“Easter Communion”
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Pure fasted faces draw unto this feast:
God comes all sweetness to your Lenten lips.
You striped in secret with breath-taking whips,
Those crooked rough-scored chequers may be pierced
To crosses meant for Jesu’s; you whom the East
With draught of thin and pursuant cold so nips
Breathe Easter now; you serged fellowships,
You vigil-keepers with low flames decreased,
God shall o’er-brim the measures you have spent
With oil of gladness, for sackcloth and frieze
And the ever-fretting shirt of punishment
Give myrrhy-threaded golden folds of ease.
Your scarce-sheathed bones are weary of being bent:
Lo, God shall strengthen all the feeble knees.
I. The Sacrament of Reconciliation
(a) Summary: The Sacrament of Reconciliation is the representation and consecration of the Christian sinner’s personal and ecclesial conversion, penance, and satisfaction. In this sacrament, the sinner is reconciled to God, Church, and self by receiving the priest’s sacramental absolution. This sacrament restores the communion broken by sin.
(b) Questions for discussion:
a. Why is this sacrament necessary if baptism purifies us from all sin?
b. What is the “treasury of the Church,” and what is its relation to this sacrament?
c. What is the “double consequence” of sin?
II. The Sacrament of the Sick
(a) Summary: The Sacrament of the Sick is a sacred anointing of the sick person in which the recipient of the sacrament is united with Christ’s Passion for the healing of both soul and body. The sacrament completes the union with Christ begun at baptism and fortifies the end of our earthly life in preparation for our passing from this world to the Father.
(b) Questions for discussion:
a. What is the relation between this sacrament and the Eucharist? And Penance?
b. What are the so-called “sacraments of completion”?
c. Can this sacrament be received more than once for the same illness?
III. The Sacrament of Holy Orders
(a) Summary: The Sacrament of Holy Orders is the sacrament of apostolic ministry, which includes three degrees: episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate. This sacrament is a special participation in the priesthood of Christ and consecrates specific men as successors of the apostles for the sake of serving the ecclesial community.
(b) Questions for discussion:
a. Why is the sacrament of Holy Orders given to men alone?
b. Why are priests celibate?
c. Why constitutes the “essential” difference between the “common priesthood of all the faithful” and the ministerial priesthood?
IV. The Sacrament of Matrimony
(a) Summary: The Sacrament of Matrimony is an indissoluble covenant between a man and a woman which signifies and communicates the grace of the New Covenant in Christ, the spouse of the Church.
(b) Questions for discussion:
a. If living together becomes practically impossible and reconciliation is not possible, will the Church grant a divorce? Why or why not?
b. Can a Catholic marry a non-Catholic? If so, how? If not, why?
c. What is the relation between marriage and childbearing?
