Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Good News #194 101125: Gardens, Gratitude, and the Eucharist — Deacon Al’s Fall Reflection

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Good News #194 101125: Gardens, Gratitude, and the Eucharist — Deacon Al’s Fall Reflection · Catholic Spirit Radio

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Welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio, a program for teens and almost
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teens to better understand that the gospel of Jesus Christ is relevant in their
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lives, and it's a place where your questions about faith and religion can be answered.
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And now, here's your host, Deacon Al.
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Good evening, and welcome to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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I am Deacon Al Lundy, a permanent deacon of the Peoria Diocese.
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Happy to have you with us here on Catholic Spirit Radio, which,
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by the way, Catholic Spirit Radio broadcasts 24 hours a day,
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seven days a week, with all sorts of great Catholic programming and programs like mine.
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And we appreciate you listening, and we also appreciate you helping us in our ministry.
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I just want to remind you that coming up in just about two weeks,
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So, Good News is a program where we look at the gospel reading from this weekend's
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Mass and we do a little reflection on it, also talk to you about what's going
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on in my life and how that's affected by my faith.
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And we're going to turn to the mailbag. We've got an email from Vicki and we're
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going to read Vicki's question and give an answer to that.
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Some of you are going to like this answer. Some of you are not going to like
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this answer, but I'll give you as many facts as I can to help substantiate what we'll talk about.
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So what's happening in my life? It's fall, and I'm a big gardener.
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I love gardening, love landscaping.
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I've been doing some work in the yard because it's fall, which means cleanup and preparation.
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And that's okay. That's okay, because we should be doing that in our lives, not just in our gardens.
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We should be doing that in ourselves. A little bit of cleanup,
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a little bit of preparation for the future.
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Always a good thing to do if you want to have a healthy garden.
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And in the case of our faith, if you want to have a healthy faith,
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a healthy religious life, take responsibility.
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Cleaning up and preparation. It's a good time to be considering going to the
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sacrament of confession if you haven't done that in a while.
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It's a good time to be, you know, we have Advent right around the corner.
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Preparing for the coming of Christ, it's just a few weeks away.
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Advent is just a few weeks away. That is so hard to believe.
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This year has just flown by. But Advent's a time of preparation for the arrival
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of not only the baby Jesus, but also for Jesus,
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our Lord, our Savior, when He comes for the end of the world and does our final judgment.
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So, we prepare for that. So, I'm doing that in my garden.
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I'm preparing for a winter. I'm preparing for a death and a rebirth.
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Right? The final judgment.
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I've got some plants that aren't doing so well that I needed to do some healing
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with and some pruning, some cutting back.
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Some are just, they're in the wrong place in their plant life.
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They're just not getting the sunshine they need.
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They're not getting the right temperatures, whatever the problem.
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So I'm moving them to an area where hopefully they'll be more fruitful.
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Also looking at bringing in something new to brighten my yard up and just did
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some remodeling, I guess, some landscaping where I had to pull some plants out of their regular bed,
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move them to a temporary bed, Well, I made a new bed, and now today I was moving them back.
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So I was outside working in the garden for about two hours, two and a half hours today.
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And I discovered something, John. I'm old.
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Two hours in the garden. Wow.
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I was beat. I was just beat. And it wasn't that hot.
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It was fairly mild today, you know, in the 70s, low 70s.
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And I don't know, maybe I've just been lazy the rest of the year,
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but two and a half hours in the garden and I was just absolutely beat.
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So I got a nice nap in before I came here today to do the program.
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But it's just, it's so nice to see the garden change. It's nice to see things
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getting cleaned up and ready for winter.
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I hate the fact that I have like no flowers. I've got a few roses left on my
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two knockout rose bushes, and I love seeing those.
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But everything else, I've lost the color.
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It's just kind of, there's some greenery, but it's a lot of brown, a lot of tan.
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And this is my least favorite time of year to look at the garden.
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But it's my favorite time of the year to do all this preparation and know that
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come spring, it's going to be absolutely gorgeous again. And I look forward to that.
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We should look forward to preparing ourselves for our spring,
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our final judgment, where we don't have to fear what's going to happen.
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We have confidence in our God
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and in His promises and in the hope for our place in heaven for eternity.
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And we should be preparing for that. We should be forgiving,
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doing acts of charity, making sure that we're focusing on worshiping Christ
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each and every day as often as possible.
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I love how Paul says, you know, pray, don't just pray, pray without end.
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Pray about everything that happens to you during the day. I've been praying
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lately for my son, and I've been praying
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who's had been riding a roller coaster trying to sell his house and get into a new home with his wife.
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And they've had not the best of luck with buyers.
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They've had three contracts fall through where people said they wanted to buy
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the house and my son got all excited because now they're going to be able to move into the new house.
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And then suddenly something goes wrong on the buyer's end and it falls apart.
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And he's been very frustrated with that. And we've had a lot of Father-Son talks
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about the importance of not being afraid, not having fear, trusting in God.
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Putting it to prayer, putting all these problems to prayer.
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And it looks like fourth time is the charm.
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It looks as though he has now got an actual buyer. The contract has been signed.
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They're getting ready for closing in a couple weeks.
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And he's happier. And he's just very grateful.
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And that's our readings for this weekend, is to talk about being people of gratitude,
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for the blessings that God has given us.
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So we'll get to those fairly soon. I want to get to a letter.
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This is a great question. Came to our mailbag. If you have a question about
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the Catholic faith or about Christianity in general, you can drop us a line.
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Our email address is goodnews at catholicspiritradio.org.
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And I would love to get more of these questions. This is a great one.
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It says in the subject, the Novus Ordo or Latin Mass, hand or mouth, and the germ.
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Well, and Vicki, germ is G-I-R-M. We're not talking germ like G-E-R-M.
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I was just noticing in the heading it says G-E-R-M. The germ,
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G-I-R-M, is the general instructions of the Roman Missal.
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And what does it say? And actually, for this question, we're not going to go to the germ.
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We're going to go to canon law. So the question,
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Question reads, Deacon Al, I'm a Franciscan with St. Mary's Catholic Church.
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I'm hoping you can answer my question.
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There are some people condemning receiving the Eucharist in the hand and saying
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that receiving the Eucharist in the hand, that the Eucharist should only be
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received in the mouth, and that it offends Jesus Christ if received in the hand.
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And it goes on to explain why some people feel that, and their reasons are not liturgical.
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They're not scriptural. It says it's emotional. They say the Eucharist is not
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a snack. It should not be treated as one.
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Okay? So, it says, I need verification. Also, the Eucharist,
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they say, should only be distributed by a priest.
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And I'm reminded of the story of Francis who kissed the hands of a priest who was living with a woman.
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I'm guessing she means Pope Francis.
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I can hardly believe Jesus would be so legalistic. In fact, Scripture tells
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me I'm to revere Jesus Christ.
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However, Christ is my friend, and the Holy Spirit will guide me.
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I was hoping in some way I might get some help in understanding how to address
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people who seem to be against the format of Novus Ordo.
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God bless you always, Vicki. Thank you, Vicki. I appreciate that blessing.
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So, great question. This comes up often, and it kind of relates to why the,
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and it's not really the Latin mass, it's the...
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Trinitine Mass, which is most often said in Latin.
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But let's remember Latin is language, and the Novus Ordo can be said in any
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language. That includes Latin.
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If most of the congregation understands Latin, there's nothing wrong with doing
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the Novo Ordis, the New Order, Mass, in Latin.
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It's just another language. We do it in Spanish. We do it in Polish.
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We do it in German. we do it in English,
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we do it. It just depends on the congregation what language you use.
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So it's not really the Latin Mass, but the Tridentin Mass, as opposed to the
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Novus Ordo, which, again, just means the new order of things.
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So the Mass we're doing now came about after Vatican II, and it's had a couple different variations.
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You should also point out there are more than just two types of Masses. It's not just the...
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The old Mass prior to Vatican II and the current Mass, there's other Masses.
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There's like five different Missals.
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I mean, there's a Benedictine Mass.
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You hardly ever see it, but in some parts of the world, the Benedictine Mass is very popular.
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So there's like five different Missals for the Mass.
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The Church says that in the United States, it says you can do,
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the most common ones are going to be Novus Ordo or the Tridentin.
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And it says you can do either under certain conditions.
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You can't mix the pieces. If you do all of one or all of the other,
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but you can't do some of this and some of that.
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This is not a menu where you say, well, I'll do this part from Novus Ordo,
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and I'll do this part from Tridentin.
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We're not allowed to do that. So it's an all or nothing.
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And the Mass promoted most by the Vatican is Novus Ordo. They said that is now the regular Mass.
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Tridentin is an option, but it's an option that has to be approved by the local bishop.
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And a lot of bishops approve this very sparingly.
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Canon law says that you can receive the Eucharist on your tongue or in your
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hand, that either is valid and appropriate.
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Canon law says that you can receive it kneeling or standing.
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Either is appropriate. Now, if you're going to receive it standing,
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it tells you and instructs you to first do a bow before receiving to show your
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reverence rather than kneel.
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And there's a real good reason for this.
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Not everyone can kneel. I can kneel. it takes a little bit for me to stand up, but I can kneel.
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The idea isn't to create a barrier between you and Christ.
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So, if you can't bow, nod your head slowly.
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I mean, it just shows some reverence. Take a pause and acknowledge the presence of Christ.
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And you can do that kneeling. You can do that by bowing as you stand.
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Canon law says you can do either. You can kneel or you can bow.
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It says you can take it on the tongue or receive it in your hand. Either.
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So where is scripture that says it has to be received in your hand?
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Nowhere. This is like infant baptism. Where does it say you can or can't baptize infants?
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Nowhere. Nowhere.
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We baptize infants because Scripture
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doesn't say you can't, and because in the early church, they did.
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Scripture says that when the head of the household was baptized,
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that the entire household was baptized.
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It doesn't say the entire household except for the children.
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So we baptize infants because we can.
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And it shows great love on the side of the parents. I mean, if you're going
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to, you're not going to wait till the children can select their own doctor before
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you take them for medical help.
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You're not going to wait until they can select their own food before you feed
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them or their own medicines before you give them medical care or their own schools
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before you will educate them.
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You do that as a parent because you love your child. So it would make sense
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that you would bring them to Christ before they can say for themselves they
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want to receive Christ because it's the right thing to do for them. Right?
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You're caring for them as a loving parent.
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Well, there's nothing in Scripture that says you can only receive communion
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on your hand. In fact, at the Last Supper, how did the people present,
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and there was more than just the apostles present, by the way.
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Everybody thinks it's Jesus and the 12 apostles. Not true.
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We have that idea only because of Renaissance art that doesn't include everybody.
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Scripture says Mary was present.
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I'm sure she was. I'm sure she received communion at the same time everyone else did.
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So it's not just about the apostles being priests or going to become priests
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and bishops, but how did they receive it?
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Jesus raised the bread and blessed it and then passed the bread around and everyone
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took the bread for themselves.
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We used to, in the early church, receive communion in the hand.
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And then a few centuries later, it became canon law to receive only on the tongue and only from priests.
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And it stayed that way for centuries. But that was a change from the original process.
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Then Vatican II, they went back to the original way of being able to receive
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it on your hand and receive it on the tongue.
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They said both are fine because both had their place in the history of the church.
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And neither is contrary to Scripture.
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And in fact, early in the church as well, it wasn't just the priests who distributed
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communion. deacons distributed communion.
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The priests consecrated, and then it was the deacons who took communion out
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to the communities to distribute.
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As it is today, at the Mass, only a priest can consecrate, but the deacon,
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being a regular minister of communion, can help to distribute.
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Now they've also included extraordinary ministers.
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Now, will you find that in Scripture? No.
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Will you find that in the history of the Church prior to Vatican II?
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Not that I'm aware of. I think this came out of Vatican II, and for a few reasons.
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We were already seeing, by the
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time Vatican II came out, we were already seeing a shortage of priests.
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So anyway, we had a shortage of priests, But we had another problem. We had an influx of cars.
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We had several masses in a day. And it became necessary to have mass done in
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time to get cars out of the parking lot and new cars into the parking lot for the next mass.
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And so, depending on the size of the congregation—.
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And I'm not saying I agree with this, but this is what happened.
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They needed to get communion to move a little faster. There was a slowdown in
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the Mass, and I don't mind that. I think Mass should be slow.
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I think the Mass should be slow. So, they added more ministers when necessary,
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and I think that's the important line.
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You can use extraordinary ministers when necessary. I think we overuse them.
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Too often we have too many ministers. We make communion go much faster than it needs to.
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I mean, if there's not a Mass following the Mass you're in, I think just having
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the ordinary ministers, the priests and the deacons, and even if it took 20,
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30 minutes to distribute communion, then that's what it should take.
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But if the pastor wants to use extraordinary ministers to speed up that process, that's allowed.
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So that's the answer to the question. It doesn't have to be the priest according to canon law.
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It doesn't have to be in the hand according to canon law. And people say that it should be.
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That's out of pride again. They have to ask themselves, who's the authority
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in the church, the church or laity?
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And the church is the authority.
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That's why we have a magisterium. That's why we have canon law.
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That's why we have the germ. The church is the authority, not the laity.
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So, I've answered that question way too long than I should have.
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We need to pause for just a couple moments. We come back. We're going to look
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at the readings from this weekend. Stay tuned.
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And welcome back to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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I am Deacon Al Lundy. We're looking at the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time.
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And our first reading is from the Book of Kings. Our second reading is from
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a letter from St. Paul to Timothy.
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And then our gospel is still the Gospel of Luke as we continue in Cycle C.
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And as I say this, our readings are all about gratitude.
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So in our first reading for the book of Kings, it says, Naman went down and
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plunged into the Jordan seven times at the word of Elisha, the man of God.
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His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean of his leprosy.
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Naman returned with his whole retinue to the man of God.
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And on his arrival, he stood before Elisha and said, Now I know that there is
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no God in all the earth except in Israel.
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Please accept a gift from your servant. And Elisha replied, As the Lord lives
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whom I serve, I will not take it.
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And despite Naaman's urging, he still refused.
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Naaman said, If you will not accept, please let me, your servant,
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have two mule loads of earth, for I will no longer offer holocaust or sacrifice
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to any other god except for the Lord. The Word of the Lord.
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So, this is an example of a healing done through one of the prophets in God's
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name, a miraculous healing.
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And rather than take any kind of a reward.
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Naaman is moved to show his gratitude by taking some of Israel home with him
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so that when he worships, it will be on God's ground, rather than on the ground of his homeland.
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So, this is just a sign of his great gratitude.
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In the second reading, a letter from St. Paul to Timothy.
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Paul writes, Beloved, remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David?
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Such is my gospel, for which I am suffering, even to the point of chains,
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like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.
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Therefore, I bear with everything for the sake of those who are chosen,
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so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus,
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together with eternal glory.
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This saying is trustworthy. If we have died with him, we shall also live with him.
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If we persevere, we shall also reign with him.
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But if we deny him, he will deny us.
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If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself. The word of the Lord.
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So Paul, even though he's near death, imprisoned in Rome, is still on fire for
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the love of Christ and for the promise of salvation.
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And he passes that down to Timothy, who last week he laid hands on Timothy and
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made him a bishop of the church to go back as a free man, something Paul wasn't,
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to keep the churches that Paul has started, the Christian churches.
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Paul began to keep them on fire for Christ.
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And he reminds them that even though he is being treated like a criminal,
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and he is being imprisoned, that the Word of Christ is free,
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that it's still available to anyone, and it's still offered to everyone.
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In our gospel reading, according to Luke, Luke writes, As Jesus continued his
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journey to Jerusalem, he traveled through Samaria and Galilee.
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As he was entering a village, ten lepers met him.
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They stood at a distance from him and raised their voices, saying,
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Jesus, Master, have pity on us.
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And when he saw them, he said, Go show yourselves to the priests.
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And as they were going, they were cleansed.
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And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice.
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And he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.
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Jesus said in reply, Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where then are the other nine?
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Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God? Then he said to
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him, Stand up and go. Your faith has saved you.
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And I find that to be an interesting line, your faith has saved you,
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because he's already been cleansed of his leprosy.
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He's already been healed of this terrible illness.
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So why does Jesus say, stand up and go, your faith has saved you?
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Wasn't he already saved?
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No, he was healed.
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He was healed of his physical illness. When Jesus says, you've been saved.
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He's talking about his salvation. He's been cleansed of his sins, not just of his leprosy.
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And I think that's, if you look closely at Scripture, you see this several times.
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When Jesus talks about his healing ministry, or when we read these stories of
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these healing miracles, more often than not, it's not the physical healing that's so important.
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Jesus also heals them of their sins. Think about the quadriplegic lowered through
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the roof of the house, and the friends say, you know, they want him healed.
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And Jesus looks at him and says, you are healed of your sins.
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And the friends look, no, that's not what we meant.
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And Jesus is like, oh, you just want him to be able to walk again. Well, that's easy.
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And he stands up and walks. But first he healed him of his sins because there
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are illnesses greater than our physical illnesses, right? We are.
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We are made ill by our sins more than by the loss of health of our bodies.
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Our real illness is when we're separated from Christ because of our sins.
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And so that's what Jesus wants to heal us from. That's why he wants us to be
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loving and forgiving and charitable, not for our physical health,
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but for our spiritual well-being, so that we can look forward to that hope of salvation in Christ.
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So what a beautiful reading that the importance of having gratitude for the
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graces that God gives us.
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How often do things go the way we hope they'll go or pray they'll go,
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and then we don't go back to God and give Him praise and glory for what happened
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because we didn't cause that.
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That was a gift, and how dare we not say thank you for these gifts.
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And God gives us gifts every day of our life. The fact that you woke up this
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morning is a gift from Christ.
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We should be grateful every day for the breath that we have,
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for the food that's on our table, for the paychecks we have.
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Christ brought us that. That all comes through God.
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And that's the point of these readings, is let's be people of gratitude.
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Let's be people who recognize Christ active in our life and stop and give praise for that.
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And that's why taking time out to go to your worship service, mass.
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Whatever your Christian faith calls you to on Sundays, to go and give true devotion
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and praise to Christ for all He gives us.
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That is it for this weekend. We will talk to you next Saturday and Sunday evening
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from 8 to 8.30 here on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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I am Deacon Al Lundy. May Almighty God bless you, protect you from all evil,
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and bring you to everlasting life. Good night.
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You've been listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio,
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a program for teens and almost teens to better understand that the gospel of
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Jesus Christ is relevant in your life.
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Submit your questions to Deacon Al at goodnews at catholicspiritradio.com.
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That's goodnews at catholicspiritradio.com. Deacon will answer your questions
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about faith and religion.
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Thank you for listening to Good News on Catholic Spirit Radio.