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Why do we confess to priests? Can’t we just confess to God?

Let’s just suppose for a moment that I, as an underpaid writer, decided that I needed some fast cash and so I rob a store! Whom would I owe an apology to? Certainly I would apologize to the store’s owner, as well as my family, friends, parishioners, bishop, and the community in general. My bad act reflects on me and all who know me. People would say, “I heard your priest robbed a store…” Well, sin is much the same way. We are all affected by each other’s sin since we are all members of the same body. Each of us is called to live out the baptismal call to make Christ more visible in the world. When we sin, we fail to hold up our part.
Confession is not only reconciliation with God, but also with the church. The priest represents the church community in the sacrament, so that as we are reconciled with God (who does not need a “middle man”), we are also reconciled with the church.
Two other thoughts: We know the time, place and moment we sin. With confession, we also know the moment we are forgiven. Finally, confessing to a priest helps us articulate our sins as well as get some direction and advice in growing in our faith. Finding a good confessor and going regularly makes all the difference.

©2009 Liturgical Publications Inc

 Used with permission

A special blessing of throats occurs on the feast of St. Blaise, February 3. What is the origin of this?

St. Blaise, Biagio in Italian, Blasco or Blas in Spanish, was a bishop of Sebaste, Armenia, in modern Turkey, who was martyred for witnessing to the faith. He was tortured and beheaded for his beliefs by the local Roman governor around AD316. This is all that is known about him, the rest being legend. We know much more about devotion to and the popularity of St. Blaise than historical facts.

The special blessing of throats associated with St. Blaise is due to a miracle attributed to him. While in prison, he miraculously saved a boy choking on a fish bone. Early in the sixth century, evidence exists in the Eastern Church that Blaise was prayed to for aliments of the throat. To this day, his feast is a holy day in the Eastern Church. In the ninth century, veneration of St. Blaise came to the Western church and became very popular. Blessing of the throats with crossed candles began in the 1500s, the height of devotion to St. Blaise, and that blessing is still part of the devotion of the Catholic Church.

No matter what the facts are, St. Blaise is a constant reminder to us of God’s care and concern for us in our weakness, sickness, and limited human existence. God’s healing touch is with us always. St. Blaise’s celebration is one of the ways in which we highlight and thank God for that care and concern.

(c)2006 Liturgical Publications Inc, New Berlin, WI 53151
used with permission

I was surprised to learn that not all countries celebrate the same holy days. If we are traveling and the country where we are does not celebrate a holy day that we do in the USA, must we go to Mass?

There are ten holy days of obligation: Mary, the Mother of God; Epiphany; St. Joseph; Ascension; Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ; St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles; Assumption of Mary; All Saints; Immaculate Conception; and Christmas. The Conference of Catholic Bishops of individual countries, with approval of the Holy See, can either suppress certain holy days of obligation or transfer them to a Sunday. The Holy See requires that in each country Christmas and one feast of Mary be observed on the actual date as holy days of obligation.
In the US we always celebrate the Immaculate Conception, our patronal feast, on December 8, as a holy day of obligation. In 1998, the USCCB allowed Ascension Thursday to be transferred to the following Sunday. In the United States, Epiphany and Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ have been transferred to Sunday. The feasts of St. Joseph and St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles have not been holy days of obligation for many years. In the US, whenever January 1, August 15, or November 1 falls on a Saturday or a Monday, there is no obligation to attend Mass.
When traveling, the old saying applies: When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Your obligation follows the local customs.

©2009 Liturgical Publications Inc

Used with permission

The following letter from Ken Hackett, President of Catholic Relief Services, shares crucial information about the growing disaster in East Africa:

You are probably starting to hear about a humanitarian crisis unfolding in East Africa, mostly affecting Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. Catholic Relief Services staff in the region report dreadful conditions. This just came in from a refugee camp in Kenya:
They’ve walked for days or weeks from Somalia, and their shoes show it. Dusty and worn, the sandals of a little boy dangle in his hand as he wails in the center of the camp. Nearby, his exhausted 22-year-old mother, Momina, rocks her sobbing baby. “We had sheep, goats and cattle—over a dozen,” she says. “They all died from the drought…. Food was running out. So, we left.”
These terrible conditions have sparked an exodus of refugees—mostly women and children—pouring into Kenya and Ethiopia in search of food.
East Africa’s worst drought in more than half a century is causing extreme hunger for more than 11 million people. Severe lack of rainfall has resulted in failed crops, critical shortages in food and water, and countless numbers of livestock dying from dehydration and starvation. Further compounding the crisis are drastic increases in food prices.
All this brings to mind sobering images from the Ethiopian famine of 1984. Who can forget the pictures of emaciated, listless children on TV? The full scope of such a humanitarian catastrophe was not fully realized until after so many had died.
This time is different. This time, we know what is likely to come as the disaster unfolds. I am asking you to help CRS with a generous gift so that we can quickly increase the scope of our efforts there to feed and provide water to as many needy people as possible. Help us prevent another tragedy.
Since 1960, CRS has provided water and agricultural programs in Kenya and Ethiopia, where current drought conditions are not as dire as in Somalia. Your previous gifts are already saving lives because those programs helped us dig deep wells that have helped lessen the drought’s effects. But this drought is so widespread that our existing efforts are not enough. We need your help.
I ask you to please give now and help prevent another disaster like the 1984 Ethiopian famine. Please help our brothers and sisters in East Africa, who so desperately need our help.

For more information or to help, go to http://www.crs.org.

As I write this article, I’m enjoying a lovely North Dakota summer day. The sun is shining, the blue sky is dappled with whispy white clouds, and the gold and orange lillies are blooming outside my office window. It’s a good time to think about the simple things to do to care for this beautiful world God has provided for us.
Here are a few suggestions from the World Wildlife Fund:
 

• Put on a sweater, or take one off. Since the pendulum in N.D. seems to swing between furnace and air conditioning and rarely stops in between, this can help conserve energy.   

• Walk the walk. Drive less, enjoy bicycling, or get to know your neighborhood better by strolling through it

• Go for seconds – guilt free! How many items can be reused instead of thrown away? Padded envelopes, the plastic cell-packs from our seedlings, a plastic water bottle…

• Watch your waste. Oil, paints, ink cartridges, batteries do have special disposal procedures.

• Paper or plastic? No thanks! Bring your own bags along for shopping. Many have commented that bringing cloth bags to the grocery store has now become a habit.

• Flip the switch. As we are enjoying the longer days of summer, we still need to remember to turn off unneeded lights (and other energy-using items).

• Plant a seed, or a tree, a shrub, a tomato plant. The benefits are many and varied.
   
• Return to sender. if you receive too much mail or too many catalogs, contact the companies and have your name removed from their lists. Less clutter at home is an added bonus.

The leaders of more than fifty Christian denominations and organizations, including the presidents of Catholic Relief Services and Catholic Charities, and Bishop Stephen E. Blaire, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Domestic Justice, have signed the document printed below, calling for our political leaders to protect poor and vulnerable people, as they act to reduce the deficit.

A Circle of Protection: A Statement on Why We Need to Protect Programs for the Poor

In the face of historic deficits, the nation faces unavoidable choices about how to balance needs and resources and allocate burdens and sacrifices. These choices are economic, political — and moral.

As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare. We look at every budget proposal from the bottom up — how it treats those Jesus called “the least of these” (Matthew 25:45). They do not have powerful lobbies, but they have the most compelling claim on our consciences and common resources. The Christian community has an obligation to help them be heard, to join with others to insist that programs that serve the most vulnerable in our nation and around the world are protected. We know from our experience serving hungry and homeless people that these programs meet basic human needs and protect the lives and dignity of the most vulnerable. We believe that God is calling us to pray, fast, give alms, and to speak out for justice.

As Christian leaders, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. We are also committed to resist budget cuts that undermine the lives, dignity, and rights of poor and vulnerable people. Therefore, we join with others to form a Circle of Protection around programs that meet the essential needs of hungry and poor people at home and abroad.
1. The nation needs to substantially reduce future deficits, but not at the expense of hungry and poor people.
2. Funding focused on reducing poverty should not be cut. It should be made as effective as possible, but not cut.
3. We urge our leaders to protect and improve poverty-focused development and humanitarian assistance to promote a better, safer world.
4. National leaders must review and consider tax revenues, military spending, and entitlements in the search for ways to share sacrifice and cut deficits.
5. A fundamental task is to create jobs and spur economic growth. Decent jobs at decent wages are the best path out of poverty, and restoring growth is a powerful way to reduce deficits.
6. The budget debate has a central moral dimension. Christians are asking how we protect “the least of these.” “What would Jesus cut?” “How do we share sacrifice?” As believers, we turn to God with prayer and fasting, to ask for guidance as our nation makes decisions about our priorities as a people.
7. As believers, we turn to God with prayer and fasting, to ask for guidance as our nation makes decisions about our priorities as a people. 

  8. God continues to shower our nation and the world with blessings. As Christians, we are rooted in the love of God in Jesus Christ. Our task is to share these blessings with love and justice and with a special priority for those who are poor.

Budgets are moral documents, and how we reduce future deficits are historic and defining moral choices. As Christian leaders, we urge Congress and the administration to give moral priority to programs that protect the life and dignity of poor and vulnerable people in these difficult times, our broken economy, and our wounded world. It is the vocation and obligation of the church to speak and act on behalf of those Jesus called “the least of these.” This is our calling, and we will strive to be faithful in carrying out this mission.

To learn more about the Circle of Protection and to sign your name to it, go to the Sojourners site- http://www.sojo.org/