A Question of Faith (2015)
Fr. Martin
Fuchs´s sermon on 2nd August 2015 in Prague, Czech republic
10th Sunday after Pentecost
It is a great grief for every
zealous missionary that he often cannot be with his faithful in the last moment
of their lives. The long distances make the pastoral care very difficult. Many
of the faithful die without priest, without confession, without extreme
unction, without Holy communion.
“Last winter” – once reported
a missionary from Canada – “there were famine and infectious diseases among the
Indians.
During a visit on occasion of
an apostolic trip, I found eleven dead frozen bodies lying on the ground due to
frost of – 40°C. As I approached to pray for them, to my amazement I saw that every
body kept a piece of birch bark, a kind of the writing paper in this Nordic land,
in their hands.
For a moment I was shocked
because I had the terrible suspicion that they had left the Catholic faith and during
my long absence went to a medicine man to ask him for help. I took one of the pieces
and I could read: “Just our father is allowed to read the following lines.“ They
wrote down their confessions!
The good people had felt the coming
death. And since they could not confess, they wrote down their sins on a piece
of birch bark.
All writings ended: “I ask
you, my father, to say Mass for the peace of my soul. For this service I leave
you my beaver, a raccoon coat, and my beautiful axe.“
When I read these confessions
and testaments, I felt the tears in my eyes. O these lovely big kids! They knew
from me that in the case when there is no priest available, an act of perfect
contrition could save them and give them full forgiveness of their sins. – So they
died with an act of contrition.
Dear faithful!
More and more we in Europe are
in a missionary area.
We would like to attend the Holy
Mass as often as we can but unfortunately we are not able to do so because we
want to preserve the Catholic faith intact.
Our founder, archbishop
Lefebvre, had repeatedly pointed out that Sunday God’s service is not only our
duty but that we have to honour Our Lord. If that is not possible, we cannot
speak of duty.
After 1988 he did not
recommend or encouraged those faithful who lived near Wigratzbad where The Society
of st. Peter has a seminary to attend the Holy Mass there even though they say
the Tridentine Mass.
It is not only the question of
the Holy Mass. It is the question of the Faith itself.
All Ecclesia Dei communities, that means The Society of st. Peter as
well, have to accept Vatican II and the post-conciliar sacraments.
In the French Revolution all
the priests said the same Mass, only one part of them had taken an oath to the
Civil Constitution of 7th December 1790 (French national church), another part
refused. To the latter part belonged the priest who provided future Cure of Ars
with his first Holy communion.
It was so because it was not
only a question of the Holy Mass, it was the question of the Faith.
So if we are not able to attend
the Holy Mass on Sunday, let us make an act of contrition, let us pray the
prayer of the Missal. Let us listen to a sermon by archbishop Lefebvre, let us
make a spiritual reading, a spiritual communion and let us pray the Rosary!
The absolutely necessary
sacrament for salvation can be replaced in case of emergency by a desire. The
holy baptism by the baptism of desire, the holy confession by an act of
contrition and even the Holy communion can be replaced by a desire, by the spiritual
Communion.
All people who believe in God
and live according to their conscience, i.e. they want to do what God wants
them to do, have the baptism of desire. If they knew that they should be
baptised, they would immediately ask for baptism. But at the moment, as far as
there is no priest in their region, they could not yet ask for it.
If the emergency situation is
over, and a missionary arrives, they will immediately ask for baptism with
water.
In an emergency case, holy
confession may be replaced by an act of contrition. The Holy scripture speaks about
this possibility several times:
Saint Mary Magdalene – because
of her great love, she was forgiven many sins. She was allowed to stand under
the Cross of Jesus and was one of the first women to whom Jesus appeared after
the Resurrection.
The publican in the temple, he
prayed: „Lord, be merciful to me, poor sinner!“ And the Holy scripture says
about him: „He went away justified.“
And after the denial, the Lord
turned looking at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, as he had
said: Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And Peter going out,
wept bitterly. (Matthew 26:75)
And the robber on the Jesus´s right
hand side said to him: „Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy
kingdom. And Jesus said to him: Amen I
say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.“ (Luke 23:42-43)
Sometimes an act of perfect contrition
is the only way for a layman to prepare somebody for the eternity.
In 1950 a traffic accident
happened in a big German city. A man was hit by car. The doctor arrived but saw
immediately that he could not do much for the person injured. While a lot of
people were around, a little girl about 10 years old appeared and said to the injured
man slowly and clearly: “Dear Mister, Jesus wants you to have in heaven! You
must die soon. But do not be afraid. Jesus is so good. He died for us on the
cross.
O my Lord, I regret deeply
that I have offended you so much during my life. O Jesus, be merciful to me!
Please forgive me all my sins! Amen.“
The man was following the
girl’s prayer and when she finished it, he shut his eyes forever.
An act of perfect contrition
removes every sin. But when the emergency situation does not exist anymore, one
must confess the sins in confessional.
Even the Holy communion can be
received spiritually in emergency case. „Lord, I want to receive you
sacramentally, but I cannot receive you because I am sick, I have no
opportunity, there is no priest.“
Many saints have received the
Holy communion in this way several times a day.
We will not lose faith, if we
act so, neither did the faithful in Canada. Amen.
