Calendar

Leader's School
Thur June 6, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA
RE classroom #8

Ultreya-Tulsa
Fri June 7, 7:00pm
St. Mary's, Tulsa

Ultreya-BA
Fri June 21, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA

Leader's School
Thur July 11, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA
RE classroom #8

Ultreya-Tulsa
Fri July 5, 7:00pm
St. Mary's, Tulsa

Ultreya-BA
Fri July 19, 7:00pm
St. Benedict's, BA

Men's Weekend #31
Sept 26-29, 2002
St. John's, McAlester

Women's Weekend #31
Oct 10-13, 2002
St. John's, McAlester

SPIRITUALITY 101
SPIRITUAL REFLECTION- 114
Deacon Jim Breazile o.c.d.s.

DEVOTION - Growth in love- 3rd stage
DEVOTIONALS- MEDITATION-SACRAMENTALS-THE ROSARY-41
HAIL MARY-7

A deacon regularly visited a young man who was suffering from an incurable cancer. The deacon and the man's family thought that death would soon come, and regularly prayed that he would die in a state of grace. The young man prayed for the same end for himself. But he did not die soon. The cancer slowly spread throughout his body, inflicting pain and discomfort through month after month, into another year. Gradually the deacon and the man's family prayed less regularly and finally even forgot for days on end to pray for the young man's soul. Even the young man himself ceased praying for grace, and just waited in despair that his suffering would one day end. One day, the family had gathered around his bed. The deacon was there and instead of praying, they were visiting about how dreadful had been the young man's suffering. Suddenly the young man sat up in bed and said "is this death?" The man breathed one deep sigh and died. Death had finally come, but at an unexpected time.

No one knows the time of their death. We cannot depend upon others, or even ourselves to constantly intercede for the grace to be prepared for death. Only the glorified Jesus and His blessed mother never cease to intercede for us.

"Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with you
Blessed are thou among women
and Blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners,
now and at the hour of our death."
Amen.

"now and at the hour of our death."

Every moment of our lives helps to determine our eternal destiny. One moment is decisive, final and irrevocable. It is the moment of death. At this time our strength will fail us. It will be a time wat which Satan makes one last attempt to gain our soul.

Because of the weak nature of our conscience, even though we receive protection from sin through the grace of Baptism, it is necessary that we have divine intercession for assistance in the discernment and resistance of evil and to maintain goodness in our life. It is particularly important that we not die with unforgiven mortal sin on our souls. John refers to such sins in his first letter. 1 John 5:16-17, when he writes, "If anyone sees his brother sinning, if the sin is not deadly, he should pray to God and he will give him life. This is only for those whose sin is not deadly. There is such a thing as deadly sin, about which I do not say that you should pray. All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that is not deadly."

Matthew, in discussing the unforgivable sin, makes this issue even more urgent. He writes in Matt. 12:32, "....whoever speaks against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come." Scripture makes it clear that sins are forgiven after our death, and that prayers for the dead are beneficial. St. John Chrysostom reflected on this by reference to the book of Job. Job 1:4-5 we find " His sons used to take turns giving feasts, sending invitations to their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when each feast had run it s course, Job would send for them and sanctify them, rising early and offering holocausts for every one of them. For Job said, 'It may be that my sons have sinned and blasphemed God in their hearts.'" St. John Chrysostom concludes, "If Job's sons were purified by their father's sacrifice, why would we doubt that our offerings for the dead bring them some consolation? Let us not hesitate to help those who have died and to offer our prayers to them." (Homilies- 1 Cor; 41-5).

It is clear that in this life deadly or mortal sin cannot be forgiven through either remorse or intercessory prayer. Mortal sin requires repentance and forgiveness. Christ left us the Sacrament of Reconciliation when he gave the Church the authority to discern and forgive, or not to forgive sin. In John 20:19-23, John describes the transmission of this responsibility and authority to the Apostles "...'Peace be with you. As the father has sent me, so I send you.' And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them 'Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.'" After our death, there is no forgiveness of Mortal sin. It is important therefore that we ask our Blessed Mother to intercede for us in this life so that we avoid mortal sin, and that if we commit mortal sin that we immediately seek forgiveness through repentance and the Sacrament of confession before we die.

John the evangelist makes it clear in his first letter that even though Christ redeemed our sin and original sin has been removed through the sacrament of Baptism, no one is without sin. In 1 John 1:8-10, he writes; " If we say, 'We are without sin,' we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing. If we say, 'we have not sinned,' we make him a liar, and his word is not in us."

We are assured through Scripture that we have a conscience with the potential to differentiate evil from good. Paul writes in Romans 2:14-15; "For when the gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accurse or even defend them..." This "law," that is written in our hearts is our conscience.

The Church teaches this truth about conscience in the New Catholic Catechism No. 1776, quoting No. 16 from the 2nd Vatican Council as follows. "Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil sounds in his heart at the right moment...For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God...His consciences is man's most secret core of his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths."

This conscience, that serves as our moral guide is meant to protect us from sin. In most cases, however, our conscience has not been formed by the Word of God, but by the world we live in. Such a conscience will not accuse us of acts, thoughts or words that are common to the world. It is a rare conscience that is truly and completely formed by the Word of God. Because of this, we can never be certain of our state of grace. We may think that we have not sinned because our conscience does not accuse us, but the conscience does not accuse us because it has not been well formed. As indicated in reflection No. 95, No one can be certain of their state of grace. We may be steeped in sin, and our conscience can be quite at peace.

When we pray the Hail Mary, we ask the Blessed Mary to intercede for us in order that we may respond to Gods grace that urges us to avoid sin, and if we sin, to seek forgiveness as soon as possible. It is in this context that the Church through the ages have referred to her as "Refuge of sinners."

NEW CATHOLIC CATECHISM
ARTICLE NO. 1093

In the sacramental economy the Holy Spirit fulfills what was prefigiured in the old Covenant. Since Christ's Church was "prepared in marvelous fashion in the history of the people of Israel and in the Old Covenant," (Lumen Gentium Article No. 2) the Church's liturgy has retained certain elements of the worship of the Old Covenant as integral and irreplaceable, adopting them as her own

-notably, reading the Old Testament; - Praying the Psalms; -above all, recalling the saving events and significant realities which have found their fulfillment in the mystery of Christ (promise and covenant, Exodus and Passover, kingdom and temple, exile and return).

ARTICLE NO. 1092
It is on this harmony of the two Testaments that the Paschal catechesis of the Lord is built, and then that of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Church. This catechesis unveils what lay hidden under the letter of the Old Testament: the mystery of Christ. It is called "typological" because it reveals the newness of Christ on the basis of the "figure's" (types) which announce him in the deed, words and symbols of the first covenant. By this re-reading in the Spirit of Truth, starting from Christ, the figures are unveiled. Thus the flood and Noah's ark prefigured salvation by Baptism, as did the cloud and the crossing of the Red Sea. Water from the rock was the figure of the spiritual gifts of Christ and manna in the desert prefigured the Eucharist,: "the true bread from heaven."

This statement of the Catechism is best illustrated poetically in an expression derived from a statement made by St. Augustine in regard to the relationship of the Old and the New Testaments. In our bible studies, we would do well to remember his thought.

Unity in Scripture

In the Old concealed
In the New revealed
In the Old contained
In the New explained.

Ó2002 DR. JAMES E. BREAZILE, deacon 
JOHN PAUL EVANGELIST OCDS