The Precepts of the Catholic Faith, Part 7

Aug 25

The Seventh of a Seven Part Series

August 27, 2023

You can read part one here, part two here, part three here, part four here, part five here, and part six here.

Jesus Christ: Yesterday, Today, and Forever ~

This week we continue our series on the Precepts of the Catholic Church: “pre” meaning “before”, and “cept” meaning “life” – before there can be full life in God, these seven laws must be observed. Failure to live them out would constitute a mortal sin: when one has knowledge of them and acts without undue coercion to disregard them. “The obligatory character of these positive laws decreed by pastoral authorities is meant to guarantee to the faithful the very necessary minimum in the spirit of prayer and moral effort, in the growth in love of God and neighbor”. Catechism #2041. This week we continue working our way through them by exploring the seventh precept. They are listed here again as a reminder.

The Precepts of the Catholic Church

To attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation and rest from servile works.
To observe the days of abstinence and fasting.
To confess our sins to a priest at least once a year. Traditionally, during the seasons of Lent or Easter.
To receive Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist at least once a year: preferably during Lent or the Easter Seasons.
To contribute to the support of the Church [Stewardship of time, talent, and treasure (tithe)].
To obey the laws of the Church concerning Matrimony [Catholics who marry are obligated to wed in the Catholic Church].
To participate in the Church's mission of Evangelization of Souls.

Imagine if God never gave us the Bible, or the Catholic Church that wrote the Bible, or the sacraments that save us from damnation and sanctify us in this life. Imagine if Jesus just said “goodbye” and ascended into the heaven, while the 12 Apostles simply went home. Where would we and the world be today? Knowledge of Jesus Christ and faith in Him, would have disappeared 19 centuries ago: no one today would make it to heaven, and civilization as we know it would never have come to be. To this end, Jesus Christ established the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church and commissioned her to “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit . . . Teaching them to carry out everything I have commanded you.” Mt. 28:19 & 20.

All too often it doesn’t even cross our minds to evangelize, we assume, usually without thinking about it, that someone else will do it. We fear rejection yet Christ, His Apostles, and saints were all rejected for trying to share the truth of Christ of others. So we don’t try, and what’s worse, we try to justify our sin of omission: “It’s the responsibility of priests and religious not mine; I don’t know enough; I’m not holy enough; I lack the personality; I lack the talent;” et cetera. Any of the Apostles could have said the same thing, but praise God they didn’t. Instead, they tried. Of course, we must try to share the faith in word and deed or people will be denied the possibility of heaven, freedom from sin, and the life of grace. I quote here twice from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Since, like all the faithful, lay Christians are entrusted by God with the apostolate by virtue of their Baptism and Confirmation, they have the right and duty, individually or grouped in associations, to work so that the divine message of salvation may be known and accepted by all men throughout the earth. This duty is the more pressing when it is only through them that men can hear the Gospel and know Christ. Their activity in ecclesial communities is so necessary that, for the most part, the apostolate for the pastors cannot be fully effective without it.” CCC 900. AND . . .
Through the grace of the sacrament of marriage, parents receive the responsibility and privilege of evangelizing their children. Parents should initiate their children at an early age into the mysteries of the faith of which they are the ‘first heralds’ for their children. They should associate them from their tenderest years with the life of the Church. A wholesome family life can foster interior dispositions that are a genuine preparation for a living faith and remain a support for it throughout one’s life. CCC 2225.

Please try to share the Catholic faith with others, we don’t have to succeed, we just have to try. The best place to start is with the people already in your life: your spouse, children, grandchildren, siblings, friends and coworkers. So many are in need of our efforts, even if they don’t recognize it or even think they want it. Maybe in this life but certainly in the next life, others will be eternally grateful for our efforts to evangelize them and we will be rewarded handsomely by Our Lord in the life to come.

May God Bless and Keep You,