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Sunday, July 14, 2013

John Bugay Goes to Mass

Sees “The Intention of Richard J--”, prayers that we “merit” eternal life, and “the New Evangelization”

“Is the Reformation Over?” I went to Mass last weekend (and took my son John), and I found that the Roman Catholic distinctives that Martin Luther protested: – Purgatory, the notion that we “merit” eternal life [however you define “merit”] and that “indulgences” can be paid for (not directly, but indirectly, through “the saying of Masses”) were all present.

As is the case with many large families (I have six kids), it can be said that we almost have two families. In my case, the older three (all sons) grew up Roman Catholics – we were regular attenders at Mass and we almost always sat up front. When I left the RCC, there was a period of time when we didn’t attend church (we had family devotionals on Sunday, until we were able to find the church we are attending now).

The younger three kids (a son and two daughters) have grown up going to church at our PCA – they are well engaged there, they have many friends, and very much like to go to church on Sundays.

Sadly, the older three boys are going their separate ways, and those ways don’t include church.

But my 4th son, John III, (I’m John Jr), had some curiosity about the Roman Catholic Church, and so when my daughters were staying with my sister for the 4th of July weekend, I took John III, now 17, to a Catholic Mass.

[The illustration nearby is from an 1876 surveyor’s map of the area – our home is the red block, and we are apparently right next to the “Cath. Ch.”, except that short distance is comprised of a very steep hill between us and them.]

John said he had some fear – he really had no idea what to expect, and he was fearful that he would sit or stand at the wrong time (I did not permit him to kneel), fearful that he would make the wrong hand motion.

I personally hadn’t been in a Roman Catholic Church for anything except a relative’s baptism or funeral in a very long time.

But I noticed three things:

First, the “intention” of the Mass was for Richard J-- – someone had paid money to have “a Mass said for him”. This presupposes that he is still in purgatory. Might be in purgatory. No one knows; it’s really just a roll of the dice. I never knew Richard J--, but he was the father of a former neighbor of ours. He died some 30 years ago, and he was not a good man in any sense of the word that I am aware of. I think of the bankruptcy of a system in which (a) the efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ must (or may) still be paid for, and (b) the efficacy of the sacrifice of Christ is thought of in such a pitiful state (this would not be the first or last “Mass” said for Richard J-- – again, the hope of such an “intention” is that it help to speed his way out of purgatory.)

Second, the “Eucharistic Prayers” had changed, and I understand why Roman Catholics don’t like it. There were four standard “Eucharistic Prayers” when I was still there – when you think “sacrifice of the Mass” and “transubstantiation”, those things happen within the context of the “Eucharistic Prayers”. It appears that the new Rite has revised those four and added some new ones (“for various needs and occasions”). In any event, at the Mass we attended, the priest used “the Second Eucharistic Prayer” (that is, the second of the original four, which was the shortest of them). To recount just one notable instance, the phrase “this is the cup of my blood” was changed to “this is the chalice of my blood”.

That prayer also included the following “intercession”:

Have mercy on us all, we pray, that with the blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, with the blessed Apostles, and all the Saints who have pleased you throughout the ages, we may merit to be co-heirs to eternal life, and may praise and glorify you through your Son, Jesus Christ.

The concept of “merit” is something that “we” accomplish.

This is the “Liturgical Reform”: “the culmination of which is nothing less than the union of God with man, with all that that implies” that is one of the legacies of “Pope Benedict”.

The third thing I noticed was that the priest was hawking “the New Evangelization” seemingly at every chance he could get.

The New Evangelization”, is, in the words of Cardinal Wuerl his official explanation of the program, “a new moment in the life of the Church, a new Pentecost. It’s our turn to share the great give we have given, the gift of our Catholic faith, and renew the face of the earth.”

This particular Mass, at 8:00 am on a Sunday, was sparsely attended mostly by old people, “cultural Catholics” – victims of “the Catholic Faith” who rarely if ever in their lives heard the true Gospel – who were “hoping they were good enough” to “merit” some way out of purgatory (should they be fortunate enough to get there), with the “intercessory” “intentions” of future masses to be said on their behalf.

Still, they had the presence of mind to attend the shortest Mass, with the shortest Eucharistic prayer, in an attempt to “get it over with” and spend the rest of their Sunday watching sports.

Given the kind of damage that this “Catholic Faith” has inflicted upon the great mass of human beings for centuries, one can only hope that a “New Evangelization” that spreads this kind of system would be doomed to fail.

3 comments:

  1. That's fascinating, John. I guess I've only been to one Mass since the new prayers were instituted and didn't pay that close attention.

    I'm grateful that Christ is our eternal merit!

    Blessings,

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  2. I've only been to one myself, this one, but I noticed the "merit" right away.

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  3. John Bugay wrote, “Second, the ‘Eucharistic Prayers’ had changed, and I understand why Roman Catholics don’t like it.”

    Hey, John!

    When I was discerning God’s call to come into the Catholic Church, within a week or two of my becoming quite concerned with the use of “for all” instead of “for many” in the Eucharistic Prayers, there was an announcement that “for all” was going to be changed back to “for many” in the new translation. This announcement was a small miracle for me! So here’s one Catholic who is very grateful for the new translation.

    John Bugay wrote, The concept of “merit” is something that “we” accomplish.

    Did you notice in the prayer that God has to have mercy on us in order for us to “merit” heaven? Our “merit” is His mercy. The prayer should be understood in this way: “Have mercy on us all [so that] we may merit to be co-heirs to eternal life, and may praise and glorify you through your Son, Jesus Christ.” As is said in Eucharistic Prayer I, which is also the form of the prayer used in the Tridentine Mass: “To us also Thy sinful servants, who put our trust in the multitude of Thy mercies, vouchsafe to grant some part and fellowship with Thy holy Apostles and Martyrs… Into their company we beseech Thee admit us, not considering our merits, but freely pardoning our offenses.”

    Our understanding of “merit” is most beautifully expounded by Augustine:

    “ ‘[T]hee He crowneth with pity and mercy;’ and if thy own merits have gone before, God saith to thee, ‘Examine well thy merits, and thou shalt see that they are My gifts’ ” (Sermon 131, 8).

    “Even as the Psalmist says to his soul, ‘Who crowneth thee with mercy and compassion.’ Well, now, is not a crown given as the reward of good deeds? It is, however, only because He works good works in good men, of whom it is said, ‘It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure,’ that the Psalm has it, as just now quoted: ‘He crowneth thee with mercy and compassion,’ since it is through His mercy that we perform the good deeds to which the crown is awarded” (On Grace and Free Will, Ch. 9.21).

    “[A]ll is imputed to His Grace, not to our merits” (Second Exposition on Psalm 32, 9).

    “[W]e confess that our good merits themselves are but the gifts of God” (Against Julian, Bk. 6, Ch. 12.39).

    The Catechism picks up on this, drawing also from the Council of Trent:

    “The merits of our good works are gifts of the divine goodness (cf. Council of Trent: ‘God forbid that a Christian should either trust or glory in himself, and not in the Lord, Whose bounty towards all men is so great, that He will have the things which are His own gifts be their merits’ [Session 6, Ch. 16]). ‘Grace has gone before us; now we are given what is due. . . . Our merits are God’s gifts’ (Augustine, Sermon 298, 4-5)” (CCC, 2009).

    John Bugay wrote, The third thing I noticed was that the priest was hawking “the New Evangelization” seemingly at every chance he could get.

    Bishop Jan Liesen was recently on EWTN Live talking about the “New Evangelization.” He’s a member of the International Theological Commission and he had some great things to say in this episode. What a great bishop. Check it out! Of particular interest to many will be his explanation of “outside the Church there is no salvation,” which he gives between minutes 51:00 and 53:50. The episodes with Father Eugene Silva of the Pontifical Council for Promoting the New Evangelization, and Dr. Ralph Martin, consultant to the same council, are both excellent.

    With love in Christ,
    Pete

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