THE SACRAMENTS (Used from the Catechism of the Catholic Church – and the ASC “doctrines” are taken from my experience talking with people during my 20-years in Catholic media.)
CONFIRMATION
What the Church teaches about it:
1302 It is evident from its celebration that the effect of the sacrament of Confirmation is the special outpouring of the Holy Spirit as once granted to the apostles on the day of Pentecost.
1303 From this fact, Confirmation brings an increase and deepening of baptismal grace:
- it roots us more deeply in the divine filiation which makes us cry, "Abba! Father!";117
- it unites us more firmly to Christ;
- it increases the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us;
- it renders our bond with the Church more perfect;118
- it gives us a special strength of the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action as true witnesses of Christ, to confess the name of Christ boldly, and never to be ashamed of the Cross:119
Recall then that you have received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence, the spirit of holy fear in God's presence. Guard what you have received. God the Father has marked you with his sign; Christ the Lord has confirmed you and has placed his pledge, the Spirit, in your hearts.120
1304 Like Baptism which it completes, Confirmation is given only once, for it too imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark, the "character," which is the sign that Jesus Christ has marked a Christian with the seal of his Spirit by clothing him with power from on high so that he may be his witness.121
What the ASC holds:
Confirmation is something that happens around 7th grade, maybe high-school, where I choose whether or not I want to be Catholic. It is most certainly the time when my parents allow me to choose my faith and it is the time when I most likely stop attending Sunday Masses and opt-in to the Christmas and Easter group.
HOLY COMMUNION
What the Church teaches about it:
1322 The holy Eucharist completes Christian initiation. Those who have been raised to the dignity of the royal priesthood by Baptism and configured more deeply to Christ by Confirmation participate with the whole community in the Lord's own sacrifice by means of the Eucharist.
1323 "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'"135
I. THE EUCHARIST - SOURCE AND SUMMIT OF ECCLESIAL LIFE
1324 The Eucharist is "the source and summit of the Christian life."136 "The other sacraments, and indeed all ecclesiastical ministries and works of the apostolate, are bound up with the Eucharist and are oriented toward it. For in the blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself, our Pasch."137
1325 "The Eucharist is the efficacious sign and sublime cause of that communion in the divine life and that unity of the People of God by which the Church is kept in being. It is the culmination both of God's action sanctifying the world in Christ and of the worship men offer to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit."138
1326 Finally, by the Eucharistic celebration we already unite ourselves with the heavenly liturgy and anticipate eternal life, when God will be all in all.139
1327 In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith: "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist in turn confirms our way of thinking."140
What the ASC holds:
Going to communion on Sunday is part of a ritual that I do, if and when I attend a Mass. When we go to the NON-extraordinary ministers or priestesses of communion, I receive a symbol of Jesus. We wouldn’t really eat someone anyway.
NEXT: WE’LL COVER PENANCE & RECONCILLIATION, MATRIMONY AND MORE…ALL ON OUR WAY TO FINDING OUT HOW THEY BUILT THE TEMPLE OF THE VAGINA…
John Lillis is a broadcaster, journalist and author who is above all, a fallen sinner, called daily to be a missionary through repentance, conversion and daily sacramental and human interaction.
John creates fresh, honest, hard-hitting, critically acclaimed programming that eclipses in style and substance most any talk show on radio today.
For the past nearly two years, John served as Director of Stewardship and Programming for the FHC Radio Network headquartered in Sioux City, IA. During his time in Sioux City, IA, John built America’s first ever front line pro-life radio studio across the parking lot from Planned Parenthood Sioux City, inside a pregnancy resource center located there. John’s pro-life program, Tuesdays with Mommy, airs twice per month, on the Tuesday’s when they kill the unborn inside Planned Parenthood Sioux City.
John Lillis is a veteran of the United States Coast Guard and has been a member of the Knights of Columbus since 1995.
