….Sexuality is a “given,” not a “taken,” and in that way not unlike death. To “take” one’s own life is a final act of despair, and to “take” one’s sexuality into my one’s hands (or the hands of a paid surgeon) is a desperate refusal of a gift. Life, and the sexuality so essential to that life, is a “given,” and we are happiest when we are able to receive gifts. Confusion and trauma can make it very difficult to receive such an essential gift, but refusing it, in the end, only leads to more confusion and trauma.
On Saturday I assisted my Archbishop in confirming 32 young people. The candidates approached the prelate’s chair, one by one with their sponsors, first the boys, and then the girls. Each candidate knelt while the sponsor bowed with his or her hand on his or her candidate’s shoulder. The sponsor handed me a card with the confirmation name written on it, precisely in Latin (in the vocative case), below which was written the candidate’s given names. The candidate, himself or herself, chooses his or her confirmation name, but then it is translated into Latin, the sacred language of the Church. So “Joseph” becomes Iosephe, “Athanasius” becomes Athanasi, and “Francis” becomes Francisci.
I was quite moved to receive these cards and listen to the Archbishop quietly pronounce each sacred name as he anointed each candidate’s forehead with sacred chrism. Accipe signaculum doni Spiritus Sancti. Francisci, signo te signo crucis et confirmo te Christmate salutis: in nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Watching these young people receive the sacramental completion of their baptism was akin to witnessing a childbirth. Each young person knelt, serenely, to receive the new name and the holy oil. Each accepted with joy what was given to him or her, even the little slap on the cheek delivered after the words pax tecum. “In the world you will have trouble,” the Lord told his disciples. “But take courage, I have overcome the world…. My peace I give to you.”
In the Mass, the priest lifts up the bread and says the words of Christ: accipe and manducate, which are mistranslated “take and eat.” The Latin word accipe means “receive,” not “take.” Receive my body as a gift. Receive your body as a gift. Life is about receiving gifts and giving gifts, not about taking, manipulating, controlling, and fabricating. To some degree an intelligent person takes and works with his or her “hands” (“mani-pulates”), but he or she does so deftly, delicately, and with a healthy sense of humility. Life’s deepest reality, and its deepest joy, is to realize what we have been given, and to share what we have received, with our fellow pilgrims.
From the May 15 edition of Fr. Illo’s blog.
Fr. Illo is pastor of Star of the Sea parish in San Francisco.
“The Latin word accipe means “receive,” not “take.” ” We ask the Lord to take our lives, and we receive grace upon grace. What advantage did the ICEL see in the mistranslation? One can take something without viewing it as a gift, but one always receives a gift, or so it seems to me. Anyway, great blog, Fr. Illo!
I remember when I got confirmed, many, many long years ago– same beautiful, meaningful ceremony, in the church. I chose St. Teresa of Avila as my Saint. Each of us knelt, and the Sponsor held up the card with the Saint’s name on it, with one hand, and placed their other hand on the candidate’s shoulder. We proudly got the traditional little slap on the cheek from the Bishop, which meant that we were now encouraged to be “good soldiers of Christ.” This older ceremony was very meaningful and powerful. For some kids, it meant a deeper religious commitment to Christ– very beautiful! We had to all line up and practice the ceremony in the church, beforehand. The modern Confirmation ceremony, although it is a Sacrament– is not like this, I am sorry for what is missing. Not much is given, today, to Catholic kids, that is deeply meaningful, and inspires deeper religious devotion. Plus, many are also poorly catechized. What a shame! Glad that the Archbishop had the older ceremony for Confirmation, at Star of the Sea church! Maybe some of those kids will be inspired to become priests or nuns! Father Illo ought to include that in his blog, and save the transgender stuff for another time. The older Confirmation Sacrament ceremony is really rich and beautiful, spiritually.
My confirmation was not spiritual at all. Everybody was scared of the bishop hitting them. Because of other personal things, it is really bad memory.
Don’t be ridiculous, Catholic bishops never “hit” anyone, during the older rite of the Sacrament of Confirmation. They gently touched your cheek. That’s all.
The reformed rite of confirmation eliminated the sacrament’s most famous moment: the bishop’s slap. The slap first appeared in the 13th century. Incongruously, the bishop tapped the confirmand’s cheek while saying, “Peace be with you.” The slap inspired military imagery and fostered an interpretation of confirmation as a maturity rite. Durandus, who inserted the slap into the ritual, also thought it would serve as an exorcism and as a memory device to keep people from forgetting that they were confirmed. Its meaning was poorly understood. The removal of the slap supported the council’s desire that confirmation be connected more closely to initiation. The slap never had anything to do with initiation, and its removal helped purify the sacrament’s meaning.
From Father Paul Turner
The modern ceremony for the Confirnation rite is very simplified.. The Confirmandi do not kneel, before the Bishop, to receive the Sacrament, either. It is all very modernized, simplified.
@bad memory is your child size underwear in a twist
You do not know how funny that is.
Archbishop Cordelione is being disobedient to the Holy Father by celebrating confirmation using the older rite. The Responsa ad dubia about Traditionis custodes issued in December 2021 states that the bishop is not authorized to grant permission for the older Pontificale Romanum (which contains the older rite for the Sacrament of Confirmation) to be used. The bishop must use the rite for the sacrament of confirmation that was approved for the entire Latin Church by Pope Paul VI, which post-dates Vatican II’s call for liturgical reform.
This celebration of confirmation was a schismatic act.
A disobedient act is not schism.
He’s obstinately refusing submission to the Holy Father. That’s schism, by definition. You can’t say he submits to the Holy Father while at the same time flouting Catholic liturgical law enacted by the pope. It’s not okay just because it’s the TLM, you know.
The new Confirmation rite is there. Just use it. By using the outlawed old rite he’s exhibiting defiance.
Look anti-TLM modernist is wondering why his parish has no young people in it and is dying…The TLM will be around long after our bones have turned to dust…
I thought you were for respecting all clergy, especially hierarchy?
No it is not schism. It is not the definition of schism in the Catholic Church.
Schism is the rejection of the Pope or the Church by a group that used to belong to the Catholic church.
Also, a group which acknowledges the Pope but refuses to join with parishes established by bishop for worship would be schismatic.
Also there is nothing in the article saying that he used an old rite.
The rite described in the article is the old rite.
Well, this pope also changed everything the last pope did. So what? Don’t take it too seriously. The current pope also “heretically” encourages LGBT-promoting priests and clerics, like Jesuit Fr. James Martin, and Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich. The next pope may do something entirely different. Abp
Cordileone is allowed by Canon Law to make his own decisions on things. No “disobedience” here.
How do you or anyone else know if Archbishop Cordileone did or did not get permission from the pope to do this? A lot of people automatically assume he did not. Why? just because it would be pleasing to you? It is not what is pleasing to you or anyone else but what is pleasing to God.
So you can change your name but not your pronoun. Okay.
Not a name change: it’s taking an additional name.
Not sure why the snark about “pronouns”.
BTW: a boy can take Mary or Maria as a confirmation name, actually common practice in France, Spain and southern German. Girls sometimes took John.
Oh I get it.
Receiving the body God gave you as a gift is a very good and holy thought.
I wish he had not isolated it to gender or sexuality.
I read this online. I found it to be very interesting. There is a sentence that is offensive to Catholics but if you can overlook that, it has some very interesting ideas. It is from an evangelical Christian who has been agnostic and non-Church attending but also a “phony Christian.”
Why people aren’t attending Church? They are the people who never cared about it anyway but they also donated and provided a buffer between factions.
My biggest takeaway was “Why are things so polarized?” Answer: Because people care- and that is not a bad thing.
https://medium.com/interfaith-now/in-defense-of-phony-christians-2e6733e23240
This article was written by someone too young, and too uneducated, to understand anything about religion. To have what you believe to be a personal encounter with God, is a gift. The encounter may or may not be “authentic.” It’s a very personal experience, usually very emotional. Everyone may, at any time in their lives, suddenly receive this gift– you never know! Those who do not seem to have received this gift, should never be “judged” by a young kid who knows nothing, except their one, very emotional experience with God. It is always good to attend church, regardless. Clerics –priests and ministers– all try their best, to preach the Gospel of Christ, to all people. The Love of Christ opens up hearts to Him. But you also must educate the mind in Christ’s true teachings. We believe the Catholic Church has the true, authentic Faith and teachings of Jesus Christ. Protestants do not accept the Catholic Church. So be it. The writer was too young and too immature to understand it. Whenever Billy Graham was coming to town, all the churches used to get together, Protestant and Catholic, to support Graham’s Crusades. Priests and ministers would give out prayer cards, with prayers for conversions to Christ, during the Crusades, to their church members, and we all would pray for conversions, starting weeks before the Crusade even came to town. And we all would pray for conversions! At the Crusade, representatives from all the city’s churches were always on hand, to receive people who attended Graham’s altar calls, and invite them to come to church. Billy Graham was a non-denominational preacher, and he knew it was important for new believers to find a church, and grow in their new faith. A traditional, Bible-believing church, is all Rev. Graham asked for. Graham didn’t even baptize new believers! So, all the churches were on hand, to help.
Some of those so-called phonies were not really phony — just people looking for the right direction in life. Many were good and decent people. I knew an elderly couple married once until death. They went to the Unitarian Church later in life, but they did not agree with everything the Unitarians taught but read the Bible a lot.
The elderly man said to me over the fence one time, “You know our minister said that the Catholics were wrong for using relics, but the Bible is full of the use of relics, like handkerchiefs being used to heal from the Apostles.” I told him, “Yes, it is even in the Old Testament.”
A long time ago, in the 1960s, I and others at my parish church, were very surprised, when our Pastor related to us, that he had had a sudden, deeply emotional and meaningful experience of God’s Love. Prior to that experience, he had only believed in God and the Catholic Faith, from an intellectual standpoint. He was an immigrant Irish Catholic priest, from Northern Ireland, in his late 30s, when he had that sudden religious experience. We all were so amazed! Many of us had had deeply emotional and meaningful experiences of God, Christ, and Our Blessed Mother, with great religious devotion, since childhood, or in our teenage years. But God is the One Who gives to us the Gift of Faith, and all spiritual gifts and consolations. We must love and serve God, regardless, whether we are blessed with these gifts, or not. We must walk by Faith alone, and trust in God, that He knows best.
Protestants do not know of the tremendous love of Our Blessed Mother in Heaven, for all her children on earth, many of whom are suffering greatly. In the Orthodox churches, she is beloved also, and called the “Theotokos,” the great Mother of God. It is a wonderful thing, to venerate Our Blessed Mother, and to ask for her millions of graces and consolations, for all our needs. It is also wonderful, to cultivate a deep devotion to her, pray her Rosary often, and make the famous St. Louis de Montfort “33 Day Consecration,” or a similar consecration. Our Blessed Mother has helped millions of souls get to Heaven, and has been responsible for millions of religious conversions, leading souls to her Divine Son, Jesus Christ. Traditionally, Our Blessed Mother is the special Role Model for Catholic girls and women. In the traditional Catholic Wedding Mass, there is a special part, in which the Bride goes to the altar of Our Lady, and offers a bouquet of flowers to her, and prays silently.
Church Militant has had to downsize and layoff employees. Should be an indication that 1950s throwback Catholicism is on the way out. It still appeals to a miniscule minority as a niche consumer group, but it’s not the future and it will only decline instead of grow. Like those who prefer film photography instead of digital. They exist, but they are insignificant and will die out.
They exist, but they are insignificant and will die out. nice try troll but since trad families average 6-8 kids or more not only will we not die out will over take the spent Novus Ordo Church which is in its death throes, as their parishes, schools, convents and seminaries continue to close.. Again nice try but reality and Truth is NOT ON YOUR SIDE
There is no such thing as a Novus Ordo Church. That is heresy.
Ba ha ha ha ha ha ha haha ha ha ha ha…. yeah keep telling yourself that as the Church in the West continues to dissolve since the implementation of the Novus Ordo mass and the spirit of Vatican 2… Your revolution is on fumes ,,,,
oh bohemond you poor thing
Don’t be ridiculous. Church Militant is run by some radicals, they are not at all like the typical quiet, lovely young Catholic mother, with six children in tow, and her loving husband, devoutly attending the holy Latin Tridentine Mass. Not all Mass-goers–for any type of Mass– are alike. And most Catholic Mass-goers are quiet believers– not radicals. Go try the beautiful, reverent, ancient, 1500+ years-old, holy Latin Tridentine Mass, sometime– and see for yourself. You might even like it.
If you know a mother with 6 kids who is quiet (and I do know some),you have received a blessing.