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RC DAILY MEDITATIONS
RC DAILY MEDITATIONS

June 18, 2024

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Ask a Priest

“Ask a Priest: Would Marrying a Muslim Affect My Salvation?”

/ Ask a Priest
Q: I am a Catholic. What would it happen with my salvation if I get married to a Muslim man? We are older and have grown-up children from previous marriages. – A.

Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC

A: The fact that you are asking whether marriage to a Muslim could put your salvation at risk should make you pause and take this to prayer.

The Holy Spirit might be nudging you to put on the brakes and to think things through a little deeper.

You might ask yourself how well you can live your faith with a non-Christian, and whether and how much he would tolerate your practice of your Catholic faith in the long run. Marriage is difficult enough; being able to share the same faith with a spouse can enhance the chances for a happy union.

There are other factors, too.

For instance, how would it affect the faith of your children and grandchildren to see you married to a non-Christian? Would they think that “all religions are equal”?

You mention previous marriages. Are your ex-spouses still alive? If so, both of you would need to get annulments from the Church.

Also, marriage to a Muslim would require a special dispensation from your bishop. These dispensations aren’t automatic, so you might want to speak with your pastor now.

Two numbers from the Catechism are worth quoting here:

Mixed marriages and disparity of cult

1633 In many countries the situation of a mixed marriage (marriage between a Catholic and a baptized non-Catholic) often arises. It requires particular attention on the part of couples and their pastors. A case of marriage with disparity of cult (between a Catholic and a nonbaptized person) requires even greater circumspection.

1634 Difference of confession between the spouses does not constitute an insurmountable obstacle for marriage, when they succeed in placing in common what they have received from their respective communities, and learn from each other the way in which each lives in fidelity to Christ. But the difficulties of mixed marriages must not be underestimated. They arise from the fact that the separation of Christians has not yet been overcome. The spouses risk experiencing the tragedy of Christian disunity even in the heart of their own home. Disparity of cult can further aggravate these difficulties. Differences about faith and the very notion of marriage, but also different religious mentalities, can become sources of tension in marriage, especially as regards the education of children. The temptation to religious indifference can then arise. [end quoted material]

That mention of religious indifference is something to consider seriously. It can affect a person’s salvation.

 

“Ask a Priest: Would Marrying a Muslim Affect My Salvation?” Read More »

Regnum Christi Summer Saints

Summer Saints

/ Regnum Christi News, Weekly Message Blog

Summer is a time for friends and celebrations, and we belong to a church that loves to celebrate.  You’ll be in good company with these five saints who have summer feast days.

 

June 22nd– St. Thomas More

St Thomas More
Painting: St Thomas More by Hans Holbein

“I die the king’s faithful servant, but God’s first.” – St. Thomas More

Champion of truth, St. Thomas More is a great friend to have in this era of moral relativism. Everyone needs someone who can help you see clearly and counsel you to make the right decisions, regardless of the consequences. St. Thomas More has your back.  In the midst of life-and-death tension, he never lost his sense of humor- a sign of his unwavering trust in God’s will. At his death, he even lightened the moment for the executioner, saying, “Cheer up, man, and don’t mind doing your job. My neck is very short, so see you aim straight. You don’t want to spoil your reputation!” And, “Stop! I must put my beard aside. It would be a shame to chop it off. After all, my poor beard is not accused of treason.”

 

Get to know him: The classic movie A Man for all Seasons is an inspiring introduction to St. Thomas More, and the book A Daughter’s Love: Thomas More and His Dearest Meg by John Guy tells the story of how his daughter preserved his legacy by supporting her father and smuggling his letters while he was imprisoned.

June 29th – Solemnity of Sts. Peter & Paul

 

The first pope and the apostle to the gentiles are two great friends to celebrate with this summer.

Christ changed our vision of true human strength when he chose these two to lead the charge of changing the world with him.

 

St. Peter

Painting: St. Peter by Peter Paul Rubens

“Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.”- St. Peter

 

Peter was a rash, impetuous man who denied Jesus three times. He became strong on his knees, in desolate humility, receiving  the unmerited mercy of Christ. Our Lord made Peter our leader and model not only in looking to Christ for forgiveness and strength, but in extending mercy to others.  This man, once afraid, hiding and lying to avoid being known as a Christian, had the strength to travel to Rome, build the Church there, and be imprisoned and crucified.  His heart was transformed as well as his actions.  In the garden of Gethsemane, Peter cut off the ear of a slave who had come with the party to arrest Jesus.  The experience of his own need for mercy changed him. Read his letters in the New Testament- they are the words of a man who has known mercy and extends that mercy to his flock, the church, imploring us to understand how much Christ loves us.

 

Get to know him: Built to Last: A Retreat Guide on St. Peter and the Papacy

 

 St. Paul

Painting: Conversion of St. Paul by Caravaggio

“Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” – St. Paul

 

In a similar way, it was St. Paul’s deep experience of mercy, not his human qualities and successes, that propelled him into the world to extend Christ’s kingdom in an unstoppable way.  Because of his own experience, he could see past human statu and through pretensions to the heart of man’s need for Christ in all circumstances, whether they were the intellectual elite of Greece and Rome, or humble slaves like Onesimus. The recent movie, Paul, Apostle of Christ, focusses heavily on the remorse Paul had for having killed Christians, and his experience of mercy as the driver for his apostolic life.

 

Get to know him: Messenger of Mercy: A Retreat Guide on St. Paul

 July 14th– St. Kateri Tekakwitha

 

Painting: St. Kateri by Kevin Gordon

“I am not my own; I have given myself to Jesus. He must be my only love. “        -St. Kateri Tekakwitha

 

During his last homily at his last World Youth Day, St. John Paul II spoke to almost one million young people gathered in the outskirts of Toronto, Canada about courage, about not being afraid to take a stand for Jesus Christ. In doing so, he invoked the example of the first Native American canonized saint from North America: St. Kateri Tekakwitha. He said: “Do not be afraid to follow Christ on the royal road of the Cross! At difficult moments in the Church’s life, the pursuit of holiness becomes even more urgent. And holiness is not a question of age; it is a matter of living in the Holy Spirit, just as Kateri Tekakwitha did here in America and so many other young people have done.”

 

Get to know her: A Virgin’s Courage: A Retreat Guide on St. Kateri Tekakwitha

August 15th Mary: Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

Painting: Assumption of the Virgin by Balthazar Beschey

“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” – Pope Pius XII

 

The Blessed Virgin Mary led a life full of suffering. But she never let that suffering obscure her faith in God. She continued to believe in God and God’s promises, even when King Herod tried to kill the baby Jesus, when the Holy Family had to escape to Egypt, and when Jesus was rejected, condemned and crucified in front of her very eyes.

 

She always stayed faithful to God, because she knew that God himself is faithful, trustworthy, even though she didn’t always understand everything he was doing.

 

And at the end of her life, when her mission on earth was finished, her trust in God was abundantly vindicated. God chose to reward her with a very special grace: he assumed her, body and soul, directly into heaven.

 

Get to know her: God is Faithful: A Retreat Guide on Mary’s Assumption into Heaven

Summer Saints Read More »

Regnum Christi Spirituality Center Uncle Eddy

St Mark and St Marcellian

/ Uncle Eddy

Dear Marsha,

I am sorry to hear that things at home haven’t improved.  But you know, God isn’t absent from all this.  He’s the one who called you to the consecrated life, knowing all the while that your parents would resist it tooth and nail.  Your suffering at their resistance is certainly going to be a source of grace for them, if you stay faithful to Christ.  Your situation reminds me, a little bit, of the difficult situation faced by today’s saints.

Mark and Marcellian were twin brothers born of pagan Roman parents in the late Roman Empire.   They were actually from a noble family, and had married well after converting to Christianity in their youth, though their wives weren’t Christian.

During the first wave of persecution under the Emperor Diocletian, the brothers were betrayed as Christians and arrested, imprisoned and condemned to death by beheading (it was illegal to be a Christian, because Christians refused to worship the state gods, which made them look like traitors to Rome).  Some powerful friends obtained a delay in their execution (so that the case could be appealed), during which they were kept in house arrest, under the watchful eye of one of the public magistrates named Nicostratus.

During these tense weeks, their families (parents, wives, young children) would visit them every day, pleading with them to renounce their faith, or at least to offer a bit of incense to the pagan gods, even while keeping the Christian faith in their hearts.  But the brothers were firm.  And their firmness was reinforced by the daily visits of one of the imperial officers, St Sebastian, who came to encourage them and talk with their families.

The crisis continued – the brothers wondering about their fate, the family engaging in long conversations with Sebastian… And little by little the light of faith dawned not only Mark and Marcellian’s parents, but also on their wives, and even on the prosecutor who had condemned them and on their warden, Nicostratus.  The twins were freed and their families were baptized.

It was a short respite, however.  They were soon betrayed again, condemned again, and tortured by being bound to pillars to which their feet were nailed.  After two days they were executed with a lance.

God’s Providence guides us all, my bright young niece.  And if you are faithful to him, no matter how hard it may get sometimes, he will faithfully take care of all those you love.

Your concerned uncle,

Eddy

St Mark and St Marcellian Read More »

When Sacrifice is Chosen for Us

/ Weekly Message

Dear Friends,

Every Christian to some extent understands the concept of sacrifice. The dictionary describes sacrifice as the surrendering of something for someone else.

We choose which sacrifices we are going to make to help ourselves grow in holiness. We choose to not eat certain foods or drink certain beverages when we know they are harmful to us. We choose how we are going to tithe from our income to support the Church and which local charities we favor. So often, we view ourselves as generous because we choose to offer this or that.

But what happens when the need for personal sacrifice is chosen for us? What happens when the dreaded diagnosis of cancer or dementia or a child with special needs or the loss of a job are thrust upon us? No one chooses that.

One of my favorite authors is Jacques Philippe. In his book Interior Freedom, he shares his insights regarding choosing sacrifices or consenting to those chosen for you. He believes true inner freedom comes when we consent to that which we would not have chosen for ourselves or our loved ones. Especially when it comes to suffering. St. Therese, in one of her notebooks, reminds us we can only suffer one moment at a time. We often dwell on the past and fear the idea of suffering in the future, but all we really have is today.

Every day we have the choice to willingly accept opportunities to sacrifice our will in the present moment or fight against it. Fr Philippe says, “Hearts anxious about tomorrow can’t be open to the grace of the present moment.” What is most important is not what
we can do for the Lord, but leaving space for what God can do in us when we consent to a sacrifice we didn’t freely choose.

Yours in the Heart of Jesus,

Donna

When Sacrifice is Chosen for Us Read More »

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Alex Kucera

Atlanta

Alex Kucera has lived in Atlanta, GA, for the last 46 years. He is one of 9 children, married to his wife Karmen, and has 3 girls, one grandson, and a granddaughter on the way. Alex joined Regnum Christi in 2007. Out of the gate, he joined the Helping Hands Medical Missions apostolate and is still participating today with the Ghana Friendship Mission.

In 2009, Alex was asked to be the Atlanta RC Renewal Coordinator for the Atlanta Locality to help the RC members with the RC renewal process. Alex became a Group Leader in 2012 for four of the Atlanta Men’s Section Teams and continues today. Running in parallel, in 2013, Alex became a Team Leader and shepherded a large team of good men.

Alex was honored to be the Atlanta Mission Coordinator between 2010 to 2022 (12 years), coordinating 5-8 Holy Week Mission teams across Georgia. He also created and coordinated missions at a parish in Athens, GA, for 9 years. Alex continues to coordinate Holy Week Missions, Advent Missions, and Monthly missions at Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Cumming, GA.

From 2016 to 2022, Alex also served as the Men’s Section Assistant in Atlanta. He loved working with the Men’s Section Director, the Legionaries, Consecrated, and Women’s Section leadership teams.

Alex is exceptionally grateful to the Legionaries, Consecrated, and many RC members who he’s journeyed shoulder to shoulder, growing his relationship with Christ and others along the way. He knows that there is only one way, that’s Christ’s Way, with others!