ARCHBISHOP OF COCHABAMBA

PASTORAL LETTER

ARCHBISHOP of COCHABAMBA

Monsignor René Fernández A.

To the Venerable Metropolitan Council, Priests, Secular and Religious

Clergy, Nuns, and Faithful of the Archdiocese of Cochabamba

Cochabamba, Bolivia

1998

Table of Contents

	The New Evangelization Pastoral Letter on the Season of Lent	2
I.	Introduction	4
II.	God’s Presence	6
III.	The Old Covenant	7
IV.	The New and Eternal Covenant	9
V.	The Coming of Jesus	10
VI.	Time of the Sacraments	11
VI. A.	The Sacraments of the Church	12
VI. B.	The Paschal Mystery in the Sacraments	13
VI. C.	The Sacraments of Christian Initiation	13
	1. Baptism	13
	2. Confirmation	14
	3. The Eucharist	15
	3.1 The Great Desire of Christ	18
VI. D.	The Sacraments of Healing	18
	4. Penance and Reconciliation	19
	5. Anointing of the Sick	20
VI. E.	The Sacraments at the Service of Communion	22
	6. Holy Orders	22
	7. Matrimony	23
	7.1 The Domestic Church	24
VII.	The Sacramentals	25
VIII.	Mary, Our Mother	26
IX.	Our Church	28
	Appendix	30
	I. Work Proposal	30
	II. Plan of Action	31
	III. The Apostolate of the New Evangelization	32
	References	34

The New Evangelization Pastoral Letter

On the season of Lent Year of the Holy Spirit

1998

To the Venerable Metropolitan Council, Priests, Secular and Religious

Clergy, Nuns, and Faithful of the Archdiocese of Cochabamba.

Dear brothers in Christ:

Four months after having joyfully celebrated in our city, the “Sixth Bolivian Marian Eucharistic Conference,” we give thanks to God for such an event that has contributed to reflect and renew our Christian commitment.

Acknowledging that the Conference has not been the conclusion of a pastoral initiative, but rather a process of invitation to the conversion inspired in the teachings of His Holiness Pope John Paul II, who constantly exhorts us to illuminate our deeds based on the NEW EVANGELIZATION; whereas this Lent must be the starting point of concrete works that will permit us to direct a greater awareness amongst Catholics of those responsibilities and obligations that are assumed through the Sacraments received.

Remembering that we have begun the YEAR OF THE HOLY SPIRIT that prepares us to the Third Millennium, convinced of its illuminating force, let us ask for the Grace to better understand the efficacy of all the Sacraments.

For this reason we direct ourselves to all priests, religious men and women, pastoral agents, and faithful so that the period of Holy Lent be a time of grace to carry forward the guidelines that we present in this Pastoral Letter.

With it we want to adhere to proposed recommendations in the “Synod of America” celebrated recently in Rome, which was inspired in the fundamental theme of “the Living Jesus Christ, Path of Conversion, Communion, and Solidarity.”

Bearing in mind that we are immersed in a world constantly threatened by nuclear conflicts, within a context that promotes the culture of death, that besides is manifested in other alarming scenes like abortion, drug addiction, drug dealing, corruption, breaking up of the family, sexual promiscuity, AIDS, inversion of values, materialism, etc., we see the urgency to increase the effort to follow the dynamic guidelines of an untiring apostle like His Holiness John Paul II, who takes throughout the world the Voice and the Embrace of Peace, Hope, and Liberty vigorously reaffirmed in his latest visit to the island of Cuba.

For a greater study in depth of these important subjects, we include a study over those topics that deserve special attention in the pastoral concept that we hope will inspire the work of evangelization in our Archdiocese during this Lent and all the liturgical year.

I recommend, vividly and fraternally, that you read and study this document in order to proceed towards “the meeting with the Living Jesus Christ, Path of Conversion, Communion, and Solidarity.”

I. Introduction

The contemporary human context has been accompanied by great social, technical, and scientific changes of vast extension. The “globalization” of the economy has emphasized the role of an ultra-economy that conditions the life of the individual and the community. This movement has exhibited a very hard countenance inasmuch as it has preponderantly focused the human intelligence on the enrichment and the production. The theoretical expectation is promising, inasmuch as it should yield investments and benefits to the countries. However, the results have not permitted distancing the poor from poverty. What’s more, it has distanced the poorest from all productive movement, as the increase of unemployment shows it even in the more advanced European countries, reaching levels that were seen only in past worldwide emergencies: 15% to more than 20% of unemployment.

What can be said of the consequent countries that exert themselves to obtain their daily bread? Truly the situation is not better, more so when chronic problems of great seriousness must be confronted: malnutrition, epidemic diseases, overcrowding, and socioeconomic inequality, besides those maladies of conduct that lacerate the most profound of the civic spirit: corruption, peddling of political favors, drug trafficing, immorality, promiscuity, etc.

The worldly panorama with the natural threats that are increased each time, the international economic instability that affects from Asia to Latin America, the inclination of the bordering countries to bear arms, and the inability of international representatives to guarantee peace on earth show us that man with his “scientific and technological human tasks” does not succeed in establishing the dream of peace and harmony in the world.

This confirmation invites us to remind all the structured world that the technical and materialistic applied formulas are not sufficient to correct the vectors that guide human behavior because the MEANING AND VALUE OF MAN’S SPIRITUAL CONDITION have been ignored for too long.

Yes, in no proposal arising from the international agencies that represent the states does one hear the promotion of the state of men as CHILDREN OF GOD. Man tends to appear like an unknown person without origin, offspring of evolution, of accidental chemical projects, or cosmic explosions. It is, therefore, that man himself sets himself up as “father” of humanity, self-created, solicitous in continuing to play with animal cells “to create life”, endeavoring to undertake the same labor using animal cells, ignoring the Word of God that should guide his behavior in each possible unit of conduct. Accordingly, it is difficult for us to recognize, how we affirm ourselves in a rebellious manner like independent human beings, worried self-creators, so that our conduct will have palpable human benefits but without any spiritual projection. Let us remember the opening and closing spectacles of the Olympics at Atlanta, or let us see the preparations for the coming world-soccer games in France. They talk about the millions of dollars that are involved, they recount the billions of persons that will watch the spectacle...but, where is God’s presence? Is it that God is only for the few persons that attend church, or that God exists only for the sick, the poor, the unsuccessful, the wounded? How has our God, the omnipresent one, failed so that He is not invited to the festivals that men prepare for themselves?

There is only one answer, “God is not alive in man’s daily life, He is a Being distant from our life and He doesn’t occupy the center of our human history.” What would you say if your children always celebrated without considering their Father or Mother, or would call you only in moments of necessity to ask you for a favor?

Eighty-five percent of the world’s population believe in God, a large part of this percentage prepares the greatest human spectacles in the world, but it doesn’t remember God, and neither do the onlookers complain, because while believing, they have gotten used to that absence. Nevertheless, pleasure in any expression, alcohol, sex, drugs, invitation to consumerism, and violence are constant. What can we say about a society that shows more its desire for money, power, and unbridled sex that not even AIDS can stop in spite of its 16,000 daily cases?

The last 8 years have been lived in the midst of a social and modern culture that furthermore has signed countless peace treaties, and has been witness to the death or more than 20 million persons in war conflicts. The self-styled liberalization of human necessities permit 50 million annual abortions to be carried out, but the same legal or technological effort to protect undernourished or mistreated children is not made. On the other hand, the military technology is capable of assassinating 500,000 persons in three days like it occurred in the Gulf War. The following day, in the middle of debris and death, the world leaders proudly rise to their feet to sign new agreements dedicated to what they call “peace”.

Why has man become so blinded? Is it that his heart has stopped beating and his feelings have been silenced by the brutal rumors of a society that seems to aspire to a quantitative survival more than to a pleasant quality of life? Is it that he aspires to division more than to unity? It requires effort to comprehend that it is easier to find in the world international collaboration for an arms race than bread for indigents. What can be said about that European country that spends more money in its pet dogs than in food for its own children? What to think of the space that is given in the world to the more than 800,000 abused boys and girls younger than 15 years in the child prostitution market?

Of course, we cannot ignore the human achievements as far as health, education, and employment, since man has made notable efforts in order to better the way of social life. But the final result is insufficient and the new tendencies do not lead to the “promised land”. On the contrary, suffice it to remember that three-fourths of humanity is underfed and that less than 30 countries possess the richness of 80% of the world’s wealth. And while two-billion dollars can be invested in a space shuttle, entire countries wait for pennies to benefit health and education problems.

The reality of our country is no different from that of nations that struggle between the past and the future, in a present that exhibits injuries that cannot be ignored.

The national family groups live subject to a socioeconomic reality that conditions their way of life. From the economic point of view bear in mind that only 15% of the people draw a salary of over 1,000 bolivianos; therefore, 85% of our population must support its family with approximately 1,000 bolivianos or less (around 185 American dollars). Fifty percent of the employed earns precisely less than 263 bolivianos, and only 24% of women earn more than 334 bolivianos. (CIEH Investigaciones, 1993; INE (National Institute of Statistics), pg.181 respectively)

The recent report that “The Demography of Poverty” (ANF, 7/9/97) outlines, asserts that 1,700,000 Bolivians are poor. The dissatisfaction with regard to basic necessities involves populations that run from 42% to 70%.

The study presented in “The Demography of Poverty” presents the following account: In Bolivia, 74% of the families lack basic services, overcrowding affects 69% of family units, 65.5% fall behind in their education, 52.6% do not adequately attend to their health, and in 48.9% of the cases the quality of the construction of housing is bad.

In the Province of Cochabamba, according to the same source, 70.8% of the population is poor and 66.4% live in overcrowded conditions (ANF 7/9/97).

Other disturbing evidence refers to malnutrition, where according to UNICEF (1994), between 3 and 36 months of age it is broken down in the following manner: light, 31.4%; moderate, 10.7%; grave, 2.6%; that which makes up 44.7% of the delicate population. The following results are no less alarming, for the school age population suffers from undernourishment in rankings that run from 20% to 55%.

It doesn’t cease to be disturbing that of the adolescent population, between 11 and 18 years of age, 40% of them do not attend school because they work (INE, 1994). It must be taken into account that these groups who are cut off from the educational influence do not receive any other type of benefits: vaccination, social assistance, information, civic instruction, religious, etc.

Within the family context, the high rate of separations and divorces is disturbing. The research groups (CIEH, 1991) have confirmed that in schools the presence of students that come from broken families run from 40% to 70%. Eighty-six percent of young marriages (between the ages of 18 and 22) stem from accidental pregnancies, of which 70% are separated in the first two years of living together for the following reasons: economic problems, bad treatment, intolerance, emotional immaturity, devalued sense of family tradition and of the transcendental values, relativism, shallowness, materialism, and sexism.

These facts are eloquent, they show us the conditions that our pastoral work must take into account to outline its course of action. “The New Evangelization” carries the Word of the Living Christ in its topical context so that Christ will be everything to everyone.

II. God’s Presence

The following assertion is clear to us: “modern man has simply forgotten God.” He has ignored Him in His nature as true “Father” and has overlooked that paternity which manifests His election, protection, mercy, and forgiveness that extends to all men (Ex 4:22; Dt 32:6; Is 63:16), in addition to overlooking the greatest concept that reveals God to us as God of Love (1 Jn 4:8,16; Rom 8:39).

God-Father creates man, looks for him insistently with generous offers of love and salvation, but we do not know how today’s man assimilates this invitation, despite the fact that Jesus, presenting Himself as Son par excellence, teaches us to call Him “Our Father!” (Mt 5:15,45; 6:8-9; 7:21; Mk 11:25-26; Lk 15; Jn 17).

Modern culture has comprehended the presence of God in different ways: He is the Highest and the Supreme, we find Him in Heaven, but also near us, His perfection does not isolate Him from the world, but neither is He a reality that must be mistaken only with the world. His presence extends over all creation and time. It illuminates man to make of him a luminous witness of His presence (Jn 17:21). His relationship with His creatures is important to Him, that’s why He asks: “Adam, where art thou?” (Gen 3:8).

The New Testament reveals His presence to us through Mary. The Lord is with Her and God is with us. Christ is the Word made flesh in order to dwell among us (Jn 1:14) and to make present the glory of His Father, whose body is the true temple (Jn 2:21).

He lives in those who have received Him through faith (Gal 2:20) and nourishes with His body (1 Cor 10:16). His presence is such that He tells us: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any man listens to My voice and opens the door to Me, I will come in and will sup with Him, and he with Me” (Rv 3:20).

Submerged in so much materialism, scientism, and technicalism, we have weakened our capacity to understand the language of the Spirit. We believe it is time to rediscover and pause to reflect in order to comprehend the scope of so many graces offered by God the Father who loves us so much.

III. The Old Covenant

Because of the preference that man has in the work of creation, God makes a Pact with him: its significance is understood upon reflecting on the word itself that denotes the agreement: “Covenant,” term that legally expresses a bilateral pact or agreement between the parties. The Holy Bible applies it to the relationship between God and man (Parra, 1992, pg. 13).

Let us refer to Chapters 19-24 of the Book of Exodus that deals with the Covenant that God made with His people. We read in Chapter 24:7-8 of Exodus: “And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people, and they said: All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do, we will be obedient. And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.”

It is precisely at the moment of the shedding of the blood that the Covenant was made. The group of slaves freed from Egypt began to be the People of God, and God began to fulfill His promise: “And I will take you to Myself for My people. I will be your God” (Ex 6:7).

The Covenant is the nucleus of the history of our salvation, it is the seed that must give fruit for the glory of God and men. The book of the Covenant contains the structure of the people of God, to this it gives its constitution in terms of Commandments and Codes.

This pact was regularly remembered by Moses’ successors; they would get together to celebrate the independence, the liberation of the Egyptian yoke. It was as if the newer generations arrived at Sinai to renew that grand pact... these pilgrimages permitted the newer generations “to become involved” with their parents’ agreement, since it wasn’t that God made the agreement with the grandparents or great-grandparents, He made it with all the people and with all the generations to come.

And like testimony of these references they had the Book of the Covenant (Ex 19-24) where the stories and laws, promises and provisions, and rules for the renewing of the Covenant are found. We believe that the object of all that endeavors to direct the people of God in its march maintaining their loyalty to God.

We can retrieve five steps in the celebration of the Covenant:

1. Remember the history and transport it to the present (Ex 19:1-25).

It mentions the chosen people’s pilgrimage through the desert from Egypt’s experience to God’s manifestation at Mount Sinai. Remembering the past was to become flesh in Him, to bring Him to the present, and prepare to listen to God’s word.

2. Hear the Word that God is going to pronounce (Ex 20:1-21).

God gives the laws that the individual as well as the nation must respect in order to live according to the divine will.

3. Apply God’s law to the life of the people (Ex 20:22-23, 19).

Apply in accordance with the Covenant’s Code where it teaches how the Ten Commandments must be applied in the concrete situations of life. Tensions and conflicts are not missing.

4. Hear the promise that calls for loyalty (Ex 23:20-33).

At the base of the promise is the gratitude with which God works in relation to men. They are promises relative to man’s daily life: health, land, production, family, and religion. God wants to fulfill His promises.

5. Renew the Covenant with God and make merry (Ex 24:1-18).

It refers to the high point of the celebration, it tells how the conclusion of God’s Covenant with His people was made at the foot of the mount: “Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: This is the blood of the Covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.” (Ex 24:8) It is as if the people signed the Book of the Covenant with its own blood, that is, with its own life.

The festivity, the celebration of the Covenant, the communion, continues; they distribute and eat the part of the sacrifice that remained reserved for the people.

The Covenant is planted in God’s heart, it is the root of the prophets’ action. It was broken and undone by men many times. The respect that the Covenant with God deserved was neglected, and in many instances its dimension was reduced to one’s own interests. At the end the result was always the same: failure, destruction, impoverishment, sickness, and death.

The prophets, illuminated by the knowledge of the Word of God, would announce the breaking of the covenant. They reasoned to look again for God’s loyal love that was always stronger than the infidelity of men, and they announced a New Covenant for the future: “Behold the days shall come, saith the Lord, and I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: the Covenant which they made void, and I had dominion over then, saith the Lord...I will give My law in their bowels, and I will write it in their heart, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jer 31:31-33).

On numerous occasions man had exhibited his vulnerability, his disloyalty to God, but the hope of a New and Eternal Covenant grew; while in the same way, the death rattles of the old one that man had decided to annihilate were already felt.

IV. The New and Eternal Covenant

If God had chosen a people and had made a pact with them, furthermore, had dictated the way of life to them, it would have been hoped to find a nation prosperous in good works for God and neighbor. But when Jesus came, He found a nation divided with false leaders who in name of the same covenant, provoked divisions that challenged the most elementary concepts of dignity: chaste, unchaste, Jewish, Gentiles, Samaritans, etc. The extreme seems evident when it is considered that His own priests “did not recognize Him”; on the contrary, they were the ones who crucified Him.

Jesus, the strong lion, is presented in this confused range. He announces the arrival of the hour of God and tells the people: “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15).

It must be understood that the announcement of the Kingdom corresponds to the New Covenant announced by the prophets and expected by the people.

The people, however, in spite of the expectation is not totally disposed to understand the gospel: some feel drawn to it, to some it provokes conflict and tension (Lk 12:51-53). He was strongly attacked, healed the sick, cast out devils, proclaimed love for the poor and the helpless, and defended justice; nevertheless, they called Him atheist, without God (Jn 9:16), He has Beelzebub, He is crazy (Mk 3:22), He is a blasphemer, a malefactor, a subversive (Lk 23:2), goes against Caesar (Jn 19:12), against the temple (Mk 26:61-65), against taxing, etc.

The powerful priests of the times did not appreciate His true voice, it touched the languid consciences that He did not hesitate in calling breeds of snakes, whitewashed sepulchers... At the end they would resort to the extreme and desperate measures of the weak by crucifying Him. Jesus did not resist, He did not call legions of Angels to defend Himself, He came so that we would all have life and have it more abundantly. For love of our life, He surrendered His and died. It was the extreme proof of His love (Jn 10:10-15, 18; 15:13).

Jesus with His blood makes the new Covenant, the one that will change men’s hearts and will be given to the Spirit of God. The evangelist Mark quotes: “This is My blood of the new Covenant, which is being shed for many” (Mk 14:24); St. Matthew adds: “For the forgiveness of sins” (Mt 26:28). Luke states: “This cup is the new Covenant in My blood, which shall be shed for you” (Lk 22:20).

With His way of life, He shows us how He wants us, His followers, to live the New Covenant: I am the way, the truth, and life. The coming of Jesus indicates the seal of the New Covenant announced by the prophets and expected by the people.

Following St. Mark we can discover some fundamental points of supreme significance at present time.

V. The Coming of Jesus

The coming of Jesus:

- forms a community; upon calling the apostles, He assembles the persons around Him and within Himself (Mk 1:16-45).

- speaks with authority; He teaches, recognizes, and knows (Mk 1:16-20).

- is the Holy One of God, He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him (Mk 1:24-27); and He cured many who were afflicted with various diseases, and cast out many devils (Mk 1:29-34).

- has power over the forces of nature (sea, storms, etc.) (Mt 8:26).

- is the Man of prayer, He does not stop talking with the Father, since it is with Him that one needs to be united (Mk 1:35).

- has a mission; for that He has come. He must preach God’s Word, give His life, save mankind, the immediate result is not enough (Mk 1:36-39).

- sets free; He returns the outcasts to human coexistence (Mk 1:40-45).

Why doesn’t present day man make of these words that originate directly from God’s mouth, a way of life, a program of action? Is it that the blood spilled by the Savior, His infinite labor does not bind men of the twentieth century to the twenty-first? Or, ignoring His Word, perhaps we are part of those who want to do without God because they find in themselves the beginning and end of the worldly and transcendent fulfillment?

Christ gives us the Gospel in St. Mark. St. Matthew (Mt 4:17) tells it like an announcement and sign of Jesus: “Convert because the Kingdom of God has arrived.”

How sad, for many, that the message arrives and goes by because we are more concerned with the economic and temporal conquests that with flashy vestments put forward the present age. To convert means to place God in the center of our lives to live a standard of Christian and full living with the grace that God gives freely. How is it possible for us to say “no” to the invitation to love?

The wonder of the Gospel is not only in the message, but also in who presents it: it is not one more envoy, it is not one of many, it is Emmanuel, “God be with us” in person. He has brought us the Father, (he who sees Me, sees the Father) the hope, the light. We shall no longer live in darkness... It is He, who after fulfilling His mission on earth, will send us the Spirit of love. In Him and for Him we have been chosen and loved by the Father (Häring, 1967, pg. 14).

And His Word is not static, it is dynamic, effective, it stirs up decisive happenings of salvation or condemnation. His word is redeeming and assumes for us a sacramental sense. The Church, founded by Him, is the sacrament of His Love and His Word. It preaches His word, the word that the Lord Himself has made known, in Christ’s Spirit. Christ in person is with the Church until the end of time (ibid. pg. 14).

Christ, in the holy sacraments, proclaims His redeeming word, and directs it to the Christian community. Christ personally is in the sacraments, with His efficacious presence. His word, His love, and His mercy give us Grace. His word has eternal life (Jn 6:68).

His grace will give fruit if we accept it with love and generous commitment to the understanding that Glory is given to the Father when we do His Will.

Jesus Christ’s coming implies the “plentitude of time,” the plentitude of salvation, with His presence it sounds like an urgent call. “But this I say, brethren, the time is short” (1 Cor 7:29). The march has begun towards that vector in which “God may be all in all” (1 Cor 15:28).

VI. The Time of the Sacraments

The time that oscillates in the former Pentecost orients us to the New Pentecost, and in it the age of the sacraments is integrated.

According to Father Bernardo Häring (pg. 19) the sacraments are eschatological signs that update God’s mercy, in them Christ comes to us, although hidden. He truly communicates His Spirit that is the living force in us.

The sacraments are the efficacious and jubilant proclamation of the profoundest law of Christianism, of the “law of grace” that has in itself all of God’s orders. They place us in front of Him, before the demands of His grace, before the glory of His resurrection. From here must be born the sacramental man, the man mindful of God’s Word and to its fulfillment.

Just like the Lord called His apostles, in His sacraments and in His word we hear His voice and acknowledge His authority, since He also invites us to “Come and follow Me.” There is no conversion if we are not united to the inherent graces of the sacraments, the regenerated man is a man of the sacraments. Regeneration is to be reborn of God, not by reason of our good works, but according to the loving action and mercy of the Holy Spirit, whom God has abundantly poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior (Tit 3:5; 1 Pt 1:3). Here the great responsibility to orient life in grace is detached according to St. Paul’s text: “... so we also may walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4). “But now we have been set free from the Law, having died to that by which we were held down, so that we may serve in a new spirit and not according to the outworn letter” (Rom 7:6).

“Amen, amen, I say to thee, unless a man be born again of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5). It is the condition for a holy life according to the Will of the Lord. “Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and cleanse for Himself an acceptable people, pursuing good works (Tit 2:14).

The generous love of the Savior, that is His grace, tells us how we must orient our behavior in this march towards eternal life.

When we make the grace a fundamental reference of our life, even without been prepared to include its full reach, we have given the decisive response that God wants from us.

VI. A. The Sacraments of the Church

According to our Catholic Catechism (CCC §1076), the Church, through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, manifests itself to the world on the day of Pentecost. It makes present and communicates the redeeming work of Christ through the Liturgy “until He comes” (1 Cor 11:26).

In this age of the Church, Jesus Christ lives and acts in her, in a new way. He acts through the sacraments communicating and transmitting of the fruits of His Paschal Mystery in the celebration of the Church’s sacramental liturgy.

The Savior, seated at the right hand of the Father, pours out His spirit on His Church. He acts through the sacraments that He instituted to communicate His grace.

The sacraments “are perceptible signs (words and actions) accessible to our human nature. By the action of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit they efficaciously make present the grace that they signify” (CCC §1084).

Accordingly, just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also He sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit, to preach the Gospel, and to proclaim His Word. He also sent them to fulfill the work of salvation which they preached through sacrifice and sacraments, around which all the liturgical life revolves (SC 6).

The risen Christ, upon giving the Holy Spirit to His apostles, entrusts to them His power of sanctifying, thus they become extensions and bearers of the saving signs of Christ. These “successors” shape the apostolic succession that structures the whole liturgical life of the Church.

Since the work of salvation accompanies man’s history, Christ does not go away. On the contrary, He is always present in His Church, especially in the liturgical celebrations. He is present in the Sacrifice of the Mass, under the species of bread and wine. By His power, He is present in the sacraments, that is why when the priest baptizes, it is Christ himself who baptizes. He is present in His Word since it is He himself who speaks, He is present when we pray and sing, for He promised “where two or three are gathered together in My name there am I in the midst of them” (Mt 18:20).

“In the liturgy the Holy Spirit is teacher of the faith of the People of God and artisan of ‘God’s masterpieces’, the sacraments of the New Covenant” (CCC §1091).

“In the liturgy of the New Covenant every liturgical action, especially the celebration of the Eucharist and the sacraments, is an encounter between Christ and the Church. The liturgical assembly derives its unity from the ‘communion of the Holy Spirit’ who gathers the children of God ‘into the one Body of Christ’ ” (ibid. §1097).

“The mission of the Holy Spirit in the liturgy of the Church is to prepare the assembly to meet Christ, to recall and manifest Christ to the faith of the assembly, to make the saving work of Christ present and active by His transforming power, and to make the gift of communion bear fruit in the Church” (ibid. §1112).

VI. B. The Paschal Mystery in the Sacraments

The liturgical life of our Church revolves around the Eucharistic celebration and the sacraments (SCV 6).

The Sacraments are efficacious signs of grace. Christ instituted them and acts in them; He gave them to the Church for its extension and administration. The visible rites by which the sacraments are celebrated signify and make present the graces proper to each sacrament. They truly bear fruit in those who receive them, although, of course, their efficacy depends on the required disposition. By the grace of the Spirit the sacraments strengthen faith and express it, and lead us on the path to eternal life.

The Sacraments of the Church are seven: Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Penance, the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Orders, and Matrimony, and they touch the same life stages of man: they give birth and growth, healing and mission to the Christian’s life of faith (CCC §1210).

From a pedagogical perspective our Catechism distinguishes the sacraments of Christian initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and the Eucharist), then the sacraments of healing (Penance and the Anointing of the Sick), and those that are at the service of communion and mission of the faithful (Holy Orders and Matrimony).

VI. C. The Sacraments of Christian Initiation

They are called precisely that because they lay the foundations of every Christian life. The faithful are born anew by Baptism, strengthened by the sacrament of Confirmation, and finally are nourished in the Eucharist with the food of eternal life (CCC §1212).

1. The Grace of Baptism

“To Baptize” means “to immerse”, “to plunge into the water”, the “immersion” into the water symbolizes the catechumen’s burial into Christ’s death, from which he rises up by resurrection with Him, as “a new creature” (CCC §1214). This sacrament brings about the birth of water and the Spirit without which “no one can enter the Kingdom of God” (Jn 3:5). It is also called “enlightenment” because the person baptized after having been enlightened becomes a “son of light” (1 Th 5:5), and he becomes “light” himself (Eph 5:8).

Baptism gives us birth into the new life in Christ; it is so fundamental for salvation that the Lord orders: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you” (Mt 28:19-20).

The fruits or baptismal graces are rich realities for the son of God: forgives original sin and all personal sins; is born into the new life as an adoptive son of the Father; becomes a member of Christ, temple of the Holy Spirit; is incorporated into the Church; and participates in the priesthood of Christ.

Likewise it imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual sign which consecrates the baptized person for Christian worship.

The first thing that the Holy Spirit engraves in our soul is our divine affiliation. It is the sacrament’s own grace. When Jesus was baptized a voice was heard: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17). We on the other hand are told during the ceremony: “Now you have been made My child.” With this baptism we have clothed ourselves with Christ (Gal 3:27) and we are made to the image of God’s Son (Rom 8:29) “…So you are no longer a slave but a child” (Gal 4:6-7). In the meantime, our life should be oriented to follow Jesus’ footsteps in order to be like Him following His example that He is in fullness and by nature Son of the Father.

Let us remember that next to the privilege of adoption, Baptism gives us the three fundamental powers to mold divine life: faith gives us a simple and penetrating look to consider God’s works, and opens our spirit and our heart to the most personal and intimate mysteries of God’s heart. Hope encourages our filial relations with God whose will we want to fulfill, the best way to communicate: prayer. The total surrender of the will, the trust implies acceptance of everything, even the suffering that modern man fears so much, and associates with God’s curse and lack of love for men. And charity, seen like love, gives the authentic seal of the divine filiation to all manifestation of conduct, moral or religious.

The compelling inquiry questions our present day answer to baptism. Is Christ our model and do we regularly follow the narrow path that He has proposed to us? Or rather have we heard the musical offering of the world that offers us temporary riches under the guise of success, achievement, importance, competence, earnings, etc.?

Upon reflecting on our Baptism, we must rediscover the values of this Sacrament, understand the importance of forgiveness, of God’s generous love through which He acknowledges us as His children, the wonderful gift that invites us to the new life.

An offering of love like this, truly deserves an answer of love probably more intense and committed than the one we are now offering.

2. Confirmation

In referring to this second Sacrament it is fitting to consider the importance of anointing and what it signifies and imprints: a spiritual seal.

Anointing with oil is a sign of abundance, joy, cleansing; it limbers, it is a sign of healing, and the oil makes radiant with beauty, health, and strength (CCC §1293). The anointing of the holy chrism in Confirmation is the sign of consecration, for by it we participate more completely in the mission of Jesus Christ and the fullness of the Holy Spirit, so that our lives may give off “the aroma of Christ” (cf. 2 Cor 2:15).

By the anointing, the confirmed received the “mark” of the Holy Spirit, “and it is God who establishes us with you in Christ and has commissioned us, and the one who has put His seal on us and given us His Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” (2 Cor 1:22). This sacrament confirms us as belonging to Christ, we are His servants forever, on His part: He promises us the divine protection, for it has united us even more to Christ, and it has increased the gifts of the Holy Spirit in us, and strengthens our bond with the Church.

We must remember that in this manner “we receive a special strength from the Holy Spirit to spread and defend the faith by word and action, as true witnesses of Christ and never to be ashamed of the Cross” (LG 11,12; CCC §302).

When Christ was baptized in the Jordan, heaven opened above Him and “the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form as a dove.” The Father wanted to give testimony of His Son and divine origin of His mission (Lk 3:22). Full of the Spirit (Lk 4:1) with the power of the Spirit (Lk 4:14) He began to preach the gospel. The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me. He anointed Me and sent Me to bring the good news to the poor…to proclaim the year of grace of the Lord (Lk 4:18). Jesus is the “faithful witness” (Rv 1:15). He gives testimony to the truth, confirms the same with His blood. He is witness to the Father, He then sends the Holy Spirit to us so that we can also be witnesses.

Christ came to baptize us with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Mt 3:11). The tongues of fire that on Pentecost were given to the Church, were an invitation for her to continue that testimony, that is why we must bear in mind that “every confirmed person is called to take part as a WITNESS in the missionary work of the Church. For that, we receive fully the Spirit in the baptism of fire of confirmation, so that we may be capable of fulfilling the right to be Christ’s witnesses “even in the confines of the world”.

In an age in which too much importance is given to the external, appearances, richness of the body, and more delight in the material than in the spiritual; where religion is tepid and neglected at home, the confirmed person must re-discover his mission of a committed witness, by which he must assume roles and duties that will make him fulfill the praiseworthy work of being a strong soldier by God’s side and the side of His Church.

Thus the Christian assumes the duty of saintliness that must orient his life. The Spirit will imprint in the heart that will allow it, the great sense of love that should illuminate his actions towards men and God.

3. The Eucharist

At the beginning the Old Covenant was sealed with the victim’s blood, but the New and Eternal Covenant is sealed by Christ with humanity redeemed by His blood.

The Old Testament reminds us that blood was considered the seat of life (Lev 17:11). In the New Covenant Christ’s blood “is” life, and constitutes the “sign” of the new and eternal covenant. What was symbolic in the past now assumes a new and clear reality. The victim’s blood announced the generous shedding of Christ’s blood, thus His blood turns into the source of life for us.

From the heart of Jesus pierced by the lance, blood and water flowed out (Jn 19:34), thus we were cleansed from all sin (1 Jn 1:7; Rv 19:13). It is the faith in this great gift of love that gives us victory on the world.

In this way, in the chalice of the New Covenant the promise finds fulfillment: “This is the covenant that I will make in those days with the house of Israel: I will give My law in their bowels, and I will write it in their heart, and I will be their God and they shall be My people “ (Jer 31:31-33; Heb 8:10; 10:16). The great redeeming undertaking born out of love for us converts itself by action of the Holy Spirit into the interior and urgent law of our life (Häring, pg. 149).

The sacraments of the new law are oriented towards the covenant that the Lord affirmed with His blood.

In the Eucharist we celebrate, until the day of the final consummation, the New and Eternal Covenant. Our participation in the Eucharist gives us the means of renewing our “self” to the New Covenant and the New law, with all the consciousness that the commitment requires. We raise the generous “self” to that love that has its greatest expression in the stirring love of Christ that dies on the cross.

Let us meditate with the Psalmist these beautiful expressions of gratitude :

How shall I make a return to the Lord

for all the good He has done for me?

The cup of salvation I will take up,

and I will call upon the name of the Lord.

My vows to the Lord I will pay

in the presence of all His people.

Precious in the eyes of the Lord

is the death of His faithful ones.

O Lord, I am your servant;

I am your servant, the son of your handmaid;

You have loosed my bonds.

To You will I offer sacrifice of thanksgiving,

and I will call upon the name of the Lord.

My vows to the Lord I will pay

in the presence of all His people,

In the courts of the house of the Lord,

in your midst, O Jerusalem (Ps 116:12-19).

“The Eucharist is the heart and the summit of the Church’s life, for in it Christ associates His Church and all her members with His sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving offered once for all on the cross to His Father; by this sacrifice He pours out the graces of salvation on His Body which is the Church (CCC §1407).

We must be aware that Christ was wounded and dispirited for “our” sins. He took upon Himself sins that He did not commit, all for that sublime love that He has for all men. “See, my servant shall prosper, he shall be raised high and greatly exalted. Even as many were amazed at Him – so marred was His look beyond that of man, and His appearance beyond that of mortals – so shall He startle many nations, because of Him kings shall stand speechless; for those who have not been told shall see, those who have not heard shall ponder it” (Is 52:13-15). “Therefore I will give Him His portion among the great, and He shall divide the spoils with the mighty, because He surrendered Himself to death and was counted among the wicked; and He shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses” (Is 53:12).

In this atoning sacrifice of the beloved Son the mystery of the divine holiness is revealed. The generosity of Jesus, His obedience, and His offering represent the most perfect worship that has been able to be offered by humanity to the holiness and justice of God.

This is the mystery that we celebrate in the Eucharist, “covenant sealed with the blood of Christ,” the sacrifice of atonement for our sins. Let us not forget: we, ungrateful children of God, vulnerable sinners, were able to count on the greatest expression of love of He who “offers Himself for our sins” being innocent…

It is reprehensible that a modern, “civilized and cultured” society ignores and reflects minimally on such an offering of love and suffering.

The liturgy of the Mass must learn to be better understood, for it brings us near the mystery of God’s holiness. Jesus said: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever… Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life… remains in Me and I in him” (Jn 6:51, 54, 56). “It is Christ Himself, the eternal high priest of the New Covenant who, acting through the ministry of the priests, offers the Eucharistic sacrifice. And it is the same Christ, really present under the species of bread and wine, who is the offering of the Eucharistic sacrifice” (CCC §1413).

Aware of our indignity, we receive the body offered for us, the blood shed by the Lord “for the forgiveness of our sins.” And in fact, communion forgives venial sins and the punishment deserved for the sins. Living and participating in the Holy Eucharist should move us greatly and invite us to participate in the same with greater consciousness and knowledge, turning into a spring for our spiritual life.

We are active members, we participate in the Banquet, if we drink from an ocean of graces, the fruits, the results, should also be abundant. On the other hand, the tepid spiritual life we practice makes us drink from an ocean of graces but the yield seems to come from a sparse and fruitless drop.

Let us think of the sublime moment and we will see what banquet we have been invited to. Let us prepare to enter the pavilion, the celebration, with great dignity, for this time, the fruits, we would like, will be more promising. “In spite of the thorns, His Grace will be enough.”

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not the partaking of the body of Christ? Because the bread is one, we, though many, are one body, for we all partake of the one bread” (1 Cor 10:16-17).

The Lord left the Eucharist as a sign of His love and of His “living” presence, like a memorial of His covenant of love with all humanity. He reminds us of the price He had to pay for our union and reconciliation with God - He offered His life and His blood.

The Holy Sacrament of the Altar is:

Memorial of the passion of Christ,

Hidden presence of the resurrected,

Expectation of the Lord who will return

(Häring, pg. 188).

3.1. The Great Desire of Christ

During His life here on earth Christ caressed the desire of leaving us the Eucharist. It is His testament for us. His labor, effort, and sacrifice were set at the great table: “I have greatly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…” (Lk 22:15). Then abandoning Himself to His passion and death, He gave us the Eucharist as His testament. His Eucharistic Banquet was the last desire before the sacrifice and continues being His desire; its having been fulfilled by and for us, this constant renewal becomes for us a present-day fact of our historical salvation.

If Christ had the goodness to die for us, offering the best sacrifice that can be offered, is it not too little what we do in return?

Why not make of this moment, the instant of renewal with the New and Eternal Covenant?:

‘Lord, you did not make the Covenant only with Your children of the past, I beg You to make it with me today, I give You my hand, I offer You my mind, my body, all of my being, my weak and imperfect spirit, that wants to be faithful. Count me amongst the signers of the Pact, give me the grace to not disappoint You, do not let go of my hand no more, refuge me in Your heart, for without You I am nothing… Thank You for listening to me, for accepting me: knowing my weaknesses and limits, I do not want to take up my “new life” without telling You: Jesus, I trust in You! For tomorrow’s Eucharist, I will put on my best dress on my body and on my soul, and I will place my mark at the feet of Your Holy, New, and Eternal Covenant.”

VI. D. The Sacraments of Healing

Jesus, physician of our souls and bodies, who came to forgive sins and restore bodily health, willed that His Church continue, with the power of the Holy Spirit in order to continue with that noble labor of bringing the sacramental medicine.

4. Penance And Reconciliation

“Those who approach the sacrament of Penance obtain pardon from God’s mercy for the offense committed against Him, and are, at the same time, reconciled with the Church which they have wounded by their sins and which by charity, by example, and by prayer, labors for their conversion” (LG 11 §2).

It is one of the hearty sacraments, that brings the repentant man nearer to a God that only wants to forgive with love. Its value reveals itself upon comprehending that it is the sacrament of conversion because it makes sacramentally present Jesus’ call to conversion, invites the return to the Father; it is the sacrament of Penance because it incites repentance and reparation; it is a sacrament of confession because it induces the disclosure of sins to a priest, and through the same, God grants the penitent His pardon and peace; and it is a sacrament of Reconciliation because it imparts to the sinner the love of God who reconciles: “Be reconciled to God” (2 Cor 5:20).

But the final conversion is important, it should bring a true change of life, of attitudes; a conversion of the heart, an interior conversion that leads us to say: “Lord, forgive me, wash away my iniquities, transform me; I am nothing without You, give me a new heart.”

Some experiences of Peter the Apostle bring us in a sublime manner to comprehend the grace of the Sacrament of Penance, Peter was the first one to say: “Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the loving God” (Mt 16:16). Christ was moved at such an assertion and with much love replied: “Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to thee, but My heavenly Father” (Mt 16:17).

In another occasion, Jesus promises the mystery of the Eucharist, but many abandoned Him scandalized (Jn 6:32). It is the moment in which Christ asks His apostles: “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered Him: “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of everlasting life, and we have come to believe and to know that thou art the Christ the Son of God” (Jn 6:67-69).

Who would have thought that this faithful apostle would deny his Master at the moment of His Passion? But he would repent and with tears would confess his sin, his confession is an affirmation of love purified with tears of repentance. His repentance grants him again the splendor; that is why the Lord repeats the question: “Dost though love me?” The Lord confirms to Peter his role as Shepherd of the Church that Christ had founded, and concludes in Jn 21:19 with “Follow Me.” This is when he comprehends in all its dimension the meaning of “to follow Christ”, he receives it with humility, valor, and gratitude; he knows that the calling is an undeserved grace.

In Baptism we profess our faith, we take an oath of loyalty, we repeat it frequently in Eucharistic celebrations, however, every mortal sin has made us break the oath of loyalty, we deny its acquaintance, we break with Him; we are temples of the Holy Spirit, but we prefer the devil, we expel God from our hearts… nevertheless, He offers us, like to Peter, the opportunity to confess our sins in His presence, and to praise His great mercy. What great grace to be able to confess our faults and be able to hear the divine word of forgiveness (Häring, pg. 121).

When because of sin we reject God, we should look for the humble and sorrowful road of repentance so that then we can confess our sins, before being admitted again to participate in the joyful praises of the Eucharistic community. Peter cried tears full of sorrow upon confessing his guilt with great humility. When his heart was renewed by his penance, he was able to feel capable of announcing to all men the redempting triumph of Christ.

As sinners, at times ignorant of the content of our spiritual life, we must understand that grace stirs up pain in the soul, this is how the declaration and acknowledgement of sins turns into a liberating confession and a beneficial encounter with a patient Christ.

It’s a fictitious life of those baptized persons who want to ignore these sacraments, for we were baptized with His blood in His death, we are sprinkled with the holy and sanctifying strength of His death, we belong to Him. How can the meaning and significance of His redeeming death be denied? It was the death of the meek and humble, Isiah had written it: “I have not gone back. I have given My body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them. I have not turned away My face from them that rebuked Me, and spit upon Me” (Is 50:5-6). But His blood is life and continues liberating even those that, confused by the mundane teachings, ignore that His blood continues washing them and the heart of the crucified One continues loving them, in spite of the constant wounds He receives.

We sinners have always been blind, for, even knowing that with our sins we were offending Him, we have not hesitated to continue sinning, more and more. In spite of that, His love is such that when we sin He does not get ready to punish us, but rather to forgive us. Let us acknowledge our faults, cry for them, and not lose hope: “Courage, my soul. I can still present before Him my confession and my praise” (Ps 42). “Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, and called thee by thy name. Thou art mine” (Is 43:1).

It is time to acknowledge the hideousness and seriousness of sin, the ingratitude with which we act before the Love of loves who paid homage to the human creature allowing Himself to be crucified. Pitifully this sacrifice seems foreign to many, but Christ continues knocking at our doors bringing forgiveness and love, in spite of the fact that His modern children of the 20^th century continue crucifying Him.

5. Anointing of the Sick

“Is any among you sick? Let him call for the (elders) presbyters of the Church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up, and if he be in sins, they shall be forgiven him” (Jas 5:14-15).

In this modern life we have concentrated too much on our well-being and in its different manifestations, so much that pain terrorizes us; illness and death even more. When some Christians talk about these topics, sometimes they are surprised, for their words do not seem to come from blessed spirits, they take death or illness, as a “curse” and they look for the causes of this divine punishment. The Christian meaning of these topics is ignored to a great extent.

Death is one of the most unavoidable realities in the human chronology. Christ Himself upon assuming human features, assumes unto Himself death itself and gives us the final mystery of our existence. He speaks to us about death through His own (death).

“By the sacred anointing of the Sick and the prayer of the priests the whole Church commends those who are ill to the suffering and glorified Lord, that He may raise them up and save them. And indeed she exhorts them to contribute to the good of the People of God by freely uniting themselves to the Passion and death of Christ” (CCC §1499).

Illness and sorrow are issues that distress humans: before God they lament their illness (Cf Ps 38) and implore healing (Isa 38).

Christ took pity on the sick and He cured them all (Mt 4:24). His wonderful intervention is proof that “God has visited His people” (Lk 7:16). And He came to cure man completely - body and soul. He identifies so much with the sufferers that He says: “I was sick and you visited Me” (Mt 25:36).

The sacrament of Anointing of the sick has as its purpose the conferral of a special grace on the Christian experiencing the difficulties inherent in the condition of grave illness or old age” (CCC §1527). “The proper time for receiving this holy anointing has certainly arrived when the believer begins to be in danger of death because of illness or old age” (ibid. §1528). Only priests (presbyters and bishops) can give the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick, using oil blessed by the bishop, or if necessary by the celebrating presbyter himself” (ibid. §1530).

The effects are the following: “The uniting of the sick person to the passion of Christ; the strengthening, peace, and courage to endure in a Christian manner the sufferings of illness and/or old age; the forgiveness of sins, if the sick person was not able to obtain it through the sacrament of Penance; the restoration of health, if it is conducive to the salvation of the soul; the preparation for passing over to eternal life” (CCC §1532).

The basic question for today’s Christian is consistently clear: Is Christ your life? What hope enlightens your earthly life? Do you understand the meaning and significance of death? Is it not time to reflect over “dust thou art and to dust thou shalt return”? Where is the command “… be perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect?” (Mt 5:48).

Thinking about death should entice us to comprehend the importance of the earthly experience and of our works for glory of God and the good of all men. It is in the final struggles that we bring to mind our emptiness, the imperfection of our life, the remorse of our sins, and we understand our lack of commitment towards the life that led to holiness, but that we frequently ignored.

In those particular moments, the ill person, as well as the dying person, despairs. But God’s goodness is infinite and in His bottomless love proposes to us the path of hope through the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, sign of God’s mercy and concerned love of the Church for the difficult moment of an illness that could lead to death.

In a debilitating state like an illness, the spirit becomes vulnerable, the senses mainly are exposed, the devil who knows that “he has but a short time” (Rv 12:12) intents to pull us away from the straight road that is strengthen with hope, in order to plunge us in desperation and despair (think of suicide, escape, and moments of blasphemy). But one must not forget that over all this is the solidarity of Jesus, who through His death Christians were able to rely on other and better sources of grace.

The Lord made us promises, that He has been fully keeping. The faithful will hear: “In My Father’s house there are many mansions. Were it not so, I should have told you, because I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again, and I will take you to Myself; that where I am, there you also may be. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” “I am the way, the truth, and life. No one comes to the Father but through Me” (Jn 14:2-6).

Death, therefore, is the door to heaven. Man must reflect on the importance of following the Way and the Truth of Christ, he then awaits the happiness of being admitted to the holy company of those who love God. How rewarding to know that it is the same God who waits for us! Our Redeemer will open His arms; Mary, our Mother, our joy, refuge of sinners, will be there; and the angels, together with the saints of heaven, will sing gleefully: “Welcome, our saved brothers!”

It is good to be aware that this is the final objective of our lives, and not the passing or the superficial that distracts our spirit so much and blurs our path.

This is the favorable moment to change course and truly assume the path that the Gospel has brought. We invite you to do it, now…

VI. E. The Sacraments At The Service of Communion

6. Holy Orders

“But you are they who have continued with me in my trials. And I appoint to you a kingdom, even as My Father has appointed to Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom; and you shall sit upon thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Lk 22:28-30). St. Paul tells Timothy: “For this reason I admonish thee to stir up the grace of God which is in thee by the laying of my hands” (2 Tim 1:6). He told Titus: “For this reason I left thee in Crete, that thou shouldst set right anything that is defective and shouldst appoint presbyters in every city, as I myself directed thee to do” (Titus 1:5).

In preceding paragraphs we have mentioned that the whole Church is a priestly people, we pointed out that through Baptism all the faithful share in the priesthood of Christ, but there exists another participation in the mission established by Jesus: “the ministry conferred by the sacrament of Holy Orders, whose task is to serve in the name and in the person of Christ” (CCC §1591).

The ministerial priesthood confers a sacred power for the service of the faithful. The ordained ministers exercise their service for the People of God by teaching, divine teaching, and pastoral governance (ibid. §1592).

“The Church confers the sacrament of Holy Orders only on baptized men (viri), whose suitability for the exercise of the ministry has been duly recognized. Church authority alone has the responsibility and right to call someone to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders” (ibid §1598).

“The bishop receives the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders, which integrates him into the episcopal college and makes him the visible head of the particular Church entrusted to him. As successors of the apostles and members of the college, the bishops share in the apostolic responsibility and mission of the whole Church under the authority of the Pope, successor of St. Peter” (CCC §1594).

Great is the priesthood of Christ and from it the ordained shares; he is called to one of the highest ranks amongst men: “to be able to speak in the name of God, and preach the divine word”. Such mission, obviously, comes with an enormous responsibility: the priest should always be aware of the great height in which he stands upon sharing in the priesthood of Jesus: he will not praise himself, nor impose his own will or knowledge seeking his own glory. He is the servant of the Word of God, he will remain hidden before its splendor. The more he forgets himself, the more effective will be his ministry.

The ordained ministry of the New Covenant shares Christ’s priesthood in its best form. It represents Christ in the fulfillment of the highest pastoral functions: bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Christ. With His authority he forgives sins. Upon preaching the divine word, he speaks in God’s name and by His command. He commands in place of Christ and the heavenly Father: “He who hears you, hears Me; and he who rejects you, rejects Me; and he who rejects Me, rejects Him who sent Me” (Lk 10:16). The grandeur of this investiture is confused with the humblest labor of surrender that is translated in terms of “service” at the disposal of all men in the name of God: “I did not come to be served but rather to serve.” The priest commits himself to follow the ways of Jesus, the good shepherd, who gives His life for His sheep and praises God’s universal kingdom.

In such a confused age, where moreover thousands and thousands of religious and psuedo-proposed sects are reckoned with, it is necessary to rediscover the importance of “re-christianization of the world” (Häring, pg. 226), in order to comprehend that Christian values conquer space in the behavior and scruples of men who, in solely worldly desires, are so confused.

The key to a fruitful apostleship, today more than ever, is the “diakonia”, the service of the liturgy. Where the man who serves God forgets himself and fills his hands with good works for men and God. All firm and rigid attitude, desire to command or to use the ministerial privileges to “live better”, search for comfort, inability to pray (How can one speak of Christ if one does not speak with Him?), bring with itself the inevitable weakness of active religion and predisposes the anxiety of spirit that does not know how to bear fruit. How important it is to cry out at the present moment: “Lord, send workers to Your vineyard… Lord, give us many saintly priests!”

7. Matrimony

“For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh… let each one of you also love his wife just as he loves himself; and let the wife respect her husband” (Eph 5:31-33).

“The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children. Between baptized persons, the marriage has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament” (CCC §1660).

“The sacrament of Matrimony gives the spouses the grace to love each other with the love that Christ has loved His Church (pure, generous, unselfish). It thus perfects the human love of the spouses, strengthens and reaffirms their indissoluble unity, and sanctifies them on the way to eternal life” (CCC §1661).

The couple share the marriage with the free will of giving themselves to each other, mutually and definitively, with the purpose of living a covenant of faithful and fruitful love. Since they are free in their decision, they should approach the sacrament bearing in mind that unity, indissolubility, and openness to fertility are essential to marriage. Polygamy is incompatible with the unity of marriage; divorce separates what God has joined together; the refusal of fertility turns married life away from its “supreme gift” - the child (GS 50 §31).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church points out, “the remarriage of persons divorced from a living, lawful spouse contravenes the plan and law of God as taught by Christ. They are not separated from the Church, but they cannot receive Eucharistic communion. They can lead Christian lives especially by educating their children in the faith” (CCC §1665).

7.1. The Domestic Church

“The Christian home is the place where children receive the first proclamation of the faith. For this reason the family home is rightly called the domestic church, “a community of grace and prayer, a school of human virtues and of Christian charity” (CCC §1666).

The modern family should rediscover this duty not only to pass on the teachings to their children but also to live them. Parents frequently take care of the school needs of their children but neglect their role as educators of their Christian life. It can already be seen how divorce intrinsically denies this possibility to children.

In an age in which divorce, a human legal law, has transcended all limits, it matters to reconsider matrimony as a sacrament. The present tendency presents it like a purely human fact, judgmental, temperamental, instinctively, and legal; in short, very profane and it is converted into a worldly reality without spiritual and transcendental influence.

Marriage is a source of mutual sanctification for the spouses, a vocation born of that grace that leads to a way of serving God preparing and proclaiming His Kingdom by means of the family. From here, one seriously considers the responsibility that said sacrament implies.

With the sacrament of Matrimony, Christ established an indissoluble communion between the married couple, a communion which also includes their salvation and eternal destiny… the couple is united “until death do us part”. How important to recall these words when today the phrase is interpreted as: “till divorce do us part”.

The spouses will reciprocally honor each other, feel as one, grateful living together will not only be social, physical, economic; it will culminate in the spiritual union that is enriched by prayer.

In the fitting acceptance of the sacrament, the couple toasts a solemn “yes” to the Creator and Redeemer’s law for marriage and family. This sacramental feature lends itself to the deep and profound sharing in the New and Eternal Covenant.

One of the greatest concerns that exists in the world is the high rate of divorces and separations that involves between 30% and 99% of the couples. No surprise then that each time the number of children in need of specialized assistance is increased - children faced with the effects of divided families, with step-parents, step-brothers with 3, 4, or 5 different last names. Promiscuity has overrun the world, altruistic love is in danger of becoming extinct, hedonism inspired by the right to be happy has disabled the “fight” to make the home an esteemed place. If the heart lives where the treasure is, what can be said of the man whose treasure lies outside the consecrated marriage?

Besides, what can one think of our society when it dares to contradict the divine command: “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder?”

The hope remains that the unlimited mercy of God will call man and show him again the forgotten road to Holiness…

VII. The Sacramentals

“The Holy Mother Church has instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which imitating in some form the sacraments, signify effects particularly of a spiritual nature, and which are obtained through the intercession of the Church. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions of life are rendered holy” (CCC §1667). “They derive from the baptismal priesthood: every baptized person is called to be a BLESSING and to BLESS. Hence lay people may preside at certain blessings; the more a blessing concerns ecclesial and sacramental life, the more is its administration reserved to the ordained ministry (bishops, priests, or deacons)” (CCC §1669).

“Sacramentals do not confer the grace of the Holy Spirit in the way that the sacraments do, but by the Church’s prayer, they prepare us to receive grace and dispose us to cooperate with it” (CCC §1670).

“Among the sacramentals, blessings (of persons, meals, objects, and places) come first. Every blessing praises God and prays for His gifts. In Christ, Christians are blessed by God the Father “with every spiritual blessing” (Eph 1:3). This is why the Church imparts blessings by invoking the name of Jesus, usually while making the holy sign of the cross of Christ” (CCC §1671).

“In addition to the liturgy, Christian life is nourished by various forms of popular piety, rooted in the different cultures. While carefully clarifying them in the light of faith, the Church fosters the forms of popular piety that express an evangelical instinct and a human wisdom and that enrich Christian life” (CCC §1679).

Because of the spiritual effects they convey, Catholics should value much more the religious sense and significance of blessings, consecrations, the sprinkling of holy water, scapulars, holy blessed medals, the rosary, etc.

VIII. Mary, Our Mother

Throughout this text we have acknowledged that at Christ’s side is His spouse, the holy Church. The sacraments are Christ’s great nuptial gift to the Church; one of the greatest fruits of His love.

Mary, Mystical Body of God, carried in her the Son of the Living God, in mystical union with the Church; the Virgin Mary is the magnificent sign of the grace of Christ. While she herself is not a sacrament, Mary is intimately united to the mystery of the sacraments; the mystery of the love between Christ and His Church. For that reason, upon speaking of the Church, its sacraments, and its faithful, Mary cannot be nor is absent. As a refuge of sinners, Mother of the divine grace, she is in step to guide us with a sure hand in the most profound richness of the sacramental life.

Mary is the sign of grace, living instrument of the divine mercy. As Queen of the apostles she implored with them the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the newly established Church by her Son.

The sacraments beget new children to God, by them Christ allows us to be born to the life of grace and nourishes us in the bosom of His Church. This life of grace maintains an intimate relationships with Mary, for she gave birth to Christ and, at the foot of the Cross, she collaborated with His redeeming work.

“God so loved the world, that He gave us His only Son.” She also offered Him to us. And she was not only His Mother, Christ gave her to us and she herself wanted to be our Mother.

She, better than anyone, understood the intentions of God toward men, in her total surrender and humility “the handmaid of the Lord” knows God’s expectations of men. Who better than she to guide us with gentleness on the path of love to the Son, and guide us in that love that she professed for the newborn Church that she wanted to care for when the Son ascended into heaven?

The sweet warmth and peace that we feel in the course of the Christian life, is that which she knew how to imprint on the road that “follows Jesus”. She did not forget that there would also be sorrows and she affronted them with the greatest courage and generosity. Devotion to Mary fortifies our devotion to the Church, it helps us to sustain ourselves firm in our commitment.

Designated by God to be Mother of the Savior, she becomes our Mother; and her work was not limited to the time of mortal life that her Son had. She takes care of her children so that they can have the special care that is necessary. She intervenes in our care with wisdom and a maternal heart.

We read in the Catholic Catechism: “What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ” (CCC §487). “God sent forth His Son,” but to prepare a body for Him (Heb 10:5), He wanted the free cooperation of a creature. To be the Mother of the Savior, “she was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role” (LG 56), and the Angel Gabriel salutes her as “full of grace” (Lk 1:28). And it is evident, for in order to make of her the Mystical Body of God, she had to be wholly borne by God’s grace.

Devotion to Mary is significant to Catholics, but we probably do not esteem her grandness in full extent. Jesus became human in her and He gave her all His divinity.

Mary is great and sublime, but she knows how to make herself small near us who have her as our Mother; she admirably provides all to whomever seeks her out with trust. We will be her true children if we bring her into our daily family lives with simplicity like it is fitting for those who live in the Lord’s house and in hers. Let us not ignore her immeasurable love, let us offer her the joy of embracing her; she suffered for her Son, she suffers for us, but she seeks our peace and happiness.

The Church acknowledges that Mary is truly the “Mother of God” (cf DS 251). This Mother, the one “without sin” (LG 56) loves all generations of her children; even when they do not offer her their love she embraces them closely. She knows their faults, nevertheless she forgives the pain they cause.

In her role as Mother, Mary also teaches us how to be one. Following her teachings, the mothers of today must procreate their children more so with the spirit than with their bodies. They must transfuse in them greater treasures than those of the simple human life; they must give their children everything beautiful and great that they possess in their souls. If blood can unite so much, how much more can a mother’s love unite? It is not only blood that unites, love does too; and because love comes before blood, love endures after death.

What did Mary do when Jesus handed us over to her as her children? She became the small great woman who accepted a big family out of love for her most beloved Son. Upon receiving so many gifts from her Jesus, she became a fount of love and gifts, but it is disturbing to think that in this century her generosity was not repaid like she deserved. We have the impression that she received thorns of innumerable sorrows.

She loves us in spite of the suffering we cause her. For her sake, the Lord weakens His justice, and declares unto us the justice of a throne of mercy. She assumes her role as Mediatrix before God, and yet does not want anything for herself. Her happiness is to help souls that love her God, to live in the Spirit, and to love and serve her good Jesus. She remains hidden contemplating the joy of the Holy Trinity.

So many ignore, forget, and offend Her, they do not want to hear her, they run from her. But Christ loves her, she is very much loved.

Let us sing to Mary this new canticle. “Hail, Celestial Queen, Mother of the Eternal Word! The One who descended from you, and the One to whom you gave humanity, exalts you in the Heaven of eternal harmony, exalts you sublime harmony of Paradise. Let us honor Mary in Heaven and on earth.”

The heart of the Mother is in union with the merciful heart of Jesus because she always intercedes for her children. Our souls were bought with Jesus’ suffering and also the suffering of His Mother. Even today that generous heart continues to offer itself before the Divine for the good of humanity.

When we think of Mary let us remember that not only is she the Mediatrix of all graces, the Queen endowed with all powers, but rather that at the same time she is the young woman from Nazareth, young, beautiful, humble, full of piety, love and charity. That humility kept growing unceasingly by the power of God and the total surrender of the young girl. She understood and assumed her role as the “handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1:38) to whom the Holy Trinity has elevated above all creatures because of her unlimited humility and ardent love. From this handmaid was born the Lord, Savior of the world.

She is a handmaid but also a Queen; she was humbled and her Son granted her power over the world. She is the smallest like the mustard seed in the parable; nevertheless, she comes first after Jesus. She grants us so many graces and Christ offers her as our Mediatrix and advocate. Whoever ignores her, surely ignores her Son, and whoever rejects her, rejects Jesus. Our souls frequently die in sin, but God in His infinite goodness resurrects them through Mary, the Mother of the Church.

Yes, Mary is Virgin and mother at once because she is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church (LG 63). The Church becomes a mother by receiving the Word of God in faith, since by preaching and Baptism she brings forth sons conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of God. “She herself is a virgin who keeps in its entirely and purity the faith she pledged to her spouse"”(LG 64). She cooperated through faith and obedience in human salvation (LG 56) and became Mother of the living.

May our lives elapse imitating her humility, her immense love, and submission to God. Her warmth and wisdom guide us, her soft hand will not allow us to wander away from the way.

Jesus comes through Mary who becomes the living Ark of the Covenant. May today’s Christian guided by the example that our Mother gave us, learn to love… She also suffered in Calvary and who better than She to understand her Son’s pain, upon verifying that those whom He came to save…were crucifying Him.

And today…?

IX. Our Church

The reflections devoted to the “Christian Commitment” (1997) remind us that Jesus left us His Church by the living heritage, that it has no other light than Christ’s and that He sent the Spirit to give it holiness (Roman Catechism 1,10,1). Likewise, it emphasizes that the Church, according to the Fathers, is the place “where the Spirit flourishes” (St. Hippolytus, Trad. Ap. 35).

He is the Head (LG 9), we the members destined to form one Body with Him and in Him. He invites us to unite so that we can become “one”.

Jesus has entrusted His blood to this Church. He sees her as His beloved spouse, and has endowed her with all the riches she possesses. Through her we are in step with living and constantly renewing the Pact of the New and Eternal Covenant. For that, we must rediscover our Christian vestments. If the Church is holy, so must her members be. The world’s peace depends upon the holiness of the Church and of her children. “She will be perfected in the glory of heaven” (LG 48), when Christ returns in glory. Until that day the Church progresses in her pilgrimage amidst the world’s persecutions and God’s consolations (St. Augustine, De civ. 18,51; df. LG 8)… she longs for the full coming of the Kingdom and wants to be united in glory with her king (LG 5). The church, and through her the elect, will not be perfected in glory without great trials. Until then will all… “be gathered together in the universal Church in the Father’s presence” (LG 2).

The Church “is the visible plan of God’s love for humanity” (Paul VI, June 22, 1973), and desires “that the whole human race may become one People of God, form one Body of Christ, and be built up into one temple of the Holy Spirit” (AG 7§2, cf. LG 17). It must then be understood that “the Church in this world is the sacrament of salvation, the sign, and the instrument of the communion of God and men” (CCC §780).

Her objectives are clear and eloquent. There remains only the offering of our greatest commitment so that we will be worthy of the trust that her founder gave us, and work so that in holiness this beautiful boat will arrive at the promised port.

Placing this marvelous labor of evangelization under the protection of our Mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, I send you my most cordial and brotherly greeting, imploring our Lord’s blessings for our Archdiocese.

Cochabamba, Lent of 1998

René Fernández A.

Archbishop of Cochabamba

Appendix

I. Work Proposal

God “wishes all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4), that is, to the knowledge of Jesus Christ (Jn 14:6). It is then necessary that Christ be announced to all men, so that the Revelation will arrive at all limits of the world. Christ invited us to be His messengers, His heralds that announce the Good News of the Kingdom. We must be part of the sowers who spread the Gospel’s seed. We are farmers in the same field in which the first apostles worked, working together in the same vineyard.

To carry out this task, we were inspired by the fine motivation that was given at the Marian Conference by the Pontifical Delegate, His Excellency Cardinal Antonio Maria Javierre, who urged us to bring the world, particularly the world of the young, closer to the Sacraments. He affirmed, for example, that the absence of the Eucharistic life could only bring bitter days in the future, for one was looking for alternatives far from the propositions made by Christ Himself. And he concluded by strongly asking: “Couldn’t the Marian Eucharistic Conference propose some effective remedy at least for the benefit of the Bolivian youth?”

(cf. Discursos…pg. 34, 1997)

We agreed on the importance of assuming responsibility for promoting a profound, sincere, and active process of conversion. Because of this, upon concluding the Marian Eucharistic Conference, we had proposed some “reflections that will bring us closer towards a Renewal of Christian Commitment” (Reflexiones…1997, pgs. 34-35), noting useful references for the “lifestyle of the modern Christian.” This finds its pillars of action and surrender in the fidelity of the Commandments; the Holy Mass, that is the Church’s vertex prayer; and the Sacraments that are the fount of mercy.

The Sacraments yield the following pattern of life:

1. Confession, atonement, purification, penance.

2. The Eucharist, communion.

Other Christian practices:

3. Regular prayer.

4. Daily rosary, crown of mercy, devotion to the Holy Cross and to our Lord’s wounds.

5. Fasting, one or two times per week.

6. Vigils, visits to the Holy Sacrament, adoration, contemplation.

7. Reading and studying the Bible and the Holy Gospels, greater understanding of the sacramentals.

8. Spiritual retreat from one to three times a year.

9. Permanent spiritual guidance.

10. Submission, respect, and service to the authority of the Holy Father and the Magisterium of the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

11. Constant commitment and renewal of the Pact of the New Covenant. We acknowledge that we are part of a commitment made with each other, and we must honor working in holiness for the saintliness of the Church and her members.

12. Permanent consecration to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

13. Commitment to evangelization everywhere.

If we try to live this lifestyle, what can we do for the community?

II. Plan of Action

To communicate all our actions in a constant CRUSADE OF LOVE AND MERCY, under the sign of the New Evangelization, where the work of the lay person strongly proclaims the great capacity of Love and Mercy that God regularly unfurls in men. However, men are so blind in recognizing this behavior and assume an ungrateful behavior of withdrawal and indifference.

CRUSADE OF LOVE AND MERCY

This Crusade can be carried out in different manners during the year but in a special way:

1.a. On Holy Week with all the faithful (April 9-12, 1998).

b. Promote a Great Youth Crusade on the same days of Holy Week, inviting the youth to participate in these celebrations and later in the Church'’ active life.

c. Participate in two great Encounters to take place this year in our Archdiocese:

· Youth towards the year 2000

· Human values in modern society

1.1. During Lent, promote vigils of one, two, or three hours before or after the last Mass every Friday.

1.2. We advise the promotion of one hour, at least, of adoration per week in all the parishes during the year. This is if we want a Holy Easter, a fruitful Christianity. Let us give more of our time to the Lord, let us get closer to Him by contemplating Him in adoration, to get together with Him and talk to Him. This is a demand of our own Christian vocation.

How can we speak of Him, if we cannot speak to Him?

1.3. By obtaining or producing means of diffusion that will permit dealing with the subject of Holy Week through different means: lectures, prayer, Stations of the Cross, newspaper publications, triptyches, posters, videos over other related topics, etc.

1.4. By promoting the celebration of the FEAST OF DIVINE MERCY (First Sunday after Easter, April 19, 1998)

1.5. By creating a constant and dynamic movement that will be capable of motivating an enthusiastic awakening of the Christian obligations.

2. By stimulating the greatest commitment to the Roman, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, and to live this commitment through the authentic and coherent practice of the teachings arising from the sacred texts and teaching of the Magisterium of the Church.

3. By rediscovering the value and use of the Holy Sacraments, for Christ established them and they must again obtain the splendor they certainly deserve. We must become aware of them, proclaim them, and live them.

4. By converting ourselves to apostles of the sacraments because of their importance, and favoring their comprehension and experience. We must study, from their foundation, the sacraments again, analyzing each one.

5. The sacraments of Confession and Communion deserve a study with special emphasis. Because of its easy access, communion is subject to contrary attitudes as to the value of the Sacrament. Such is the case of the sacrileges that persons commit when they receive the Sacrament unprepared, receiving it without having gone to confession, or are guilty of adultery, etc.

6. We accept the Christian commitment to “evangelize”.

III. The Apostolate of the “New Evangelization”

This apostolate was born as a product of the “Bolivian Marian Eucharistic Conference” that took place in the city of Cochabamba in October 1997. It recognized the fact that the people thirst for an update of their Christian commitment, but lack the motivating and dynamic founts. These founts need to come with all the technological and cultural systems that are available in this modern life.

Groups of lay persons opened to this perspective, together with the hierarchy, make up the nucleus of action by means of an Apostolate named by the New Evangelization (ANE). It wants to emphasize the real importance of the divine Message for the salvation of men that Christ brings with His Life, Word, Death, and Resurrection.

The following deeds are proposed within the methodology of work:

1. To promote the forming of prayer groups that will meet from 60 to 90 minutes at least once a week. They could bring themselves up-to-date on subjects over the Christian commitment: the Gospels, doctrine, catechesis, the sacraments, etc., and close by praying the Holy Rosary.

The exemplary life will be encouraged in the groups, as well as receiving the Sacraments of Confession and Communion frequently. From these groups will come the evangelists that will take the Gospel to everyone.

2. To give lectures over urgent topics that will favor their best comprehension and the Christian commitment. For example, how to understand the Mass, and how to pray; how to carry out in a more committed manner activities of collaboration in the parish, centers of charity, of social services, etc. Furthermore, the inner desire will come particularly to those withdrawn that ignore or do not coherently live the Catholic commitment.

3. To inspirie the “consecration to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary” seeing in it a form of a humble closeness that teaches the Catholic person to understand the significance of seeing Jesus and Mary as refuges pleasing to the Father.

4. To encourage visits to the sick and dying in hospitals and homes; having specific programs that teach to pray and to establish a more intimate relationship with God.

5. To form charitable groups that will take food (also hot food) to those that are hungry, are in need of clothing, and if possible, help in other needy areas (all within the best discretion and without superfluous social rumors).

6. To promote the development of true apostles of the New Evangelization, apostles of the Eucharist, devotees of Mary, real and faithful followers of the Roman, Apostolic, and Holy Catholic Church.

7. The final objective is given with the desire to arouse in the Christian person an updating of the Christian duty. This updating is translated into a definite consecration and in a constant renewal of its commitment to the Gospel with a fundamental watchword: “If Christ shed His Blood for me, why will I not respond with mine?”

References

ALEJO, P., “Vida de San Pablo”. Ed. Paulinas, 12a. Ed., México, 1997.

ALEJO, P., “Vida de San Pedro”. Ed. Paulinas, 8a. Ed., México, 1997.

ARZOBISPADO DE COCHABAMBA, “Reflexiones: Hacia una renovación del Compromiso Critiano” “VIo. Congreso Eucarístico Mariano”, Cochabamba, octubre de 1997.

BIBLIA DE JERUSALEN. Ed. Desclee de Brouwer, Bilbao, 1975.

CATECISMO DE LA IGLESIA CATOLICA, (Cat. IC). Assoc. de Editores del Catecismo, Madrid, 1992.

CIEH Investigaciones, Publicaciones, La Paz, 1991-97.

GOMEZ DE SILVA, “Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española”. Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 3a. Reimp., 1993.

HÄRING, B., “La Nueva Alianza Vivida en los Sacramentos”. Ed. Herder, Barcelona, 1997.

INE, ANF, cit. por CIEH Investigaciones, Publicaciones 1992-97.

JAVIERRE, ANTONIO MA. Card., ”Discursos…” Congreso Eucarístico Mariano Bolivariano, Cochabamba, octubre de 1997.

LEON-DUFOUR, X., ”Vocabulario de Teología Bíblica”. Ed. Herder, Barcelona, 1993.

MESTERS, C., “El libro de la Alianza”. Palabras Ed., México, 1989.

PARRA SANCHEZ, T., “Diccionario de la Biblia”, Ed. Paulinas, 4a. Ed., México, 1997.

References Used for English Translation

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, (CCC). Liguori Publications, 1994.

NEW CATHOLIC EDITION OF THE HOLY BIBLE, Catholic Book Publishing Co., New York, 1952.