Tag Archives: Catechism of the Catholic Church

Prayer for the holy souls

A depiction of purgatory

November is the month in which the Church traditionally intensifies her prayers for the souls in Purgatory. But every day should be for us a day of prayer for the holy souls. There are many souls there now suffering greatly but at the same time exceedingly happy. In this meditation we use texts from Scripture, the Catechism and saints to consider how:

  • The holy souls suffer from the pains of sense, likened to fire, and of loss, of being deprived of union with God
  • The souls in Purgatory are happier than we are on earth, because they are assured of heaven and they love God more than we do
  • We can help the souls in Purgatory by offering our prayers, works and sufferings for them
  • The souls in Purgatory are powerful intercessors for us and we can entrust our intentions to them
  • The holy souls should be able to consider us their “good friends”

Mental prayer

 

 

It has often been said that the quality of our interior life is the quality of our prayer. In this meditation we use especially the Catechism of the Catholic Church and St Josemaria’s book The Way to consider how we can improve our personal conversation with God in mental prayer through such means as:

  • Saying slowly and with attention the words of the Introductory Prayer
  • Responding promptly to the initiative of God, who invites us to pray
  • Engaging in the “battle of prayer”, whether we feel like it or not
  • Committing ourselves to regular times for prayer and being faithful to them
  • Fighting the distractions which inevitably come

 

Receive Him well

Christ holding Communion host

In Holy Communion we receive our Lord in the species of the host and wine. This is the greatest union we can have with Jesus Christ while on earth.

Many people receive Holy Communion regularly but it is easy to fall into routine in doing so. If we remember Who it is that we are receiving we can receive it better, with the “purity, humility and devotion” with which Our Lady received it, in the words of the Spiritual Communion taught by St Josemaria. In this meditation we use quotations from many saints, especially St Josemaria and St John Vianney, and from the Catechism of the Catholic Church to consider:

  • Holy Communion is the greatest union we can have with Christ on earth
  • It is a promise of heaven, an anticipation of heaven and the means to reach heaven
  • Communion cleanses our soul from venial sins and helps us avoid mortal sins
  • How we can prepare well to receive Communion
  • How we can receive Our Lord with more faith, hope and love
  • How we can give thanks better after receiving Communion
  • Why we should receive Communion as often as we can

Formation in Christ

Christ teaching the apostles

Before the apostles were sent out to evangelize, he spent time in their formation.

 

 

We are called to live out our faith and share it with others, to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth. To do this effectively in a society which is increasingly ignorant of and even hostile to Christian values we need formation. In this meditation we consider how:

  • Christ spent time forming the apostles before sending them out to all nations
  • We too are called to go out and help others find God and to make our culture more Christian
  • For this we need  a deep spiritual, doctrinal, human and apostolic formation
  • Pope St John Paul II writes of the need for formation in his Apostolic Exhortation “Christifideles laici“
  • We can receive this formation in a variety of ways

Launch of “Journey into Truth”

We recently held a very successful launch of my DVD series and book on the Catholic faith “Journey into Truth“. I thought you might like to see this article on it from the website of the “Catholic Weekly”. I’ve added links to some web pages, which are not included in the original article.

New series offers answers to the search for meaning
 
 Printable version
By Robert Hiini

26 November, 2014
Fr John Flader at the launch of Journey into Truth.

A new faith resource created by Fr John Flader of Question Time column fame has received glowing praise from some of Australia’s most senior bishops.

Journey into Truth, a DVD series and its accompanying book, were launched at the Catholic Adult Education Centre in Lidcome on 18 November by the Catholic Education Office’s director of religious education and evangelisation, Anthony Cleary.

Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the series features Fr Flader delivering 24 half-hour talks on the creed, the sacraments, liturgy, morals and prayer, accompanied by illustrative and immersive visuals similar to Fr Robert Barron’s popular Catholicism series.

Originally put together with Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults groups in mind, the resource was recognised as having many more potential applications at its launch, including for both long-term and relatively new Catholics, as well as Catholic educators.

In the preface to the book, Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP, then the Bishop of Parramatta, said he “highly recommended” the resource, joining Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart, Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett of Lismore, and Bishop Peter Elliot, Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne in lauding the work.

“Anyone wanting to obtain “the full measure of knowledge of God” needs to study the Catholic faith, not just to assent to it”, Archbishop Fisher wrote.

“St Thomas thought God had made us curious: we always want to learn more; the more we know, the more we realise we don’t know. Faith aids our search for the truth about God, the universe, ourselves; it is a “taste of that knowledge which will make us happy in the life to come” and once you’ve got a taste for it you will want more!

“Fr Flader’s book, Journey into Truth, is a very good place to start.”

Growing in the faith was not just a journey, but a journey “into truth” and “not mere opinion or sentiments”, Fr Flader said at the launch.

“Our faith must rest on the solid foundation of truth, of the truths of faith. But truth is not only propositions to be believed. It is also, and especially, a person to be known and loved: Jesus Christ, ‘the way, the truth and the life’.”

The idea for the project came from Roman Vedat, director of its publisher, Arts Media Productions, and Michael Mendieta of Campion College who was working with Mr Vedat.

It was created in close collaboration with the then-director of Sydney’s catechumenate office, Cathy Dennis and benefited from the suggestions of the diocese of Parramatta’s current apostolic administrator and then-Vicar General, Fr Peter Williams.

Speaking to The Catholic Weekly earlier this week, Fr John Flader said the project had taken up “every spare minute” of his free time since 2011 writing and filming the scripts for the video.

Fifteen lessons in, Fr Flader and the small production team behind Journey into Truth decided they had discovered a better way of structuring the project and made the tough decision to start filming all over again.

Fr Flader said there was never any thought of giving up. “We weren’t tempted. We thought that this would do a lot of good,” he said. “Everybody is looking for God in the sense that the intellect is seeking truth: ultimate answers to ultimate questions like ‘where did the world come from?’; ‘is there life after death?’; and then the will seeks the good and longs for happiness.

“Everybody wants to be happy and the ultimate source of happiness is the infinite good, who is God,” Fr Flader said, describing that inbuilt longing, coupled with the series’ discussion of science and the world as “a bridge to the non-believer”.

Fr Flader said that while the series does shirk from discussing vexed moral issues such as adultery – in marriage and in the heart – and abortion, he was always mindful in his presentation of God’s love for sinners, and his ready forgiveness for those who seek it.

Journey into Truth book and DVDs are available from Catholic bookshops.

 

Meditation on formation for evangelisation

Recent Popes have been calling on the Church to carry out the new evangelisation – the passing on of the love and truth of Jesus Christ to the world. But in order to share our faith with others we must first know it and put it into practice. In this meditation we consider how we can come to know our faith better and live it out, so that we can communicate it more effectively to others. Among the points we consider are:

  • Christ spent time forming the apostles
  • We too need formation to carry out our mission of spreading the Gospel
  • Much depends on this formation: our own sanctification and happiness, and our ability to help others
  • This formation involves the spiritual, doctrinal, human and apostolic aspects
  • We can acquire this formation in a variety of ways, e.g., reading the Catechism of the Catholic Church and other books, attending talks, frequenting the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Penance, prayer, including the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and more…

Meditation – Longing for heaven

In the busyness of everyday life we tend to forget why we are here and where we are going. In this meditation we come back to reality to consider our final destination, eternal life with God in heaven, what heaven will be like, and what we need to do to get there.