I have a pending catechesis on the Sacraments, and while searching for this article so that you could read it before coming, I realized that perhaps it is not published. It is a fragment of the book “In your name I will cast the net”, (super out of print), which I published in 2009. Here I leave it, as it was published then.
Since my arrival in Nules, still as a seminarian, in October 2001, until today, I have been harmonizing examples and doctrine, around the Sacraments and the Commandments. The conviction that the new evangelization proposed by Pope John Paul II begins by explaining the Catechism to adults and, above all, that D. Miguel León, then parish priest of Nules, entrusted me with the confirmation catechism of the people for three consecutive years, he made me dedicate myself to preparing a catechesis of each Sacrament.
Later I was appointed chaplain of the Sanctuary of Tejeda and preached the sermons that corresponded to the towns that I served at that time, Henarejos, Garaballa and Aliaguilla. They were very similar to the confirmation catechesis classes and, because of their simplicity, people liked them.
In 2007 I preached the Novena of the Christ of Health of Minglanilla, a month after having preached the entire novena of my town in honor of the Virgin of the Snows; Finally, realizing this 2009 in Mota de Altarejos that I still remembered many of the things I said on those occasions, and to obey so many people who throughout these years have asked me to put in writing what I said in the pulpits.
I have distributed the most illustrative examples and the most useful catechesis between the Sacraments and the Commandments of the Law of God, leaving, however, some things in the pipeline, to leave the option for another occasion. It must be said that they are not Theology classes, they are teachings aimed at simple people who asked to be taught like children.
The Sacraments are signs that fulfill what they promise. What does it mean? A sign is a reality that refers to another, like a flag reminds us of our country, a photo reminds us of a loved person… However, neither the flag flies with the entire country on top of the mast nor does the photograph really make the dead mother present. . On the other hand, the water of Baptism truly cleanses, the oil of Priestly Ordination consecrates the minister of Christ, etc.
The red light, even if you don’t stop, doesn’t come down from its position to chase you, nor can the local police officer stop you with his whistle. The Sacraments, even if the priest is unworthy, the small place, or the weekday, fulfill the words and their effect is noticeable in us. Furthermore, when the priest administers a Sacrament, it is Christ Himself who does it. That’s why he says This is my body or I baptize you.It is Christ himself who baptizes, it is the body of Christ, not the body of the priest. It is better that the priest resemble Christ in his life. But if it lacks resemblance it does not affect the effectiveness of God’s gifts.
Just as plants grow when watered, needing sunlight, our soul also needs the light of prayer and the water of the Sacraments. If we plant lentils in a pot and put it in a dark room like our grandmothers did for the monuments on Corpus Christi, the little plants, even if we water them, come out white because they have not done photosynthesis. If, however, we put them in the sun, without water, they will soon burn.
Likewise, there are some who say they have a lot of Faith, but do not receive the Sacraments. They will not grow spiritually as it is clear that those who go to Mass, but never pray, do not grow. Both things are needed.
When parents delay Baptism, they make a serious mistake. They say: they will choose when they are older, perhaps they do not want to be Catholic, but instead they take them to school without thinking that perhaps, if they could choose, they would be illiterate.It is good for them, yes, of course, Baptism too. Maybe if they were allowed to choose between eating and not eating, they would choose to go on a hunger strike. No, eating is a right. Being a child of God is also a right. Why do they wear them? Maybe they wanted to be nudists.It is a costume. Lady, Baptism is also a custom. It is much more, it is a Tradition that we must thank God, because perhaps if we had been born in another place we would not have Faith. That is, it is a gift from God.
If we deprive our children of Baptism, we are depriving them of the greatest Good that we can give them. I’m going to summarize it with a trick so you don’t forget. We are depriving them of being five words that begin with h.
Baptism makes us children of God. Yes, it is true that we are all his creatures, but the divine filiation that a Baptized person has cannot be compared with that of a stone or a cactus. Original sin, caused by the disobedience of our first parents, makes us slaves of Satan. Baptism erases it completely. We are also heirs of Heaven. I remember some catechesis that I gave to two brothers with hearing problems. It was May 22, 2005. Her mother asked me ahead of time if I could prepare them because at the specialized school they did not prepare both of them at the same time, and she wanted to do a single ceremony. Alejandro heard worse than his sister. I pointed out to him a round table where we gave catechism in the priestly house of Valencia. I showed him the Crucifix and said, going around the table. Before the Cross Heaven was closed. Then it was left open. And I opened my arms to him. After fifteen days I asked him, to see what he had left: What does the Cross mean?And to my great surprise and a face of enormous joy he told me: “Open!” He had understood it. Well yes, they await us in Heaven thanks to the death of Jesus on the Cross, who became one more like us, and from our Baptism we are made brothers of Christ. What great joy! We are brothers of God. We can call the Blessed Virgin Mother, because she gave her to us by giving her to Saint John. In the There you have your son, all of us are there. He makes us children of the Church. We are all made priests, prophets and kings.Priests to pray to God, within the Holy Mother Church, in the company of her, because we are all the Church, that is why we have to defend it wherever we go. Prophets to teach our Catechism, Christian customs, the teachings of the Popes; It is everyone’s task because the Apostolate of our field, if we do not do it, remains undone. Our neighbor, our co-worker, our godson, is at our side so we can talk to him about God, that is being a prophet. And Kings to serve, because reigning is synonymous with serving in the Holy Scripture. Charity must be our first flag, as it was for the first Christians. “Look how they love each other” they said of them. May our Faith be seen through our Charity. Finally, we become hosts of the Holy Spirit. He comes to the Temple of our body, and that is the supernatural reason why we cannot do with the body what we want, as if it were a car or a chicken leg, why we cannot dress according to the criteria from the last catwalk if they are indecent, which is why pornography is the corruption of something sacred, the Temple of the Holy Spirit.
The age at which we receive Confirmation has changed throughout history. Today it is placed at the beginning of adolescence, the age in which young people begin to choose the subjects they do, the friends they have, how they wear their hair,… that is why we then receive Confirmation, so that it gives us strength to choose with Christ in the multiple decisions in our lives. The Catechism says that it is the Sacrament that increases the grace of the Holy Spirit to us, to strengthen us in Faith, and make us soldiers and apostles of Christ. To not be afraid to show that we are Christians. That we follow Christ in work life, in the family, in Sunday Mass. Many do not go to Mass because they are ashamed, they have not taken advantage of the grace that the Holy Spirit is giving them, because we all receive the graces necessary to fulfill our obligations. If we were all better Catholics, if we were all convinced of the evangelical message like the Apostles after Pentecost, we would be able to change the entire society. Many say that it does not make sense because young people receive Confirmation and then do not return; It doesn’t matter. We do not have to close the door to the Lord, because the seed remains in the heart and will bear fruit one day. Furthermore, Baptism and Confirmation, also the Priestly Order, imprint on the soul the sacramental character that makes the effects of said
We now have to talk about confession. Of the Sacrament of Penance. It is a shame that such beautiful towns, with such rich traditions and with Novenas so full of devout parishioners, only have about twenty people to take communion, only because they do not go to confession. Look, why don’t you confess? For three reasons. Some say: I don’t do anything wrong. Yes, of course, the world is terrible, but nobody does anything here, it’s nobody’s fault. If you want, we can place you in a niche like the saints on the altarpiece. Others say: I don’t know how to confess.Don’t worry, I do know. I was studying in the seminary, for that, to learn to confess. The last group adds: It’s just that I haven’t confessed in a long time. Don’t worry, they won’t say it anymore. Surely if they are fifty years old they will not reach one hundred; Furthermore, it is in your power not to let so much time pass. It’s easy to confess. First we must check our conscience calmly. In what have I failed against God, in speaking, in not going to Mass on Sundays, making a vow or blasphemy. Then I look at how I have behaved with my family, if I have respected my body without falling into abuse of sex, drugs or alcohol, if I have told the truth, if I have criticized or criticized others, if I have been envious, if I have stopped eating meat on Fridays, especially in Lent, if I have not used contraceptives, if I have not stolen, if I have not killed anyone… I have left them last so that it can be seen that they are not the only ones.I don’t steal or kill… It’s not enough, there are more things to take into account.
Then it’s time to ask God for forgiveness, repentant. I confess to God. No man, if what God wants is for you to ask for forgiveness as he has said. The rest are excuses. The offended party is the one who chooses the way to be repaired. It is not necessary that the pain of sins be with tears or with great feeling, but it is enough for us to be aware of our repentance, asking God for help not to fall again… to not do like that gypsy who said: Father, I have stolen three chickens, but I wrote down five that I have seen two large ones that I will catch on the way back.This is called a bad purpose of the amendment. It is evident that we fall again, but God knows our weakness. Finally, the sins are told to the confessor and the penance that he imposes on us is prayed. Yes, telling the truth. There is no point in trying to deceive God. It is good to entrust to the Lord, while we pray penance, those things that the priest has told us as advice so that we are able to put them into practice. There are times when we think we don’t need to confess, but it happens like kitchen towels. They serve to dry what is already clean, and if we don’t wash them in a month… everything accumulates. Let us not stop cleaning our cloths and our hearts.
The Eucharist is God’s greatest gift to men, because not only did Christ want to become man, but he stayed with us in the tabernacle. The Eucharist is a banquet. In it we receive God himself as food for our souls. If we were invited to a banquet and did not eat, we would look very bad with the person who invited us. It cannot be, let us take advantage of the opportunities to confess, and if our parish priests do not begin to confess, let us ask them to do so to facilitate the fulfillment of their obligation. This way we will not lose the great opportunity of each communion. The Eucharist is also presence. In each and every one of the parts of the Sacred Species, in every little piece there is God whole, that is the mystery that Almighty God wanted to enclose under the appearance of bread. Finally, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. That is why it is not correct to say that the Mass is a party and lose respect for who is Priest, Victim and Altar, because in each Eucharist Christ offers himself as he offered himself on Calvary. If we lived each Mass like the hours of agony on Calvary, we would soon be saints. Those who turn the Mass into a little party with the argument that children cannot stand it if there is not a little merriment, would be surprised by the capacity for understanding, the depth of prayer and the Faith of those about whom Jesus said : If you do not become like them, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Anointing of the Sick. Always so comforting to all who receive it. I have given it to accident victims, to grandparents, to my mother, in the ICU, in homes; I assure you that no one has ever been scared. Better, in any case, a small scare before dying than an eternal scare when we die, realizing that we have not left prepared. There is an old movie titled “Balarasa” that ends with the death of the protagonist’s sister, lamenting that she is dying empty-handed, because she has nothing to present to God. If we cannot die having received the Sacraments, at least we ask God for forgiveness, saying for example, “My God, I love you, forgive me.”To that person who denies the opportunity to a sick person to receive the Sacraments, it cannot be said of him that he who saves a soul saves his own. I remember one day in Valencia; I went to the burn unit at the Hospital de la Fe because I had to give the Anointing to a parishioner. They told me I couldn’t enter. I answered that the Legal Agreement of 1979 between Spain and the Vatican state completely protected me, that I was in no hurry; that I would stay there until they opened the door for me. The doctor came out, a nurse came out, in the end they let me go into a hallway to see him through a window. I said: I have to touch it. The doctor told me: If he calls you, I’ll let you in.I greeted him on the phone and he immediately waved to me. The rest was simple and beautiful. Thanks be to God.
I can say that the happiest day of my life was July 10, 2004, when I received my Priestly Ordination in the Cathedral of Cuenca, from the hands of Mr. Ramón del Hoyo. That day I was not aware of all the gifts that God had in store for me, of all the surprises, of all the goods that I was going to be able to receive just for having said yes to the Lord. In this priestly year that the Holy Father has given us, the hope and desire to bring young souls to Christ, to help the elderly to live and die well, to teach the Catechism to children, to restore the historical heritage of the Churches of our Country, to preach the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, not only has it not decreased but it has increased. Trying to follow the model of the Holy Curé of Ars, at the feet of the Virgin of the Snows, I ask God every day, not only to persevere in the priestly and religious vocation, but also to be a reflection of Christ, in what say, in what you do and in what you think. I want to refer at this moment to the letter to the priests of the Holy Father at the beginning of the book, which is the most beautiful page I have read about this gift from God that is the priesthood.
In our days, Marriage has suffered many setbacks. The Sacrament that sanctifies the union of one man with one woman, and gives them grace to live in peace and have children for Heaven. When I memorized this answer from my little catechism, there was no need to clarify anything. Unfortunately, now we must clarify that they are male and female; and perhaps soon the “one and only one” will also have to be clarified. God wanted the ultimate act of love in the mutual donation of man and woman to be accompanied by the possibility of giving life. For that, you need generosity and fortitude, you need to have created habits since you were a child, of not doing your own whim at every moment; because for Marriage you have to prepare from childhood. That’s why many marriages don’t work, because today’s society is creating potential spouses. Marriage must also be for life, not only because what God has united must not be separated by man, but because children have the right to have a father and a mother for their entire life. A child in catechism once told me that all five of his parents would go to his First Communion… (it is clear: his mother, the groom, his father and the bride and the grandmother, whom he loved as his mother because he had lived with her many times). hours) And he said that parents are a right, but not children. You cannot demand a child, because it is a gift from God. Wanting to have a son or daughter, without taking into account the methods, at whatever cost, outside the mother’s womb, sacrificing embryos, with aggressive selection, is putting our will above nature and divine will. and that, to say the least, is dangerous. It would be long to continue talking about a topic about which books have been written. We will leave two sayings as a culmination: “A family that prays together, stays together” and also “no one gives what they do not have”, if dad does not respect mom, the child will not. If the mother doesn’t tell the truth, why are her daughters going to tell it?
