"Why is it a sin to miss Mass on Sunday?"

By Paul Dion, STL

Why is it a sin to miss Mass on Sunday? Maybe we should ask "Why is it a sin to "skip" Mass on Sunday?

The second question might be the more correct one. After all, there are several reasons why simply missing Mass on Sunday is not sinful. We all know them well; taking care of a sick child; helping a parent to deal with a violent child; being too ill to get out of bed; having to travel across time zones because there is no other choice for a good reason and many more.

"Skipping" Mass is a lot more serious, because at the very least it shows a "what the heck!" attitude. Before you plunge into your answer, let us tell you about a very religious person that we know who has an invalid husband and a job that requires her to work strange hours on the weekend. She participates in the Holy Mass at least three mornings every week.

Most weeks, she is there four times, but very rarely on Sunday. So she misses Mass just about every Sunday. With all of this information, jump in here and tell the world what you think about why it is a sin (and when it is) to miss Mass on Sunday.

CLICK HERE to see the ParishWorld.net answer to this Burning Question.

Can a Catholic person marry a non-Catholic person?

By Paul Dion, STL

This is an important topic for Catholics. There are a lot of "street corner" opinions about it. Like everything else it is possible to find a friend of a friend who is an "expert" Catholic and who "knows about these things". Surely there are many of you who wonder about this topic. Please respond. This is an important element of Catholic life in the "trenches"?

Is it permitted for a Catholic person to marry a non-Catholic person in a Catholic church ceremony?

If you want to just say "yes" or "no" you may do so. If you have other comments that you would like to add, you may do that too.

May God bless you all.


(Click here to view the many wonderful articles that await you in www.ParishWorld.net, America's Catholic Lifestyle Magazine. Be informed, be inspired, be blessed. )

Is it better to be a lukewarm Catholic or an on-fire Protestant?

By Paul Dion, STL

Tell us what your sincere opinion is: Is it better to be a lukewarm Catholic or an on-fire Protestant?

I was in San Diego last weekend and as usual I was taking a break from my intellectual pursuits and working with my orchids. At one point I had to stand upright and give my aching back a "breather". As I finished stretching and twisting I saw two very fetching young ladies standing in front of me, not too far from my front door.

They asked me if I was interested in talking about God. I said that talking about God is one of my favorite and quasi on-going activities. I pointed out that at the moment I was helping God make my orchids gather enough strength to blossom fully by Easter which was going to be upon us in five short months.

Then I attacked, "Do you believe in Easter?", I asked. I surprised them.

They said "yes". I said, "Good".

"How important is it to you?" I fired back.

"Oh, very" was the reply.

Then one of them got the message that they were not in charge of the conversation. She noticed that I was not quoting verses and chapters. Smooth lady!

"You're Catholic, aren't you?, she asked.

"Yes, I am" I answered. "I've been Catholic all my life and I am not about to negotiate that away."

They said that they understood. We talked for about ten more minutes on the difficulties of the life of door-to-door missionaries. We separated with smiles and promises of interchanging prayers.

These two young ladies are door to door missionaries. All of us have met some of these people before. Have we ever asked ourselves why none of them that we have met are Catholic?

Do we sometimes wonder whether it would be better to be a Protestant door to door missionary than a lukewarm Catholic? Do we sometimes ask ourselves if it would be better to be a zealous Boy Scout master for a Presbyterian church than a so-so Catholic who never offers anything to the Church? Would it be better to be working for the Episcopalian Home Economics group teaching people how to cook for one person and enjoy it rather than to sit by and wonder why the Catholic church doesn't do things like that?

You know that these are "Burning Questions" that come up in conversation all the time. What do you feel about these things? Don't be shy, tell the world what you REALLY think.

CLICK HERE to view the ParishWorld.net answer to this Burning Question.

Is Gambling a Sin?

By Paul Dion, STL


Catholics have often been accused of being very loose with their morals with regards certain human activities. After all, we drink, we dance, we play cards and we even gamble.

Gambling is considered to be rather nasty because it seems to take away from God the determination of what is going to happen next. It puts the welfare of the gambler at the mercy of the "odds" and not into the hands of God where it belongs.

Gambling is an insult to God's Providence. The gambler is trying to achieve a treasure that has not been foreseen by God, thereby manifesting a lack of trust in the all - loving Creator and Savior.

Now, in any man's language, isn't that a sin? So tell me, Gambler, are you holdin' or foldin' as God looks you in the eyes and dares you to up the ante?

You're right, the Burning Question of the week is, "Is it a sin to gamble?"

Are you reading this from the "hot spot" at your favorite casino? What about the recreational trips to the casino? Church Bingo? Are they all sins? Where do we draw the line?

Share your thoughts with us. Post a comment today.

Is it Better to Pray or To Study the Faith?

By Paul Dion, STL
 

This week's "Burning Question" is a challenge that you are going to have to churn out of the depths of your hearts and souls.

"Is it more effective to pray than to study the tenets of a religion when seeking a spiritual home community?"

Take a look at this and at yourself and throw your convictions out on the table.

God bless you all with health, peace and happiness.

Catholic? Who me? RESPONSE TO ANONYMOUS

Anonymous wrote to us again.  Our response is highlighted in yellow.

I am a blessed, highly favored, can't be cursed, Christian. I am saved [You will know if you are saved or not when God judges you when you die.  Until then, you are redeemed, not yet saved.]by the blood of Jesus who died on a cruel cross at Calvary as he took all the sins of the world apon (sic) him for us because he loved us so much. I am sanctified, Holy Ghost filled by his power. Living for Jesus. It does state in the bible [you mean Bible, right?] that in order to get to the Kingdom of God, you must follow the Lord Jesus.  [It says a lot more than that]God sent his only son to save the world not condemn it. When a person dies, he is "absent from the flesh and present with the Lord".  [Are you sure that he is present with the Lord?  How do you know?]He would have had to accept Jesus into his heart and ask for forgiveness of his sins in life. The Bible says if you reject the Lord Jesus, then the Father will reject you. He stated to go out as fishermen [Fishermen, really?  Not apostles?]and spread the good word. That Jesus came and abolished the Laws. [100% wrong, Anonymous.  “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”  Matt. 5;17, King James Version] We celebrate a persons life at there death and funeral, provided they have not rejected HIM. [So you only celebrate the funeral of those who have not rejected Him.  Are you the one who knows who has and who has not rejected Him or is that left up to God alone to decide?]The bible also states even the righteous man falls short of the Glory of God, but if you follow the Lord and to stay in the word ( the Bible), pray and talk to the Lord as a relationship not a religion, minister to others to bring them aboard for salvation, ( remember fisherman). [Anonymous, we don’t bring anybody on board for salvation.  We bring the word and the example to them to help them to open their hearts to the presence of God and to accept His invitation to be disciples of His.  That’s all.  Salvation is His work, not ours.]  As Christians we do not pray for a dead body's soul, as once they take there (sic) last breath they are either in heaven or hell. There is no such thing as purgatory. No mention of that in the Bible at all. I respect that we all love and adore the same God, but following the exact teachings of the Bible is important. [Anonymous, you yourself are preaching to us and yet it is clear that you are now a very profound student of the Bible] I never got a bible when I was a catholic. [When you were Catholic you were read from the Bible every time you went to Mass.  You prayed the psalms.  You prayed the Our Father.  You had the Bible staring you in the face.  If you owned a missal, (most Cathlics did) you had about 45% of the Bible in your hands full time.  Were you listening?  Were you reading?]They stated only certain people were allowed to have it. [This is 100% wrong.  I am 75 years old and I got my first Bible when I made my first communion at age 7.  Spare us from your ignorance.]  We as followers of Christ are all saints !!!! You do not pray to anyone other than The Lord God Almighty. We honor mother Mary but do not pray to her. [In avoiding praying to the Saints and Mary you are denying 20 centuries of Christian practice.] We pray to the Lord directly. We ask for a relationship with him. [You ask for a relationship with Him?  Have you forgotten the words of the covenant?  He has given us His word that we are His people and He is our God.  Do you think for a single moment that you can cause Him to enter into a relationship with you on your terms, outside of His Eternal covenant?  You have the arrogance to say  “I am a blessed, highly favored, can't be cursed, Christian. I am saved…”  yet you do not accept that He has reached down and given you the grace of a relationship with Him without your having to pray for it.] That is what he want (sic)from us and to lead a righteous life. No getting drunk after the funeral....to be drunk is a sin. I am not saying you can't have a glass of wine but without the intention of getting drunk. All in all have a blessed and wonderful day, yours in Christ 

I will and I will also eat His flesh and drink His blood in conformance with the New and Everlasting Covenant, (John 6, remember that one?) all the while trying to figure out where you are coming from.

RESPONSE TO "ANONYMOUS"

ParishWorld.net Theology Editor responds to the recent comment of "Anonymous."


"You say you are asking Him to forgive when u are actually praising mary;"  We write Mary
Right you are.  By praising Mary in God’s presence, we are letting Him know that we are sorry for our sins and that we trust that by showing Him our deep reverence for His Mother that He will be generous with His merciful forgiveness of our trespasses.  What better way to show some atonement for our sins than to show Him that we are glad to talk to His mother in prayer.  We can praise her night and day if we want.  It is God that we adore, not her.  Do you adore God, or do you worship him?  Do you know the difference?
"the bible says not to pray repetitiously" The Bible?  Notice upper case “B” Are you afraid to quote the person who is credited in the Bible with that instruction?  Are you afraid to say that it is in the Gospel of Matthew?  We Catholics know our Bible too.  We Catholics also know that the instructions that are present in the Bible have a personal source.  We know that the personal source of the instruction is God Himself, and in the case of the instruction you mention about prayer, it is Jesus Himself, God Incarnate.  Yes, we Catholics believe that Jesus is God.  Do you?
You don’t quote Jesus but just say “the bible” because for you the Bible is a weapon that you use to sustain your hatred against Catholics.
Jesus, remember Him? told His disciples not to pray like the Pagans by repeating and using many vain sounds [that’s from the Greek, by the way].  This is the way of praying of the Pagans…the mantra.  This comes from the spiritualities of the Middle and the Far East and Jesus and His disciples knew this.  It’s a shame that you don’t.  So we pray by repeating the same prayer over and over again, but it is a prayer and it keeps rolling the spiritual thoughts through our consciousness.  We do not multiply sounds in the hope that the sounds themselves will have a spiritual effect.  That would be superstition.
"many other cults have prayer beads too" Thanks for the insult, Anonymous. But look at it this way.  Catholicism is a cult.  Catholicism and Orthodoxy are the first Christian “cults”.  The Bible that you so proudly refer to comes from Catholicism and Orthodoxy.  So you too, Mr/Ms Protestant must be a member of a cult.  Oh, maybe not.  I forgot Martin Luther, that Catholic Augustinian Monk upgraded your Protestantism to the level of an honest to goodness Religion.  Too bad I forgot about that.  Jesus must be very glad that Luther got Him that upgrade.
"..its not a new thing or a catholic thing...it is pagan...outright pagan:  Do you think for a single instant that we Catholics do not know where prayer beads come from?  Why do you Protestants constantly, in season and out of season throw that at us?  Do you think we are stupid?  Oh yeah, I forgot that too, yes, you do.  I do know that you don’t know that the Rosary is a meditation prayer dedicated to the 20 great historically important moments of Jesus’ life.  While we are praising Mary, we are thinking of Her Son who is going through life on His mission to save us.  Did you know that, Anonymous?  So while we are praising her, we are adoring Him.  Pretty neat trick.  Right?
It is also important to straighten out the definition of Pagan.  Notice I used the upper case there.  I have noticed that your computer doesn’t seem to have a shift key on it.  You have all the important words in your comment starting with a lower case letter.  So, do you know the definition of Pagan?  Really.  The Muslims use prayer beads.  Are they Pagans?  For all you know, you are a Pagan too.  Consider the Bible that you so proudly flaunt around.  Have you read it through, from page 1 through to the final Amen in the book of Revelation?  Do you know that the Bible is the source of God’s pedagogy to reveal himself to us?  If you use the Bible to win arguments against Catholics, you are the Pagan.  Think about that.  I mean it.
"Hail Mary..." how is that asking Jesus to forgive you?" I explained that to you above.  By the way, you do know that “Hail Mary”…is from the Bible, right?
"the Lords Prayer" is not a prayer but a model or outline on how to pray..but u all have to say it over and over again like robots  Ah, yes.  We’re back there again.  Plus, “The Lord’s Prayer” is not a prayer.  Well, in that case, Anonymous, call it “the Lord’s Plan for Prayer.”  You have to be consistent in your thought process.  You’re reaching here, I know you are.  You hate us “cultists” so badly that you’ll say anything to get us riled up.  You’re an interesting person.  Here’s why I think so.
You don’t pray the “Hail Mary;” you don’t pray the “Lord’s Prayer” because it is not a prayer to begin with. So you probably don’t pray too much.  Do you pray when you awaken in the morning?  Do you pray before meals?  Do you pray in the evening before retiring?  Do you pray during the day?  Do you pray for the people you love?  Do you pray for your enemies?  Do you pray the Bible?  Do you pray Hannah’s prayer?  Do you pray Solomon’s prayer?  Do you pray Moses’ prayer?  Do you pray Samson’s prayer?  How about the prayer of Abraham when he is bargaining with God about the people to be saved from Sodom and Gomorrah?  Do you pray Zechariah's prayer?  Do you pray Mary's "Magnificat"? Do you pray the Psalms?  That’s a lot of prayer.  Do you do any of it?  I doubt it, and here’s why:  I repeat, you don’t have enough respect for the Bible to write it with an upper case “B”.  That, Anonymous, is Paganism.

Why do we say the Rosary at Catholic funerals?

By Paul Dion, STL

The question of the week for the is one that you are going to have to figure out for yourselves. I don't think that there is a source that you can consult for the answer to this one.

This question was presented to me by a member of my RCIA class, seeking Baptism through the Rite of Christian Initiation at St. Christopher parish, Moreno Valley, California.

I deeply appreciate this question because it is a seriously probing one. I had an answer ready for them which I will share with you in the Grand Inquisitor's wrap-up.

"Why is it that Catholics always have the recitation of the Holy Rosary as a part of their funerals?"

It's all yours. Tell us what you think.

(Click here to view the many wonderful articles that await you in http://www.parishworld.net/, America's Catholic Lifestyle Magazine. Be informed, be inspired, be blessed. )

Do we adore "Bling?" more than God?

By Paul Dion, STL

"Put to death, then, the parts of you that are earthly:immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire,and the greed that is idolatry." (Paul, Colossians 3)

"Idolatry? Who, me? Idolatry is for Pagans with Golden Calves. I'm not like that."

Really? Then why do we "empty nesters" buy "Escalades" at age 70? Why do we spend $40,000 on a Quinceanera celebration? Why do we spend $35,000 on our father's funeral? Why do we spend $10,000 on an IBM laptop instead of $1,800 on a Dell? Why do we have ten expensive rings, five "King's Ransom" pendants and a $50,000 diamond bracelet?

It couldn't possibly be that we adore "BLING" more than "GOD", could it?

Let's take a look at this statement of St. Paul's to the Colossians. then, let's ask ourselves the following:

"Am I an idolator or am I a true worshipper and disciple of the one true God, and of Him alone?"

By the way, before we answer, let us check out the last sentence of Luke's quote of Jesus' comment to the crowd that He was instructing: 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?'Thus will it be for all who store up treasure for themselves but are not rich in what matters to God." (Luke, 12: 21-21)

Also this one from Luke 14: 25-33: "In the same way, anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple."

Join the discussion. Post your comment to the burning question.

Does the Church permit Organ Donations?

By Paul Dion, STL

‘When he heard this, the bloodthirsty, murderous and utterly abominable Antiochus gave orders to cut out his tongue. But the youth said, "Even if you remove my organ of speech, God hears also those who are mute. See, here is my tongue; cut it off, for in spite of this you will not make our reason speechless. Gladly, for the sake of God, we let our bodily members be mutilated."’ (4 Macc. 10;18-20)

Ok, take my tongue out. God will still hear my cry. Didn't Cain's blood cry out to God from the earth onto which it had been spilled? Didn't Jesus give His life for ours? Didn't some of the martyrs commit some form of suicide?

What about the Franciscan Friar, Maximillian Kolbe who told the Nazis to shoot him rather than the family man that they were intending to kill? What about the priest who gave his life in the rescue action of 9/11/2002? More than organs, these people gave their lives for someone else?

What about the thousands of kidney donors who save lives every year? What about the lung donors? The liver donors who give half their liver for the salvation of their brother or sister?

So you think that all of the above are morally OK. So then, it must be OK for me to sell a kidney; maybe a lung; maybe a cornea; oh, you need a leg, here, I'm 80 years old, I'll sell you one of mine for $5,000; You need 25 square inches of skin, I have some on my tush that you can have for $50.00 per square inch.

Brothers and sisters, this question is not as easy at it seems on the surface. Parishworld.net knows that this is an important 21st century moral question.

In light of the previous question about whether or not real Catholics believe 100% of the Church's teachings, what do you believe about this question? What do you think the teachings of the church about this question are?

The Burning Question is: Does the Church permit Organ Donations? What are the church teachings on this subject?

Try your hand at this. Further enlightenment will come a few days down the road.

What favorite bible verse serves as foundation for your spiritual life?

By Paul Dion, STL

I thought that we might give the reader the opportunity to provide a BURNING QUESTION of the week every now and then. I am therefore brazenly presenting the following.

I have been a Catholic all my life. I reserve the right not to declare my age. My father and mother were very devout Catholics. You know the type - more Catholic than the Pope.

Well, my father lived his life in prayer. He was a senior manager and a superintendent in the business world. He and I participated in the 5:30 AM Mass on every Sunday during the year. We never missed a single "Stations of the Cross" celebration during Lent. We received Communion every Sunday when it was only the "Holy Water Font Frogs" who did so. We recited the family rosary every single night of May and October and during the school year we had to answer all the questions of the Baltimore Catechism even though we had been grilled by the nuns in school during the day.

My father was one step ahead of a lot of the Catholics of his day in one respect. He had a Biblical guiding principle for his life. My maternal grandfather did too. Do you?

Our question to you this week is:

What is(are) your favorite and guiding Bible verse(s) that serve as the foundation for your spiritual life?

Should Catholics be offended by the term "Xmas?"

By Paul Dion, STL

First, allow me to present a statement: We are now gaining about 1.5 minutes of sunlight per day, on average, since December 21. It will take until March 21 for the amount of sunlight to equal the amount of night. So don't try to hold your breath. Now we can get a little bit serious, but not too much.

It is quite certain that most of you have seen the "abbreviated" form of Christmas, you know, XMAS. Some of you just accept it and don't pay any heed. Others look at it and are offended. Some of you are perhaps thinking that it is part of the "vast, left-wing conspiracy that is out there to demolish CHRISTMAS.

ParishWorld.net does not use this form of writing "Christmas" because of the confusion that it can cause.

Now, the question(s):

Are you offended when you see XMAS? If you are, why?

If you are one of those who are not offended by XMAS, why are you not offended by it?

I know that this can seem silly, but if you are indifferent about it, why is that so?

Wait until you see the answer. You will all see that this is not a "silly" question.

If you still need to get something off your chest, we await your sentiments with open arms and a sharpened pencil.

God bless you all.

How does Matthew let us know that Jesus is "Special?"

By Paul Dion, STL


We know a lot about the life of Jesus as an adult. We know that He gathered people around Himself and preached to them with authority. The story of Jesus' infancy in Matthew has a lot of indicators about where the source of this authority lies. I expect that many of you will point to the genealogy that is the hallmark of Matthew's gospel.

There are several other markers in the story that point to some of Yahweh's strongest "messiahs" (anointed ones) and to some of the Chosen People's most glorious, and notorious, adventures that are experienced by Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the first two chapters of Matthew.

These experiences are God's work fashioning the Son into the complete, authoritative incarnation of Himself, the fulfillment of His announcing that this child will be Emmanuel, Jesus (Joshua in Hebrew), the one who saves.

Here is this week's burning question: How does Matthew let us know that Jesus is "Special?"

Discuss the symbolism of the "Adventures of Jesus, Mary and Joseph" in the first two chapters of Matthew.

BIBLE SERIES: Why Don't you Read the Bible?

By Paul Dion, STL


Editor's Note: This is Part 2 of our series on the Bible. It is an offshoot of the Bishop's Synod being held at the Vatican from October 5-26, 2010. Please follow this blog series and be enlightened on why the Bible needs to be part of our ongoing Christian life and experience. Below are links to the rest of the series:

Part 1: What are your Personal Bible Habits?

After the Burning question from last week sent most of you scurrying into the corner, we have decided to push further and ask a less personal question, but a more directly probing one. In case you are wondering, we do have some interesting comments to share with you this time. As is our custom, we will provide you with some "answers". But, outside of our custom, we are going to start by enumerating some answers and then look for yours.

The question is, WHY DON'T YOU READ THE BIBLE?

Down through the ages and until this day there are many answers which have remained the same. Many of them have been told to me directly. Some of them came to light in the survey that the Church took over the last two years. They appear below. See if you can find yourself in them. After that, read the comments that we have posted here.

I don't read the Bible because I don't find it interesting.
I don't read the Bible because I find it difficult to understand what it is trying to say.
I don't read the Bible because it is for priests and nuns.
I don't read the Bible because I don't know where to start.
I don't read the Bible because I hear some of it every Sunday anyway.
I don't read the Bible because if I do and my Protestant friends find out, that's all they'll want to talk about.
I don't read the Bible because I don't have time with my family, job and children and everything.
I don't read the Bible because that's for old people.
I don't have to read the Bible because I have a Catechism.
I don't read the Bible because I thought that Catholics aren't supposed to read it.

You might think that these answers come from people who are not Catholic, or religious, or something. No, that's not it. Most people have a Bible in the house, but it just sits there and gathers dust. You might think that this comes from people who are in and of our times and you know how the people in our times have deteriorated since the "good old days!" Wrong again.

With this list of excuses, it is easy to see that the Church has an uphill effort ahead of it to bring its faithful people around to the reading of the Bible. If it is any consolation, I invite you to click here and see just how old a problem this really is.

Once you have reflected on this question, we at ParishWorld.net request that you make the good resolution to open your Bible. If you don't know how to attack it, ask around and you're sure to find someone who can help you discover the treasure that you have on your coffee table.

"Why do Catholics have a "crucifix" and Protestant have plain crosses?"

By Paul Dion, STL

Here is a question that a young person asked me two weeks ago that I have decided to present to you. This is a thought provoking question that has more than one correct answer. So you should have no shyness about submitting what you think it should be.

I will even give you a hint... All the answers that I will propose to you will be based on Scripture stories. The easiest one might be the story about a problem that the Israelites had as they were walking through the desert after escaping from Egypt. God gave Moses the cure for the problem.

Some of you have noticed that there are crosses that have a small statue of the body of Jesus attached to them and there are crosses that are plain and have no representation of a human attached to the front. The crosses which have the statue attached to the front will be seen in Catholic Churches and never in Protestant churches.

The burning question is: Why do Catholics have a "crucifix" and Protestant Christians have plain cross?

Share your thoughts with us. The comment box is below.

CLICK HERE to see the answer to this Burning Question.

What is the "Real Presence of Christ" that Catholics talk about?

By Paul Dion, STL

Here is the Burning Question of the Week: When Catholics talk about the Real Presence of Christ, what are they talking about? How many other forms of Christ's presence in our midst can you think of?

Catholics among you should be able to answer the first one without difficulty. With a little thought and some prayer you should be able to answer the second question and come up with two or three other forms of presence.

Those of you who are not Catholic may have a little trouble with this one.

Try your thoughts out on it. If you don't come up with anything, hit the Bible first and then Google and wait for the response to see how the Catholics did.

We would like to hear your thoughts. Share them with our readers from all over the world so that they too may be encouraged to look into their hearts and reflect upon our burning question of the week.

(Click here to view the many wonderful articles that await you in www.ParishWorld.net, America's Catholic Lifestyle Magazine. Be informed, be inspired, be blessed. )

What does "pray without ceasing" mean to you?

By Paul Dion, STL


The title line of this blog post is the source of the burning question for the week.

This sentence comes from Saint Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians, Chapter 5, verse 17: "Pray without ceasing." The Catechism of the Catholic Church has 350 paragraphs on the topic of prayer.

What does "pray without ceasing" mean to you?

Let us know what you think. Give us your comment. We will meditate on your answers and post your answers to this blog.

(Click here to view the rest of the many wonderful articles that await you in www.ParishWorld.net, America's Catholic Lifestyle Magazine)

"Why did the lepers have to follow simple directions before being cured?"

By Paul Dion, STL

This week - the 28th Sunday in ordinary time - we are going to hear two impressive stories about lepers who get cured. One story comes from the Old Testament, the Second Book of Kings and the other is in the Gospel according to Saint Luke. Click here to view the Sunday Readings.

As it turns out, the one in the Old Testament was Persian and of the the ten in the gospel story, the one who came back to express his gratitude was a Samaritan. One of those nasty people from the West Bank.

The Burning Question is not about gratitude and it is not about reaching out to strangers and those who are "different" than we. The Burning question is more demanding than that, this week. I am going to give you the Bible references here so that you can read both stories in their full context.

Naaman the Leper; 2 Kings, Chapter 5, verses 1 to 19.
The Ten Lepers: Luke, chapter 17, verses 11 to 19.

Notice that in both stories, both the prophet of the Old Testament and Jesus of the Gospel give the persons about to be healed something to do. In both situations, the action is not difficult, but it has great meaning.

Think about it a while and when the light goes on, send us your opinion about the answer to the question:

"Why did the lepers have to follow simple directions before being cured?"

Yes, there is a reason. Yes, it is connected to a question about Catholics that all of you have heard at least once, if not once a month. Go on, give it a try and we'll swap ideas along the way.

You can leave your comment on the burning question or to see what others are saying below.

CLICK HERE to see the answer to this Burning Question.

Would you leave a job for moral reasons?

By Paul Dion, STL

Most of the adults who read ParishWorld.net have jobs. Most of you pehaps have jobs in companies or enterprises that are generally quite moral. We all have heard of the immoral activities of certain companies and we tell ourselves how happy we are to be working for a "good" company.

Every now and then, though, along our career path we find ourselves working in a company where it rapidly becomes clear that lying, cheating and stealing are the rule of the day. Without painting a detailed picture of what can be immoral, let us just ennumerate a few behaviors that could be practiced in any given enterprise.

One of the most common immoral behaviors is the underpaying of employees, such as cheating on overtime laws, withholding bonuses and other abuses visited upon the lowest tier of employees. Another common practice is to have a middle manager sign contracts or agreements in place of the senior management when the executives have no intention of abiding by the agreement.

The burning question for the week is, Should a person leave this work environment for a more moral one? If leaving would seem to be the worst possible alternative, does the moral person (good Catholic) have an obligation to bring the immoral practices to the attention of upper management?

Would you have the courage of the Syro-Phoenician woman related in the Gospel story of the 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time (A)? Click here to read this Gospel passage.

Since there is no black and white answer to this question, give us your answers and we will respond with our opinion. I promise that I will not tell you what I did in circumstances like those described above. I'll leave that up to my wife!!!

"Is it appropriate to hold hands during the 'Our Father' at Holy Mass?"

By Paul Dion, STL

We received the following "Burning Question" from a regular reader, Laurence Gonzaga. He is someone whom we respect and this question of his is quite challenging. It is therefore good for all of us to toss it around in our minds.

Laurence wrote:

"I don't know if this 'burning question' ever crossed your mind, but here goes: "Is it appropriate for the congregation to hold hands during the 'Our Father' at Holy Mass? "When I go to daily Mass, I notice most people do not have this practice. I guess it depends on the place. I try to sit in a pew that is vacant. Ever since I was young, I always hated this part of the Mass. I would always 'go to the bathroom' to avoid it. When I am at Sunday Mass, I do it, because my Dad does it, and the people give you a funny look when you don't want to hold their hand. But when my dad is not with me, I close my eyes and keep my hands to my side. It's not that I am trying to be anti-social, it's just that, I don't want to be forced to do it when it is not really called for in the Mass. It is not even rooted in tradition."

What do you say, Dear Reader? Chime in.

CLICK HERE to view the answer to this Burning Question