By Archbishop Raymond L. Burke

Introduction

We are entering into the last days of Advent only a few days before the Vigil of Christmas. During these days, our anticipation of Christmas increases in intensity, making us aware not only of how much we have yet to do to prepare for Christmas, but how much we have yet to do to welcome Christ more completely into our lives. With the knowledge that the days of Advent are coming to an end, we are led to those means by which Christ comes to us in the Church and asks us to welcome Him into our lives. I refer especially to the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and of Penance.

As we anticipate the celebration of Christmas, we want to be with our Lord in the Holy Mass each day, if possible, offering ourselves to Him and with Him in the Eucharistic Sacrifice. We want to spend time with Him in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, either reposed in the tabernacle or exposed for adoration. We also desire to meet our Lord in the Sacrament of Penance, confessing our sins to Him, with sorrow, and receiving from Him, through the ministry of the priest, the absolution of our sins. There is no better way to make our final preparation for Christmas than to spend time with our Eucharistic Lord and to meet Him in the Sacrament of Penance.

The “O” Antiphons

At Evening Prayer during the last days of Advent, the Church sings a solemn antiphon before the singing of the Magnificat. On each of the seven days, the Church addresses the Messiah, the Christ, by one of the titles given to Him in the Holy Scriptures. These seven antiphons are popularly known in the Church as the “O” Antiphons, because each one begins with the exclamation “O” before naming the title of Christ from the Holy Scriptures. After the invocation of our Lord by the title, a prayer to Him follows, begging Him to come to us, to visit us, and to fill us with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

The “O” Antiphons are sung at Evening Prayer because “as the Church sings in one of her hymns, it was in the evening of the world (vergente mundi vespere) that the Messias came amongst us” (Abbot Prosper Guéranger, O.S.B., The Liturgical Year, tr. Dom Laurence Shepherd, O.S.B., Fitzwilliam, NH: Loreto Publications, 2000, vol. 1, p. 484). They are sung at the Magnificat “to show us that the Savior whom we expect is to come to us by Mary” (Abbot Prosper Guéranger, vol. 1, p 484).

The Gregorian Chant for the “O” Antiphons is especially beautiful and expresses the longing of the Church to celebrate once again the great day of Our Lord’s Birth and the desire of each soul to know Christ and to offer Him the home of a pure and selfless heart. The singing of the Antiphons is filled with hope, for indeed we know that the Lord has come and that His great desire is to find in us the response of love to His immeasurable and ceaseless love of all mankind.

I offer the example of two of the “O” Antiphons. The first of the “O” Antiphons addresses Christ by His biblical title of Wisdom: “O Wisdom, Which comes forth from the mouth of the Most High, reaching mightily from end to end, and gently disposing all things, come to teach us the way of prudence.” The prayer expresses the truth that, in all things, God accomplishes His holy and saving will, and He does so without violence to our freedom, and asks that we might have the prudence which permits us in all things to choose what leads to eternal salvation.

The last of the Antiphons addresses Christ by the biblical title which most explicitly declares the reality of His Coming. He is Emmanuel; He is God-with-us: “O Emmanuel, our King and Lawgiver, the Expectation of the nations and their Savior, come to save us, O Lord our God!” The prayer declares the truth that Christ alone answers the longing of every people of every time and every place to know the truth and love of God. Christ reigns by becoming the servant of all, offering His life totally for the eternal salvation of all men, without boundary. Christ is the Lawgiver whose discipline does not distort or destroy human freedom but leads human freedom to its fullest flower in selfless love of God and neighbor, unto death and for all eternity.

Conclusion: Christmas Eve

Our final preparation for the celebration of the Birth of the Lord brings us to Christmas Eve. The final hours before Christmas are observed with a great recollection, the concentration of our attention upon the great mystery of the Incarnation, and the substantial and unchanging meaning which it gives to our lives.

Whatever may be lacking in our preparation for the celebration of Christmas, in the disposition of our hearts to receive Christ fully into our hearts, the Church’s prayer announces to us: “Today you will know that the Lord will come, and in the morning you will see His glory.” The Church’s prayer points to the reality of the unceasing outpouring of Divine Love upon us in Jesus, the Christ born for us at Bethlehem to die for us at Jerusalem. On Christmas Eve, there can be no place in our hearts for discouragement, let

alone despair, but rather our hearts must be filled with confidence in God’s love, with the sure hope that He will redeem us from all our sins, even as He has sent His only-begotten Son to do. How can we doubt the mercy of God Who comes to us in all humility and poverty to be for us our All! He will not permit His plan of infinite mercy and love toward us to fail!

May the celebration of our Lord’s Birth, this year, bring us all a deeper knowledge of how much God has loved us and continues to love us in our Lord Jesus Christ! May such knowledge, which indeed comes most fully to us in the Holy Eucharist, make us the bright and tireless bearers of God’s love to those who find themselves in the darkness of sin!

Copyright © 2009

By Archbishop Raymond L. Burke

Introduction

With the celebration of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, we conclude the 40 days of our Lenten observance and enter into the Sacred Triduum — Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday — for which our whole Lenten observance has been preparing us. On Good Friday, a day of fast and abstinence, we begin the paschal fast which extends until after the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. It is our way of watching at the tomb of Christ, remembering His Burial and Descent into Hell (not hell, the place of eternal punishment, but the dwelling place of the souls of the just who were awaiting Christ’s coming and His saving Death and Resurrection). With the First Mass of Easter, the fourth and last part of the Easter Vigil, we begin the Easter Season, 50 days during which we celebrate Christ’s Resurrection from the Dead, by which He won for us the victory over sin and sin’s most evil fruit, everlasting death.

In a certain sense, our Lenten observance never ends. Lent is an annual training by which we strengthen ourselves in daily ways of thinking, speaking and acting, which are true to the mind and heart of Christ. The virtues which we have developed through Lenten prayer, fasting and almsgiving are to remain habits of life. In other words, the Risen Christ, to whom we have been drawing ever closer through Lenten penance, is the source of our lasting joy as we celebrate His Resurrection. By our Lenten observance, we have welcomed Christ more fully into our lives. We have permitted the grace of Christ to penetrate ever more deeply in every aspect of our lives. And now we celebrate His Resurrection, which has made it possible for Christ to dwell with us always through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Easter, Ascension and Pentecost

The celebration of the Lord’s Resurrection comprises three events: His Resurrection from the Dead on Easter Sunday; His Ascension to the right hand of the Father 40 days after Easter; and the Sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, on the 10th day after the Ascension or the 50th day after Easter. The three events are distinct, but they are all integral to the one work of our redemption because they mark the actions by which Christ brought the Church, His Mystical Body, to life. They are the events by which Christ has continued and continues to give His life for us, the Church.

At the Resurrection of Christ, God the Father poured forth a first gift of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples of His only-begotten Son. We see the work of the Holy Spirit in the disciples who encounter the Risen Lord in that privileged 40 days of His appearances to them in His glorious body after the Resurrection. But the first outpouring of the Holy Spirit looked for completion, a second gift of the Holy Spirit, enabling the disciples to bring Christ to the whole world. Once Christ had ascended to the right hand of the Father and the Apostles had completed a novena (nine days) of prayer for the new gift of the Holy Spirit, Our Lord, through the Apostles, poured out the second gift of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples. The Pentecost gift of the Holy Spirit transformed the disciples. With the Easter gift of the Holy Spirit, they had come to faith in the Risen Christ and to life in the Church, but they were timid and fearful about proclaiming faith in Christ to others and bringing the life of the Church to others.

Once they had received the second gift of the Holy Spirit, they were bold and courageous in announcing the faith to all. By the grace of the Pentecost outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the first disciples went out into the whole world to preach the truth of Christ and to bring the love of Christ to all the world, especially through the sacraments. It is clear how the Resurrection, the Ascension and the Descent of the Holy Spirit are inextricably related to one another, as three moments in Christ’s one work of redemption.

Baptism, Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist

Reflection on the three events of the Resurrection helps us to understand our own life in Christ. Christ, seated at the right hand of the Father, has, with God the Father, poured out the Holy Spirit upon us for the first time at our baptism. Baptism is our personal Easter. The first outpouring of the Holy Spirit, through the cleansing and life-giving waters of Baptism, washed away the stain of original sin from our souls and brought our souls to life in Christ, in the Church, His Mystical Body. Through Baptism, God the Father has chosen us as His true sons and daughters in Christ, His only Son.

The first outpouring of the Holy Spirit into our lives through Baptism is completed by a second outpouring through Confirmation, strengthening and increasing God’s life within us, so that we may not only have faith in Christ but also proclaim faith in Christ to the whole world. Confirmation is our personal Pentecost. From the moment of our confirmation, we are to witness to Christ before others. We draw upon the grace of the Holy Spirit each day to be faithful to Christ, to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within us, so that in everything we think and say and do we will be true to our identity as sons and daughters of God.

The life of the Holy Spirit within us, through Baptism and Confirmation, is healed and nourished through the Holy Eucharist, Christ’s true Body and Blood given to us as heavenly medicine and food.

With our First Holy Communion, we enjoy the greatest gift which God gives to us in the Church, the gift of His Son’s very life, first given up for us on the cross at Calvary. So essential is the Holy Eucharist to our life in Christ that Christ instituted this sacrament on the night before He died, so that the gift of eternal life which He was to win for us by dying on the cross and rising from the dead would be ours always in the Church. Those who have come alive in Christ through Baptism and are Christ’s witnesses in the world through Confirmation desire to be in Christ’s company and to have full communion with Christ.

Christ comes to us in Holy Communion to be received into our inmost being. Christ accompanies and leads us on our life-pilgrimage, especially through participation in the Holy Eucharist. That is why participation in Sunday Mass is a solemn obligation for us, under pain of mortal sin. That is also why many in the Church participate in Mass daily or several times a week in addition to Sunday Mass. By an act of spiritual communion, we express our desire for Christ, even when we are unable to receive Him in Holy Communion.

During the Easter season, let us return often in prayer to our baptism, confirmation and First Holy Communion, remembering their source in Christ risen from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and sending forth the Holy Spirit. Let us recognize how Christ lives within us through the sacraments. Let us thank God and ask God for the grace to live ever more fully in Christ, faithful to the grace given to us in the sacraments.

Vocation and vocations

Called to life in Christ, we are sent to bring Christ to the world. By Baptism and Confirmation, we all share the same vocation and mission. Christ’s life within us, first given through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at baptism and then increased and strengthened through the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit at confirmation, develops even as we develop physically. When we come to adulthood, physically and spiritually, God asks us to give definitive and stable form to our Christian vocation in what we also call our vocation, in a second sense. Christ alive within us leads us to respond to God’s call to make the gift of our whole life, in love of Him and of neighbor, in the married life, the dedicated single life, the consecrated life or the priesthood. These are the different vocations of those who share the one Christian vocation. As we grow spiritually, we begin already to hear God’s call, which He makes clear to us through prayer and through various everyday signs, for instance our attraction to the vocation and our natural gifts for meeting the demands of the vocation, and the counsel of our parents and parish priest regarding God’s plan for us. The grace of Baptism and Confirmation, by which we have received our Christian vocation, most of all, enlightens and strengthens us to know God’s special plan, our vocation, and to respond to God’s call with all our heart.

We are baptized and confirmed for our salvation, and our salvation is found ultimately in living out our vocation in life. There is nothing in the world which can substitute for the giving of our whole life, in response to God’s call, either in the married life, the dedicated single life, the consecrated life or the priesthood. Christ’s life within us is destined for the full and selfless gift of love which is the fruit of accepting our vocation in life. We will never be truly happy in life until we have come to know and embrace fully our vocation.

The Easter Season, therefore, is a most fitting time to speak with our children and young people about our Christian vocation and their vocation, God’s special plan for them. It is especially important to remind them to be ready to hear God’s call to the consecrated life or priesthood. In our highly secularized society which places so much emphasis on personal comfort, convenience and satisfaction, it is difficult for young men and women to hear God’s call to give their lives completely to God and the service of us all in the Church. Yet, we know that God is calling a sufficient number of young men and women to the consecrated life and the priesthood for the sake of His holy people.

The Easter Season would be a wonderful time to visit a seminary or a convent. Also, encourage young men and women to take part in the programs in your diocese and of religious communities which assist them in knowing God’s plan for them. Through these programs, young men and women are helped to consider God’s call in their lives and to speak about their vocation with young priests and seminarians, and young religious sisters and young aspirants to the religious life.

Conclusion

God is indeed infinitely rich in His mercy toward us. The events of our salvation which we recall and celebrate during the Sacred Triduum and the Easter Season manifest God’s immeasurable love for us, pardoning our sins and pouring forth the gift of His life for us. His call to us, our vocation, is a singular manifestation of His all-merciful love in each of our lives.

The Servant of God Pope John Paul II designated the Sunday after Easter Sunday (the conclusion of the Easter Octave) Divine Mercy Sunday. We begin a novena in preparation for Divine Mercy Sunday on Good Friday, the day on which God showed the depth of His love for us by dying for us upon the cross. Divine Mercy Sunday is inspired by the life and devotion of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, a member of the Sisters of Our Lady of Mercy in Poland. The record of the messages which she received from our Lord is her diary, published by the Marians of the Immaculate Conception at Stockbridge, Mass., the site of the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy. The diary recounts revelations from our Lord to St. Faustina, all directed to increasing faith in the Divine Mercy and fostering worship of God in the mystery of His Divine Mercy. From the very beginning of the revelations, Christ asks that the words "Jesus, I trust in You" be inscribed on His image as the revelation of Divine Mercy. He also asked for the praying of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy at 3 p.m., the hour of His death on Calvary, each day.

May our celebration of the Sacred Triduum and the Easter season lead us to know more deeply the mystery of the Divine Mercy in our lives and to pray with ever greater fervor: "Jesus, I trust in You."

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By Archbishop Raymond L. Burke

 Introduction

Last week on March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, we celebrated the beginning of the work of our Redemption, when God the Son became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. That God Himself would come to live with us is a great and wonderful mystery. We call it the mystery of the Incarnation. God the Son took our human nature for one only purpose, namely, to save us from our sins and to win for us the freedom to love Him and to love one another. God the Father sent His only-begotten Son to us on a mission, our salvation.

On this coming Sunday, Palm Sunday, we enter into the holiest days of the Church Year, the days in which we celebrate the completion of the mission for which our Lord Jesus was sent into the world: His suffering, dying and rising from the dead for our eternal salvation. So singular is this time for us that we call "Holy Week" the days from Palm Sunday to the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday. Of all the weeks of the Church Year, during which God faithfully pours forth His grace upon us, we refer to one week only as Holy Week, because the source of all grace is found in the events which took place during this week.Even as we call the truth that God became man for us the mystery of the Incarnation, so we call the truth that God Incarnate suffered and died for our salvation the mystery of the

Redemption. The two mysteries are inseparably united. For that reason, the Servant of God Pope John Paull II was fond of referring to the two great mysteries together as one, the mystery of the Redemptive Incarnation. Our 40 days of Lenten observance prepare us for Holy Week, so that we might enter as fully as possible into the celebration of the mystery of our Redemption.

Accompanying Christ, through prayer and worship, during these days of His Passion and death, we recognize the mystery of His Life within us. He reveals to us the deepest truth about our life in Him. In the cleansing and life-giving waters of Baptism, we were buried with Christ, dying to sin, and we came to life with Christ in the Church through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Our life, as we have come to understand more deeply, through our Lenten penance of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, is a pilgrimage in the company of Christ, which reaches its completion at the portal of death. In Christ, the portal of death leads to resurrection and life without end in the presence of God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — in the company of the angels and all the saints. Through our participation in Holy Week, especially the Sacred Triduum — beginning with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper and concluding with the Easter Vigil — we will draw closer to Christ and grow more gratefully conscious of His life within us through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

 Passion or Palm Sunday

We will begin Holy Week by participating in the Mass on Passion or Palm Sunday. The Mass starts with the blessing and distribution of palms, and the procession which recalls Christ’s final entry into Jerusalem, in obedience to the will of the Father, to suffer a most cruel passion and death for love of us and in the desire to win for us both freedom from sin and life without end. At the Gospel, the account of the Passion and death of our Lord is proclaimed to us in its fullness, so that we may understand the significance of the holy time into which we are entering.

We can never comprehend sufficiently the meaning of Christ’s suffering and death. Christ Who entered Jerusalem with the acclaim of the people would soon hear the same people crying out repeatedly for His crucifixion. The words of the verse for the Communion Rite, taken from the Gospel according to St. Matthew, reveal the depth of the love of Christ for us as He enters into His Passion. They are words which Christ prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, as He awaited His arrest and condemnation to the most ignominious form of execution known at the time, crucifixion. Christ, ever obedient in carrying out the mission which the Father had entrusted to Him from the moment of His Incarnation in the womb of the Virgin Mary, turned to His Father and prayed:

"Father, if this cup may not pass, but I must drink it, then your will be done" (Mt 26:42). Throughout Holy Week, it would be good to return to a meditation on these words and on the text of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, in order to enter as deeply as possible into the events of His redeeming work. Participation in Holy Mass on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week would be a wonderful way of accompanying Christ during these days. If participation in Mass is not possible, it would be good to make a visit to the Blessed Sacrament each day. For all, time each day in prayer, meditating upon the Passion of our Lord, will help us to be with our Lord during these holiest of days. I recommend especially the praying of the rosary each day, meditating upon the mysteries of our salvation and keeping in mind the intentions of the family and of world peace.

Chrism Mass

During Lent the bishop, as head of the diocese, offers a Chrism Mass during which the sacred chrism is consecrated and the holy oils are blessed for use in the celebration of the sacraments and other sacred rites during the coming year. It is a most beautiful celebration, the last solemn liturgical rite before the Sacred Triduum begins with the Mass of the Lord’s Supper during the evening of Holy Thursday. All of the faithful of the diocese are invited to participate in the Chrism Mass. It is one of the most important and beautiful liturgical celebrations of the Church Year.

Holy Thursday is a most special day for priests, for Christ instituted the ordained priesthood on Holy Thursday at the Last Supper. Also, the priests, united around the bishop at the Chrism Mass, are reminded that they, by their ordination, have been constituted the ministers of the sanctifying and healing sacred chrism, oil of the catechumens and oil of the sick. Before the consecration of the sacred chrism and the blessing of the holy oils, the priests of the diocese renew their commitment to priestly service. With these words, all of the faithful are invited to pray for their priests:

Ask the Lord to bless them with the fullness of his love,

To help them be faithful ministers of Christ the High Priest,

So that they will be able to lead you to Him,

The Fountain of your salvation. (The Roman Missal)

The consecration of the chrism and the blessing of the oil of catechumens and the oil of the sick remind us of the living presence of Christ, the Anointed of the Lord, with us in the Church, ceaselessly accomplishing the work of our salvation, especially through the sacraments. The word chrism comes from the same root as Christ, the word for anointing. Throughout the Chrism Mass, we recall how Christ was anointed by God the Father with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, so that He might win for us the gift of the Holy Spirit by suffering, dying and rising from the dead.

Mass of the Lord’s Supper

The Sacred Triduum begins with the celebration of the evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper. We recall how Christ instituted the Holy Eucharist on the night before He died, in order that the fruits of His suffering and dying, the outpouring of His life for us, might be available to us always in the Church. The Holy Eucharist is the source and the highest expression of our life in Christ, for it is communion in His true Body and Blood. For that reason, the Mass of the Lord’s Supper is central to the celebration of the mysteries of our Redemption. During the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, sufficient hosts are consecrated, so that the faithful may be able to participate in Holy Communion on Good Friday, the day of our Lord’s Passion and death. At the Gloria, all of the bells of the church are rung with exultant joy and then remain silent until they are even more exultantly rung at the Gloria of the first Mass of Easter during the Easter Vigil.

During the Mass, after the Gospel and homily, the priest carries out what is called, in Latin, the mandatum (command) or the Washing of the Feet. This striking rite recalls what our Lord Himself did during the Last Supper, and His command that His disciples do likewise. The love of Christ which we receive in the Holy Eucharist is expressed in our humble service of our brothers and sisters.

At the conclusion of the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the Blessed Sacrament is carried in solemn procession throughout the church and is then reposed in a tabernacle in a fittingly decorated chapel. The faithful are invited to make a holy hour in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament during this holy night of its institution. After the Mass, the altar is stripped. Mass will not be celebrated at the altar again until the Easter Vigil.

Celebration of the Lord’s Passion

Around 3 p.m. on Good Friday, good because it is the day when Christ died for us on the cross, we solemnly celebrate our Lord’s Passion and death. We begin with the Liturgy of the Word, the heart of which is the proclamation of the Passion from the Gospels. After the homily, the Liturgy of the Word concludes with the General Intercessions for the needs of the universal Church and of the world.

The second part of the celebration is the Veneration of the Cross. A large crucifix is carried in procession and shown to all the faithful, so that they may worship the Savior who hung on the wood of the cross for our salvation. After the solemn procession with the crucifix, the priest, other clergy and faithful approach the crucifix for veneration. During the Veneration of the Cross, appropriate sacred music, based on texts of the Holy Scriptures, helps us to meditate on the immeasurable love of God for us in Jesus Christ.

The celebration concludes with Holy Communion. The hosts consecrated at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper are brought to the altar and distributed to the faithful. Any hosts remaining are reposed in a place outside the main body of the church, so that the church remains without the Real Presence as the Church waits at the tomb of Christ for the announcement of His glorious Resurrection at the Easter Vigil. Good Friday is a day of abstinence and fasting. It is day when we should observe periods of silence, remembering the Passion and death of our Lord.

The Easter Vigil

The Sacred Triduum concludes and the Easter Season begins with the celebration of the Easter Vigil. Fittingly, the liturgical rites for the Easter Vigil are the richest in meaning and beauty. The blessing of the fire and the lighting of the Easter Candle signify Christ the Light, dispelling the darkness of our sin and restoring life in us by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Easter Proclamation (Exultet) sung before the Easter Candle is a most striking meditation on the mystery of our salvation.

The Liturgy of the Word is very ample. Nine readings, seven from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament, are provided, in order that we may have the fullest divine instruction regarding the saving events we celebrate. After the last reading from the Old Testament has been proclaimed, the candles on the altar are lighted and the Gloria is sung with the joy-filled ringing of all the church bells once again. Then follows the prayer, Epistle, Gospel and homily.

The third part of the Easter Vigil is the Liturgy of Baptism, during which we witness the lasting fruit of Christ’s Passion, death and Resurrection in the baptism of catechumens, and in the conferral of Confirmation and the reception of First Holy Communion for the newly baptized. In many churches, this is also the time for the conferral of Confirmation and the reception of First Holy Communion for those being received into the full communion of the Catholic Church or for those who were baptized Catholic but not catechized. The final part of the Easter Vigil is the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Christ renews His paschal sacrifice, so that we may be healed and nourished with His true Body and Blood.

Conclusion

Please make plans now to participate in the sacred liturgies of Holy Week, especially of the Sacred Triduum. May these holiest of days bring us all to a deeper knowledge and love of Christ. In the mystery of Christ’s suffering, dying and rising from the dead may we discover the deepest truth about God, about ourselves and about our world.

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"É triste para a nossa nação ver colocada como encarregada do escritório federal responsável pela saúde e serviços humanos uma pessoa que favorece o direito de matar o nascituro no ventre materno." 

                                        Arcebispo Raymond L. Burke

San Diego, CA (ACFF) – Thomas J. McKenna, da Ação Católica pela Fé e pela Família, entrevistou o Arcebispo Raymond L. Burke, Prefeito da Assinatura Apostólica, sobre os aspectos canônicos e pastorais da Repreensão Pública à Governadora Kathleen Sebelius e sua Nomeação como Secretária da Saúde, feita pelo Arcebispo Joseph Naumann.

Excelência, a governadora de Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, tem uma longa história de apoio aos direitos de aborto a pedido, no exercício de suas funções públicas. Como resultado de suas ações, no ano passado o Arcebispo de Kansas City, D. Joseph Naumann, pediu publicamente a ela que se abstivesse de receber a Sagrada Comunhão, devido ao escândalo público que estava dando. Como Bispo, ele primeiramente manteve com ela, durante vários meses, um diálogo prolongado, no qual procurou chamá-la à razão e alertá-la para a gravidade de suas ações em apoio do aborto a pedido.

Na semana passada, o presidente Obama nomeou a governadora Sebelius para o posto de Secretária da Saúde e Serviços Humanos. O Arcebispo D. Naumann, bem como diversas e destacadas organizações Pró-Vida em todo o País, estão criticando a nomeação como danosa para a causa Católica e Pró-Vida nos Estados Unidos.

Vossa Excelência está ao par dessa controvérsia?

Sim, estou perfeitamente ciente do caso da governadora Sebelius. Ela é bem conhecida por apoiar o direito ao aborto a pedido e pelo público alinhamento aos mais notórios agentes da cultura da morte. Ela também favoreceu outras legislações contrárias à vida, especialmente as que negam o direito à vida do nascituro inocente e indefeso.

Qual é a opinião de V. Exa. sobre a indicação dela para essa influente posição?

Sua indicação contrista-me em diversos aspectos. Primeiramente, é triste para a nossa nação ver colocada como encarregada do escritório federal responsável pela saúde e serviços humanos uma pessoa que favorece o direito de matar o nascituro no ventre materno. Independentemente de quão bom possa ser o elenco das outras preocupações da governadora Sebelius com a vida humana, se ela não está comprometida com a sua salvaguarda desde o início, não deveria ser incumbida das questões da saúde e serviços humanos de nossa nação.

Sendo católica romana, sua indicação é fonte do maior embaraço, porquanto ela traiu pública e repetidamente a Fé católica no princípio mais fundamental da lei moral, isto é, da lei que salvaguarda e incrementa a vida humana desde seu primeiro instante até a morte natural. Mais ainda, ela vem se mantendo obstinadamente no mal, apesar de admoestada por pelo menos três de seus Bispos, inclusive o atual, o Arcebispo Joseph F. Naumann, de Kansas City, no Kansas. Sua posição na questão do aborto é fonte do maior escândalo para os católicos e para todos os que observam a lei moral natural.

Na opinião de V. Exa., o Arcebispo D. Naumann agiu de acordo com o Direito Canônico?

O Arcebispo D. Naumann agiu em perfeita concordância com o Direito Canônico e com a sólida prática pastoral que o mesmo corporifica. Ele, de modo inalterado, tentou ajudar a governadora Sebelius a reconhecer seu grave erro e a se corrigir.  Quando ela se recusou a tal, ele não teve outra alternativa senão lembrá-la de que a disciplina da Igreja requer que às pessoas que pública e obstinadamente permanecem em pecado grave seja negada a Sagrada Comunhão. A partir do momento em que a governadora não respeitou a instrução do Arcebispo de não se apresentar para receber a Sagrada Comunhão, ele se viu obrigado a tornar público que a governadora havia sido instruída de não o fazer. O Arcebispo Neumann agiu neste particular com caridade pastoral exemplar, protegendo o Corpo e o Sangue de Cristo de serem recebidos indignamente, evitando à governadora a prática do gravíssimo pecado de sacrilégio, e terminando com o grande escândalo causado pela recepção indigna do Corpo e do Sangue de Cristo pela governadora.

Nessas circunstâncias, ele agiu bem pedindo a ela para abster-se de receber a Sagrada Comunhão? V. Exa. julga que essa atitude foi pastoral?

Não só o Arcebispo Naumann agiu bem, como estava cumprindo uma de suas mais solenes obrigações de Pastor, ou seja, o cuidado com o Santíssimo Sacramento e a digna recepção da Sagrada Comunhão. Como mencionei acima, sua atitude, no meu modo de ver, não poderia ter sido mais pastoralmente correta. Ele falou a verdade com amor. Mais do que isso não pode ser pedido de nenhum pastor do rebanho.

Se a governadora Sebelius for confirmada no cargo de secretária da Saúde e Serviços Humanos e se mudar para Washington, o Arcebispo de Washington – ou de qualquer diocese da região onde ela estabeleça residência – estaria obrigado a aplicar a sanção imposta pelo seu bispo em Kansas?

Para ser preciso, o Arcebispo Naumann não impôs uma sanção à governadora Sebelius. Ele simplesmente tornou clara sua situação canônica a respeito da recepção da Sagrada Eucaristia em qualquer lugar. Nenhum católico que pública e obstinadamente permanece em grave pecado pode receber a Sagrada Comunhão. Para o seu bem e para o bem da Igreja, o Arcebispo Naumann deixou claro que a governadora Sebelius está em condição de indignidade para receber a Sagrada Comunhão, até que reforme suas atuações públicas relativas ao aborto.

Como eu disse acima, o Arcebispo Naumann fez apenas o que era sua obrigação como Bispo. Cada Bispo está sujeito à mesma disciplina da Igreja universal, que vem sendo aplicada desde o tempo de São Paulo Apóstolo, e está definida no cânon 915 do Código de Direito Canônico. Se a governadora Sebelius está na Arquidiocese de Kansas City, no Kansas, ou em qualquer outra diocese, ela não deve se apresentar para a Sagrada Comunhão porque, após a admoestação pastoral, ela permanece obstinadamente em pecado grave.

© 2009 Ação Católica pela Fé e pela Família (Catholic Action for Faith and Family)
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        “As a Roman Catholic, her appointment is the source of the greatest embarrassment because she has publicly and repeatedly betrayed her Catholic faith…”

                                               Archbishop Raymond L. Burke

Catholic Action for Faith and Family

March 10, 2009

Interviewed by Thomas J. McKenna

Your Excellency:

The Governor of Kansas, Kathleen Sebelius, has a long history of supporting abortion rights while holding public office. As a result of her actions, last year the Archbishop of Kansas City, Archbishop Joseph Naumann, publicly requested that she refrain from receiving Holy Communion because of public scandal she was giving. As her bishop he first carried out a prolonged dialogue with her over many months where he tried to reason with her and make her aware of the seriousness of her actions supporting abortion.

Last week President Obama nominated Governor Sebelius to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Archbishop Naumann, as well as many prominent Pro-life organizations across the country, is decrying the appointment as being detrimental to the Catholic and Pro-life causes in the United States.

Is Your Excellency aware of this controversy?

Yes, I am quite aware of the case of Governor Sebelius. She is well known for her support of the right to procured abortion and for her public association with some of the more notorious agents of the culture of death. She has also favored other anti-life legislation, especially legislation which denies the right to life to the innocent and defenseless unborn.

What is your opinion of her appointment to this influential position?

Her appointment saddens me on several scores. First of all, it is sad for our nation to have a person who favors the right to kill the unborn in the womb placed in charge of the federal office with responsibility for health and human services. No matter how good Governor Sebelius’ record regarding other human life concerns may be, if she is not committed to the safeguarding of human life from its very inception, she should not be entrusted with the questions of health and human services for our nation.

As a Roman Catholic, her appointment is the source of the greatest embarrassment because she has publicly and repeatedly betrayed her Catholic faith, in the most fundamental tenet in the most fundamental tenet of the moral law, that is, the law to safeguard and foster human life from the moment of its inception to the moment of natural death. What is more, she has obstinately remained in her moral error after being admonished by, at least, three of her Bishops, including her present Bishop, Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas. Her position on the question of procured abortion is the source of the greatest scandal to Catholics and to all who uphold the natural moral law. 

In your opinion did Archbishop Naumann proceed in accordance with canon law?

Archbishop Naumann proceeded in perfect accord with Canon Law and the sound pastoral practice it embodies. He steadfastly tried to help Governor Sebelius recognize her grave error and to correct herself. When she refused to do so, he had no choice but to remind her that the Church’s discipline requires that persons who publicly and obstinately remain in serious sin must be denied Holy Communion. When the Governor did not respect the Archbishop’s instruction that she not present herself to receive Holy Communion, he was obliged to make it public that the Governor had been instructed not to present herself to receive Holy Communion. Archbishop Naumann acted with exemplary pastoral charity in the matter, protecting the Body and Blood of Christ from unworthy reception, preventing the Governor from the commission of the most serious sin of sacrilege, and ending the great scandal caused by the Governor’s unworthy reception of the Body and Blood of Christ.  

Under these circumstances was he justified in asking her to refrain from receiving Holy Communion and do you believe this was a pastoral approach?

Not only was Archbishop Naumann justified, he was fulfilling one of his most solemn duties as a pastor, namely, the care of the Most Blessed Sacrament and of the worthy reception of Holy Communion. As I mentioned above, his action, in my judgment, could not have been more pastorally correct. He has spoken the truth with love. More than that cannot be asked of any shepherd of the flock.

If Governor Sebelius was to be confirmed as Health and Human Services secretary and move to Washington D. C., would the Archbishop of Washington or any surrounding diocese where she might take up residency, be obliged to enforce in their diocese the sanction imposed by her bishop in Kansas?

To be accurate, Archbishop Naumann did not impose a sanction upon Governor Sebelius. He simply made clear her canonical status in regards to reception of Holy Communion anywhere.  No Catholic who publicly and obstinately remains in serious sin can receive Holy Communion.  For her sake and for the sake of the Church, Archbishop Naumann made clear that Governor Sebelius is in the condition of unworthiness to receive Holy Communion, until she reforms her public actions regarding procured abortion.

As I said above, Archbishop Naumann only did what was his duty as Bishop. Every Bishop is held to the same universal Church discipline which has been in force since the time of Saint Paul the Apostle and is stated in canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law.  Whether Governor Sebelius is in the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, or in any other diocese, she should not present herself for Holy Communion because, after pastoral admonition, she obstinately persists in serious sin.

© 2009 Catholic Action for Faith and Family

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