Day 233: The Beautitudes

The beatitude we are promised confronts us with decisive moral choices. It invites us to purify our hearts of bad instincts and to seek the love of God above all else. It teaches us that true happiness is not found in riches or well-being, in human fame or power, or in any human achievement - however beneficial it may be - such as science, technology, and art, or indeed in any creature, but in God alone, the source of every good and of all love. CCC 1723

Today's reading from the Catechism is on the Beatitudes (Matt 5:3-12), which "are at the heart of Jesus' preaching" (CCC 1716). They give us faithful a proper model for Christian living, and "they are the paradoxical promises that sustain hope in the midst of tribulations" (CCC 1717). Each of us is disposed to desire happiness in our lives, and the Beatitudes respond to that because "God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the One who alone can fulfill it" (CCC 1718).

The Catechism Compendium summarizes what eternal happiness is:

It is the vision of God in eternal life in which we are fully “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4), of the glory of Christ, and of the joy of the trinitarian life. This happiness surpasses human capabilities. It is a supernatural and gratuitous gift of God, just as is the grace which leads to it. This promised happiness confronts us with decisive moral choices concerning earthly goods and urges us to love God above all things. (#362)          

The Catechism Companion, Vol II has some good commentary on this:

True happiness is not the fleeting happiness of mere pleasure. We want to know not just the words in the Bible, but God. For, as St. Thomas Aquinas said, "God alone satisfies" (CCC 1718)... We get to choose between good and evil, life and death. "True happiness is... in God alone" (CCC 1723). Where we spend our time and our money is where we place our hearts. We have many moral choices and need to ask, "What gets my heart above everything else? Is it going to be the Lord - or anything else?" (p. 230)

Finally, Dr. Brant Pitre has a good video on the Beatitudes:

Day 232: Man is Made in the Image of God

"Christ... in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, makes man fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation." It is in Christ, "the image of the invisible God," that man has been created "in the image and likeness" of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image, disfigured in man by the first sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God. CCC 1701

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses that man is made in the image of God, as Scripture reveals in Gen 1:26-27, and what that means for us. The Catechism Compendium summarizes what is at the root of human dignity:

The dignity of the human person is rooted in his or her creation in the image and likeness of God. Endowed with a spiritual and immortal soul, intelligence, and free will, the human person is ordered to God and called in soul and in body to eternal beatitude. (#358)

Because we have been made in God's "image and likeness" and remarkably are the "only creature on earth that God has willed for its own sake" (CCC 1703), we are "obliged to follow the moral law" which "makes itself heard in [our] conscience" (CCC 1713). We still desire good, "but [our] nature bears the wound of original sin" and as a result "man is divided in himself," which can only be healed through Christ (CCC 1707).

The Catechism Companion, Vol II has some good commentary on this:

From the very beginning of our existence, from the very moment of our conception, human beings are destined for eternal beatitude, for heaven... Even if a person does not choose heaven, that is what God made us all for - to be united with him for eternity... Though humanity fell through original sin and human beings do evil, in our nature we are still good and want the good. Jesus came to set us free from the Devil and sin so we could live. He earned that for us, and "his grace restores what sin had damaged in us" (CCC 1708). (p. 228)

Day 231: Our Calling

Incorporated into Christ by Baptism, Christians are "dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus" and so participate in the life of the Risen Lord. Following Christ and united with him, Christians can strive to be "imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love" by conforming their thoughts, words, and actions to the "mind... which is yours in Christ Jesus," and by following his example. CCC 1694

Today's reading from the Catechism is about our calling to "deny [ourselves] and take up [our] cross and follow [Christ] (Matt 16:24). This includes recognizing the dignity we have as sons and daughters of God, living out our calling to witness Christ to the world through our lives. In this, the Christian moral life is bound up with both faith and the sacraments. As the Catechism Compendium notes:

What the symbol of faith professes, the sacraments communicate. Indeed, through them the faithful receive the grace of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, which give them the capability of living a new life as children of God in Christ, whom they have received in faith.

“O Christian, recognize your dignity.” (Saint Leo the Great) (#357)

I really like the commentary the Catechism Companion, Vol II has for this:

We hear the Gospel proclaimed, are brought into communion with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit through the sacraments, and are called to live new life as partakers of the divine nature and children of God. Our high call comes from God himself and from the dignity that he has given us... We fall, but the Lord sustains us, giving us grace through the sacraments and prayer. Jesus has gone ahead of us, living in loving obedience to his Father, and we are called to follow in his footsteps toward heaven. (p. 226)

Day 230: How We Live (Part 3 Introduction)

Today there is no reading from the Catechism, but instead a discussion between Fr. Mike Schmitz and Dr. Mary Healy introducing Part 3. Tomorrow begins the actual reading of the text!

In the video, Fr. Schmitz & Dr. Healy introduce us to the importance of living each day what we say we believe in our walk with Christ. The Catechism Companion, Vol II notes:

In this third part of the Catechism. it comes down to our daily choices: Do I really believe what I say I believe? The first section of pillar three is about our vocation, life in the Holy Spirit. God never gives us a commandment that he does not empower us by the Holy Spirit to carry out... Ultimately, the moral life is God calling us to the impossible. But what is impossible for men is possible for God. Every time we fall and then get up, it's a victory for the Kingdom. This part of the Catechism gets down to the concrete reality of our daily choices. Keep going. Be all in for Jesus because it is a complete adventure. (p. 224)

Ok,  the intro is done, and tomorrow Part 3 begins!

Day 229: Christian Funerals

For the Christian the day of death inaugurates, at the end of his sacramental life, the fulfillment of his new birth begun at Baptism, the definitive "conformity" to "the image of the Son" conferred by the anointing of the Holy Spirit, and participation in the feast of the Kingdom which was anticipated in the Eucharist - even if final purifications are still necessary for him in order to be clothed with the nuptial garment. CCC 1682

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses that final act we all will face one day: Christian funerals. It is "the end of [our] sacramental life" and commitment of our souls to the hope of resurrection in Christ Jesus. Everything we do in life is supposed to orient us as Christians to "take up [our] cross and follow [Him]" (Matt 16:24-26) with this final moment in mind. 

The Catechism Compendium summarizes the relationship between the sacraments and the death of a Christian:

The Christian who dies in Christ reaches at the end of his earthly existence the fulfillment of that new life which was begun in Baptism, strengthened in Confirmation, and nourished in the Eucharist, the foretaste of the heavenly banquet. The meaning of the death of a Christian becomes clear in the light of the death and Resurrection of Christ our only hope. The Christian who dies in Christ Jesus goes “away from the body to be at home with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). (#354)

Funerals can be tough on everyone, especially when they are completely unexpected and/or at a young age. For Christians, they should also be a reminder of our ultimate end in this life, and hope for the hereafter as we go to "be home with the Lord" (2 Cor 5:8). 

The Catechism Companion, Vol II has some good commentary on this:

The Christian meaning of death is revealed when we look at how Jesus died, a death marked by grief and struggle. Sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus asked the Father to take the cup from him, but he embraced his Cross with trust in his Father. The homily during a funeral Mass should not be just a eulogy about the person. It should shed light on what death means for a Christian since Christ has risen from the dead. It invites the congregation to pray on behalf of the person who is in the casket. (p. 222)

Day 228: Blessings, Sacramentals, and Popular Piety

Sacramentals are sacred signs instituted by the Church. They prepare men to receive the fruit of the sacraments and sanctify different circumstances of life. Among the sacramentals, blessings occupy an important place. They include both praise of God for his works and gifts, and the Church's intercession for men that they may be able to use God's gifts according to the spirit of the Gospel. In addition to the liturgy, Christian life is nourished by various forms of popular piety, rooted in the different cultures. While carefully clarifying them in the light of faith, the Church fosters the forms of popular piety that express an evangelical instinct and a human wisdom and that enrich Christian life. CCC 1677-1679

In today's reading, the Catechism discusses sacramentals in the Church, blessings, and popular piety among the faithful. All of these are geared towards focusing our hearts and minds on Christ through the liturgy. 

For the last of these, the Catechism Compendium gives a summary:

The religious sense of the Christian people has always found expression in the various forms of piety which accompany the sacramental life of the Church, such as the veneration of relics, visits to sanctuaries, pilgrimages, processions, the stations of the cross, and the rosary. The Church sheds the light of faith upon and fosters authentic forms of popular piety. (#353)

Among the laity, especially, the Rosary is probably the most popular form of piety. Since at least the 2nd century and the Martyrdom of St. Polycarp, the faithful have also venerated the relics of holy saints as being "more precious than the most exquisite jewels, and more purified than gold." Hence why they are incorporated in the altars of every cathedral throughout the world. 

Finally, speaking of the Rosary, Paradisus Dei has a great series filmed in the Holy Land that can be viewed on their website, Formed, and some episodes are even on YouTube.

Day 227: Summary of the Sacrament of Marriage

The sacrament of Matrimony signifies the union of Christ and the Church. It gives spouses the grace to love each other with the love with which Christ has loved his Church; the grace of the sacrament thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life. CCC 1661

Today's reading from the Catechism is an "In Brief" that reviews what has already been covered on the Sacrament of Marriage for the past few days. Again, I have nothing more to add, so I will try and keep this short.

The Catechism Compendium summarizes nicely for what ends God instituted Matrimony:

The marital union of man and woman, which is founded and endowed with its own proper laws by the Creator, is by its very nature ordered to the communion and good of the couple and to the generation and education of children. According to the original divine plan, this conjugal union is indissoluble, as Jesus Christ affirmed: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder” (Mark 10:9). (#338)

The Catechism Companion, Vol II has a simple line, which speaks much truth:

In the family we learn how to love. (p. 218) 

Short and sweet, you could say. Yet it is profound. Most of us learn about life and how to love from our parents and family primarily. Love for God, love for family, love for our neighbor. In a family that has not become so dysfunctional, where the image Christ intended is distorted by sin, this is true. We see the effects of that in the first human family after the Fall (Gen 3-4), are given examples of sin on families such as King David's disgraceful behavior to Uriah, mostly, but also to Bathsheba (2 Sam 11-12), even though she was willing. In the New Testament, we find parables such as that of the Prodigal Son and his brother (Lk 15:11-32), but also find the hope that faith in Christ families can be spiritually restored (Acts 16:31).

Pictured are Louis and Zelie Martin, the holy parents of St. Therese of Lisieux, who were canonized in 2015. They model for us Christ's love for the Church (see CCC 1661). (p. 219)

Having both once yearned to take Religious vows, they followed God's true calling of marriage for their lives, having multiple children who later joined Religious orders, including their youngest, the beloved St. Therese. Sts. Louis & Zelie are today recognized as the patron saints of marriage, families, and widowers.