Sacraments

First Holy Communion and First Reconciliation are part of a two year preparation program here at St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church, usually for children who are in 1^st and 2^nd grade, (Communion 1 and Communion 2 respectively). If a child is in a higher grade, they attend religious education classes with their grade level the first year and then are placed in the Communion 2 class for further preparation to receive the Sacraments. All children to receive these sacraments need to have been baptized in the Catholic Faith. If they have been baptized in another Christian Faith or Rite, they may need to recite a Profession of Faith.

It is also expected that they continue in the Faith Formation Program and continue to attend Mass each week even after they receive the sacraments for the first time.

Please call Kathy Keith in the Religious Education office at (858) 278-0587 or you can email Kathy at kkeith@st.catherinelaboure.net.

RCIC

Children who are seven years of age or older and have never been baptized, will usually received all three Sacraments of Initiation (Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation) in the second year of their sacramental preparation. They will participate in the rite of Christian Initiation for Adults adapted for Children (RCIC). Please contact Kathy Keith for more information at (858) 278-0587 or kkeith@stcatherinelaboure.net.

Our standing time for Confessions are from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. every Saturday evening. If you are unable to make it on Saturdays please feel free to call the office (858) 277-3133 to make an appointment.

Please visit our Youth Ministry page here.

Our parish staff and community congratulate you on your decision to celebrate the Sacrament of Matrimony here at St. Catherine Labouré. To guide and prepare you through this special time in your lives please have a look at our:

Wedding Guidelines   Wedding Mass Program  Wedding Anniversary ProgramWedding Music Planning Guide Anniversary Music Planning Guide

For additional information about music, please contact Ami Villanueva at music.office@stcatherinelaboure.net

To inquire about a wedding please call Fr. Brian at (858) 277-3133 or contact through email at frbrian@stcatherinelaboure.net.

To request an anointing please contact the office at (858) 277-3133.

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit, and they shall be created and you shall renew the face of the earth. O God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit did instruct the hearts of the faithful, Grant that by the same Spirit, we may be truly wise and ever rejoice in his consolations. Through Christ our Lord. Amen

• Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick is inherently bound to the mystery of suffering
  • Reminds us of life’s fragility
  • People often avoid this sacrament because they choose not to be reminded of human mortality
  • When we feel the limits of human condition – the immortal God draws closest to us
  • Christ the Good Physician bestows spiritual healing on those who receive it in faith
  • Jesus Christ did not distance himself from suffering and death, but entered into these facts of human existence an offered healing consolation and hope

• Second Sacrament of Healing – Anointing of the Sick
  • Sickness and being near death are “limit” experiences where you are up against the limits of your strength and your own control over life
    • Suffering and illness bring us into a new “country” – we are out of control – loss of control of you own life – you are not in control of your own life
  • At the limit of human capability, we are more aware of and in need of God
    • We turn our passivity and lack of control over to God so that God can accomplish in s what we could never accomplish on our own
    • When we are at the “limits” of our activity, the Church comes with this sacramental presence and its power

• Over and over again in the Gospels – Jesus heals – reaches out to the blind, the lame, the deaf, the suffering
  • Jesus healed using physical signs – mud, spit, touch
  • Jesus bequeaths healing to the Church
    • Church continues healing – from Acts to present day

• As Jesus was the “Great Physician” the Church comes to spiritually heal the sick
  • Received by those who are seriously ill, anticipating major surgery, or near death
  • Church does not deny death, but goes there to aid in the transition to eternal life
  • Only priests and bishops are the appropriate minister of the sacrament of Anointing.  This is due to the Sacraments inclusion of forgiveness and sin

• Extreme Unction – last moments
  • Anointing given to anyone with serious illness, approaching surgery, in old age
  • Our culture tries to deny death, prizes youth
  • Church sees death as a key moment and comes with its sacramental power
  • Doctors and nurses are aware of the role that anointing plays in the sickness of the person
• In Anointing of the Sick, we see the Church at its “sacramental best”
• Matter and Form
  • Matter  – the anointing with oil and laying on of hands
  • Form – “Through this Holy Anointing may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit.  May the Lord who frees you from sin, save you and raise you up.”

• Effects of the Sacrament
  • The grace of comfort, peace, and courage that comes from the Holy Spirit
  • Union with the passion of Christ who accepted suffering as the will of his Father, unleashing saving power into the world
    • The sick person accepts the suffering as the Father’s will and unleashes saving power into the world
      • Pope John Paul – don’t miss the spiritual opportunity that has come to you in your suffering – somehow it unleashes saving power into the world.
      • Give your suffering over for the alleviation of someone else
      • Let your suffering, through acceptance in faith, be a gift to the world
    • By celebrating this sacrament, the Church, in the communion of saints, intercedes for the benefit of the sick person and the sick person, for his [or her] part, by the grace of the sacrament, contributes to the sanctification of the Church”  Catechism of the Catholic Church #1522

• When administered to someone near death (Viaticum), its effect is conformity in a final way to the dying and rising of Christ, bringing to fulfillment what began at Baptism
• Jesus Christ, through the Church, has us surrounded – at the beginning of life (Baptism) and at its end (Anointing)

Prayer of St. Thomas Aquinas

Grant me, O lord my God: A mind to know you,

A heart to seek you, Wisdom to find you,

Conduct pleasing to you, Faithful perseverance in waiting for you,

And a hope of finally embracing you.  Amen.