Father Knows Best—Episode 25: Use of Greek in Mass; Requirements for Someone Returning to the Church; the Sign of the Cross; and Forgiving Someone Who Asks for Forgiveness.

Wednesday, July 1, 9:00 pm on Siouxland Catholic Radio 88.1 FM Episode #25 of Father Knows Best sponsored by St. Augustine Indian Mission in Winnebago, NE features Father Mark Stoll addressing questions about the use of Greek in Mass, requirements for someone returning to the Church, the Sign of the Cross, and forgiving someone who asks for forgiveness. 

Tune in tonight so we may discover, learn, and engage our hearts, souls and minds so we may be illuminated, informed and inspired. Please send your questions to fatherknowsbestshow@yahoo.com.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I have questions. I don't understand. I'm confused. What's going on? That's not what I learned in school. What does the church really teach? Welcome to Father Knows Bless the studios of 88.1 FM, KFA C Pankasu City, and K-O-I-A Storm Lake. Brought to you by the St. Augustine Indian Mission, Winnebago. We all have questions and the curiosity about manners of faith as it is normal for humanity to ask questions and seek answers in the timeless quest for understanding regarding manners of faith in the church. We believe that there is no such thing as a foolish or dumb question. The opportunity to learn and to connect. And I say the only dumb question is the one that is not asked. And the reality is that the questions you have are like questions others have, and so it is good to ask. Sometimes an answer leads to more questions. Sometimes the questions and answers will lead us to insights we never considered. We at Siouxland Catholic Radio want to invite our listeners from Jackson, Nebraska to Elk Point, South Dakota, to Strommick, Iowa, and everywhere in between and beyond, send your questions to us at Father Knows Best Show at Yahoo.com. Or mail them to Father Knows Best, Sioux Lan Catholic Radio, 701 West Fifth Street, Sioux City, Iowa, 51103. During this time, once a week, I or another guest will do our best to answer some of the questions I've received here at the studio so we may discover, learn, and engage our hearts and souls and minds, so we may be illuminated, informed, and inspired. So I thank you for tuning in. We invite you to open your mind, let the questions begin, and let your curiosity find its voice. Good evening, I'm Father Mark Stowe, priest of the Diocese of City with you today. And again, joining me is Tim Soudin, Executive Director for Sioux Land Catholic Radio, presenting some of the questions I received from you, our listeners. And so, Tim, are you ready for another round of questions and answers?

SPEAKER_01 1:49

I cannot believe how much excitement I have for every Wednesday as we approach this. Because I learn more about my faith, I learn more about the church, I learn more about catechism, and it's just it's an incredibly learning process for me.

SPEAKER_00 2:02

So I really enjoy it. And I agree, I'm on the same page with you, Tim, because again, I love the questions. Diving some uh interesting uh issues or uh matters of church and faith, and it's like, wow, this is some great questions. Thank you for all these questions, and they keep sending in. And of course, we are joined with by Anne who is at the control board, helping us to sound good, and so let's dive into our questions this evening, and maybe maybe do four questions this evening. What's our first question?

SPEAKER_01 2:28

This is an interesting question from a faithful listener and supporter from Sioux City. Why do we sometimes proclaim the Mass Kiri Ele san, which is Greek? Why don't we say Domini Meserere, the Latin for Lord have mercy, when we proclaim Lamb of God, as we do with Agnes Day in Latin?

SPEAKER_00 2:52

Very good. I am thank you for asking that question. Again, we're getting into little languages here, Latin and English and Greek and others. Again, it is true that the official language of the Catholic Church and of our liturgies, including the holy sacrifice of the Mass, is Latin. And we often, of course, are basically used to celebrating that Mass. For example, in the liturgies, in the vernacular means the language of the people, like say English. We're here most of the places in the United States or Spanish. And you go to France, they're gonna be um using French, and Germany we'll be using German. But occasionally we do use Latin. At the um at the times, like for example, the the holy holy before the Eucharistic prayer, it may be done in Latin, Sanctus Sanctus, or at the right before Holy Communion, we uh may do the Lamb of God in Latin, which is Agnes Day. But there is a point at Mass when we actually use Greek, and sometimes we may not people may not realize we're actually using Greek here. So what you're asking is why do we use this Greek at this point of mass in the penitentiary rite? So at the beginning of Mass, we have the opening hymn, the priest and ministers process sin. Then comes the greeting, which then the priest, you know, name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and he can offer three three one one or three greetings, Lord be with you, for example. We move into the penitentiary rite, and we've talked about that penitentiary right again in a previous episode regarding the forgiveness of sins. But at every of the three examples or options that we have for penitential rite, we always have those words, Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy. And occasionally we may respond, even verbally or even singing, kiri lesson, or christi laizon, kiri lesson. That those words, kiri lesson, christi lesson, is Greek. It is not Latin. Latin would be domini misre. And so we're using Greek here. And so why are we using Greek? This is the only time of the Mass in the vernacular, in the in a New Overse Oral that we use is we use Greek. And so what I found and what I sense is going on is that this course began even before Jesus was born. We have to remember that the original language of the Jewish people in Israel was Aramaic Hebrew. This is in which most of the books of the Old Testament Hebrew scriptures are written in Aramaic or Hebrew. However, some of the final books of that Old Testament Hebrew scriptures is written in Greek. For example, Maccabees is written in Greek. Why in Greek? Because the Greeks had conquered much of the known world, including Israel, several hundred years before Jesus was born, and they remained in power until the Romans came in before Jesus was born and conquered them, which included the country of Israel. And so then with Roman charge, Latin was the widely used language of the Roman Empire, and so Latin became more widely used, but still must recall that there was still Latin, Greek being used there in the Western civilization. You know, Latin, the Roman Empire, Greek would be probably still, you know, used in the Greek area. We have to remember too that Greek, if you look at the language of Greek, the group of Greece, you know, can basically shaped early philosophy and science and literature. Latin then became the basis of what we call romance languages and also the language used to communicate between people who did not share a native language. So this is kind of even what we see in the Catholic Church that Latin is the official language to communicate important documents between peoples who don't share a common language. So let's talk about the use of Greek at Jesus' time. In the Gospel of John, chapter 19, verse 19-20, we hear the following. And so we see Greek and Latin being common languages there, even in early church. In fact, many of the texts, including the Gospels and the letters of the apostles, such as Paul, were written in Greek. And so over time, of course, Latin became, as I said earlier, the official language of the church. Again, based based on the fact that Latin was being spoken in Rome, Italy, which again that's where our church was based in. Greek became a secondary language, yet still common, of course, in Greece, with the church was still also growing. Thus, what we see, Greek is being introduced in the Pentature Rite, belongs to what we call the Greek, Byzantine liturgical tradition. And so we use Greek at times in the Pentagon Rite, not because we think Greek is more valid for repentance than Latin, but what we're doing is we're preserving some distinct liturgical rites. Again, we belong to the Roman Latin Rite. There's also the Byzantine Rite, the Aramean Rite, the Syroantrocinine Rite, and other rites. And each of those rites of the Catholic Church has given rise to its own cultural, linguistic styles to the world. And so when we use in Greek, we're expressing kind of also a unity with those other Catholic traditions which have developed in Greek-speaking countries and areas of our world. Also, this use of Greek is still part of our Roman Catholic Church's liturgical tradition. And we're also retaining an acclamation that was used in the early days of the church. And so let me explain. The next time that we hear Kyrie Laizon and Christi Lai used at Mass, we may recall that these words connect us back to the earliest days of our church, using the same language that some of the apostles may have used. Because we pretty much know that St. Paul and Saint Peter spoke both Hebrew and Greek. So in speaking in the Greek language during the Penthouse Rite, we are actually using the same words that even Peter and Paul used. So I hope that answers the question. So it's again a nice connection to the ancient history of the church.

SPEAKER_01 9:17

If I remember right, and you correct me if I'm wrong, during the Easter season, we use the Cure L S on an ongoing basis during Mass. Is that not correct?

SPEAKER_00 9:28

Well, it it it basically is up to each parish or each pastor what they use. Okay. You know, so it it varies because you could use it every Sunday, every Mass if you wanted to. Okay. It's just again one of the options. Okay. How do you want to do this? Pastor choice. Pastor choice, priest choice, exactly. Very much. Alrighty.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Sue sent this next question in via email. What are the church's requirements for someone returning to the church after decades of being away? This person was baptized, educated, confirmed, and married in the Catholic faith. Would returning to confession be required as well as meeting with a priest?

SPEAKER_00 10:05

Thank you for asking this question. I'm sure, again, this is a question that many parents have because I think most families have someone who's drift away from the Catholic Church for various reasons. And then we all know, and we kind of addressed this a little bit in a previous episode, that there are persons who are baptized, confirmed as Catholics, celebrate the first confession, receive the first Holy Communion, or even educated in the parish's faith formation program, even with the Catholic school, even to Catholic college, even got married in the Catholic Church, and then later, for whatever reason, sometimes after high school or college, they drift away from the practice of the faith. Some may join a non-domination such as the Lutheran or Methodist or Presbyterian Church. Some may even simply say, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God anymore. Or they may even join another religion such as Islam or Hinduism. But their reasons vary. But, you know, these Catholics, we call them fallen away or lapsed Catholics, because in most cases, in whatever they do, they're still Catholic because they have been baptized in the Catholic Church. And again, once validly baptized Catholic, this fact cannot be washed away. Now, this would be another topic for another day, talking about the validity of baptism and how one might on a rare occasion renounce one's baptism, but we'll save that for another time. But let's assume they're validly baptized, which again most are. But then sometime after some time has passed, for whatever reason, the person may decide, I want to return back to the Catholic Church. What do we need to do? And so when they want to return to the Catholic Church, they will need to speak to a priest to assist them in reconnecting with the Catholic Church. And let me explain what this is all about. So this meeting might be, and probably even how they uh recommend it, that be a specific appointment with a priest to get to allow them some time to talk about the reasons why they left the church, reasons why they're returning, and again, even what happened since the time they left and returned, and what was going on in their lives in those in those intervening years. Also, it would be a requirement for the celebration of older repentance, the sacrament of reconciliation or confession. And so, again, even in this meeting with the priest, it may be a time for a little refresher on you know what this sacrament's all about and why the sacrament's important for coming back. Because again, first of all, it'd be really good and even required to confess any sins related to the decision to leave the church, any sins they committed since the last time the person went to confession. And again, as Catholics, we're supposed to go at least once a year. And so for some people it's been a long time. And so again, meeting with the priest would help hopefully reassure them that what they're doing is a good thing and they don't have to be afraid of the sacrament. But again, the sacrament is how we reunite ourselves with God and with the church. The meeting with the priest would also allow to address any issues that are related to the leaving until the current time, including, was there any misunderstandings or maybe any offense that led to them leaving the church? You know, was there any attempted marriage or marriages that need to be addressed, perhaps even with an annulment? You know, are there any current issues that still be problematic for them coming back? And then I would say matters of hospitality, you know, helping them feel welcome to be part of the community again, kind of reintroducing them back to the church. And so, in short, visiting with the priest, I would say is always required to return to the church, most importantly because the sacrament exolation is required. But again, I think that one-on-one meeting with the priest, which may be required, but I would highly recommend, you know, it'd be important to address again issues that need to be considered before the person is able to again receive the sacrament, such as holy communion. Again, maybe like say there might be an invalid marriage that needs to be taken care of, that that marriage would at that point restrict them from receiving holy communion. Yes, they'd still be able to go to mass, go to confession, or have a child baptized, or have a child first communicated or confirmed, whatever is needed to be done. But again, sometimes we have to kind of do some little housekeeping, cleaning, and reconciliation is one of the key ways. But so again, if you know anybody that is planning to return to the church, invite them, even help them, you know, direct them. Say, I will call the priest and make an appointment for you. So, you know, do whatever you can to help them to come back, and the priest is there. That's one of the roles of us as priests, to help bring the lost sheep, the lapsed Catholic Catholics back. And that's what needs to be done.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

One of the things that we're seeing right now, Father, is a global movement towards people becoming Catholic, which I'm incredibly excited about. Amen. So let's follow that same fact pattern. Grew up Catholic, everything was done in the Catholic Church, they fall away. Do they have to go through OCIA coming back in?

SPEAKER_00 15:02

No, hopefully a parish would have a program of some sort, maybe not necessarily a program, but something to kind of reintroduce them back. If, for example, if they need to have some updating on some of the you know teachings of the church. So hopefully parishes offer various varieties of programs. Uh the OCIA program is really is meant for those who are not baptized, right? And those who are baptized in another denomination. Very good. But hopefully, you know, for example, if someone maybe I I know of people that have been baptized and first communicate but not been confirmed, and so hopefully a parish would have something too to bring them back and say, okay, we're gonna help you also be able to celebrate confirmation. So again, kind of a separate hopefully a separate thing. Sometimes they may put them into an OCA class because the the topics covered there may be similar to what this person needs. So this is why that meeting with the priest is so important, they can kind of discern, you know, where do we need to go? You mean reconciliation and you're good, or do we need to do some more with you?

SPEAKER_01 16:03

I know almost every parish has something called a remembering or something like that program out there. So please, if you are considering coming back to the faith, go through one of those programs and truly understand the process of what you're getting into. It's not gonna be that hard, and you will be welcome to back.

SPEAKER_00 16:19

Right. And so again, it's mainly contacting the parish and saying, This is where I'm at. I need to, I'm gonna come back, and that'd be they'll be happy, all arms opened.

SPEAKER_01 16:28

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

If you're just tuning in, you're listening to Father Knows Best here on Swin and the Catholic Radio as I answer your questions about faith in the Catholic Church. I'm Father Mark Stoll, and I'm joined by Tim Soudine, who is presenting some of the questions I've received from you, our listeners. And so let's look at question number three for this evening.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

This is another faithful listener, and Father, this is a long one, so everybody's gonna have to pay attention here.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Take some notes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 16:49

Because I'm gonna be reciting a novel here pretty quickly. Okay. Please explain the use of the sign of the cross and different prayers. What do we say when we hear the gospel? Do we say anything special when we touch the forehead, chest, heart, right and left arm when we make the sign of the cross? Are there different sayings when we enter a church building and bless ourselves with the sign of the cross? Besides the sign of the cross. Still keep going. Are there special words, prayers, when being blessed with the monstrance during the benediction blessing? I make the sign of the cross when I hear sirens, pass a Catholic church, hear a helicopter as we have one here in Sioux City, taking people to the hospital, and at the consecration of the host and the wine into the body and blood of Christ.

SPEAKER_00 17:39

A very involved question, Father. Yes, it is, and it's all about the use of the sign of the cross and when we use it and how we use it. So wonderful question. Again, just basics, first of all, the sign of the cross is a prayer. It's a prayer that we often use to acknowledge God as Trinity, one God, three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. We often use it at the beginning and end of our prayer times. We use it at various times throughout the day to acknowledge the presence of God. So then briefly, when we make the sign of the cross, in the Roman Latin right, we as Catholics will of course use our right hand with one or more fingers, maybe fingertips. We'll touch the forehead and say the name of the Father. And that symbolizes that we're dedicating our mind to God. And then we'll touch the center of our chest and say, and of the Son, which represents the heart, and again also represents Christ's incarnation. Then we'll touch our left shoulder and then our right shoulder while we say, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. And this symbolizes the strength, the strength, and the movement from curse to blessing, or from Hades to paradise. Actually, that's one thing I learned when I do my research, so I didn't realize that. But you know, you talk about left shoulder, maybe is where the devil sits, right shoulder is where the angels sit. So we're moving, so Holy Spirit is guiding us on our shoulders, strengthening us. When we enter a church building, of course, one of the first things that we should do is look for the holy water font. It's probably that little tiny bowl of water near the door, or maybe a large font where actually baptisms take place. And then, of course, we use our right hand again with one more fingertips, dip into the holy water, make the sign of the cross, just as I've just described. And that of course reminds us of our baptism. And again, I'm not aware of any other sayings that uh might be used when we enter church building and bless us off as the sign of the cross. But again, people may have their own traditions and prayers when entering the church, but that's the you know one of the main signs is the sign of the cross with the holy water. Now, at the beginning of the gospel, the uh the priest or deacon will say, The Lord be with you, and we respond, and also and with your spirit, and then the the priest or deacon say, reading for the holy gospel according to Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, and and we say, Praise the Lord Jesus Christ. At the same time, we make the sign of cross over our forehead, over our lips, and over our heart, with our right thumb. And we do this, it's common to say, as we make the sign of cross on our forehead, may the Lord be on my mind, over our lips, may the Lord be on my lips, and over the heart, may the Lord be on my heart. In adoration, when the priest or deacon leads us in the benediction at the end of adoration, and the monsters contain the blessed sacraments lifted up, and the sign of cross is made towards us, we know that this is actually Jesus Himself, Jesus Christ blessing us in person. Again, I'm not aware of any special prayers or words that are used at this time, other than we make the sign of cross, the same way. So the monsters lift up, we touch our foreheads and with with our fingertips, and then we make in the name of the Father, and we quietly say this to ourselves when the monster is Lord, we do the same thing. We put our fingertips by our chest or heart, and and we say, and and in the name of the Son, and then when the monsters move to the left and to the right, we do the same thing on our shoulders in the name of the Holy Spirit, amen. So people are of course free to use the sign of the cross and other times too, you know, part of the personal devotion. You know, for example, like you say, you know, when we hear sirens of ambling, so you're gonna put a police car or fire trucks, of course that signals someone's need of help, and so that sign of the cross can be a sort of prayer. Same thing when we hear a medical helicopter fly over, or even when we walk or drive past a Catholic Church, uh, even at the time of the consecration of hosts, you know, and the wine into the body and blood of Christ. And I have another great example. There's a person I know who said that he shared with me that he would make the Son of Cross every time he heard someone misuse the name of God or Jesus. And he actually experienced what happened is the the number of times that people around him, his co-workers, were misusing the name of God in vain, you know, using the God's name in vain, they actually started using the name of God in vain less often. So again, it was a wonderful sign. It's like this is a holy moment. So in short. We use the Sign of Cross as a prayer to acknowledge God as Trinity, one God, three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit, to begin and end our prayer times, to acknowledge various moments in our day. And again, there's no rule that says you can't use it more, you know, of other times. And it might be some other things people say when they come into the church or whatever. That's kind of basically personal devotion, personal piety, whatever they want to do. Very good. Very good.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Well, I think we have one more that we're going to try to answer this evening. Sounds good. And it is from Ted in Storm Lake. And he asks this question. I remember hearing and reading in the final chapter of a gospel Jesus giving his apostles authority to forgive sins, breathing on them after the resurrection, when the eternal punishment due for the sin was paid for. How do you address someone who says that by doing so we all have the authority to forgive someone who asks us for forgiveness?

SPEAKER_00 22:58

Thank you very much for this question. Again, I'm glad to hear we have someone listening in Storm Lake. I'm sure there's more in Storm Lake. So again, we've had a lot of questions from Sioux City area. So again, reaching out to our other listeners. That's wonderful. Thank you. So again, in the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verse 22 to 23, we hear the account of Jesus visiting his apostles on the evening of the first Easter Sunday. And it says there he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you forgive are forgive them, whose sins you retain are retained. And we find a similar reference also in Matthew chapter 16, 19, and also in chapter 18, verse 18 of Matthew 2. But based on these three references, the Council of Trent defined that this power to forgive sins is exercised in the sacrament of penance, that is, the sacrament of resolvation and confession. And so we notice also in those accounts, in those gospels, that we find only the apostles were present when Jesus said this to them. The apostles, of course, were the first priests, that is, first bishops of the church. Thus Jesus was giving them the power to forgive sins, that is the power to the priests of the church. And so what we mean by power to forgive sins is the act of granting absolution of sins. And that's the key word, absolution. That is, sins are absolved, washed away, and our soul is cleansed. And only a priest can do that in sacral exhalation. Yet, of course, all of us, no matter who we are, we are all called to forgive. Again, remember Jesus instructs us another place, a couple places in the Gospels, we are forgiven 70 times, seven times. In other words, we're supposed to always forgive. And so when we are harmed, we are forgiven of the person who harmed us. The Lord's Prayer says, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And so forgiveness of another who harmed us is important to Jesus, to the Lord. It's not easy because it's required and often requires a lifetime of work. But remember, forgiving another person does not mean we have to verbally in person tell the person who harmed us, I for have forgiven you. What it means is that we simply can let go of that person's control over our thoughts and feelings of the harm they've caused us. Forgiving others doesn't mean that we condone the harm that is done to us. But key there is that when we offer this forgiveness to say, I'm going to forgive the person who harmed me, this does not absolve the person of sin. Their sin still remains. The person is still guilty of his or her sins. They still would need to go to confession to a priest and be absolved and reconciled to God in the church. And all of us, no matter who we are, including myself, need to go to confession. And so, for sins to be forgiven and absolved, and this is what Jesus is talking about, we need to go and celebrate the sacrament exalation. Because only a priest can forgive and absolve sins in the sacrament exhalation by the authority given to the priest by Jesus to his apostles, as we find there in the Gospel of John chapter 20. And again, we find there Jesus is saying this to the apostles, the first priest, on the first Easter Sunday evening, when he says, Receive the Holy Spirit, whose sins you've forgiven are forgiven, those sins you retain are retained. That power is given to the priest to absolve sins in sacrifice alien. But that is only given to a priest. Only given to a priest. Because we all go through situations where we're forgiving other people. Yes, and we have to. We do. We do very much very appropriate. And again, remember too it's all about hoping that the person, you know, converts, changes. Yep. Yep. And I would also pray that the person would go to confession. Uh we can't force them, but we hope we do. Very much so. So I think that kind of wrap up tonight. It does wrap up tonight. Yeah, so I think on the next episode I'm gonna try to address some questions relating to the vestments used by priests, the practice of intinction. We'll talk about that next week, the power of the whole of holy water, and the San Damiano Cross. And maybe more, we'll see. But again, I really appreciate you tuning in to Sioux and Catholic Radio as we both we offer both national and local programs, including Faith in Action, Draw Near, Life Plan, Catholic Ministry Professionals, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, and of course Sunday morning mass. Please also check out the Facebook pages for Sioux and Catholic Radio and Father Knows Best for more information about this show, including more information about the questions and answers that I've addressed, and more information of things I've not addressed on this show. As we wrap up today's question and answer session, we extend our heartfelt thanks to all of our listeners for tuning in and sharing your thought-provoking questions, your curiosity, engagement, make the show possible. And we're always inspired by the incredible range of topics to bring to the table. I hope you found the answers both informative and enlightening, and if that you'll carry some of the new insights with you as you go about your week. And if your question was not answered, then this episode you may hear answer next week or the following week. If you missed this episode or like to listen to this or other episodes, please visit our website, Sue Lynch Radio, and visit our programs drop menu and click on local programs to find this episode and other episodes of Father Knows Best and other local programs. If you have any questions, please send your questions to me at fatherknowsbestshow at yahoo.com or mail them at Father Knows Best, Sioux Nicolas Radio, 711 West 5th Street, Sioux City, Iowa, 51103. And thank you to our sponsor, St. Augustine Indian Mission, Winobago. Please join us again next Wednesday at 9 p.m. for another round of questions and answers. Until then, stay curious, stay faithful, keep your light shining, and keep those questions coming. For now, I'm Father Mark Stoy, your host, signing off. Wishing you a great week ahead. And mighty God bless you, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.