TCA Question & Answer of the Day

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.

For the Week of January 26-30, 2009

TCA Question & Answer of the Day

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.

For the Week of January 26-30, 2009

Question of the Day for Friday, January 30, 2009

Gift of Tears?

Q. I have read in several places about the “gift of tears.” I have searched a Catholic dictionary and other sources, but I cannot find any more information on that subject. What is the “gift of tears”?

D.S., Ventura, Calif.

A. Here’s a reply from TCA columnist Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D.:

The “gift of tears” is one expression of the working of the Holy Spirit. Those who receive this gift insist it is not associated with any emotional upheaval. They do not weep or cry in the ordinary sense of these terms. There is no sobbing or contortion of the face. The tears simply come at times when they are especially aware of the presence of God.

The Eastern tradition has much to say about this gift. A contemporary Greek Orthodox theologian, Bishop Kallistos Ware, connects this charismatic gift with the gift of tongues.

“When it is genuinely spiritual,” he writes, “‘speaking with tongues’ seems to represent an act of ‘letting go’ — the crucial moment in the breaking down of our sinful self-trust, and its replacement by a willingness to allow God to act with us. In the Orthodox tradition this act of ‘letting go’ more often takes the form of the gift of tears” (emphasis in the original; from “The Orthodox Way,” St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995, p. 101).

Eastern writers describe this gift in various ways: the way of tears, the prayer of tears, tears which illuminate, holy sadness. Some regard this gift so important to the spiritual life that they refer to it as “the second baptism.” Their point is that while baptism cleanses us from past sin, the gift of tears reflects God’s washing away our present sins. Symeon the New Theologian (949 – 1022) even calls the gift of tears “baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

Bishop Ware and other writers on the subject caution that not all tears are a gift of the Spirit. There must be discernment. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1).

Question of the Day for Friday, January 30, 2009

Gift of Tears?

Q. I have read in several places about the “gift of tears.” I have searched a Catholic dictionary and other sources, but I cannot find any more information on that subject. What is the “gift of tears”?

D.S., Ventura, Calif.

A. Here’s a reply from TCA columnist Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D.:

The “gift of tears” is one expression of the working of the Holy Spirit. Those who receive this gift insist it is not associated with any emotional upheaval. They do not weep or cry in the ordinary sense of these terms. There is no sobbing or contortion of the face. The tears simply come at times when they are especially aware of the presence of God.

The Eastern tradition has much to say about this gift. A contemporary Greek Orthodox theologian, Bishop Kallistos Ware, connects this charismatic gift with the gift of tongues.

“When it is genuinely spiritual,” he writes, “‘speaking with tongues’ seems to represent an act of ‘letting go’ — the crucial moment in the breaking down of our sinful self-trust, and its replacement by a willingness to allow God to act with us. In the Orthodox tradition this act of ‘letting go’ more often takes the form of the gift of tears” (emphasis in the original; from “The Orthodox Way,” St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1995, p. 101).

Eastern writers describe this gift in various ways: the way of tears, the prayer of tears, tears which illuminate, holy sadness. Some regard this gift so important to the spiritual life that they refer to it as “the second baptism.” Their point is that while baptism cleanses us from past sin, the gift of tears reflects God’s washing away our present sins. Symeon the New Theologian (949 – 1022) even calls the gift of tears “baptism in the Holy Spirit.”

Bishop Ware and other writers on the subject caution that not all tears are a gift of the Spirit. There must be discernment. “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are of God” (1 John 4:1).

Question of the Day for Thursday, January 29, 2009

Catholic Tracts?

Q. I often find a fundamentalist religious tract on the windshield when I return to my car after shopping at the mall. Someone once told me that religious tracts were actually a Catholic invention. Is this true?

 K.K., Fort Pierce, Fla.

A. St. Frances de Sales (1567–1622) pioneered the strategy of doing Catholic evangelization and apologetics by leaving little slips of paper with short handwritten sermons in places where people could find and read them. His feast day on the old Church calendar is today. (On the new calendar, it was last Saturday.)

 St. Francis was a French priest, and in his day, tens of thousands of Catholics in French-speaking Switzerland had fallen into the Calvinist heresy. So he went there to become a missionary, hoping to win them back to the Catholic faith. The reception was icy, to say the least; he was known to sleep in haylofts and even trees, even during the bitter winters, because almost no one would let him in the door of their homes, much less give him a night’s lodging. People often threw rocks at him.

 Nevertheless, St. Francis persevered. He realized that many people were probably interested in what he had to say, but they were afraid to be seen by their neighbors listening to his preaching. So he devised a plan: He wrote out his sermons on little leaflets and slipped them under the doors of homes at night when no one could see him. When the residents found them, they could read his sermons privately without fear of spying neighbors.

 Eventually, St. Francis had the leaflets printed and was able to distribute them openly and post them publicly. You could say, then, that these were the first religious tracts.

 Through his perseverance, St. Francis enjoyed considerable success. Estimates of how many people he helped return to the Catholic Church range from 40,000 to 72,000.

St. Francis became both a bishop and a Doctor of the Church. (For more about the meaning of the latter title, see below for Q&A Tues. Jan 27).

Question of the Day for Thursday, January 29, 2009

Catholic Tracts?

Q. I often find a fundamentalist religious tract on the windshield when I return to my car after shopping at the mall. Someone once told me that religious tracts were actually a Catholic invention. Is this true?

 K.K., Fort Pierce, Fla.

A. St. Frances de Sales (1567–1622) pioneered the strategy of doing Catholic evangelization and apologetics by leaving little slips of paper with short handwritten sermons in places where people could find and read them. His feast day on the old Church calendar is today. (On the new calendar, it was last Saturday.)

 St. Francis was a French priest, and in his day, tens of thousands of Catholics in French-speaking Switzerland had fallen into the Calvinist heresy. So he went there to become a missionary, hoping to win them back to the Catholic faith. The reception was icy, to say the least; he was known to sleep in haylofts and even trees, even during the bitter winters, because almost no one would let him in the door of their homes, much less give him a night’s lodging. People often threw rocks at him.

 Nevertheless, St. Francis persevered. He realized that many people were probably interested in what he had to say, but they were afraid to be seen by their neighbors listening to his preaching. So he devised a plan: He wrote out his sermons on little leaflets and slipped them under the doors of homes at night when no one could see him. When the residents found them, they could read his sermons privately without fear of spying neighbors.

 Eventually, St. Francis had the leaflets printed and was able to distribute them openly and post them publicly. You could say, then, that these were the first religious tracts.

 Through his perseverance, St. Francis enjoyed considerable success. Estimates of how many people he helped return to the Catholic Church range from 40,000 to 72,000.

St. Francis became both a bishop and a Doctor of the Church. (For more about the meaning of the latter title, see below for Q&A Tues. Jan 27).

Question of the Day for Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Celiac Disease and Communion

Q. I just read a story about an eight-year-old who can’t receive Communion because of an eating disorder. My view is that God gave her that disorder, and therefore no Church rule shall prevent her from exercising her rights.

J. J., via email

A. Here’s a reply from TCA columnist Father Francis Hoffman, J.C.D.:

Without knowing more facts about the situation, I am limited in my ability to answer the question. The nature of the eating disorder is not clear. Does the child’s condition impede her from receiving, or does the local minister of Holy Communion refuse to give her the Eucharist? I sense from your question it is the former case. So that’s what I will deal with here.

If the child has intolerance to wheat bread, commonly known as celiac disease, she can still receive Holy Communion under the species of wine. Jesus is truly and substantially present under both species of the Holy Eucharist, bread or wine, so the person who receives Holy Communion only under the form of wine is indeed receiving a complete Communion.

But let’s say the nature of the eating disorder does not allow the child to receive Holy Communion under either species. (I have never heard of that, but it could be the case.) What happens then? If a person finds it physically impossible to receive Holy Communion, Jesus can still grant that soul an abundance of grace, for instance, in response to a fervent spiritual communion.

Our Lord indeed said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you shall not have life in you” (Jn 6:54). But theologians make a distinction here between a “necessity of precept” and a “necessity of means.”

Receiving Holy Communion is necessary for our salvation by “precept” and not by “means.” As St. Thomas Aquinas clarifies in his Summa: “Accordingly, before actual reception of this sacrament, a man can obtain salvation through the desire of receiving it, just as he can before Baptism through the desire of Baptism” (III, 73, q.3).

Still, a pious soul would be disappointed if he could not receive Holy Communion. Nonetheless, his desire to receive Our Lord is what is most important for his salvation.

What cannot change is the matter to be used for confecting the Holy Eucharist: the bread must be made of wheat, and the wine must be made from grapes. Why? Because that’s what Jesus did, and no authority on earth — not even the Church — can change that.

Question of the Day for Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Why Are They Called “Doctors”?

Q. Why are great Catholic teachers of the past known as “Doctors” of the Church? Because their teaching is good spiritual “medicine”?

 B.N., Kansas City, Kan.

A. That’s a clever explanation! Actually, the term comes from the Latin word doctor, which literally means “teacher.” It’s related to our English word doctrine, literally, “teaching.”

In the old sense of the word, then, a doctor is actually a teacher, which is why college professors often have Ph.D.s — an abbreviation for “Doctor” (Teacher) of Philosophy.”

 The standard generic term in English for someone in the healing arts is physician. The Latin word for this kind of “doctor” is medicus, related to our English word medicine. Maybe the question we should be asking is how physicians came to be called doctors!

Question of the Day for Monday, January 26, 2009

St. Timothy and Stomach Disorders

Q. I read that St. Timothy is the patron saint of those with stomach disorders. Why is that particular need associated with him?

 I.T., Casper, Wyo.

A. St. Timothy, who shares a feast day today with St. Titus, was a young disciple of St. Paul; the Apostle apparently loved and trusted him deeply. He is mentioned as a friend and companion of Paul in a number of biblical passages (see, for example, Acts 16:1; Romans 16:21; 1 Corinthians 4:17), and the two books of the New Testament that carry his name (1 and 2 Timothy) are letters addressed to him from St. Paul.

 According to the ancient Roman Martyrology, St. Timothy became bishop of Ephesus, and he died in his eighties after being beaten by pagan attackers.

 In his first letter to St. Timothy, St. Paul advised him: “No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments” (1 Timothy 5:23). No doubt Timothy’s role as patron saint of those with stomach disorders developed as a result of this biblical passage. He knows from personal experience what we’re up against when we have stomach problems!