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Stay tuned for more additions to our web site including.....audio
presentations of the mass, homily and personal web welcome message!
This week we will
be celebrating the First Scrutiny with our Catechumens. The scrutinies, are solemnly celebrated on Sundays during Lent and
are reinforced by an exorcism, they are rites for self-searching and repentance and have above all a spiritual purpose. The
scrutinies are meant to uncover, and then heal all that is weak, defective or sinful in the hearts of the elect; to bring
out, and then strengthen all that is upright, strong and good. For the scrutinies are celebrated in order to deliver the elect
from the power of sin and Satan, to protect them against temptation, and to give them strength in Christ, who is the way,
the truth, and the life. These rites, therefore, should complete the conversion of the elect and deepen their resolve to hold
fast to Christ and to carry out their decision to love God above all. Because they are asking to be baptized, the elect must
have the intention of achieving an intimate knowledge of Christ and his Church, and they are expected particularly to progress
in genuine self-knowledge through serious examination of their lives and true repentance. In order to inspire in the
elect a desire for purification and redemption by Christ, three scrutinies are celebrated. By this means, first of all, the
elect are instructed gradually about the mystery of sin, from which the whole world and every person longs to be delivered
and thus saved from its present and future consequences. Second, their spirit is filled with Christ the Redeemer, who is the
living water (gospel of the Samaritan Woman in the First scrutiny). The light of the World (gospel of the man born blind in
the second scrutiny), the resurrection and the life (gospel of Lazarus in the third scrutiny). From the first to the final
scrutiny the elect should progress in their perception of sin and their desire for salvation. In the rite of exorcism, the
elect, who have already learned from the church as their mother the mystery of deliverance from sin by Christ, are free from
the effects of sin and from the influences of the devil. They receive new strength in the midst of their spiritual journey
and they open their hearts to receive the gifts of the Savior.
Reverend Steven P. Wetzel, OSFS
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