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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.
Can We Have Our Grandchild Baptized?
Q. I read recently that an unbaptized child can be denied a Catholic funeral Mass. That horrified me, since my grandson’s foot-dragging parents have not found “the right time” in the five years since his birth to attend to this duty. Until recently my comfort was that we had for years enjoyed the services of a compassionate and loving priest who was known to use his own discretion in such matters.
No more! We now have a by-the-book stickler who I am certain would not hesitate to enforce such a rule. Can we, as his grandparents, have him baptized as long as there is no active objection from the parents?
K.B., via email
A. Here’s a reply from TCA columnist Father Francis Hoffman, J.C.D.:
The urgency of your question reflects your deep faith in Our Lord’s words: “I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit” (John 3:5). That’s a good start.
Before jumping to conclusions about what your good pastor would do in the unfortunate and unlikely event that your grandson were to die any time soon, why don’t you ask him? We all need exercise, but “jumping to conclusions” is not good exercise. Who knows, he might have an unbaptized nephew himself and be sympathetic to your plight?
More to the point, your recent unpleasant discovery that the unbaptized do not have a right to a Catholic funeral Mass gives you more leverage in persuading his parents to have the boy baptized pronto. What kind of parents would deny their child this grace? You can certainly count on my prayers that your 5-year-old grandson will live a long and healthy life and receive baptism soon.
Can you, the grandparents, have him baptized? Not if his parents object. Even if they do not object, there has to be a reasonable hope that the child will be raised as a Catholic. If his parents do not express an “active objection” to his baptism, and if they allow you or others to raise him in the true faith and bring him to Mass and prepare him for the other sacraments, then go ahead and have him baptized and raise him in the Faith yourself.
Now, for this “by-the-book-stickler” priest, tell him that I want to shake his hand because believe me, it’s hard to hold the line. There’s no problem with “by-the-book-sticklers” if they are truly by-the-book, and are trained to interpret canon law in the spirit in which it was written.
It’s hard to imagine that a pastor would deny a Catholic funeral Mass for an unbaptized child if the parents requested it, especially since the Code of Canon Law does not expressly prohibit Church funeral rites for unbaptized children.
On the contrary. Canon 1183.2 states: “Children whose parents had intended to have them baptized but who died before baptism, may be allowed Church funeral rites by the local ordinary.”
So the unbaptized can receive Church funeral rites, not by right, but by permission. And it is the mind of the legislator — that is, the Church — that “laws which restrict the free exercise of rights are to be interpreted strictly” (see Canon 18); conversely, laws that permit benefits and privileges for the people should be fulfilled magnanimously.
I favor a permissive interpretation of the phrase “whose parents had intended to have them baptized,” and ultimately it comes down to how you interpret that phrase.
What Is Theosis?
Q. Last week you noted that the destiny of the redeemed in Christ is to become something far beyond what Adam and Eve were before the Fall. (Click here.) [entry for 06-25-09] You also noted that this process of exaltation is called theosis or theopoiesis. Can you tell us more about that?
J.H., Rochester, N.Y.
A. To understand this teaching, we first must appreciate more fully what is involved in the salvation offered us in Christ.
The biblically rooted Catholic teaching, preached since the early centuries of the Church and prominent in the Eastern churches as well, is known as the doctrine of theosis or theopoiesis, a Greek word often translated in English with the startling words “divinization” or “deification.”
The reality described by this term is affirmed at every Mass in the words of the priest: “Through the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled Himself to share in our humanity.” What do these words mean?
The Scripture tells us that God has made certain “precious and very great promises” through which we will “come to have a share in the divine nature" (2 Pt 1:3, 4, emphasis added). This is possible because in Christ, the nature of God Himself has been joined to the nature of humanity, and the resulting redeemed human nature, which is “in Christ,” now has new possibilities. As the ancient theologians put it: What God is by nature, we can become by grace.
What exactly are those “precious promises” that reveal what it means to have a share in God’s own nature? Look at certain divine attributes, and you’ll find that in Scripture the saints have been promised these attributes as a part of their ultimate perfection in Christ:
Divine knowledge. “For we know partially . . . but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. … At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully as I am fully known” by God (1 Cor 13:9–10, 12).
Divine glory. “We are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rm 8:16–17). “All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Cor 3:18). “So I exhort the presbyters among you, as … one who has a share in the glory to be revealed” (1 Pt 5:1).
Divine authority and power. “If we persevere, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12). “The Lord God shall give them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:5). Jesus said: “To the victor, who keeps to my ways until the end, I will give authority over the nations. He will rule them … just as I received authority from My Father” (Rv 2:26-27).
Divine holiness. “He [disciplines us] for our benefit, in order that we might share His holiness. … Strive for peace with everyone, and for that holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:10, 14). “So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48). “You have approached … the spirits of the just made perfect” (Heb 12:22, 23).
Divine love. “If we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is brought to perfection in us” (1 Jn 4:12).
Divine life. “God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. … We are in the One who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life” (1 Jn 5:11, 20).
In short, says St. Paul, we are to be “filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:19). Or as St. John sums it up for us: “Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed. We do know that when it is revealed we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
This destiny of the saints is of course what is traditionally called the Beatific Vision, the vision of perfect blessedness. When we are finally perfected in heaven, we will at last see God face to face, and we will be like the One we behold — because we will have a share in His divine nature.
Why Seven Churches?
Q. A friend of mine wanted to know what is the significance of visiting seven churches during Holy Week. Why not visit five or nine churches?
I asked my pastor, and he said he didn’t know. He thought that maybe the number seven was chosen for the seven hills of Jerusalem. My thought was that the number was based on Scripture, as seven is the number of perfection in the Bible.
Is there even any significance to the number? Thanks for your help!
D.S., via email
A. The tradition of visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday during Holy Week is especially popular in Italy, Poland, Mexico and the Philippines. It was brought to this country by immigrants from those and other predominantly Catholic lands.
The general consensus seems to be that the custom originated in Rome, where there are seven “pilgrim” churches traditionally designated as places to visit for those seeking indulgences during a Holy Year. These include the four patriarchal basilicas — St. John Lateran, St. Peter, St. Mary Major, St. Paul Outside the Walls — and three minor basilicas: St. Lawrence Outside the Walls, Holy Cross in Jerusalem and St. Sebastian Outside the Walls (which, in the Great Jubilee Year 2000, Pope John Paul II replaced as a pilgrim church with the Sanctuary of the Madonna of Divine Love).
In the Philippines, where the tradition is known as the Visita Iglesia, some pilgrims visit 14 churches instead on Holy Thursday, observing one of the 14 Stations of the Cross at each church.
The question still remains why the original pilgrimage in Rome involved seven churches (rather than, for example, only the four patriarchal basilicas). I think your speculation is the best: In Scripture and Tradition, seven has always been regarded as the number symbolizing perfection, from the seven days of the week created by God in the Book of Genesis (2:2-3) to the “seven spirits before the throne of God” in the Book of Revelation (1:4) — a book which is full of sevens, by the way (including Jesus’ message to “seven churches”, 1:4).
Praying for the Departed
Q. I am asking this question after reading the daily question & answer “Prayer for the Devil.” (Click here.) [entry for 04-07-09] You inform us that praying for the devil's conversion is pointless, as is praying for anyone who died rejecting God. How do I apply this information when praying for the dearly departed, when I do not know of their religion, or if they committed suicide (how do we know if they were in their “right mind”)?
A. When I said in that answer that “the situation is similar for human beings who have died rejecting God,” I was simply referring to the fact that, just as the devil no longer has the opportunity to repent and turn back to God, so it is with those who have died rejecting God.
With regard to offering prayers, however, the two situations are quite different. In the case of the devil and his demons, we know for sure that they are all damned, so it makes no sense to pray for them. In the case of human beings, however, it’s precisely because of the fact that we don’t know (as you noted) the destiny of any particular individual (except canonized saints), then we should be praying for them. Our prayers may well help them.
And what if the person we’re uncertain about, yet still praying for, is actually in hell? Are such prayers in vain?
I don’t think that any good deed is ever in vain. In the case of prayers for the dead who (unknown to us) are now in hell beyond our help, the act of praying for them certainly has salutary effects on the one praying, and perhaps on others as well. Personally, I also think it possible (as do many others) that God allows the benefits of those prayers to be redirected to souls in purgatory who need them.
Accurate Quotes in Scripture?
Q. There are many direct quotes from Jesus in the Gospels, as well as direct quotes from others. How can these quotes be accurate? How can Luke quote what Mary said thirty or forty years before to her cousin? Even if he knew Mary, how could she recall and tell him exactly what she had said?
How can any of the writers quote what Jesus said to others decades before, when none of it was written in the newspapers or on TV, and most of them did not know Jesus? Quotes from the Bible are used all the time to reinforce our views. But they cannot be true. What is the position of the Church on this matter?
S.M., Baltimore, Md.
A. Here’s a reply from TCA columnist Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D.:
At the Last Supper Jesus told His apostles: “I have told you this while I am with you. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit that the Father will send in My name — He will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you” (Jn 14:26, emphasis added). The sacred writers did not have to depend on their own unaided memories to recall accurately what Jesus and others had said decades before. God the Holy Spirit enabled them to do so.
Keep in mind as well that the various Gospels sometimes provide slightly different wording when they are quoting the same statement of Our Lord or another person. (For example, certain statements of Jesus at the Last Supper are reported with small variations by Matthew, Mark and Luke; see Mt 26:26–28; Mk 14:22–24; and Lk 22:17–20). This variation suggests that, at times, the four Evangelists were quoting indirectly rather than directly, expressing the sense of the statement without necessarily providing the precise wording.
It’s true that our modern Bible translations often employ quotation marks, which seem to imply a precise, direct quote. But such punctuation did not exist in the original Greek texts; it’s a later addition. In any case, even if some of these quotations are indirect rather than direct, that doesn’t change the fact that they are reliable expressions of what was spoken by Jesus, His mother and others. They tell the truth about what was said.
The Church’s position, stated most recently in the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (11), is this. “The divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.” In other words, the canonical books of Old and New Testaments “have God as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself.” God chose the authors, who used their “powers and faculties” to write exactly what God wanted written.
Therefore, the Church teaches that “the books of Scripture, firmly, faithfully and without error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the sacred Scriptures.”
Meanwhile, let me remind you that Catholics do not go to the Scriptures to “reinforce our views.” We go rather to be reminded of our “views,” because Scripture is simply the Church’s teaching. The Church (her inspired members) wrote the Scriptures, she preserved them, she canonized them, she alone authentically interprets them.
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