Ritual??
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February 23, 2010 - 12:00
I have a friend who understand Catholic teaching well, but he doesn't do "rituals" like fasting and community and doesn't go to mass regularly as he believes that mass is just a way we get close to God and to understand His teaching, which can be done by reading bible and digest it on our own free time. So, is what he does OK? Is believing God is all?
February 23, 2010 - 13:45
#2
Hollow Ritual
Hi Taffy,
your friend's words remind of the late Pope John Paul II's words that Mass can be a hollow ritual if it is not been proper catechesed or seriously attended. At the heart of Mass is Christ who has been present in every Eucharistic celebration. This powerful sacrament given to us by Christ is the ultimate sign of his love and humility. From being God to become a piece of wafer for us to eat and be united in Him, what a better way to be with God!! The parts of Liturgy if understood properly mirrors very closely to what was revealed to John in Revelations. When we understand this, we realise that the Mass is the closest thing we have to being in Heaven and being with Jesus as a community (the body of Christ).
When we fast, we must understand why it is so. To fast is to die to oneself, so that we can have a more intimate relationship with Jesus. It must be with prayer or else it would just be bad way to diet. It is definitely not easy to fast because our body would scream for all its demands to be met. But if we can master our body desires, it helps us to become more focus on heavenly things and pray better. To read the Bible, praying and meditating over it is good and encouraged. However, there is a danger if it is not guided by the teaching authority of the Church (the magisterium). It may lead to self- interpretation and there is a danger of pride in it. Not going to Church regularly only increases the chance of this happening.
Therefore, to help your friend, it would be good to get more friends to accompany him to Mass. Your friend seems to trust what the Bible says. The following website might help http://www.cym.com.au/whynot/missingmass.php . There are also a lot of books which talks about the Mass: "The Mass Explained" by Monsignor James P. Moroney or "The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth" by Scott Hahn are some of them. Hope this helps.
February 23, 2010 - 17:35
#3
To add on...
So to answer your question... what he does is not ok. We are not called to be hermits. We are all in the body of Christ. We are called to be Christ to be others. The salt of the Earth and light of the World. Not salt of my own bedroom or light of my own toilet.
If we truly understand who Jesus is to us and believe in Him, we would know His great love. We would definitely want to share it. For those who have felt this knows that this is a very poweful feeling and it is powered by the Holy Spirit Himself. Community provides us a great chance to share the love and serve others. Love for Jesus would want to bring us to Mass to have the closest and most intimate encounter with Jesus. It is as Pope John Paul II has said "The Eucharist is the source and summit of Chrisitian worship".
Reading the Bible and trying to learn about God by yourself is sometimes a little dangerous without the Church guiding us. Even the devil uses Scriptures to tempt Jesus (Matthew 4:5-7).
In summary, we need to lead a life of love in a community if we call ourselves to be Christian. We need to understand the full meaning of why we do things in the chuch and not "monkey see monkey do". To understand deeper about the teachings of Christ is not only discovered in the Scriptures but also in Tradition and Magisterium of the Church (ok this might be a new point haha).
February 23, 2010 - 17:42
#4
Well said
Very well said papa ben... *thumbs up*
February 26, 2010 - 17:02
#5
That's a point
Thanks sist! nope, i'm still in jakarta, will be back there on June. Yup we must obey the Lord.
Thanks papa Ben! haha the last sentence is a new point.. hmm but as years passed, wouldn't the church and tradition has changed slightly? Why people fast? Is it just to let us feel how Jesus feel when He fast for 40 days? And why don't we fast like Muslims do?
February 26, 2010 - 19:03
#6
Oui
Hai Taffy,
the changes that are in church are there to better exlpore and explain the faith. However, the faith that Christ deposited remains still the same, what is being taught now will not contradict what was being taught by Christ then. It is just that the teachings are being better explained or explained to help us in our current time. Traditions are verbal teachings that are passed down by Christians through the ages, all the way from the apostoles. They do not and will not contradict what is being written in the Bible. John said it best in John 21:25 "But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." Also note that Jesus had always told the disciples to "proclaim the Good News/Kingdom of God has come" and not "go write a record or compile what you have seen". Hence, tradition follows exactly what has been mandated by Christ himself. It is important to know that this is very different from superstitions, the traditions of the Church is well supported by Church teachings as well.
The important note about fasting is that, it has to be rooted in repentance of our shortcoming and our change of heart towards Christ. When being truly repentant of being away from the love of our life, Christ, we would naturally want to be less controlled by whatever our body wants. Fasting is a good way to do that because it helps the mind to overcome bodily desires and controls our body more. But remember that our body needs food so don't fast till you faint. When Jesus fast it is to help him be focused on his ministry and prepare himself spiritually. So, I do not think that the Church is encouraging fasting to let us feel what Jesus felt. But if we want to, we can use fasting to feel what people who are without food felt. In that way, we can feel more love towards those who has little and show our generosity towards them.
There is no exact rule to tell us how we must fast. Only guidelines to suggest 2 light meals and 1 full meal. For those who are fatter, healtier or younger, we can choose a more challenging fasting method. I understand some of the popular ways are: 1) to fast like Muslim do, ie to eat/drink only after a certain hour in the late evening. 2) Bread and water fast ie to take only plain bread and water lightly throughout the day. 3) to fast complete for a day ie no food for the whole 24 hour period (water being drank though). You know your body the best and don't push it too hard. Excessive fasting in itself is just vainty (pride).
February 27, 2010 - 20:01
#7
On fasting
On fasting, there is a nice reflection written by Oka that you can find below:
http://stmary.sg/emmaus/news/2009/09/reflection-fasting
Do not forget to drop a comment there if you have anything to add or to question :)
March 1, 2010 - 15:32
#8
I see
Hmm... I think I got that already. Thanks guys for the sharings =)
papa Ben! u shud be our speaker, ok?
March 9, 2010 - 05:28
#9
i confess
i must confess, after reading this thread, i'm guilty to judge other people here for judging this person is wrong... and i've written a long case about it in here which i found it irrelevant after i search in google about judging others, and i found this:
(Matthew 7:3) Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?
=> we have similar proverb in indonesia, "Gajah di pelupuk mata tidak terlihat, semut di seberang lautan terlihat"
(James 5:20) remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins
(2 Timothy 4:2) Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction
(John 7:24) Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment
=> a lesson to me, a right judgement can save other people live
points that i found interesting in this thread:
- "even demon has the same belief". in fact if they really are the fallen angels, they should know better than we do. they know, but they don't live by it.
- "that mass is just a way we get close to God and to understand His teaching". well... in a way this statement is correct, or maybe half correct. because mass is not only that, it's... < see ben's comment for more details >.
Hey sist, good to hear from you all the way from Jakarta. Or are you here already? Hahaha! I got this from James 2:19-20
For me the part where it says even the demons have the same belief, it's scarily true. I would say, one of the things that can differentiate is obedience.
- Chris -
Being grateful of the little things in life He has given me