JANUARY 2005 (part 1 of 3)

Q.- Why did God let evil come into the world?

A.- That is a question often pondered at one time or another by most people. Probably all people.

If God is all-holy and all-powerful, then how does one explain evil? If He made it, doesn’t that mean that He isn’t as holy as we’ve been told? Or if He allows it, wouldn’t that mean He’s not as almighty and in control of everything as we’d like to think?

And those are fair questions for one to ask, really, when we look around and see the evil we’re capable of. But the answers, ultimately, are revealed in the light of faith and God’s revelation to us.

Firstly, we have to examine what “evil” really is. Evil would best be defined as an “absence of perfection” (in something, someone, an action or a choice). So, in regards as to whether God “made” evil, no, He didn’t. God made all things, visible and invisible. But evil isn’t a thing at all but a lacking or absence of perfection in it. Morally, our choices and actions can be evil but it doesn’t become a thing of its own self.

Now if you look in Scripture you’ll see in the story of creation that God (repeatedly) sees what He has made and proclaims it good. And after He created man He “saw everything that He had made and, behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31) His creation is made in complete goodness because He is Himself all-good, all-holy. Plainly, things started out well. So what happened? Did God lose control of His creation? Or make it just to ignore it and let things spiral downward?

To answer why there is evil, you have to look at what God did make, and why He made it that way. Out of all creation, there are two creatures revealed to us to possess intelligence and free will. Angels and Man. They can know God and themselves and can choose to love and serve Him or reject Him. As His highest creations God gave us that freedom to choose Him because love is a choice. It cannot be forced. He freely loves us and created us in such dignity that He wishes us to choose Him in return and He respects the free will He endowed us with. The problem (of evil) then is that we’ve used our free will to reject Him. Even though “man was destined to be fully ‘divinized’ by God in glory…. he wanted to ‘be like God’, but ‘without God, before God and not in accordance with God’.” (catechism #398)

But He has not abandoned us to our choice. In our rejection of Him, we fell from the original state of happiness and holiness God gave us. We were immune from pain, suffering, and death. We had superior knowledge and perfect harmony with creation, as well as in ourselves, with each other and with God. When we fell it was disastrous. But God knew that in giving us free will this would happen. So why did He do it?

God has a mysterious plan that we won’t fully see and know in all its intricacies until Judgement Day, but we do know that He allows evil to occur now, so as to, in the end, bring greater good out of it. As only God is capable of doing! As great as our original state was, our redeemed and glorified state will be better! In sending Jesus to save us from our sins, He not only restores us to what we were but He raises us even higher! And yet, our free will is still respected to freely choose Him or not, as is only just. Some will and some won’t. It is up to the person to decide. “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life, then, that you and your descendants may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)Those who choose to love and serve God, despite their weakness, sins and failings, will find forgiveness and salvation through Jesus and not only have their nature restored to its original holiness but raised up to become children of God. For “the Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”. (catechism #460)

This is, perhaps, a greater mystery than why He allows us to choose such evil.
The mystery of how or why God would give such a marvelous and undeserved gift as that.
But we only see the evil and suffering that surrounds us and we cannot imagine what can await the one who chooses God and not himself. “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, it has not so much as entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him”. (1 Corinthians, 2:9)

We, despite having the freedom to choose evil, have the opportunity to more than we were originally destined to have. This is why, if you attend the Easter Vigil this year, you will hear a beautiful Easter Proclamation (more often referred to as the Exsultet) sung by the deacon in which heaven, earth and the church are invited to rejoice in the feast of Easter joy. One of the strangest (and most lovely) lines goes like this:

O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!

Recommended reading:

Catechism of the Catholic Church (#’s 302-421)

Why Does God Permit Evil? (Dom Bruno Webb)

Q.- When does the consecration of bread and wine take place?

A.- The consecration takes place while the priest recites the words of the institution of the Eucharist. The Church teaches “in the institution narrative, the power of the words and the action of Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit, make sacramentally present under the species of bread and wine Christ’s Body and Blood, His sacrifice offered on the cross once for all.” (catechism #1353)

The institution narrative takes place during the Eucharistic Prayer. Just prior to it you will see the Priest stretch his hands over the bread and wine on the altar and invoke God to send His Holy Spirit (or His blessing) upon the gifts so that they may become the Body and
Blood of Jesus Christ. This part is called the epiclesis (which is a Greek word which means to “invoke upon”). You then will see him make the sign of the cross over them. After this, you will hear the priest move in to the actual consecratory words when you see him take the bread in his hands and say “Take this, all of you, and eat it: this is my body which will be given up for you.” He then elevates the Host for all to see and adore. He does the same with the chalice after saying, “Take this, all of you, and drink from it: this is the cup of my blood………….” This is the consecration of the Latin rite. The Eastern Catholic rites believe the consecration takes place at the epiclesis, which in their liturgy follows after the institutional narrative. Both forms are valid (in their own rite and liturgy) and show the richness and mystery of the workings of the Holy Spirit.

But in our rite, as stated, the focus is on the consecratory words. In the past, sometimes the priest elevated the bread and wine during the consecration or even just prior to it, which confused some of the faithful who reverenced it the instant they saw it whether it was consecrated or not. This led to some regulations at that time (around1210 AD) that ordered them to hold the host chest level and only elevate it higher so all could see after the consecration “lest” (as a London synod put it) “a creature be adored instead of the Creator.”

Also- in our Latin rite mass each element is consecrated separately (i.e. the bread separately from the wine) in a double consecration. So the wine is not consecrated until the consecratory words are spoken over it. This is symbolic of when the Body and Blood of Jesus were separated from each other in His passion and death. (Keeping in mind though that the consecrated Host and the Precious Blood each contain the whole Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ.)

Recommended reading:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#’s 1322-1419)

The Mass of the Roman Rite (Rev. Joseph A. Jungmann, S.J.)

The How-To Book of the Mass (Michael Dubruiel)

Q.- What is higher, a Cardinal or a Bishop? What is an Auxiliary Bishop?

A.- By law, a cardinal is a bishop, actually, who has been given an ecclesial office. As a rule, if he is not already a bishop when he is created a cardinal he must be immediately made one. Although, there have been exceptions to this where a dispensation has been given to remain a priest. An example being Cardinal Dulles, a Jesuit priest, who petitioned the Holy Father in 2001 to allow him, out of humility and advanced age (he was 85 at the time), to be dispensed from episcopal consecration, which was granted. As far as rank, cardinals are second in hierarchy only to the pope. They actually have the same dignitary rank as a royal prince would and that is why they are often referred to as the princes of the church.

Cardinals have the right to advise the pope either individually or as a group and on solemn occasions serve as his legates (clergy appointed by the pope to represent him and vested with his authority in temporal matters). It is exclusively the College of Cardinals who elect the next pope when they enter the conclave.

The college is divided into three orders: Cardinal-bishop, Cardinal-priest, and Cardinal-deacon (none of which have anything to do anymore with what they really are but shows their rank within the college itself).

A candidate for Cardinal must be at least a priest and outstanding in doctrine, virtue, piety and prudence in practical matters. When one is nominated as such it is said they are “created” a cardinal to signify the fact that the office is an ecclesiastical institution only and could be abolished if the Church chose to do so. Whereas the office of bishop is divinely instituted and could never be changed or gotten rid of. (catechism #’s 860-62, 880)

An auxiliary Bishop is a bishop appointed by the Holy See to help the diocesan bishop carry out the work of his diocese. His bishopric is titular only because he has no real jurisdiction over the area. In other words, he is dependent on the authority and decisions of the diocesan bishop and must submit his resignation by the age of 75. Upon the diocesan bishop’s death, retirement or reassignment he has no right to take his place unless, by special privilege, the Holy See decides to make him the diocesan bishop. You can see now why Bishop Sklba, the auxiliary bishop for Milwaukee did not replace Archbishop Weakland when he resigned, but instead continues to serve as auxiliary to Archbishop Dolan.

Recommended reading:

The Catholic Encyclopedia

The Catechism of the Catholic Church (#’s 857-896)