J
jmm08
Guest
Greetings to others also in this year’s class for RCIA.
God’s mercy, lovingkindness and graces abound to those of us as we seek to enter the Catholic Church. Especially as we continue to walk in His direction and have the desire to live in His will.
The first Beatitude:
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
In part, the NAB footnote says “Matthew added in spirit in order either to indicate that only the devout poor were meant or to extend the beatitude to all, of whatever social rank, who recognized their complete dependence on God. The same phrase poor in spirit is found in the Qumran literature (1QM 14:7).”
We cannot depend on the sacraments of the Church – Confession, Penance, Holy Eucharist – because they are presently out of our grasp. We are babes in Christ. Jesus’s very first Beatitude Matthew 5:3 applies especially to us as long as we seek God and fully depend on Him. The first Beatitude is the first that greets and blesses all of us as we enter the Catholic Church seeking Christ.
Fulton Sheen wrote that the Greeks had two words for poor.
penes – someone who works for a living and never has a surplus but exists from hand to mouth
ptochos – absolute and abject poverty
Matthew 5:3 uses the word penes and therefore it means those who put their whole trust in God. See pages 294-295 in Fulton Sheen’s autobiography “Treasure in Clay”. The book is available in most public libraries.
Although we cannot receive Holy Communion, there are many great benefits in attending Mass. I bless myself with Holy Water both going in and coming out. And additionally (I hope nobody minds me being slow) I am also blessing myself with the Holy Water for each member in my immediate family who has not yet joined me in coming to the Catholic Church. I go forward to get a priest’s blessing while others receive Holy Communion. Among sacramentals blessings come first (see CCC #1671). So go to Mass and eagerly receive the blessings. And bless yourself also.
CCC #1667 Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy.
CCC #1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. “For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God.”
So sacramentals (blessings, Holy Water, using a Blessed Rosary) prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. I have been praying Catholic Prayers (to saints Joseph, Mary, Jude, Bernadette) with my wife more and more only starting a few weeks ago. And at night, I have sometimes slept with my Blessed Rosary in my hand under her pillow.
1 Corinthians Chapter 3 makes it plain that St. Paul was gentle and loving to the new Corinthian Christians. The Church at that time, just like now, assigned teachers over the new Christians.
Our first Pope, St. Peter even greets us personally with warm words of welcome. 1 Peter 2:1-2 says “Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, insincerity, envy, and all slander; like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
God’s mercy, lovingkindness and graces abound to those of us as we seek to enter the Catholic Church. Especially as we continue to walk in His direction and have the desire to live in His will.
The first Beatitude:
Matthew 5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
In part, the NAB footnote says “Matthew added in spirit in order either to indicate that only the devout poor were meant or to extend the beatitude to all, of whatever social rank, who recognized their complete dependence on God. The same phrase poor in spirit is found in the Qumran literature (1QM 14:7).”
We cannot depend on the sacraments of the Church – Confession, Penance, Holy Eucharist – because they are presently out of our grasp. We are babes in Christ. Jesus’s very first Beatitude Matthew 5:3 applies especially to us as long as we seek God and fully depend on Him. The first Beatitude is the first that greets and blesses all of us as we enter the Catholic Church seeking Christ.
Fulton Sheen wrote that the Greeks had two words for poor.
penes – someone who works for a living and never has a surplus but exists from hand to mouth
ptochos – absolute and abject poverty
Matthew 5:3 uses the word penes and therefore it means those who put their whole trust in God. See pages 294-295 in Fulton Sheen’s autobiography “Treasure in Clay”. The book is available in most public libraries.
Although we cannot receive Holy Communion, there are many great benefits in attending Mass. I bless myself with Holy Water both going in and coming out. And additionally (I hope nobody minds me being slow) I am also blessing myself with the Holy Water for each member in my immediate family who has not yet joined me in coming to the Catholic Church. I go forward to get a priest’s blessing while others receive Holy Communion. Among sacramentals blessings come first (see CCC #1671). So go to Mass and eagerly receive the blessings. And bless yourself also.
CCC #1667 Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments. They signify effects, particularly of a spiritual nature, which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy.
CCC #1670 Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. “For well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event of their lives with the divine grace which flows from the Paschal mystery of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. From this source all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is scarcely any proper use of material things which cannot be thus directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God.”
So sacramentals (blessings, Holy Water, using a Blessed Rosary) prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it. I have been praying Catholic Prayers (to saints Joseph, Mary, Jude, Bernadette) with my wife more and more only starting a few weeks ago. And at night, I have sometimes slept with my Blessed Rosary in my hand under her pillow.
1 Corinthians Chapter 3 makes it plain that St. Paul was gentle and loving to the new Corinthian Christians. The Church at that time, just like now, assigned teachers over the new Christians.
Our first Pope, St. Peter even greets us personally with warm words of welcome. 1 Peter 2:1-2 says “Rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, insincerity, envy, and all slander; like newborn infants, long for pure spiritual milk so that through it you may grow into salvation, for you have tasted that the Lord is good.”
