The Church Year: Mar. 1, 2012

Today is Thursday of the 1st week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On March 1, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

There is no special fixed liturgical day in the Extraordinary Form.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

Via Crucis [The “Way of the Cross”]

131. Of all the pious exercises connected with the veneration of the Cross, none is more popular among the faithful than the Via Crucis. Through this pious exercise, the faithful movingly follow the final earthly journey of Christ: from the Mount of Olives, where the Lord, “in a small estate called Gethsemane” (Mk 14, 32), was taken by anguish (cf. Lk 22, 44), to Calvary where he was crucified between two thieves (cf. Lk 23, 33), to the garden where he was placed in freshly hewn tomb (John 19, 40-42).

The love of the Christian faithful for this devotion is amply attested by the numerous Via Crucis erected in so many churches, shrines, cloisters, in the countryside, and on mountain pathways where the various stations are very evocative.

Leap Year Is *Not* Every Four Years!

Did you know? While most years that are evenly divisible by the number 4 have a leap day of Feb. 29, some don’t! If the year is evenly divisible by 100 (but NOT 400) then it has no leap day. Thus there are only 97 leap years in a 400 year period, not 100. The year 2000, being evenly divisible by 400, did have a leap day. This was how Pope Gregory XIII made his Gregorian Calendar more accurate than the previous Julian Calendar. To quote Gilbert & Sullivan: A most ingenious paradox! LEARN MORE.

The Church Year: Feb. 29, 2012

Today is Wednesday of the 1st week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.

In the Extraordinary Form, it is Wednesday of Ember Week in Lent.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

Reading of the Lord’s Passion

130. The Church exhorts the faithful to frequent personal and community reading of the Word of God. Undoubtedly, the account of the Lord’s Passion is among the most important pastoral passages in the New Testament. Hence, for the Christian in his last agony, the Ordo untionis informorum eorumque pastoralis curae suggests the reading of the Lord’s Passion either in its entirety, or at least some pericopes from it.

During Lent, especially on Wednesdays and Fridays, love for our Crucified Savior should move the Christian community to read the account of the Lord’s Passion. Such reading, which is doctrinally significant, attracts the attention of the faithful because of its content and because of its narrative form, and inspires true devotion: repentance for sins, since the faithful see that Christ died for the sins of the entire human race, including their own; compassion and solidarity for the Innocent who was unjustly condemned; gratitude for the infinite love of Jesus for all the brethren, which was shown by Jesus, the first born Son, in his Passion; commitment to imitating his example of meekness, patience, mercy, forgiveness of offenses, abandonment to the Father, which Jesus did willingly and efficaciously in his Passion.

Outside of the liturgical celebration of the Passion, the Gospel narrative can be “dramatized”, giving the various parts of the narrative to different persons; or by interspersing it with hymns or moments of silent reflection.

Why Don’t Bishops Excommunicate Bad Politicians? Autistic Children at Mass, Female Pope, Planned Parenthood, and More!

On Catholic Answers Live (2/16/12), Jimmy Akin answers:

  • Have you heard about a female pope?
  • In regard to the HHS mandate, why don’t the bishops resort to excommunication of politicians?
  • I’m thinking about becoming a Catholic, but I’ve been divorced and remarried – what steps should I take?
  • What do the Masons believe?
  • Where do Protestants get the notion that they can attend or belong to any type church, whereas we believe that Jesus founded the one true Catholic Church?
  • Is it a sin to not take my autistic child to Mass on Sunday because she may misbehave?
  • Are those who commit mortal sins without knowing it at risk of not being saved?
  • Is there a difference between how Protestants and Catholics view missionary work?
  • How powerful is Planned Parenthood within the government given the danger of contraception and the fight that is currently going on for our religious liberty?

Click Play to listen . . .

or you can . . .

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CLICK HERE!

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Dord?

Did you know? The erroneous, ghost word “dord” was discovered in the Webster’s New International Dictionary, 2nd ed., on Feb. 28, 1939, prompting an investigation. Get your dord on by finding out what this word was said to mean. To paraphrase George McFly in Back to the Future, “I’m your dord.” LEARN MORE.

The Church Year: Feb. 28, 2012

Today is Tuesday of the 1st week of Lent. The liturgical color is violet.

 

Saints & Celebrations:

On February 28, there is no special fixed liturgical day in the Ordinary Form.

There is no special fixed liturgical day in the Extraordinary Form.

For information about other saints, blesseds, and feasts celebrated today, you can click here.

 

Readings:

To see today’s readings in the Ordinary Form, you can click here.

Or you can click play to listen to them:

 

Devotional Information:

According to the Holy See’s Directory on Popular Piety:

129. The Gospel texts of the Passion are especially detailed. Coupled with a tendency in popular piety to isolate specific moments of the narrative, this has induced the faithful to turn their attention to specific aspects of the Passion of Christ, making of them specific devotions: devotion to the “Ecce Homo”, Christ despised, “crowned with thorns and clothed in a purple cloak” (John 19, 5), and shown to the multitude by Pilate; devotion to the five sacred wounds of Christ, especially to the side of Christ from which flowed blood and water for the salvation of mankind (John 19, 34); devotion to the instruments of the Passion, the pillar at which Christ was scourged, the steps of the Praetorium, the crown of thorns, the nails, the lance that pierced Him; devotion to the Holy Shroud.

Such expressions of piety, often promoted by persons of great sanctity, are legitimate. However, in order to avoid excessive fragmentation in contemplation of the mystery of the Cross, it is always useful to emphasize the whole event of the Passion, as is the case in biblical and patristic tradition.

Can Catholics Be Buried in Non-Catholic Cemeteries?

A reader writes:

As a practicing Catholic, can I be buried in a non-Catholic cemetery. No one in my family is Catholic except me and I would like to be buried with my family.

It’s a logical question, and an understandable desire.

It’s a logical question because many Catholic parishes and dioceses have cemeteries, and it would seem natural–as a Catholic–to be buried in one of these.

It’s an understandable desire to want to be buried with one’s family, where after your death your loved ones may still visit your grave, take care of it, and remember you. It’s a way of maintaining a connection with those you have left behind.

I could imagine someone saying, “Well, if your family isn’t Catholic, they won’t pray for you when they visit your grave. But if you were buried in a Catholic cemetery, then people would, and that would help you out even more after your death.”

Maybe.

You might get some extra prayer if you’re in a Catholic cemetery, but the Church prays for all of the departed, regardless of where they are buried. Also, you might get more prayer from non-Catholic relatives than you think. The heart knows things about the way to the dead that the head sometimes doesn’t, and I’ve seen non-Catholic members of my own family talk (i.e., pray) to departed loved ones–out loud–even though this isn’t part of their theological tradition. It’s only natural to also ask God to help, be merciful to, etc., one’s departed loved one, and the same thing happens in non-Catholic families, simply because the heart demands it, even if there is no theological rationale for it that they hear preached in church.

There’s also the fact that not being buried with one’s family could send a very confusing signal to them. In at least some cases it could be taken as a rejection of the family. That might not be rational, but–trust me–people get irrational at funeral time. And I can see a person judging that, in their own family’s case, it would be evangelistically unwise to set up a Catholic Church vs. the family paradigm in the minds of the bereaved.

I think it’s fair to say, then, that this is a complex and sensitive subject, with decisions being best made by those most involved, with the most knowledge of their own family situation.

Here is what the Code of Canon Law has to say

Can. 1180

§1. If a parish has its own cemetery, the deceased members of the faithful must be buried in it unless the deceased or those competent to take care of the burial of the deceased have chosen another cemetery legitimately.

§2. Everyone, however, is permitted to choose the cemetery of burial unless prohibited by law.

The statement that if a parish has its own cemetery then the faithful “must” be buried is not intended to restrict the ability of the faithful to choose where they will be buried. Rather, it is meant to ensure that they will be able to be buried in the parish cemetery (i.e., the pastor is to grant permission for and preference to parishioners over non-parishioners if room is limited, etc.). That it is not meant to limit the ability to of the faithful to choose their place of burial is made explicit by the remainder of this canon, in which the ability of each person to choose the cemetery in which he will be buried is expressly protected as long as no other law is being violated.

The reference to other prohibitions by law appears to refer to particular laws that may exist in specific countries or dioceses. The Church’s universal law does not appear to contain any such prohibitions.

So the faithful have the ability to chose their place of burial, and it doesn’t have to be a Catholic cemetery. They are free to be buried in their family plot unless something else intervenes, which is highly unlikely if you’re just wanting to be buried with your family.

What happens in that case?

Sometimes people are concerned about whether they will be buried in “consecrated ground,” such as is found in a Catholic cemetery. While there graves can be blessed, and while this is desirable, it is not a sacrament and will not affect one’s eternal destiny. It is a way that the Church intervenes on behalf of the dead to implore God’s blessing on them. It is not, however, something available only in Catholic cemeteries. In another place, the Code of Canon Law provides:

Can. 1240 §1. Where possible, the Church is to have its own cemeteries or at least areas in civil cemeteries that are designated for the deceased members of the faithful and properly blessed.

§2. If this cannot be achieved, however, then individual graves are to be properly blessed.

So, in the case of a Catholic being buried in a family plot that belongs to a non-Catholic family, the thing to do would be to simply have that person’s grave blessed (the rite for this is found in the Order of Christian Funerals—the Church text used in this case). So one need not scruple on this point.

If the reader feels that it is best to be buried with the family, the Church’s law provides for this.

Why Did Jesus Descend into HELL? Does the Bible Say Not to Wear Mixed Fiber Clothing?

Why does the Apostles Creed say that Jesus descended into Hell? Why would he do this? Wasn’t the Crucifixion enough? Did he have to suffer even more?

What did he do while he was “down there”? Did he preach to the dead? Which dead? Why? Do we have a second chance at salvation after death? What did the Church Fathers say about this? How about the teaching of the Church today?

Why does the Law of Moses say not to wear clothes made from two kinds of fibers? Can we wear cotton/polyesther blends? What’s the reason for this commandment? Who was bound by it? Does the commandment really forbid mixing any two types of fiber? Should we take this literally?

These are just some of the questions we answer in this week’s episode of the Jimmy Akin Podcast!

Click Play to listen . . .

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CLICK HERE!

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SHOW NOTES:

JIMMY AKIN PODCAST EPISODE 031 (02/26/12)

1) JIMMY MAKES AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE PODCAST

He needs your help raising funds to enable the podcast to help even more people, in more ways, by making transcripts of it available. If he can raise $3000 then he can keep the podcast going and provide *a year’s worth* of transcripts (52 episodes) at the same time!

Please visit www.JimmyAkin.com to learn more about this project and how you can help!

God bless you, and thank you for your generosity!

 

2) LUCIA ASKS WHY THE APOSTLES CREED SAYS THAT JESUS “DESCENDED INTO HELL.” WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, AND WHY DID HE DO IT?

 

3) LUCIA ASKS ABOUT THE LAW IN THE OLD TESTAMENT THAT SAYS NOT TO WEAR CLOTHING WITH TWO KINDS OF FABRIC. ARE WE TO TAKE THIS LITERALLY?

 

ONLINE INFORMATION ABOUT THE LAW OF SHA`ATNEZ

Shatnez

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shatnez

Ask Rabbi Simmons: Clothing Worn by Jews

http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_clothing.htm

The Mysteries of Shaatnez

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/381831/jewish/The-Mysteries-of-Shaatnez.htm

Clothing Mixtures: The Commandment of Shatnez

http://www.beingjewish.com/mitzvos/shatnez.html

 

THOMAS AQUINAS ON LAW

Summa Theologiae I-II (see questions 98-103)

http://newadvent.org/summa/2.htm

 

Today’s Music: Fresh Country Air (JewelBeat.Com)

 

WHAT’S YOUR QUESTION? WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO ASK?
Call me at 512-222-3389!
jimmyakinpodcast@gmail.com
www.JimmyAkinPodcast.com

 

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Copyright © 2012 by Jimmy Akin

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