Hey there, Like it or not, instruction manuals are important … even if we don’t want to read them when putting together that piece of furniture from IKEA. Or how about all the rules we had to learn to get a driver’s license? The rules of the road are necessary to keep us safe. I’m old enough to remember when you had to look at a paper map to get directions to your destination before you …
Cultivating The Fruit of The Holy Spirit
Hey there, I don’t like to cook … but I do love to bake. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s my huge sweet tooth. The thing about baking is that we can have all the ingredients sitting in our cupboard. And we can have a recipe in a book on our shelf. But just having everything won’t get us the dessert we crave. We’ve got to do the work to follow the recipe and put the ingredients together to …
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Transubstantiation: Accepting The Real Presence of The Lord
Hey there, You may have heard about the 2019 Pew Research Center survey finding that two-thirds of Catholics don’t believe in transubstantiation … and that some don’t even know the church’s teaching on the matter. It's garnered a sizeable reaction. If you Google it, you’ll find 2.6 million articles (and growing). They vary from the proverbial Cathoic “sky is falling” to “the survey is …
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Recognizing The Church as a Sacrament
Hey there, I bet you can easily name all 7 of the Sacraments of the Catholic Church … especially since we just covered them. But did you know the Catholic Church is also a Sacrament? I had never heard this before … until Father Mike Schmitz talked about it recently in an episode of his Catechism in a Year Podcast. I knew then that I’d have to include this topic in my Sacraments of the …
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Requesting The Sacrament of The Anointing of The Sick
Hey there, I must admit I’ve not given much thought to the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. I’m blessed that I haven’t needed to. I guess I fall into the category of one of those Catholics who considers it a Rite for someone who is near death. And I would be partially right. Fortunately, through examining the 7 Sacraments, and now getting to the final one, the Anointing of the …
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Studying The Sacrament of Holy Orders
Hey there, I attended Catholic school from third grade through high school. In grade school, we attended Mass every Friday. And during Lent, we often went to Stations of the Cross on Fridays. Sometimes it was the whole school and other times it was just our class. I really wanted to be an altar server. I didn’t understand why girls weren’t allowed. But, according to our Priest, “If God …
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Utilizing The Sacrament of Confession
Hey there, In our examination of the 7 Sacraments, we’ve looked at the Sacrament of Baptism, Confirmation, Communion, and Matrimony. Today we turn our attention to the Sacrament of Confession, also known as Reconciliation or Penance. Unlike Baptism, Confirmation, and Matrimony, which are performed once during your life, Confession is a Sacrament we may receive regularly. In fact, we are …
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Celebrating The Sacrament of Matrimony
Hey there, This issue of Genuflect almost didn’t happen. My daughter is getting married on Saturday and I’ve been knee deep in wedding preparations … all the time. I took off work this week so I could focus on everything I had to do before Saturday. I completely lost track of my routine and around 4:30 pm yesterday, I realized it was Tuesday … and I needed to get Genuflect done! So, I …
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Joining With Christ in The Sacrament of Communion
Hey there, Over the past two weeks, we’ve looked at the first two sacraments of initiation: Baptism and Confirmation. Today we cover the third, the Sacrament of Communion. One thing in particular struck me as I was gathering these resources. It’s the concept that although we eat the host (take it into our body), we are united with Jesus Christ in the Sacrament of Communion. In other words, …
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Driving Graces With The Sacrament of Confirmation
Hey there, Here we are in the month of May when most parishes in the US confer the Sacrament of Confirmation on school-aged Catholics. My church held Confirmations last week. The kids had been preparing for a while and the day finally came when the Bishop anointed them with the Chrism oil and might even have given them a little slap on the cheek. Did you know that the age at which …
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Shining a Light on Our Baptismal Calling
Hey there, A few years ago, my church moved the baptismal font from the private room in the back of the church to the front near the altar. And they incorporated Baptisms into the Mass, right after the Homily. I liked the change because it’s a blessing to witness the working of the Holy Spirit, and welcoming a new member into our church. And it’s a reminder of our own initiation into the …
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Receiving Grace From The Sacraments
Hey there, Have you heard the one about the Catholic Priest who discovered his Baptism was invalid? Not only was he not a Priest, but he wasn’t even Catholic! Unfortunately, it’s no joke. Father Matthew Hood watched a video of his Baptism from 30 years earlier and heard the Priest use the wrong words … “We baptize you” instead of “I baptize you.” And according to the Catholic Church, that …