The Family Foundation School Catholic Community Bulletin
Pauca Verba (a few words)
Feast of Corpus Christi
When the Bishop confirms he says, “Be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
“Only one thing is important – eternal salvation. Only one thing, therefore, is to be feared – sin. Sin is the result of ignorance, weakness, and indifference. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Light, of Strength, and of Love. With His seven-fold gifts He enlightens the mind, strengthens the will, and inflames the heart with love of God. To ensure our salvation we ought to invoke (call upon) the Divine Spirit daily, for “The Spirit helps our infirmity. We do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit Himself asks for us.”
The Sevenfold Gifts of the Holy Spirit are: The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, the Spirit of Counsel and Fortitude, the Spirit of Knowledge and Piety, the Spirit of Holy Fear.
Holy Fear
The Gift of Fear fills us with a sovereign respect for God, and makes us dread nothing so much as to offend Him by sin. It is a fear that arises, not from the thought of hell, but from sentiments of reverence and filial submission to our heavenly Father. It is the fear that is the beginning of wisdom, detaching us from the worldly pleasure that could in any way separate us from God. “They that fear the Lord will prepare their hearts, and in His sight will sanctify their souls.”
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Matuchka Natalya Zharsky is bringing an exhibit of her icons to Saint Paul’s Church the weekend of June 21-22. Her icons, painted with egg tempera, will be on display in the Father Rausch Hall. If perhaps you will be out with your parents that weekend that might be a nice thing to do. Come and meet Natalya!
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Years ago, even in public schools, young people learned God’s Ten Commandments by heart. The Ten Commandments are the building blocks for a moral life. They form a foundation upon which a civilized and courteous people build their lives. We no longer require or even expect people to know them, let alone live by them. Perhaps this is one reason why we are disintegrating. We can sing the memorized lyrics to songs for hours. We know the scripts to long plays. We can discuss cosmetics, skin care and hair care products eternally – and not know God’s basic requirements. YIKES!
“Get with the program,” – God’s program. They are easier to learn than the Twelve Steps. Jesus told the young man, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17)
I am the Lord your God; you shall not place strange gods before me.
You shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.
Remember to keep holy the Sabbath.
Honor your father and your mother.
You shall not kill.
You shall not steal.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s goods.
The First of these commandments: Full of confidence and conviction, I put nothing before God – not power, not money, things, appearances, associations, nation, personalities. “O God, you are my God whom I seek; for you my flesh pines and my soul thirsts like the earth, parched, lifeless and without water.” (Psalm 63:2)
Saint Augustine claims his conversion was a combination of experiencing an inner drive to a “someone” along with God trying to break into his awareness, “shouting at him and piercing his deafness.” Other converts testify they felt an emptiness which they discovered only God could fill.
C.S. Lewis went to his knees before God who touched him in his rooms at Magdalen in the Trinity term of 1939. He still needed faith in Jesus as Son of God and redeemer. He began studying the Bible and the theology of redemption. The miracle of grace occurred for him during a visit to a zoo. “When I set out I did not believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo, I did. Yet I had not exactly spent the journey in thought. Nor in great emotion. ‘Emotion’ is perhaps the last word we can apply to some of the most important events. It was more like when a man, after a long sleep, still lying motionless in bed, becomes aware that he is now awake.” (Surprised by Joy, p. 189)
A Few Words