Is it all right to shop on Sunday?
If possible, we should strive to keep the Lord's Day holy by not doing any unnecessary shopping on Sunday, if we can do our sopping on another day of the week. This would also provide Christian merchants and their employees the opportunity to observe properly the Lord's Day, too. In case of some emergency (for instance, a breakdown of some battery-run equipment, unexpected company, etc.), it would be permitted to shop on a Sunday, remembering Christ's adage that "the Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath" (Luke 6:5). On the other hand, Chrisians should truly strive to observe Sunday as a genuine day of rest, devoted mainly to the things of God and of Catholic family life. I strongly urge you to read the Apostolic Letter entitled "The Day of the Lord" written by our Holy Father.
Reprinted from February 12, 1999
A Jehovah Witness friend of mine maintains that Jesus did
not dies on a cross, but on a "torture stake." What is your view
of this?
The Greek word in the New Testament is "stairos" and it means a cross. This is perfectly clear from the text and from the well-known Roman practice of crucifixion in Palestine at the time of Christ. The Romans did not use "torture stakes" for their executions. The early and first Christians pictures in the catacombs and other places show a cross. The earliest depiction of the crucifixion that exists is a blasphemy found in some rooms of the Palatine Hill in Rome. It shows a man with the head of a donkey on a cross and graffito underneath saying, "Arexemenos worships his god," evidently mocking an early Christian. The rooms may have been soldiers' barracks or slave quarters. There is uncertainty about it. This dates from the late first or early second century. It shows a cross, however, and no "torture stake." The "torture stake" idea is just another bit of nonsense from the Jehovah Witness sect.
Reprinted from January 22, 1999
The indications from the Shroud of Turin and some artistic
depictions show Jesus on the cross with the nails in His wrists. Some say
nails in the palms of the hands could not hold up a body on a cross. But,
many saints who have had the stigmata have had the wounds in the palms of
their hands. How do you explain this contradiction?
There is really no way to know for certain if there is any contradiction in these things. Perhaps Jesus had nails in both His wrists and His palms. Perhaps He was nailed in the palms and ropes additionally were used to hold His Body on the cross. Perhaps God, in giving the stigmata to some devout and saintly people, chose to give it in such a way that it would be more easily understood by people, although given in a slightly varied way than the historic reality. I think you are correct, however, in that scientific studies show a mature human male's body could not long be supported on a cross with nails only in the palms of the hands.
Reprinted from January 22, 1999
It depends on what they are used for/ Drugs used under professional advice and prescription to relieve pain or to serve as medicine may certainly be considered moral and may be used for these purposes. The use of illegal narcotics or other drugs, especially addictive substances, could be sinful and most often seriously sinful. They can be mortally sinful in their very use and also in the way they are procured, as well as unforeseen effects they can have on a person's health, family life, responsibilities, etc. To deal in certain drugs (such as cocaine, marijuana, meth, speed, etc.), to sell them or be involved in cooperating in drug activities, even indirectly, could also be sinful and gravely so. Mild drugs, such as nicotine in tobacco, are usually not sinful to use, but certain circumstances could make them immoral to use. Also alcoholic beverages can be moral to enjoy, but if their use involves drunkenness, alcoholism, driving a motor vehicle in a way that endangers lives or property, destruction of family life, unfaithfulness in marriage, various occasions of sin, etc., their use could be sinful and grievously sinful at that.
Reprinted from January 22, 1999
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Why do we celebrate the Immaculate Conception only a few weeks
before Christmas rather than nine months before Christ's birth?
Nine months before Christmas on March 25 each year, the Church celebrates the Annunciation, that is, the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary and thus the beginning of the miraculous conception of Jesus in her womb, without intervention of a human father. On December 8 each year, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, we celebrate another doctrine of our faith. This is nine months before the Feast of the Nativity of Mary, September 8. The Immaculate Conception means that Mary, conceived in the womb of her mother, Saint Ann, in the normal way that children are conceived, by the action of Saint Ann and Mary's father Saint Joachim, was preserved, by a special act of God and of Christ's future redemption, from every stain of original sin. The two distinct doctrines of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Virginal Conception of Jesus are often confused in the minds of non-Catholics and even in the thoughts of some Catholics who are poorly catechized.
Reprinted from January 22, 1999