth is its coolness… Walk underground.”
St. Anthony Mary Claret
Saint Nektarios of Aegina – A Wellspring of Humility
Saint Teresa of Avila | A Life of Mystical Experience | Carmelite Saint
SANTA TERESA DE JESÚS: POEMA – Vivo sin vivir en mí, de Teresa de Jesús
Vivo sin vivir en mí, y tan alta vida espero, que muero porque no muero. Vivo ya fuera de mí, después que muero de amor; porque vivo en el Señor, que me quiso para sí: cuando el corazón le di puso en él este letrero, que muero porque no muero. Esta divina prisión, del amor en que yo vivo, ha hecho a Dios mi cautivo, y libre mi corazón; y causa en mí tal pasión ver a Dios mi prisionero, que muero porque no muero. ¡Ay, qué larga es esta vida! ¡Qué duros estos destierros, esta cárcel, estos hierros en que el alma está metida! Sólo esperar la salida me causa dolor tan fiero, que muero porque no muero. ¡Ay, qué vida tan amarga do no se goza el Señor! Porque si es dulce el amor, no lo es la esperanza larga: quíteme Dios esta carga, más pesada que el acero, que muero porque no muero. Sólo con la confianza vivo de que he de morir, porque muriendo el vivir me asegura mi esperanza; muerte do el vivir se alcanza, no te tardes, que te espero, que muero porque no muero. Mira que el amor es fuerte; vida, no me seas molesta, mira que sólo me resta, para ganarte perderte. Venga ya la dulce muerte, el morir venga ligero que muero porque no muero. Aquella vida de arriba, que es la vida verdadera, hasta que esta vida muera, no se goza estando viva: muerte, no me seas esquiva; viva muriendo primero, que muero porque no muero. Vida, ¿qué puedo yo darle a mi Dios que vive en mí, si no es el perderte a ti, para merecer ganarle? Quiero muriendo alcanzarle, pues tanto a mi Amado quiero, que muero porque no muero.
BIOGRAFIA
Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda Dávila y Ahumada ( 1515-1582), Teresa de Ávila o Teresa de Jesús como religiosa, santa Teresa para la Iglesia desde 1622, es una de las figuras señeras de la vida espiritual de todos los tiempos. Fundadora de la Orden de los Carmelitas Descalzos, por la que se reformaba una orden anterior, la de Nuestra Señora del Monte Carmelo, del siglo XII, viene hoy a este blog por otra faceta suya menos conocida pero no menos valiosa: como escritora, como poeta, como figura estelar -con san Juan de la Cruz, colaborador suyo en la reforma carmelita- de la poesía mística. La mística es una corriente espiritual, presente en varias religiones, no solo el cristianismo, que busca el grado máximo de unión del alma con la divinidad durante la existencia terrenal. La mística cristiana es una corriente que arranca en Pablo de Tarso (san Pablo) y los llamados padres de la Iglesia (san Agustín, san Gregorio, san Ambrosio y san Jerónimo), pasa por santo Tomás de Aquino y desemboca, entre nosotros, en figuras como san Juan de Ávila, fray Luis de León, san Juan de la Cruz y santa Teresa. Eclipsada por la Teresa de Jesús religiosa, la Teresa de Jesús poeta no fue suficientemente apreciada hasta el siglo XIX, muchísimos años después de su muerte. El poema de hoy, con esa paradoja constante de morir para vivir plenamente, de la muerte como liberación, como la mejor vía para la fusión con dios, es ejemplar tanto en su contenido como en su continente. Este, un villancico, una forma poética y musical que entre los siglos XV y XVIII se usaba en castellano y en portugués tanto para temas profanos como para asuntos religiosos. Un estribillo con el que acababan las estrofas era uno de sus signos distintivos. Aquí, ese «que muero porque no muero» que ha acabado siendo parte del acervo popular en nuestro idioma.
SAINT TERESA’S 7 STAGES OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH
Saint Teresa’s 7 Mansions
Les sept demeures de sainte Thérèse d’Avila pour les nuls, par Arnaud Dumouch
After a thorough examination of her life by the Church, Galgani was beatified on 14 May 1933 and canonized on 2 May 1940. Galgani’s relics are housed at the Sanctuary of Santa Gemma associated with the Passionist monastery in Lucca, Italy. Her bronze effigy atop her tomb was crafted by sculptor Francesco Nagni. In 1985, her heart was enshrined in the Santuario de Santa Gema in Madrid, Spain. Gemma Galgani’s confessor, Germano Ruoppolo, produced her biography
SPIRITUAL CANTICLE by Saint John of the Cross 1542-1591,_Ioannes_a_Cruce,_A_Spiritual_Canticle_Of_The_Soul,_EN.pdf Stages-of-Spiritual-Journey-by-St-John-of-Cross.pdf
THE LEVELS OF SPIRITUALITY OF SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE NIGHTS OF THE SOUL
“The divinization of one’s passivities.”
This is a line from one of the great spiritual works of the twentieth century, The Divine Milieu by the French Jesuit Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In that seminal text, Teilhard famously distinguished between the divinization of one’s activities and the divinization of one’s passivities. The former is a noble spiritual move, consisting in the handing over of one’s achievements and accomplishments to the purposes of God. A convinced Jesuit, Teilhard desired to devote all that he did (and he did a lot) ad majorem Dei gloriam (to the greater glory of God). But this attitude, Teilhard felt, came nowhere near the spiritual power of divinizing one’s passivities. By this he meant the handing over of one’s suffering to God, the surrendering to the Lord of those things that are done to us, those things over which we have no control. We become sick; a loved one dies suddenly; we lose a job; a much-desired position goes to someone else; we are unfairly criticized; we find ourselves, unexpectedly, in the valley of the shadow of death. These experiences lead some people to despair, but the spiritually alert person should see them as a particularly powerful way to come to union with God. A Christian would readily speak here of participating in the cross of Christ. Indeed how strange that the central icon of the Christian faith is not of some great achievement or activity, but rather of something rather horrible being done to a person. The point is that suffering, offered to God, allows the Lord to work his purpose out with unsurpassed power.
In some ways, Teilhard’s distinction is an echo of St. John of the Cross’s distinction between the “active” and “passive” nights of the soul. For the great Spanish master, the dark night has nothing to do with psychological depression, but rather with a pruning away of attachments that keep one from complete union with God. This pruning can take a conscious and intentional form (the active night) or it can be something endured. In a word, we can rid ourselves of attachments—or God can do it for us. The latter, St. John thinks, is far more powerful and cleansing than the former.
SAINT MAXIMILIAN KOLBE
The Milicia of the Inmaculada? (la película subtitulada en español)
Who is St. Maximilian Kolbe? – 14 mn
St. Maximilian Kolbe – 2mn
Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe
SAINT BERNADETTE SOUBIROUS
St. Bernadette Soubirous – My Name Is Bernadette
Catholic Culture Audiobooks
Incorrupt Body of St. Bernadette (Nevers, France)
St.Bernadette: A Life of Faith and Wonder
Bernadette Soubirous, cuerpo incorrupto y testamento espiritual.
SAINT AUGUSTINE
A Life of Heroic Sanctity: Augustine of Hippo
“The Confessions of St. Augustine” – Full Audiobook
ENGLISH
Les Confessions de Saint Augustin
FRENCH:
Las Confesiones de San Agustín | Filosofía Religiosa | Audiolibros en Español Completos
SPANISH:
San Agustín en 3 Minutos – El Santo del Día – 28 de Agosto
CATHERINE OF SIENA USED TO CAST OUT DEMONS IN THE NAME OF JESUS
A Unique Relic: Catherine of Siena’s Skull
CATHERINE OF SIENA USED TO CAST OUT DEMONS IN THE NAME OF JESUS
SAINT PATRICK
Story of Saint Patrick | English | Stories of Saints
St. Patrick (17 March): Embrace Your Suffering Like Patrick Did
SAINT VINCENT DE PAUL
Biographie de Saint Vincent de Paul
Vincent de Paul a donné comme maxime à ses lazaristes Evangelizare pauperibus. Évangéliser les pauvres partout dans le monde.
Vincent de Paul ou Vincent Depaul, né le 24 avril 1581 au village de Pouy près de Dax et mort le 27 septembre 1660 à Paris, est un prêtre et une figure du renouveau spirituel, apostolique du catholicisme français du XVIIe siècle. Fondateur de congrégations, il œuvra tout au long de sa vie pour soulager la misère matérielle et morale. Il a été canonisé en 1737.
Using data from the Church’s official liturgical calendar of saints and blesseds—the 2004 Martyrologium Romanum—and data from the Dicastery of the Causes of the Saints, my calculations show that 14,154 men, women, and children have been recognized as martyrs over the centuries.
1117 As she has done for the canon of Sacred Scripture and for the doctrine of the faith, the Church, by the power of the Spirit who guides her “into all truth,” has gradually recognized this treasure received from Christ and, as the faithful steward of God’s mysteries, has determined its “dispensation.”34 Thus the Church has discerned over the centuries that among liturgical celebrations there are seven that are, in the strict sense of the term, sacraments instituted by the Lord.
1118 The sacraments are “of the Church” in the double sense that they are “by her” and “for her.” They are “by the Church,” for she is the sacrament of Christ’s action at work in her through the mission of the Holy Spirit. They are “for the Church” in the sense that “the sacraments make the Church,”35 since they manifest and communicate to men, above all in the Eucharist, the mystery of communion with the God who is love, One in three persons.
1119 Forming “as it were, one mystical person” with Christ the head, the Church acts in the sacraments as “an organically structured priestly community.”36 Through Baptism and Confirmation the pRiestly people is enabled to celebrate the liturgy, while those of the faithful “who have received Holy Orders, are appointed to nourish the Church with the word and grace of God in the name of Christ.”37
1120 The ordained ministry or ministerial priesthood is at the service of the baptismal priesthood.38 The ordained priesthood guarantees that it really is Christ who acts in the sacraments through the Holy Spirit for the Church. the saving mission entrusted by the Father to his incarnate Son was committed to the apostles and through them to their successors: they receive the Spirit of Jesus to act in his name and in his person.39 The ordained minister is the sacramental bond that ties the liturgical action to what the apostles said and did and, through them, to the words and actions of Christ, the source and foundation of the sacraments.
1121 The three sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders confer, in addition to grace, a sacramental character or “seal” by which the Christian shares in Christ’s priesthood and is made a member of the Church according to different states and functions. This configuration to Christ and to the Church, brought about by the Spirit, is indelible,40 it remains for ever in the Christian as a positive disposition for grace, a promise and guarantee of divine protection, and as a vocation to divine worship and to the service of the Church. Therefore these sacraments can never be repeated.
The Sacraments (Aquinas 101)
The Eucharist (Aquinas 101)
Baptism and Confirmation (Aquinas 101)
Marriage (Aquinas 101)
Penance and Anointing (Aquinas 101)
5 Things People Get Wrong About Confirmation (Aquinas 101)
Ex opere operato
THE SACRAMENTS DO NOT DEPEND ON ANYTHING HUMAN
EVEN IF A PRIEST IS UNWORTHY, THE SACRAMENTS HE PERFOMS ARE VALID
Understanding the Sacraments: A New Summary! (Part 1 of 2) Explaining the Faith with Fr. Chris Alar
Part 2 of 2: Understanding the Sacraments. A New Summary! Explaining the Faith w/Fr. Chris Alar
Section of the Catequism on the sacrament of the anointing of the sick
The Differences between a Catholic Bible and a Protestant Bible
Why are Catholic Bibles ‘bigger’ than Protestant Bibles? (Aquinas 101)
Defending The Deuterocanonicals | EWTN
In the sixteenth century, the Protestant Reformers removed a large section of the Old Testament that was not compatible with their theology. They charged that these writings were not inspired Scripture and branded them with the pejorative title “Apocrypha.”
THE BOOK OF WISEDOM FORTELLING THE JEWS’ TREASON AGAINST THE MESSIAH REMOVED FROM THE MASORETIC TEXT BY THE JEWS, WHICH IS NOW THE BASE OF THE PROTESTANT CANON
Tannaitic sources mention several passages of Scripture in which the conclusion is inevitable that the ancient reading must have differed from that of the present text. The explanation of this phenomenon is given in the expression (“Scripture has used euphemistic language,” i.e., to avoid anthropomorphism and anthropopathism). R. Simon b. Pazzi, an amora of the third century, calls these readings “emendations of the Scribes” (“tiḳḳune Soferim”; Gen. R. xlix. 7), assuming that the Scribes actually made the changes. This view was adopted by the later Midrash and by the majority of Masorites.
1127 Celebrated worthily in faith, the sacraments confer the grace that they signify.48 They are efficacious because in them Christ himself is at work: it is he who baptizes, he who acts in his sacraments in order to communicate the grace that each sacrament signifies. the Father always hears the prayer of his Son’s Church which, in the epiclesis of each sacrament, expresses her faith in the power of the Spirit. As fire transforms into itself everything it touches, so the Holy Spirit transforms into the divine life whatever is subjected to his power.
1128 This is the meaning of the Church’s affirmation49 that the sacraments act ex opere operato (literally: “by the very fact of the action’s being performed”), i.e., by virtue of the saving work of Christ, accomplished once for all. It follows that “the sacrament is not wrought by the righteousness of either the celebrant or the recipient, but by the power of God.”50 From the moment that a sacrament is celebrated in accordance with the intention of the Church, the power of Christ and his Spirit acts in and through it, independently of the personal holiness of the minister. Nevertheless, the fruits of the sacraments also depend on the disposition of the one who receives them.
1129 The Church affirms that for believers the sacraments of the New Covenant are necessary for salvation.51 “Sacramental grace” is the grace of the Holy Spirit, given by Christ and proper to each sacrament. the Spirit heals and transforms those who receive him by conforming them to the Son of God. the fruit of the sacramental life is that the Spirit of adoption makes the faithful partakers in the divine nature52 by uniting them in a living union with the only Son, the Savior.
Exorcist Explains How Catholics/Non-Catholics Are Saved
Who Can Be Saved?
No salvation outside the Church
EXTRA ECCLESIAM NULLA SALUS
ONLY CHRIST SAVES BY MEANS OF THE MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST
ALL GRACE COMES THROUGH CHRIST AND HIS CHURCH
Does Salvation By Faith and Works Mean You Can Lose Your Salvation at Any Moment?
Can You Lose Your Salvation?
Many Protestants say once saved, always saved. The Bible doesn’t agree.
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop (Sermo Caillau-Saint Yves 2, 92: PLS 2, 441-552) He who perseveres to the end will be saved Whenever we suffer some affliction, we should regard it both as a punishment and as a correction. Our holy Scriptures themselves do not promise us peace, security and rest. On the contrary, the Gospel makes no secret of the troubles and temptations that await us, but it also says that he who perseveres to the end will be saved. What good has there ever been in this life since the time when the first man received the just sentence of death and the curse from which Christ our Lord has delivered us? So we must not grumble, my brothers, for as the Apostle says: Some of them murmured and were destroyed by serpents. Is there any affliction now endured by mankind that was not endured by our fathers before us? What sufferings of ours even bear comparison with what we know of their sufferings? And yet you hear people complaining about this present day and age because things were so much better in former times. I wonder what would happen if they could be taken back to the days of their ancestors—would we not still hear them complaining? You may think past ages were good, but it is only because you are not living in them. It amazes me that you who have now been freed from the curse, who have believed in the son of God, who have been instructed in the holy Scriptures—that you can think the days of Adam were good. And your ancestors bore the curse of Adam, of that Adam to whom the words were addressed: With sweat on your brow you shall eat your bread; you shall till the earth from which you were taken, and it will yield you thorns and thistles. This is what he deserved and what he had to suffer; this is the punishment meted out to him by the just judgment of God. How then can you think that past ages were better than your own? From the time of that first Adam to the time of his descendants today, man’s lot has been labor and sweat, thorns and thistles. Have we forgotten the flood and the calamitous times of famine and war whose history has been recorded precisely in order to keep us from complaining to God on account of our own times? Just think what those past ages were like! Is there one of us who does not shudder to hear or read of them? Far from justifying complaints about our own time, they teach us how much we have to be thankful for.
A sacrament, as we learned from our catechism, is a visible sign of grace that does what it signifies. Its efficacy is bound up with its signification. Subvert the sign and you subvert its power (for efficacious natural signs, too, like the marital embrace).
The Passion of Our Lord is similar. The holy doctors teach that it would have been sufficient for Jesus to have shed a single drop of blood, for all of the sins of all of humankind to be forgiven – if he had so chosen. Yet, rather, he freely chose to endure his Passion. And why? Because of what was thereby expressed.
“To satisfy the divine justice,” St. Alphonsus Liguori writes, “it would be enough for him to have suffered any pain; but no, he wished to submit to the most galling insults and to the sharpest pains, in order to make us comprehend the malice of our sins, and the love with which his heart was inflamed for us.”
Like a sacrament, then, the Passion has an essential aspect of a sign. Our Lord freely chose that our redemption would be accomplished by this specific means, which was at the same time an expression of both the gravity of sin, and the depth of God’s love.
But to be intelligible, signs need a language and context. So, here arises an interesting question: What conditions were necessary for God to have been able to fashion a sign like this? It’s not so easy.
Follow me here. Suppose that God had wanted to apply a remedy for sin immediately after Adam and Eve had fallen. How could he have repaired things at the start, while expressing the correct truths?
Surely Adam and Eve needed to understand the gravity of sin. They looked upon eating the fruit as something slight, maybe even good (“to become like God.”). As for God’s love, they suspected, as the Devil suggested, that maybe God didn’t have their best interests at heart. What could God have done, right then, to save them, precisely through helping them understand?
He couldn’t have sent Jesus Christ just then. How would Jesus have come into existence? If through being born to Eve, this would have expressed, rather, the levity of sin. Suppose that Jesus was created de novo, a mature man, perhaps fashioned like Adam out of mud. But then why should Adam and Eve ever have believed that this third being, although like them, was God?
And how would this new being manage to die for them? If he killed himself, this would express the wrong things. But Adam and Eve didn’t seem particularly inclined to torture or kill anyone themselves. So, presumably, if Jesus were to die for their sins,
God would need to create another being de novo (this one not God), somehow representing themselves, tasked with torturing and killing him. The material, rational creation at this point – Adam and Eve, and then another pair of rational creatures, one tasked with torturing and killing the other, the other tasked with accepting it – if it expressed anything all, would teach that torture and murder are now part of Creation, and that God can be malicious.
Do you see my point? We take for granted that the Lord’s Passion, as depicted by a crucifix, signifies as it does. It’s only through something like a miracle, however, or many miracles, that it can do so. This marvel – that it signifies and that its signification is itself God’s work – has been sensed intuitively by millions of converts, who have recognized divine power already in “Jesus Christ and him crucified.”
If what happens to Jesus is to express anything about us, he needs to be one of us: he needs to be born of a woman, and yet in such a way as to make a new start. If it is to express something about the gravity of sin, what happens to him has to be a clear expression of our sin.
But since to sin is to go astray, he needs to be tortured and put to death exactly because everything good and strong about us has gone astray – our best expression of administration (Rome), our best expression of the priesthood (Judaism), our best expression of popular acclaim (the festival crowd), our best expression of friendship (his disciples).
For it to express something about God’s love, he needs to be identifiable as God. He needs to be placed in a tradition that has established incommunicable signs for God, such as a name, “I am,” and incommunicable acts of God, such as forgiveness and rescue (the pascal lamb). If it is to express the ultimate form of love, it has to be a genuine giving up of his life for us. That is, he must be fully open to being put to death, while doing nothing to precipitate or recklessly cause it.
And then the whole thing needs to be presented “in the manner of a sign.” Not everything is like that. If I separate my pointer and middle finger by accident, or in the dark, I cannot signify “victory” or “peace.” If I do so as if inadvertently, although in plain sight, it is not yet a sign – someone needs to see that I am intending to convey something.
And just try getting executed as a madman by public authorities and see if you succeed in “saying anything” at all. Another miracle, then: the crucifixion occurred within the short time when the great secular power of Rome and the great spiritual power that was Israel coincided in one place. And another miracle: it was for Rome to provide the final condition and seal.
Jesus was not simply crucified but crucified publicly, “under Pontius Pilate.” In “the fullness of time,” Pilate, through his use of those three great instruments of meaning, Greek, Hebrew, and Latin, as a public act made it clear to all that this death of the King of the Jews was intended as a sign.
