Jan 2013 Catholic Action Report

Ash Wednesday Feb 13, 2013

Good Friday of The Passion of the Lord March 29, 2013

The Resurrection of the Lord March 31, 2013

Congratulations to Division 2 Monmouth on their success on 7 th annual Polar Bear Plunge
for Catholic Schools. This year’s event raised over $130,000 for Catholic education. If your
division is not involved it is doing a great disservice to Catholic education. If a Catholic order
cannot stand up for Catholic education is there really any hope for the future of Catholic
education? I ask all division Presidents to contact Plunge Chairman Jim Shaw of Division 2
Monmouth – [email protected]

McFaul-Mullen award – Working on wording for addition to our Constitution

A Congratulations letter was sent to Bishop Dennis J. Sullivan, on his appointment as Bishop
Of the Diocese of Camden NJ

Catholic Men for Jesus Conference – February 23, 2013 8am- Mass to be held at 4pm –
Monsignor Donovan High School – 711 Hooper Ave Toms River NJ – Several Division Brothers
attended last year’s conference – The AOH State board will again be a sponsor – If you would
like any additional info check out the website – www.catholicmenforjesuschrist.org you can
register for the event on line or at the event

PRAYER TO SAINT MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

St. Michael the Archangel,

defend us in battle. Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.

May God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou,

O Prince of the heavenly hosts, by the power of God,

thrust into hell Satan, and all the evil spirits,

who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen..

O glorious prince St. Michael, chief and commander of the heavenly hosts,

guardian of souls, vanquisher of rebel spirits, servant in the house of the Divine King

and our admirable conductor, you who shine with excellence

and superhuman virtue deliver us from all evil, who turn to you with confidence

and enable us by your gracious protection to serve God more and more faithfully every day.

“…They called the church together and reported what God had done with them and how he
had opened the door of faith…”(Acts 14:27).

In the Acts of the Apostles, we learn that God has opened the door of faith for the early
Church.But did you know that God has opened the door of faith for each one us and he invites
us to step through the threshold into a deeper relationship with him. The upcoming Year of
Faith is an opportunity for every Catholic to turn towards Jesus Christ, encounter him in the
Sacraments, especially the Eucharist and rediscover the Faith and Church. (USCCB)

In this year of faith I chose to look into the Mass, its foundation to the Last Supper of Christ. It
is important that we arm ourselves in the armor of Christ as we begin the speak the truth of
his Gospel

The Catholic mass built on not only the scripture of the Old Testament but, the continued
covenant or new covenant with God, now through his son Jesus Christ. The order of the Mass
is quite simple as it is broken down piece by piece. We begin with the introductory rites; we
prepare to celebrate the mystery of Christ’s love, acknowledge our failures and ask the Lord
for pardon and strength. We call out to God in praise of his name and acknowledge his
enduring love for us. The liturgy of the word begins with a reading from the Old Testament,
the foundation on which Jesus builds the Church. The second reading usually comes from the
Epistles, or from Revelation. The Second Reading, unlike the first, is always from the New
Testament. Remember that “testament” is another word for “covenant.” The Readings we
call the New Testament deal with the coming of Jesus and the establishment of God’s New
Covenant with humanity through Jesus, God’s Son. We consider these Readings to be the
Word of God. Mindful that we are in God’s Presence, we listen with expectation. We are now
at the high point of the Liturgy of the Word – the proclamation of the Gospel. Following the
Second Reading, or the Responsorial Psalm, if there is no Second Reading, the faithful stand
and sing or say the Allelluia verse except during the Lenten Season. During the Lenten Season
the Alleluia is replaced with another verse that gives praise to the Lord. Alleluia means Praise
YHWH or Praise the Lord! “When the gospel is to be read at Mass, stand up to show that you

are ready and equipped to walk on the way that the gospel commands. To stir your devotion,
you can say as you do so, ‘Jesus Christ was made obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.” (St. Francis de Sales) St Augustine said “Let us therefore hear the gospel just as if we
were listening to the Lord himself present: nor let us say, ‘O happy they who were able to see
him!’ Because there were many of them who saw, and also killed him; and there are many
among us who has not seen him, and yet have believed. For the precious truth that sounded
forth from the mouth of our Lord was both written for our sake, and preserved for our sake,
and recited for our sake, and will be recited also for the sake of our prosperity, even until the
end of the world.” (St Augustine) The homily most often explains some aspect of the readings
we have just heard, the particular mystery we are celebrating, or one of the parts of the Mass
relating it to our lives. The one giving the homily has an awesome task. This is one of the
reasons the Church limits who is allowed to preach. After the truthful word of Christ’s
teaching, we called to the Prayer of the Faithful, at one stage in the evolution of the Catholic
Mass, the marked the beginning of the “Mass of the Faithful.” This was the secret ceremony
that only baptized Catholics of good standing could attend. Strangers, catechumens and
penitents were expected to leave at this point. Today we pray for all we ask God for the
needs of the Church; for public authorities and the salvation of the world; for those
oppressed by any need; and for the local community.

The Liturgy of the Eucharist now begins, which forms the central part of the liturgy due to its
direct institution by Christ. The Offertory has always been considered one the essential
actions of the Catholic Mass although it looks like a passive and quiet moment. This is the rite
by which the bread and wine are presented and offered to God before they are consecrated.
This moment in the Mass brings all other aspects of the Mass to a focal point at which all are
drawn in to a summation of the Mass. This liturgy of the Eucharist is a remembrance of the
life of Jesus Christ, the ultimate sacrifice, the forgiveness of all sin, and the resurrection of
life. “The Eucharist is the new Passover of Jesus only when the promises of the Last Supper
are made real by Jesus’ suffering and rising. While the Eucharist fulfills the worship of Israel,
there is also a radical newness about it, a renewal of history and of the whole cosmos.”
(Benedict XVI) The Christian liturgy, then, cannot be seen as merely an appropriation of
Jewish traditions or the simple reenactment of Jesus’ Last Supper. The Last Supper itself was
anticipatory. “The Last Supper looks to the cross, where Jesus’ words of self –offering will be
fulfilled, and to the hope of the resurrection. Apart form them it would be incomplete and
unreal. Again, this means that the form of the Last Supper is not complete in itself.” (Benedict
XVI) As we read further in Scott Hahn’s “Covenant and Communion” we realize how close
this current Pope is to the heart of the Bible as a whole, as Benedict XVI calls the connection
“the inner unity.” Benedict has been called the most Theological Pope of the last century. We

clearly see the connection in the Eucharist in Mark ( 14:25 ) Jesus is celebrating the Passover
Seder meal with the apostles which requires them to drink four cups of wine. But Jesus only
presents the first three cups. He stops at the Third Cup, called “Cup of Blessing” that is why
Paul in 1 Cor. (10:16) uses the phrase “Cup of Blessing” to refer to the Eucharist, Paul ties the
Seder meal to the Eucharistic sacrifice. But Jesus conspicuously tells his apostles that He is
omitting the Fourth Cup called the “Cup of Consummation.” The Gospel writers point this
critical omission of the Seder meal out to us to demonstrate that the Eucharistic sacrifice and
the sacrifice on the cross are one and the same sacrifice, and the sacrifice would not be
completed until Jesus drank the Fourth Cup on the cross. After the Eucharist, Jesus sweats
blood in the garden of Gethsemane. This shows that His sacrifice began in the Upper Room
and connects the Passion to the Seder meal where the lamb must not only be sacrificed, but
consumed. Luke 22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24-25 – the translation of Jesus’ words of consecration
is “touto poieite tan eman anamnasin.” Jesus literally said “offer this as my memorial
sacrifice.” The word “poiein” (do) refer to offering a sacrifice ( Exodus 29:38-39), where God
uses the same word poieseis regarding the sacrifice of the lambs on the altar). The word
“anamnesis” (remembrance) also refers to a sacrifice which is really or actually made present
in time by the power of God, as it reminds God of the actual event (Heb. 10:3; Num. 10:10). It
is not just a memorial of a past event, but a past event made present in time. Some
Protestants argue that the Eucharist is not really the sacrifice of Christ, but a symbolic
offering, because the Lord’s blood is not shed (Heb. 9:22). However, Paul instructs us to
present ourselves as a “living sacrifice” to God. This verse demonstrates that not all sacrifices
are bloody and result in death. The Eucharistic sacrifice is unbloody and life-giving, the
supreme and sacramental wave offering of Christ, mysteriously presented in a sacramental
way, but nevertheless the one actual and eternal sacrifice of Christ. Moreover, our bodies
cannot be a holy sacrifice unless they are united with Christ’s sacrifice made present on the
altar of the Holy Mass. Benedict states “By his death on the cross Jesus transformed death
into life-giving word. The Gospel is the good news of “the death of death,” The Old
Testament and the “word” become one, an answer to salvation and as those two become
one, so we are told that The blood and body are one once they are in communion, “For
because Christ bore us all, in that He also bore our sins, we see that in the water is
understood the people, but in the wine is showed the blood of Christ…Thus, therefore, in
consecrating the cup of the Lord, water alone cannot be offered, even as wine alone cannot
be offered. For if any one offer wine only, the blood of Christ is dissociated from us; but if the
water be alone, the people are dissociated from Christ; but when both are mingled, and are
joined with one another by a close union, there is completed a spiritual and heavenly
sacrament. Thus the cup of the Lord is not indeed water alone, nor wine alone, unless each
be mingled with the other; just as, on the other hand, the body of the Lord cannot be flour
alone or water alone, unless both should be united and joined together and compacted in the

mass of one bread; in which very sacrament our people are shown to be made one, so that in
like manner as many grains, collected, and ground, and mixed together into one mass, make
one bread; so in Christ, who is the heavenly bread, we may know that there is one body, with
which our number is joined and united.” (Cyprian, To Caeilius, Epistle 62(63):13 (A.D. 253).

Benedict states the feast of the Eucharist “The liturgical feasts are deeds of God in the past
are made present. The Feasts are a participation in God’s action in time…. The individual
events are now ordered toward the Christian sacraments and to Christ himself. Noah’s ark
and the crossing of the Red Sea now point to Baptism. The sacrifice of Isaac and the meal of
the three angels with Abraham speak of Christ’s sacrifice and the Eucharist. Shining through
the rescue of the three young men from the fiery furnace and of Daniel from the lion’s den
we see Christ’s resurrection and our own…” The ultimate Covenant has been completed,
we have been promised first as Jews and then through Jesus Christ, that God has promised
salvation and a place in heaven. The point of the images is not to tell a story about something
in the past, but to incorporate the events of history into sacrament…. We are taken into
events…. The centering of all history of Christ is both the liturgical transmissions of that
history and the expression of a new experience of time, in which past, present, and future
makes contact, because they have been inserted into the presence of the risen Lord.” (
Benedict XVI)

The communion in spirit and in Body and in word together gains for us the continued
presence of our Lord, as St John Chrysostom said in a homily after the Gospel of mark, “Let
us then in everything believe God, and gainsay Him in nothing, though what is said seem to
be contrary to our thoughts and senses, but let His word be of higher authority than both
reasoning’s and sight. Thus let us do in the mysteries also, not looking at the things set before
us, but keeping in mind His sayings. For His word cannot deceive, but our senses are easily
beguiled. That hath never failed, but this in most things goeth wrong. Since then the word
saith, ‘This is my body,’ let us both be persuaded and believe, and look at it with the eyes of
the mind. For Christ hath given nothing sensible, but though in things sensible yet all to be
perceived by the mind. So also in baptism, the gift is bestowed by a sensible thing, that is, by
water; but that which is done is perceived by the mind, the birth, I mean, and the renewal.
For if thou hadst been incorporeal, He would have delivered thee the incorporeal gifts bare;
but because the soul hath been locked up in a body, He delivers thee the things that the mind
perceives, in things sensible. How many now say, I would wish to see His form, the mark, His
clothes, His shoes. Lo! Thou seest Him, Thou touchest Him, thou eatest Him. And thou indeed
desires’ to see His clothes, but He giveth Himself to thee not to see only, but also to touch
and eat and receive within thee” All is a gift from God through Jesus his Son. This sacrament
can only be a complete communion unless there is a mindful and spiritual connection to the
Eucharist “Active participation in the Eucharistic liturgy can hardly be expected if one

approaches it superficially, without an examination of his or her life. This inner disposition
can be fostered, for example, by recollection and silence for at least a few moments before
the beginning of the liturgy, by fasting and, when necessary, by sacramental confession. A
heart reconciledto God makes genuine participation possible.” (Benedict XVI) Part of this
communion in words and action we identify the Prayer of the Logos, the scared Word in the
Mass and the sacrificial offering of that Word on the cross come together in what is known as
the canon, or the Eucharistic Prayer of the Church. In this Eucharistic Prayer of the Holy Mass,
we have the culmination of the power of God’s word in history. Some would refer to the
Mass as the Oratio or the Prayer. The Oratio as stated by Scott Hahn ( Covenant and
Communion ) retells the story of salvation history, uniting the Old testament with the New
Testaments. The Climax of this story in both Prayer and scripture.” We hear the words in the
last Supper “This is my Body” Benedict acknowledges both the Hebrew and Hellenistic
influences on the oratio. It clearly according to Benedict reflects deep affinities and
continuities with the Passover Haggadah and the prayer of Blessing, the Berakah. But an
important and unique observation, he also says Hahn the influence of “the mature religion of
the Hellenistic world,” in particular, the concept of “verbal sacrifice.”

When we say Holy Communion confers grace, this does not mean it confers sanctifying
grace. On the contrary Holy Communion is a sacrament of the living. In order to receive
fruitfully, a person must first of all be living in friendship with God – living in the state of
grace. Otherwise, so far from benefiting from Holy Communion, a person commits a sacrilege.
And in St. Paul’s words, such a person “Draws condemnation on Himself”.We do not have
to be mystics to know that not a few people are receiving sacrilegious Communions. Pope
John Paul II said as much on his first visit to the United States. He pleaded with the bishops
to promote the sacrament of Confession. So many going to Communion, He told them,
and so few going to Confession. This follows logically from Christ’s own teaching that Holy
Communion nourishes the life of God already possessed by the communicant. We do not
feed a dead body with natural food or drink. No less can we feed a spiritually dead soul with
supernatural food and drink. The sacrament Christ instituted to restore supernatural life to a
person in mortal sin is the sacrament of Penance, not the sacrament of Holy Communion.

Two basic forms of spiritual protection are taught by the Church. Holy Communion protects
the recipient from the contagion of sin, like a “spiritual vaccine”. And it protects the soul from
the assaults of temptation like a supernatural armor against the attacks of the world and the
devil.

St. Cyprian, writing in the early third century, says Christians imprisoned and tortured for the
name of Christ received from the hand of the Bishop the sacrament of the Body and Blood of

the Lord, so they would not yield to a Roman prosecutor and deny their faith. Before going on
trial, they pleaded, “Give me Communion, so I’ll be able to resist.”

From the very beginning of the Church, this was the reason Holy Communion was brought
to the early Christians in prison – for confirming their faith and strengthening them in
their struggle with the enemies of Christ’s name. If we think for a moment that the age of
persecution has passed, we are living in a dream world. The real world in which we live is
a world that hates Christ and His followers… and yes, the verb is “hates”. Anytime I begin
to doubt that, all I have to do is turn to the media, which will do anything to tear down the
name of Christianity and especially loves to humiliate the Catholic Church. We desperately
need to receive Holy Communion as often as we can to protect us against the virulent hatred
found in Christ’s enemies today.

Since the Last Supper, the Church has used many names to refer to the Sacrament: the Lord’s
Supper, the Breaking of Bread, the Holy Sacrifice and Oblation, the Eucharistic Assembly, Holy
Mass, the Mystical Supper and the Holy and Divine Liturgy. The preferred term, however, is
the Eucharist, to indicate that the Sacrament is above all “to give thanks” (from the Greek
word Eucharistein). This explains the fact that the Eucharist begins to be celebrated by the
baptized on Sunday mornings without catechumens and penitents. The procedure for
celebration seems already to be described in the Emmaus account in St. Luke’s Gospel (cf. Lk
24:25-31). On Easter Sunday evening, the risen Lord appears to the disciples. They listen to
him evermore intently, until he finally reveals himself in the act of giving thanks and breaking
bread. According to the Apostolic Tradition, the Eucharist is the revelation of the Father in
the mystery of his Son, who redeems humanity. At the same time, it is the Church’s act of
thanksgiving for this salvific redemption. In this document, considered one of the oldest
testimonies after the apostolic age, the Church’s unceasing connection to the Eucharist is
repeatedly emphasized. After the consecration, the presence of the Holy Spirit is invoked to
make the Church worthy to make the offering.( THE EUCHARIST: A GIFT TO THE CHURCH ) St.
Ignatius of Antioch witnesses to the obligation of participating in the Eucharist so as to
strengthen harmony in the faith and to conquer the divisions provoked by Satan. He invites
all to live the Eucharist in unity, because the Body and Blood of Christ are one, and because
there is one altar and one bishop. He also exhorts the community to recognize in the
Eucharist the flesh of Jesus Christ which suffered for sins, but is now risen. The Eucharist is
spiritual nourishment for eternal life, a universal sacrifice foretold by the prophet Malachi,
the font of true peace. The celebrated passage from St. Justin describes the Sunday Eucharist,
the day on which the creation of the world and the resurrection of Jesus Christ take place. St.
Irenaeus uses the Eucharist to affirm the reality of the incarnation against Gnosticism. He also

repeatedly underlines Christ’s Real Presence in the Body and Blood, and the necessity of
partaking of the Eucharist, if our body is to enjoy a resurrection. St. Cyprian insists on
identifying the bread and wine with the Body and Blood of Christ and cites two effects of
communion: strength for martyrs and unity for Christians.

When your body and your blood are separated, death begins. That’s obvious, I think. So
Jesus is symbolically and actually beginning the sacrifice. St. Augustine has said that Our Lord
held himself in his own hands and commenced the sacrifice of the New Covenant Passover
as He was transforming the old. Calvary really began in the Old Testament Passover being
celebrated in the Upper Room, when the Eucharist was instituted and the Passover Eucharist
of the New Covenant really isn’t over until Calvary, when He says, “It is finished.”

To understand the Eucharist, then, it is important for us to understand the meaning of the
Passover celebration. The roots of this festival are very ancient, even preceding the Exodus
of the Jews from Egypt. The later Passover is really a combination of two celebrations: a
nomadic tribal sacrifice of a lamb whose blood is sprinkled on the tent pegs to ward off evil
spirits and an agrarian ritual marking spring and the harvest of new grain with the use of
unleavened bread. As nomads settled among local farmers, these two celebrations were
combined.

Pope John Paul II, in announcing the 2004-2005 Year of the Eucharist—the year that he
himself died—reminded us that the Eucharist requires this kind of commitment for its
authentic celebration. There is one other point which I would like to emphasize, since it
significantly affects the authenticity of our communal sharing in the Eucharist. It is the
impulse which the Eucharist gives to the community for a practical commitment to building
a more just and fraternal society. In the Eucharist our God has shown love in the extreme,
overturning all those criteria of power which too often govern human relations and radically
affirming the criterion of service: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and
the servant of all” (Mk 9:35). It is not by chance that the Gospel of John contains no account
of the institution of the Eucharist, but instead relates the “washing of feet” ( Jn 13:1-20). By
bending down to wash the feet of his disciples, Jesus explains the meaning of the Eucharist
unequivocally. St. Paul vigorously reaffirms the impropriety of a Eucharistic celebration
lacking charity expressed by practical sharing with the poor (see 1 Cor 11:17-22, 27-34). (Mick,
Lawrence)

Can we ever have a relationship with our Jewish Brothers? Steps have been taken but, we
must continue to use scriptures and the word of God to mend those fences and show the
closeness that we truly have not only in the Old Testament but, in our lives guided by God.
In a message sent to the chief rabbi of Rome, Pope Benedict XVI hoped for the promotion of
justice and peace in the world as Jews observe a string of holidays in September. The Holy
Father also prayed for improved relations between the Catholic and Jewish communities of
the world. In September of 2001, The Holy Father sent a message by telegram to the chief
rabbi of Rome, Dr. Riccardo Di Segni, for the Jewish holidays of Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur
and Sukkot. Each of the traditional holidays falls in September this year. Recognizing these
three important days on the Jewish calendar, Pope Benedict hoped that they “might bring
copious blessings from the eternal and be a source of intimate joy. “May the will to promote
justice and peace, of which we have so much need in the world today, grow in all of us,” he
added. Remembering his visit to the Great Synagogue of Rome last January with “gratitude
and affection,” he prayed that God, “in his goodness, protect the entire community and allow
us to grow, in Rome and in the world, in mutual friendship.”

Also on that occasion he concluded his address by hoping for improved relations between
Catholics and Jews, asking God “to strengthen our fraternal bonds and to deepen our mutual
understanding.” ( Benedict XVI)

Works Citied

The Mass and the Saints, Crean, Fr. Thomas OP Ignatius Press,

Pope Benedict XVI in Sacramentum Caritatis, 55

THE EUCHARIST: A GIFT TO THE CHURCH, http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/synod/
documents

Covenant and Communion: The Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI, Hahn, Scott W. Brazos
Press, Grand Rapid, Michigan

Mass Misunderstandings: The Mixed Legacy of the Vatican II Liturgical Reforms, Whitehead,
Kenneth D. St Augustine Press, South Bend, Ind

Take and Eat: Living Eucharistically, DeGrocco, Joseph Msgr, Resurrection Press, Totowa, N.J.

From Passover to Eucharist: God’s Liberating Love: Mick, Lawrence, Rev. http://
www.americancatholic.org/Newsletters/CU/