Week 14: Christian Ethics (¶1691-1876)

In the first section of the Catechism, we examined the articles of the faith according to the Apostles’ Creed, from the Trinity to the Church to eternal life. In the second section of the Catechism, we looked at the Seven Sacraments of the faith and how they function in the liturgy of the Church. Now, in the third section, we will examine how to live in the world as faithful followers of Christ.

Questions for the discussion of Christian ethics:

1. What are the aspects of humanity which enable us to live rightly?

2. What are the aspects of humanity which hinder us from living rightly?

3. What do we receive from Christ and the Church to help us live rightly?

4. What are the virtues which we seek to perfect in our lives?

5. What are the three moral rules which always apply (¶1789)?

6. How does your own experience relate with the material we read for today?

Week 13: The Sacraments of Healing and Service (¶1420-1666)

“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?

Week 12: The Sacraments of Initiation (¶1210-1419)

“Love (III)”
By George Herbert

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,
Guilty of dust and sin.
But quick-ey’d Love, observing me grow slack
From my first entrance in,
Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning
If I lack’d anything.

“A guest,” I answer’d, “worthy to be here”;
Love said, “You shall be he.”
“I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,
I cannot look on thee.”
Love took my hand and smiling did reply,
“Who made the eyes but I?”

“Truth, Lord, but I have marr’d them; let my shame
Go where it doth deserve.”
“And know you not,” says Love, “who bore the blame?”
“My dear, then I will serve.”
“You must sit down,” says Love, “and taste my meat.”
So I did sit and eat.

1. Baptism

(a) What is Baptism? What are its effects?
(b) How is Baptism celebrated?
(c) Who can receive Baptism? Who can baptize?
(e) Why is it necessary?

2. Confirmation

(a) What is Confirmation? What are its effects?
(b) How is it Confirmation celebrated?
(c) Who can receive Confirmation? Who can confirm?

3. Eucharist

(a) What is the Eucharist?

a. A participation in and representation of the Lord’s sacrifice (¶1322, 1365-68)

b. A union and communion with Christ and with the Church as the Body of Christ (¶1325, 1329, 1391-92):

i. “To receive communion is to receive Christ himself who has offered himself to us” (¶1382)

ii. “Holy Communion is an intimate union with Christ Jesus” (¶1391)

c. A remembrance or memorial of the past (anamnesis) (¶1341, 1362-63)

d. A “making present” of the past (transubstantiation) (¶1364, 1375-77)

e. An anticipation of the future (prolepsis) (¶1344, 1402-05)

f. A church-constituting act in which those who partake become the body of Christ (¶1331, 1396)

g. A church-sending act in which those who partake are then sent into the world (¶1332, 1397)

(b) The Eucharist in Scripture

(c) The Eucharist and the Presence of Christ

(d) The Eucharist as Sign and Reality

a. Sign of Christ’s sacrifice; reality of Christ’s body and blood

b. Sign of Christ’s redemption; reality of the forgiveness of sin

c. Sign of the future messianic banquet; reality of God’s kingdom

d. Sign of the Church’s catholicity; reality of Christian unity as Christ’s Body

4. Comparing the Sacraments of Initiation

(a) Baptism and Confirmation are both “once for all” sacraments, and the Eucharist is the continuation or “making present” of Christ’s “once for all” sacrifice on the cross

(b) Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist all unite us with Christ

a. Baptism unites us with Christ’s death and resurrection (¶1214, 1227)

b. Confirmation unites us with Christ through the gift of the Holy Spirit (¶1303)

c. Eucharist unites us with Christ’s body and blood (¶1365)

(c) Sacraments of Initiation and the Perpetuation of the Past

a. Baptism perpetuates the Paschal mystery of Christ in each individual (¶1239)

b. Confirmation “perpetuates the grace of Pentecost” (¶1288)

c. Eucharist perpetuates the sacrifice of the cross (¶1382)

d. The Church is the perpetuation of Christ’s body in the world

(d) Sacraments and Christian Unity

a. Baptism is a mark of Christian unity:

i. “Baptism constitutes the foundation of communion among all Christians, including those who are not yet in full communion with the Catholic Church” (¶1271)

b. Confirmation, as a sacrament always distinct from Baptism, is unique to Roman Catholicism

i. the Eastern church places Baptism and Confirmation together

ii. some Protestant churches have Confirmation, but it is not a sacrament

c. Eucharist both unites and divides the churches (¶1398-1401):

i. all churches celebrate the Lord’s Supper

ii. the Eastern churches share in virtually the same sacrament, with a greater emphasis on the epiclesis than on the consecration

iii. the Protestant churches do not have the Sacrament of Holy Orders, and they place a much greater emphasis on the anamnesis (remembrance) than on the consecration or epiclesis

Week 11: Liturgy and Sacraments (¶1066-1209, 1667-90)

1. What is the Liturgy?

Liturgy is the communal participation in the divine work of redemption that was accomplished in the Paschal mystery of Jesus Christ. Liturgy involves the proclamation of the Gospel, visible signs of communion, and a participation in the triune life of God through prayer and worship. Liturgy does not exhaust the life of the Church but is the heart and soul of the Church’s existence. One might say that liturgy makes the Church.

2. The Trinity and the Liturgy

a) The Father is the one who blesses creation, and thus is the source and ground of the liturgy (¶1077-83)

b) The Son, Jesus Christ, is the one who accomplished redemption in the Paschal event and unites the earthly and heavenly liturgies as the one Mediator between God and humankind (¶1084-90)

c) The Holy Spirit is the active agent within the Church, the one who empowers the liturgy—who prepares, awakens, illumines, vivifies, recalls, actualizes, sanctifies, and transforms all in the service of making Christ present to the people of God (¶1091-112)

3. Different Dimensions of the Sacraments

a) Five dimensions (¶1113-30):

a. Sacraments of Christ
b. Sacraments of the Church
c. Sacraments of Faith
d. Sacraments of Salvation
e. Sacraments of Eternal Life

b) Split up into groups of two or three and come up with a definition of a sacrament on the basis of one of these dimensions. We’ll gather again afterwards to see how each of these five dimensions illuminates the meaning of a sacrament.

4. The Celebration of the Liturgy

a) Who?
b) How?
c) When?
d) Where?

Questions on the Forgiveness of Sins, Resurrection of the Body, and Life Everlasting (¶976-1065)

1. Why is the sacrament of Penance necessary if Baptism fully cleanses us from all sin?


2. What is the nature of the body in the resurrection? How is it similar or different from ours?


3. When will the resurrection of the all the dead occur?


4. How is human death transformed by Christ?


5. Why is Christianity opposed to Gnosticism?


6. What is the “beatific vision”? How does it differ from a deep spiritual insight or vision?


7. Why is Purgatory necessary if one is already assured of eternal salvation?


8. What makes hell a punishment?


9. What does the Church mean by the final “consummation”? How does this differ from the resurrection of the dead?


10. How does the teaching about the “new heavens and new earth” inform how we live today?

Week 9: One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church (¶748-975)

“The Kingdom”
By R. S. Thomas

It’s a long way off but inside it
There are quite different things going on:
Festivals at which the poor man
Is king and the consumptive is
Healed; mirrors in which the blind look
At themselves and love looks at them
Back; and industry is for mending
The bent bones and the minds fractured
By life. It’s a long way off, but to get
There takes no time and admission
Is free, if you will purge yourself
Of desire, and present yourself with
Your need only and the simple offering
Of your faith, green as a leaf.

1. The Trinity and the Church

The Church is connected to each of the three Persons of the Trinity. According to the Catechism, the Church is “born in the Father’s heart,” is “instituted by Christ Jesus,” and is finally revealed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit (¶759, 763, 767). Later, the Catechism speaks of the Church as (1) the People of God, (2) the Body of Christ, and (3) the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Here again we see the Trinity reflected in the Church’s identity.

2. The Marks of the Church

2.1. Visible and Invisible (¶771): The Church is both visible and invisible, because while she is “in history,” she also transcends history. The combination of visibility and invisibility means that the Church is both a social institution and a spiritual community. As a social institution, the Church is hierarchically structured with physical buildings and social orders. In its visibility, then, the Church is made up of many individual congregations who all join in one liturgy and share in the basic physical tasks of evangelization, feeding the hungry, and carrying on the work of the Apostles, for example. As a spiritual community, the Church is bound together by the Spirit in the person of Jesus Christ. The invisible Church is united in both time and space. While we commune physically with those who are in our immediate community, we commune spiritually with those who are on the other side of the world as well as with those who have already died and those who have yet to be born. The Church, as the Catechism tells us, “is essentially both human and divine, visible but endowed with invisible realities.”

2.2. One (¶813-22): The Church is one because God is one. The oneness or unity of the Church is truly and primarily a mark of the visible Catholic Church, but it is also a spiritual reality which includes those who have been incorporated into Christ through Baptism. While the Church condemns past division, she also celebrates the common faith in Christ.

2.3. Holy (¶823-29): The Church is holy because God is holy. The Church is holy by being sanctified in Christ and by living in love. The holiness of the Church does not mean, however, that those in the Church are not still sinners, and in this sense we have to distinguish between the Church as pilgrim and the Church as the final eschatological Kingdom, represented by Mary.

2.4. Catholic (¶830-56): The Church is catholic because God is catholic. The word “catholic” means “universal,” but it has a particular nuance: whereas “universal” suggests spreading out, “catholic” suggests gathering together. Universal suggests the spread of something everywhere; catholic suggests the connection of all things to a particular center. Both words thus identify the nature of the Church: she is sent out to the whole of the human race, but she then gathers them together and binds them to a specific center, namely, Jesus Christ.

2.5. Apostolic (¶857-65): The Church is apostolic because God is apostolic and has founded the Church on Christ’s apostles. Jesus is Father’s Apostle (¶858), who then instituted human apostles to carry on his mission of reconciliation through the proclamation of the gospel and the celebration of the sacraments.

2.6. Sacrament of Union and Unity (¶774-76): A “sacrament” is a visible sign and instrument of an invisible mystery. Christ himself is the primary sacrament, whose saving work is made present through the sacraments of the Church. But the Church herself is a sacrament, in that she is the sign and instruments of our union with god and our unity together as the human race. The Church binds us together and binds us to God, and thus she is the sacrament of God’s invisible grace.

3. The Relation Between Christ and the Church

3.1. Prophet, Priest, and King (¶783-86, 901-13)

3.2. Body and Bride of Christ (¶790-96)

3.3. The Missionary God and the Missionary Church (¶849-55)

4. The Relation Between Mary and the Church

4.1. Mary the Mother of the Church (¶964-70)

4.2. Mary the Icon of the Church (¶972)

5. The Relation Between the Church and the World

5.1. The Church and Other Religions (¶836-44)

5.2. The Call to Evangelism (¶846-48)

5.3. The Church and the World’s Future (¶845)

Week 8: The Holy Spirit—The Power of New Life (¶683-747)

1. “On the Holy Spirit”
By Scott Cairns

If, upon taking up this or any scripture,
or upon lifting your one good eye to inspect
the faintly green expanse of field already
putting forth its late winter gauze of grasses,

you come to suspect a hushed conversation
under way, you may also find sufficient grounds
to suspect that difficult disposition
we call the Ghost, river or thread drawn through us,

which, rippled as any taut rope might be, lifts
or drops us as if riding a wave, and which fends
off, for brief duration, our dense encumberment
—this flesh and its confusions—if not completely,

if only enough that the burdens be felt, just
shy of crushing us.


2. The Self-Effacing Spirit

While the Father and the Son are both very “public” persons of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is “self-effacing.” Whereas the Father and the Son call attention to themselves, so to speak, the Spirit calls our attention away from himself and toward the Son. Like John the Baptist, the Spirit points away from himself to the person of Jesus Christ. The Spirit does not speak about himself but about the Word made flesh. But the Spirit’s self-effacement is also the occasion for the Spirit’s ubiquity. The Spirit is ever-present as the one who directs us to Christ and, through Christ, to the Father. The Spirit is involved in every dimension and aspect of the gospel—from creation to Israel to the prophets to Christ to the Church to the new creation—and we see this ubiquity reflected in the Spirit’s presence throughout the Catechism. Like a stagehand who keeps a theater running, the Spirit is essential to the drama of salvation, though never as the main actor on the stage.

3. The Work of the Spirit

The Spirit’s work falls into the following broad categories:

(1) preparation,
(2) revelation,
(3) communication,
(4) participation,
(5) actualization, and
(6) consummation.

4. The Trinitarian Mission of God

St. Irenaeus writes: “For those who bear God’s Spirit are led to the Word, that is, to the Son, and the Son presents them to the Father, and the Father confers incorruptibility on them. And it is impossible to see God’s Son without the Spirit, and no one can approach the Father without the Son, for the knowledge of the Father is the Son, and the knowledge of God’s Son is obtained through the Holy Spirit.” (¶683)