I woke up the other morning with the thought of how the Church was the answer to the Lord’s prayer. The Church is the answer because it is she who provides what we asked for. The more we grow in sacramental grace, the more God’s Kingdom comes.
That we move farther away from sacramental grace will only bring our demise. I am filled with sorrow when the sons and daughters of the church move people away from the sacraments and make people think the sacraments don’t matter. They are the remedy to all of our ills.
Lord, teach us to pray( Luke 11:1).
Our Father, Who Art in Heaven, Hallowed Be Thy Name. Thy Kingdom Come
This is Baptism. The Kingdom of God comes when we mark ourselves and our children in the Kingdom through Baptism.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20).
The church’s mission is to bring the Kingdom through the Sacramental Grace of Baptism.
Thy Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven
This is Confirmation. God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven when we surrender fully to His will and are filled with the Holy Spirit like the disciples at Pentecost, with a double portion of the Spirit. The church is the conduit through which His will is done when we fully embrace this sacramental grace of Confirmation.
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability ( Acts 2:1-4).
Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread
This is the Eucharist. The more we receive this daily bread in a state of grace, the more we progress towards the unity that Christ came for.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh (John 6:51).
And Forgive Us Our Trespasses as We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us
This is Confession. We need the Sacrament so as to reconcile to God and the church. The church is the Mystical Body, when we sin we not only harm our own soul, but we harm the whole body. This sacrament heals.
Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained” (John 20:21-23).
And Lead Us Not Into Temptation
This is the Priesthood specifically, and Anointing of the Sick as we head to our death. It has to do with concupiscence and our desire to do wrong. The Priesthood is meant to protect the flock. To “keep the garden,” so to speak. Where Adam failed to keep the garden and let the serpent in to tempt Eve, so the Priesthood with the Priest in persona Christi, helps to guard the flock from the temptation to do evil by his ability to bring us the Sacraments where grace flows. Nowhere is this more apparent than when we are leaving this world to enter the next – so as to protect us in our last hours from the temptation of the evil one. What a shame that during the pandemic many failed in this duty.
one who has become a priest, not through a legal requirement concerning physical descent, but through the power of an indestructible life. For it is attested of him, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 7:16-17).
Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise them up; and anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven (James 5:14-15).
And Deliver Us From Evil. Amen.
When we are fully delivered from evil, we are in union. We are in union with God. We are in union with one another. A marriage of unity. Harmony restored. Nowhere does the image of the Trinity seem more apparent than in the family who is fruitful and multiplies, like the love of God. And Satan becomes our footstool. This marriage can also be for Priests and religious who have a Divine Spouse that makes them fruitful for the kingdom and is an objectively higher calling.
But from the beginning God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate (Mark 10:6-9).
Everything we need for happiness, healing, and peace is found in the Sacraments of the church. The church that Jesus founded, to answer our prayer and give us what we need.
8 thoughts on “An Answered Prayer”
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Thank you, Susan, for enriching my understanding
of the Our Father. What a great Christmas gift!
Merry Christmas
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The Sacraments are gifts meant to purify us. None of us actually deserves them. To view them as something to keep you in line instead of as something that purifies your own soul – well that’s actually sad.
All are sinners, yes even those who administer the sacraments. But like Peter, where else would would go to be purified of our own sin with the grace they impart.
I am sorry people in the church have hurt you. It sounds like perhaps you need to forgive they way Christ forgave you everything. Peace.
I completely agree that it’s sad. The sacraments shouldn’t be viewed this way, and they shouldn’t be used this way. And I completely agree that we are all sinners. I have no problem with the fact that individual priests are sinners. We all are.
However, I disagree that we need to (or should) forgive at this point. If you believe in the church definition of forgiveness, one must repent of serious sins through confession and resolve to attempt to refrain from the sin in the future. The church as an entity has not done this. And if we continue to beg for the sacraments without demanding reform, we’re culpable in the sins of the church. God doesn’t want his church to look like what the the Catholic church is today. The rampant corruption and focus on power is abhorrent to Him. And like I said, God will not abandon anyone trying to get that mess cleaned up. If you have to sacrifice the sacraments for a period of time, God will find other ways to reach you and sustain you. He is not limited.
It often feels to me that the sacraments are used to manipulate Catholics into loyalty and obedience. They’re effectively used as both a carrot and stick to keep people coming back obediently regardless of what evil is perpetrated by the church. The church effectively says: “Yeah, we might do some really bad things, and plenty of us are incredibly bad people whose motivation is not following Christ, but we’re the only ones with the sacraments so you’re stuck with us.” The sacraments are often the last thing that keeps disillusioned Catholics coming to mass.
I didn’t use to view the sacraments this way, but it’s become impossible for me to view them any differently as I’ve grown up and seen how the church keeps its people in line – other than of course the multitude that have chosen to leave completely in recent years. The threat of losing the sacraments keeps people quiet. Excommunication was used explicitly in my diocese as a kid. Various groups of people were summarily excommunicated for the most ridiculous “transgressions”. This threat (which isn’t usually so explicit) kept people quiet and it kept them in line because no one believed they could afford to lose access to the sacraments. It’s a troubling dependency that helps keep the current corrupt system afloat.
God will not abandon you for standing up to evil – especially when those doling out the sacraments are the evil that must be confronted.
Forgiveness should not be confused with condoning.
Jesus forgave everyone, even the guy hammering the nails in his hands. That doesn’t mean that’s what he wanted for that man, still he forgave. It’s hard to define the church as “an entity” because that actually includes us. The only thing we can actually control is our own repentance. Yes we can definitely stand up to the corruption and try to seek transparency, but at the end of the day vengeance is actually Gods. The Sacraments shouldn’t be blamed for the sins of the hierarchy. If we are better and holy it can actually spread like light in the darkness.