The Traditional Irish Domestic Church: OVER SACRAMENTALISED & UNDER EVANGELISED

HOW TO BE A DEVOUT
ROMAN CATHOLIC

OVER SACRaMENTALISED
& UNDER EVANGELISED
.

.The Catholic Church teaches us to be followers of Christ and hence more is asked of us than only receiving the Blessed Sacrament week in and week out. We are also called to fully discern the actual reality of what we are about to receive when we come into Holy Communion with the Body of Christ. Being in a state of mortal sin whilst receiving the Body, Blood, Soul, & Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ made fully present in the Eucharist means that we have not truly discerned who Christ is, why He came, and why He is the reason for our hope. In this situation we have become 'over sacramentalised and under evangelised'. Receiving Christ in a state of grace means that we will start to draw closer to Christ, and our relationship (& discipleship) with Him will become stronger.

St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11...

So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgement on themselves. That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

Council of Trent - Canon XI

lf any one saith, that faith alone is a sufficient preparation for receiving the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist; let him be anathema. And for fear lest so great a sacrament may be received unworthily, and so unto death and condemnation, this holy Synod ordains and declares, that sacramental confession, when a confessor may be had, is of necessity to be made beforehand, by those whose conscience is burthened with mortal sin, how contrite even soever they may think themselves

Revelation 7:14

These are the people who have been through the great trial; they have washed their robes white again in the blood of the Lamb.

"This is my body"

The crisis of catechesis faced in the majority of Catholic churches is that parishioners have been...

.
.

...over Sacramentalised

and under evangelised since Vatican II...

...and have hence not fully heard the Gospel message (the kerygma) of who the person of Christ truly is, and the authentic meaning of the Catholic Church's place in salvation history.

Extremely small numbers for confession, but very long Communion queues have pointed to the fact that the vast majority of Catholics since Vatican II are no longer receiving Holy Communion in a state of grace with no un-confessed mortal sin. Note that, all past and recent sins must always be confessed before receiving Holy Communion. This concern is backed up by a growing number of Church surveys that point to the fact that 60% of Catholics no longer believe that the Eucharist is the Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

In recent years an understanding of the kerygma message has helped many Catholics understand why we must receive Jesus in a state of grace.

"Many of our brothers and sisters are 'baptised, but insufficiently evangelised.' In a number of cases, nations once rich in faith and in vocations are losing their identity under the influence of a secularized culture. The need for a New Evangelisation, so deeply felt by my venerable Predecessor, must be valiantly reaffirmed, in the certainty that God's word is effective."

Pope Benedict XVI,

Verbum Domini, 2010

Vatican II never said that there should be a watering down of the Catholic Faith, which is what has happened over the last 60 years.

Fr. Robert Barron on