Articles by Bishop Michael Sheridan, S.T.D.
Reflections on the Sacrament of Marriage
Jun 10, 2010 / 00:00 amSpring is a time when the sacramental life of the church is particularly evident. These are the days when we celebrate First Holy Communions, confirmations, ordinations and marriages. It is to the last of these sacraments that I devote my thoughts today.The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) gives us this beautiful definition of marriage, based on the Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the sacrament of matrimony:"The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life, is by its nature ordered toward the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring; this covenant between baptized persons has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament" (no. 1601). Phrase by phrase, this definition gives us a little "catechism" on marriage.The matrimonial covenant. The 1917 Code of Canon Law referred to the "marriage contract." Although a contract does not differ significantly from a covenant, the Second Vatican Council chose to call marriage a covenant rather than a contract because of the sacred nature of a covenant. Scripture uses "covenant" to speak of the solemn agreements entered into between God and his creatures. Jesus established a "new and eternal covenant" through his sacrificial death and resurrection. More than simply a legal agreement (contract), marriage is a profound and deeply spiritual agreement that stems from a solemn oath (vows). For this reason, marriage establishes a lifelong bond that ends only with death.A partnership of the whole life. The sacred covenant that is marriage is not simply an agreement to exchange certain rights and duties. In marriage, "the partners mutually surrender themselves to each other (cf. "The Constitution on the Church in the Modern World," Vatican II, no. 48). This mutual giving of two persons reflects Christ’s gift of himself to us in love even to the shedding of his blood. The marriage partnership is one of total self-giving. This helps us to understand why contraception is sinful. When a married couple uses contraception, they are saying to each other, "I give you myself completely — except for my fertility. Contraception contradicts the very nature of marriage.The good of the spouses. There are two ends or purposes to marriage. The first is the good of the spouses. Here we are speaking of spousal — or conjugal — love. There are few words that are more misused and misunderstood in our contemporary culture than "love." Popular media would have us believe that love is little other than an emotion — and a fleeting one at that — or simply physical attraction. In fact, genuine spousal love is far more.Again, from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "By its very nature conjugal love requires the inviolable fidelity of the spouses. This is the consequence of the gift of themselves that they make to each other. Love seeks to be definitive; it cannot be an arrangement ‘until further notice.’ The ‘intimate union of marriage, as a mutual giving of two persons, and the good of children demand total fidelity from the spouses and require an unbreakable union between them’" (1646).But there is more. Marriage was not created by God only for the good of the spouses. There is a second — and equally important — purpose of marriage.The procreation and education of offspring. By its very nature, marriage is ordered to the procreation of children. While not every act of marital intercourse will result in the conception of a child, every act of intercourse must be open to the gift of a child. Here, again, we see why every act of contraception is a gravely sinful. Contraception literally truncates the meaning of marriage. It eliminates one of the intrinsic purposes of marriage. "Fecundity is a gift, an end of marriage, for conjugal love naturally tends to be fruitful. A child does not come from outside as something added on to the mutual love of the spouses, but springs from the very heart of that mutual giving, as its fruit and fulfillment. So the Church, which is ‘on the side of life,’ teaches that ‘it is necessary that each and every marriage act remain ordered per se to the procreation of human life.’" (CCC 2366).Raised to the dignity of a sacrament. Marriage as a natural institution comes from the creation as recorded in the Book of Genesis. The marriage of two baptized Christians, however, is different from marriage as a purely natural union. "The grace of the sacrament perfects the love of husband and wife, binds them together in fidelity, and helps them welcome and care for children. Christ is the source of this grace and he dwells with the spouses to strengthen their covenant promises, to bear each other’s burdens with forgiveness and kindness, and to experience ahead of time the ‘wedding feast of the lamb’" (United States Catholic Catechism for Adults, 285).Although not in the definition of marriage, there is another point of church discipline that needs to be made. Catholics are bound most seriously to have their marriages witnessed by a priest or deacon. Dispensation from this law is possible; but, if a Catholic attempts marriage before anyone other than a priest of deacon without dispensation, that marriage is invalid, and the Catholic party(ies) to the marriage may not receive the sacraments of the church until the union can be regularized.The apostle Paul teaches us that marriage is "a great foreshadowing; I mean that it refers to Christ and the church. In any case, each one should love his wife as he loves himself, the wife for her part showing respect for her husband" (Eph 5:32).May this be true of every Christian marriage!This column originally appeared in the June 4, 2010 issue of The Colorado Catholic Herald and is reprinted with permission.
The Vocations Challenge
Apr 22, 2010 / 00:00 amEach year, for 47 years now, on the Fourth Sunday of Easter (April 25 this year) Catholics throughout the world pray for vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life. Each year, the Holy Father publishes a message for this World Day of Prayer for Vocations. This year’s message from Pope Benedict XVI is entitled "Witness Awakens Vocations."
The beautiful sacrament of Reconciliation
Dec 3, 2009 / 00:00 amIn the last encyclical letter, Ecclesia de Eucharistia (EE) ["The Church Draws Her Life from the Eucharist"]) of his pontificate, the late Pope John Paul II gave the church a magnificent teaching on the sacrament of the holy Eucharist. Among the many themes taken up by that encyclical is that of the importance — indeed, the necessity — of every Catholic maintaining the bond of communion with Christ and his church before ever receiving the sacrament of that communion.There are two types of "communion." The first is visible communion. Visible communion demands communion "in the teaching of the Apostles, in the sacraments and the Church’s hierarchical order" (EE, 35). In other words, a person must be a member of the Catholic Church before being admitted to the sacrament of holy Communion.The second type of "communion" is called invisible communion. This refers to the life of sanctifying grace with which we must be filled to be properly disposed to receive holy Communion. Pope John Paul writes: "Invisible communion, though by its nature always growing, presupposes the life of grace, by which we become ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (2 Pet 1:4), and the practice of the virtues of faith hope and love. Only in this way do we have true communion with the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit" (EE, 36).We can summarize the church’s teaching regarding "communion" — visible, invisible and sacramental — in this way: One must be a Catholic in the state of sanctifying grace in order to receive holy Communion worthily. This teaching is very important. We recall St. Paul’s dire warning to the Corinthian Christians who, the Apostle had learned, were approaching the altar to receive holy Communion while still unrepentant and unforgiven of their serious sins: ". . . whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord unworthily sins against the body and blood of the Lord. A man should examine himself first; only then should he eat of the bread and drink of the cup" (1 Cor 11: 27-28).We are all sinners! Marked by original sin and its effects, we are easily seduced by the devil to turn away from God and his commandments. We are well aware of our daily faults and failings (our venial sins), but sometimes we can rightly accuse ourselves of mortal, i.e., deadly sin (e.g. deliberately missing Mass on Sunday for no serious reason, practicing contraception, using pornography, etc.).What a catastrophe it would be if we were forever barred from receiving the Body and Blood and Christ because we had committed a mortal sin. But the Lord in his mercy offers his forgiveness in the sacrament of Reconciliation — or Confession. The forgiveness of mortal sin in confession before receiving holy Communion is absolutely necessary. John Paul tells us that "the Catechism of the Catholic Church rightly stipulates that ‘anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion’ (No. 1385). I therefore desire to reaffirm that in the Church there remains in force, now and in the future, the rule by which the Council of Trent gave concrete expression to the Apostle Paul’s stern warning when it affirmed that, in order to receive the Eucharist in a worthy manner, ‘one must first confess one’s sins, when one is aware of mortal sin.’" (EE, 36).Soon the season of Advent will be upon us, and the church will begin her preparation for the feast of Christmas. Essential to the personal preparation of every Catholic is the reception of the sacrament of Reconciliation. Our merciful Lord is always anxious to impart his forgiveness and welcome into the fullness his communion to any sinner who comes to him in the sacrament of Reconciliation with true sorrow and purpose of conversion of life. I pray that every Catholic will honestly confront his or her sins, bring them to God in the sacrament of Reconciliation, and then approach the celebration of Christmas with a clean heart.In order to make the sacrament of Reconciliation more available to the faithful, every parish will offer additional times for confession. In addition to the usual penance services, every parish priest will be available for confession on at least one other evening each week in Advent. St. Isidore of Seville, a seventh-century bishop and doctor of the church, taught: "Confession heals, confession justifies, confession grants pardon of sin, all hope consists in confession; in confession there is a chance for mercy." Like the father of the prodigal son (see Lk 15), God awaits us anxiously. Go to meet him!This column originally appeared in the November 20, 2009 issue of The Colorado Catholic Herald and is reprinted with permission.