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Back in 1968, did anyone forecast that we would soon be talking about a general breakdown in ordinary family life? Yes, someone did. Some 30 years ago, Pope Paul VI issued Humanae Vitae an encyclical letter which upheld the time-tested Christian teaching that artificial contraception is morally wrong. In 1968, Pope Paul worried that:

Father Michel Schooyans S.J. died May 3, at the age of ninety-two. He was a Jesuit from Belgium, a philosopher, and theologian who taught at Louvain University and in many other academic institutions throughout the world. He was especially relied on and esteemed by Pope John Paul II. Indicative of the current climate in Rome his death was passed over in silence. Here are some bullet points which appeared in a long article on the life of Father Schooyans at the website, La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, (the Daily Compass):

To live well is nothing other than to love God will all one’s heart, with all one’s soul and with all one’s efforts; from this it comes that love is kept whole and uncorrupted (through temperance). No misfortune can disturb it (and this is fortitude). It obeys only [God] (and this is justice), and is careful in discerning things, so as not to be surprised by deceit or trickery (and this is prudence)

— St. Augustine De moribus ecclesiae 1,25,46
Catechism of the Catholic Church: #1809

One time several young American Catholics were interviewed about their relationship with the Church. With Saint Peter’s Basilica in the background, one guy, said something to the effect that “I have a relationship with God and I don’t really need the Church to come in between that.” In other words, “I can live however I want, still love Jesus, call myself ‘Catholic’, and no pope, bishop or priest is going to tell me otherwise.” Most of you I am sure have heard a variation on this line before. Pope Benedict addressed this attitude in a reflection on Christ and the Church in 2006. Here are excerpts from that reflection:

Pope Benedict before he was Pope as Cardinal Ratzinger expressed himself on the title of this essay in a book called The Ratzinger Report. He said: It (the saying about Mary you can never say enough) seemed exaggerated to me. So it was difficult for me to understand the true meaning of another famous expression… the declaration that designated the Virgin Mary as the “conqueror of all heresies.” Now in this confused period where truly every type of heretical aberration seems to be pressing upon the doors of the authentic faith-now I understand that it was not a matter of pious exaggerations, but of truths that today are more valid than ever.

The Church teaches in the Compendium of her social teaching the following:

239. The family has a completely original and irreplaceable role in raising children. The parents’ love, placing itself at the service of children to draw forth from them (“e-ducere”) the best that is in them, finds its fullest expression precisely in the task of educating. “As well as being a source, the parents’ love is also the animating principle and therefore the norm inspiring and guiding all concrete educational activity, enriching it with the values of kindness, constancy, goodness, service, disinterestedness and self-sacrifice that are the most precious fruit of love.” (Note: the word “education” comes from the Latin “educere” to lead forth.)

125. What is the “hell” into which Jesus descended?

This “hell” was different from the hell of the damned. It was the state of all those, righteous and evil, who died before Christ. With his soul united to his divine Person Jesus went down to the just in hell who were awaiting their Redeemer so they could enter at last into the vision of God. When he had conquered by his death both death and the devil “who has the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14), he freed the just who looked forward to the Redeemer and opened for them the gates of heaven.

Satisfaction is the final act which crowns the sacramental sign of Confession. The sacramental sign is the absolution of our sins by Jesus through His priest. The act, which the forgiven and absolved penitent agrees to perform after receiving absolution, is precisely called his penance. Making satisfaction is the third act of the penitent, after contrition for sins and the confession of sins. Absolution does not take away all the disorder sin has caused: harm to self and to neighbor. This must be healed in this life or in the life to come.

One of the marks of the Evil One noted by our Lord and the teachings of the Church is the lie. However he’s a seductive-liar giving people the impression of truth and love for God and neighbor. God’s grace is required to unmask the lie and we are aided by the clear teaching of the Church in this regard.

O Most Holy Trinity dwelling in my soul through Your grace, I adore You. O Most Holy Trinity dwelling through Your grace in my soul, grant that I may love You more and more. O Most Holy Trinity dwelling through Your grace in my soul more and more make me holy. Remain with me Lord. Be my true joy. Another Prayer All-powerful Father, help my weakness and snatch me from the depth of my distress. Wisdom of the Son, direct all my thoughts, words, and actions. Love of the Holy Spirit be the beginning of all the activity of my understanding and free will ever conformed to what pleases the Lord God.

The Church teaches that the devil at first was a good angel created by God: the devil and the other demons were created naturally-good by God, but they became evil by their own doing. Catechism of the Catholic Church #392

The devil exists and acts in people and society. His activity is mysterious, but real and effective. Some people are inclined towards a superficial optimism and think evil is merely an incidental imperfection in a world which is continually evolving towards better days. Nevertheless the history of mankind has been adversely affected by the devil’s influence. We find in our day all the features of an intense evil which cannot be explained in terms of human behavior alone.

Station days were days of fasting in the early Christian Church, associated with a procession to certain prescribed churches in Rome, where the Mass and Vespers would be celebrated to mark important days of the liturgical year. Although other cities also had similar practices, and the fasting is no longer prescribed, the Roman churches associated with the various station days are still the object of pilgrimage and ritual, especially in the season of Lent.

The Church which is “Jesus Christ spread abroad and communicated” completes—so far as it can be completed here below—the work of spiritual reunion which was made necessary by sin; that work which was begun at the Incarnation¹ and was carried on up to Calvary. In one sense the Church is herself this reunion, for that is what is meant by the name of Catholic by which we find her called from the second century onward, and which in Latin and well as in Greek was for long bestowed upon her as a proper noun.