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Each weekday, you'll find a new question and answer. Check back for the new question and scroll down to see previous day's entries! Let us know what you think - - or question! -- by emailing us at tcanswer@osv.com.
Immaculate Conception or Guadalupe?
Q. In your answer to a question on Monday, you said that the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is the patronal feast day of the United States. However, I thought that Our Lady of Guadalupe was the patroness of the Americas. Which one is it?
Y.O., via email
A. Happy Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe!
Both statements are correct.
In 1754, Pope Benedict XIV declared Our Lady of Guadalupe patroness of what was then called New Spain. Pope St. Pius X declared her to be patronress of Latin America in 1910. Pope Pius XII proclaimed her “Queen of Mexico and Empress of the Americas” in 1945, and then “Patroness of the Americas” in 1946. So she serves as the patron saint of the entire New World.
The First Council of Baltimore, a regional council of the bishops of the United States, declared in 1846 that Our Lady was to be the patroness of the nation under her title “the Immaculate Conception.” So this patronage applies specifically to the United States.
Citizens of our nation, then, who are Americans in both the narrower and the broader senses of the word, may rightly claim Mary’s patronage under both titles.
Annulment and Communion
Q. Suppose someone was married, divorced and remarried to someone who had never married before. Eventually, that person was granted an annulment of the first marriage. Can that person receive Communion?
A.V., via email
A. Yes, most likely that person can now receive Communion, assuming the second marriage was blessed by the Church after the annulment. Once the person has received a declaration of nullity, he or she is free to marry, if there are no other impediments.
Re-Confirmed?
Q. If a person receives the sacrament of Confirmation but leaves the Church for a long time, would that person have to receive the sacrament of Confirmation again?
E.W., via email
A. The sacraments of the Eucharist, Reconciliation, Matrimony and Anointing of the Sick can be received more than once. Confirmation, however, is one of the three sacraments that can be received validly only once.
Why is this the case? Because these other three sacraments — Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders — leave an indelible mark on the soul. That is, each of these sacraments imparts to the soul a specific character that will always remain. (See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, par. 1304–1305).
For this reason, each person receives Confirmation only once, just as each person is baptized only once, and priests receive Holy Orders (are ordained) only once. There is no need to repeat Confirmation, even if a person has been away from the Church for a long time. Such a person need only return and be reconciled to God and the Church through the sacrament of Reconciliation, so that the graces of Confirmation previously received can have their full effect.
Divine Foreknowledge and Predestination
Q. My friends and I are at odds concerning a theological matter. My friends hold that God knows when we will be tempted to sin, but He does not know what choice we will make, since that would interfere with our free will, or in other words, would be predestination.
My sister and I believe that God is not limited in time, that He knows what we will choose already. He does not interfere with our free will, since He knows what we will choose, not something He chooses for us. We asked different priests and received various points of view. Is this a matter of dogma or opinion? If it is a dogma, where does the Church stand?
K.S., Steubenville, Ohio
A. You are asking about God’s foreknowledge. Your friends assume that there is an inherent contradiction between God’s foreknowledge and our free will. The assumption is wrong. It arises out of a misunderstanding of God’s foreknowledge.
You or I stand in the stream of time. We cannot have exact and positive knowledge of what lies ahead, not even to the next moment. We can know that a certain event will occur in the future only if we know that the future is “rigged” to bring about that event.
The mistake your friends make is to assume that God also stands, so to speak, in the stream of time. It’s the assumption that He cannot know what will happen in the future unless it is already set to happen. That is not predestination; that is determinism.
The fact is, God stands above time. At a glance (to use human terms) God can see the whole sweep of time, from the beginning of his creation (He created time, you know) until He gathers all creation into eternity. As you say, what God foresees is what each one of us will freely choose. Because He is not caught in time, because He stands above time, the fact that He foresees our free choices within time does not make them any less free.
God’s omniscience essentially means that God is never taken by surprise; He always knows what will happen. But again, His foreknowledge in no way interferes with our free will.
All this is part of the revelation God has given to His Church as His designated interpreter of His truth. It’s part of the Church’s doctrine of God.
Mary Candle?
Q. I recently heard someone refer to a “Mary candle.” What is that?
H.J., via email
A. Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady—the patronal feast of the United States!
Some Catholic families, as part of their observance of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the remainder of the season of Advent, prepare a white pillar candle by decorating it with a symbol of Christ (such as the Chi Rho) and covering it with blue and white cloths (Mary’s colors).
The candle represents Christ, hidden in Our Lady’s womb. It is placed before an image of Mary and remains covered throughout Advent. On Christmas Eve, the candle is uncovered and lit — a lovely symbol of the nativity of Our Lord, the Light of the world. It can be lit again for each meal or family prayer time during Christmastide.
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