OLM Sacraments and Prayer
Spring 2014
Group Discussion
 Form
a group of 3 (and not more) and
answer the following three questions:
 What is a vocation?
 What, if anything, differentiates a
vocation from a career?
 What is the basis of a Christian
vocation?
Vocation: An Introduction
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English: vocation
Spanish: la vocación
French: la vocation
Italian: la vocazione
German: die Berufung (vb. rufen)
 Example: Meine Berufung ist Preister und
Theologielehrer zu sein.
Latin: vocatio – vocare (vb. “to call”)
Greek: kalein — (vb. “to call, invite,
summon”)
Hebrew: qārā’
The Basis of a Vocation
Part One
Excursus: My Vocation Experience
Born: May 31, 1986: Oklahoma City, OK
 Moved to ATL Suburbs: November 1987
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 Lived in Clemson, SC: 1996-99.
 Otherwise, grew up in Gwinnett County.
St. Pius HS: Class of 2003
 St. John Neumann Church
 Clemson University: 2003-04 (Engineering)
 Entered Seminary: July 2004
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Franciscan University (OH): 2004-06
North American College (Rome): 2006-11
Ordained a Deacon: October 8, 2009
Ordained a Priest: June 26, 2010
My First Mass: June 27, 2010
The Threefold Munera
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Traditionally, as Catholics, we identify three
distinct offices (munera) to Jesus’
Messiahship:
 Munus docendi (teaching office): Prophet
 Munus sanctificandi (sanctifying office): Priest
 Munus regendi (governing office): King
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Christ is the preeminent:
 Teacher (e.g. Sermon on the Mount)
 High Priest (cf. Epistle to the Hebrews)
 Good Shepherd (cf. Jn 10)
Holy Orders: The Biblical Witness
Genesis 14: Melchizedek (antitype)
 Exodus: The Priesthood of Aaron and
the Levites
 Numbers 11:24-25: The 70 Elders
 Psalm 110:4 — “The LORD has sworn
and will not waver: ‘You are a priest
forever in the manner of Melchizedek.’”
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 Applied to Christ in both Hebrews and the
Synoptic Gospels (cf. e.g. Mk 11:35-37)
Hebrews: Christ the Great High Priest
The Epistle to the Hebrews: Refers to Jesus as
the Great High Priest. (emphasizes how Christ
supersedes what came before him):
 The High Priest in Judaism
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 Chosen Among Men
 Entered the Holy of Holies Once a Year
 Offered Sacrifice (both for himself and the people)
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Jesus:
 Greater than the angels, like his brothers in every way.
(Cf. Heb 2:17)
 Entered the Holy of Holies Once for All (Cf. Heb 9:26)
 Both Priest and Victim: “Offered once to take away the
sins of many” (Heb 9:28)
History of Holy Orders
Ordo: A group within society.
 In antiquity, there were a number of
“orders” such as the Order of Bishops,
Priests, Deacons, Subdeacons, Virgins,
Penitents, etc.
 Over time, theology developed and
recognized that the ordination which
permitted a man to preside over the
Eucharist was its own Sacrament.
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Vatican II
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Three Degrees to the Sacrament of Holy
Orders:
 Bishops
 Priests
 Deacons
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Christ the Good Shepherd
Christ the Great High Priest
Christ the Servant
Character Sacrament: Cannot be repeated.
Two Particular Issues
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Celibacy: With very few exceptions, all
Roman Rite priests are required to remain
celibate (unmarried). Why?
 Image of Christ the Bridegroom.
 Freedom to Serve God with an Undivided Heart.
 Prophetic Sign: Soldiers and Prophets in
Antiquity
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Ordination of Men Alone: Due to the
priest’s unique role in serving as an image
of Christ, only men may be validly ordained
as priests. (Cf. St. John Paul II, Ordinatio
Sacerdotalis, 1994.)
Part Two
Election of the Candidate
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After the proclamation of the Gospel, a deacon calls
all the ordinandi by name, and they respond:
“Present.”
 A Priest who assisted in the ordinandi’s training says:
“Most Reverend Father, holy mother Church asks you to
ordain these, our brothers, to the responsibility of the
Priesthood.”
 Bishop: “Do you know them to be worthy?”
 Priest: “After inquiry among the Christian people and upon
the recommendation of those responsible, I testify that
they have been found worthy.”
 Bishop: “Relying on the help of our Lord God and Savior
Jesus Christ, we choose these, our brothers, for the Order
of the Priesthood.”
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The homily follows.
Promise of the Elect
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The ordinandi then make six promises:
 To faithfully carry out the office of the priesthood.
 To “exercise the ministry of the word worthily and wisely,
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preaching and teaching the Catholic faith.”
To “celebrate faithfully and reverently, in accord with the
Church’s tradition, the mysteries of Christ” especially the
Eucharist and Reconciliation.
To pray constantly for the people of God.
To “be united more closely every day to Christ the High
Priest, who offered himself for us to the Father as a pure
Sacrifice, and with him to consecrate yourselves to God
for the salvation of all?”
Respect and obedience to the Bishop.
Central Rites
Litany of the Saints: Ordinandi prostrate
themselves.
 The Laying on of Hands (essential matter)
 The Prayer of Ordination (essential form)
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Post-Ordination Rites
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The new priests, now ordained, now undergo four
explanatory rites which show clearly how their lives
have just changed:
 Vesting with Stole and Chasuble: The new priests are clothed
in their priestly vestments.
 Anointing of the Hands with Chrism: “The Lord Jesus Christ,
whom the Father anointed with the Holy Spirit and power, guard
and preserve you that you may sanctify the Christian people and
offer sacrifice to God.”
 Handing Over of Bread and Wine: “Receive the oblation of the
holy people, to be offered to God. Understand what you do,
imitate what you celebrate, and conform your life to the mystery
of the Lord’s cross.
 Sign of Peace with the Bishop and Other Priests Present
Part Three
Marriage: A Definition
CIC c. 1055 §1. The matrimonial covenant, by
which a man and a woman establish between
themselves a partnership of the whole of life and
which is ordered by its nature to the good of the
spouses and the procreation and education of
offspring, has been raised by Christ the Lord to the
dignity of a sacrament between the baptized.
 c. 1056: The essential properties of marriage are
unity and indissolubility, which in Christian
marriage obtain a special firmness by reason of
the sacrament.
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Three Meanings
The word marriage carries three possible
meanings. These meanings are independent; a
given marriage may meet one or more
definitions:
 Legal Marriage: An entity in civil law; the
Church has nothing to do with this definition.
 Valid Marriage: An entity in natural law; the
Church has discerned this definition by
reflecting on human nature, but it is not
exclusively governed by the Church.
 Sacramental Marriage (= Holy Matrimony):
An entity in divine law; the Church exercises
exclusive jurisdiction over this type of marriage.
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Matthew 19:8-9
[Jesus] said to them, "Because of the
hardness of your hearts Moses allowed you to
divorce your wives, but from the beginning it
was not so. 9 I say to you, whoever divorces
his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) and
marries another commits adultery.“
 A valid sacramental marriage is indissoluble,
even if a couple obtains a civil divorce.
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An Aside: Matthew 19:12
 “Some
are incapable of marriage because
they were born so; some, because they were
made so by others; some, because they
have renounced marriage for the sake of the
kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this
ought to accept it.“
 Both marriage and celibacy are part of
Christ’s plan for the Church.
Ephesians 5:25-27
“Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
loved the church and handed himself over
for her 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by
the bath of water with the word, 27 that he
might present to himself the church in
splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any
such thing, that she might be holy and
without blemish.”
 The married couple is called to be a living
image of Christ’s love for the Church.
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Canonical Form
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Catholics are obliged (in the Precepts of the
Church) to observe the marriage laws of the
Church. Specifically, this means that:
 They either marry other Catholics or obtain a
permission affirming their responsibility to do all in
their power to raise their children Catholic.
 They marry before a priest/deacon and two witnesses
unless they obtain a dispensation (canonical form).
 They regard marriage with the due seriousness with
which the Church treats it: an unbreakable lifelong
covenant.