Domini Sumus — We are the Lord’s
Our second reading this Sunday comes from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, and it’s in this very passage that he came up with the motto of St. Pius X Catholic High School…Domini Sumus, that is, We are the Lord’s.
Do you see yourself as belonging to the Lord? This belonging shouldn’t be understood as being owned like a possession; humans are not things to be used but persons to be loved. Rather, the kind of belonging St. Paul writes of is more akin to the way family members belong to one another. It speaks of fidelity to a common vision of life and love together.
Belonging to a family comes along with rights and privileges, but belonging also comes with certain responsibilities. In good family relations, everyone is always welcome, but not everything goes. Parents must establish boundaries and expectations, and for them to work, everyone must respect them; all members of a family are called to a certain obedience to a way of life together.
So it is in the family of God’s Holy People, the Church. Belonging to the Lord comes along with rights and privileges, not least of which is the outpouring of grace that makes us children of the Heavenly Father. But our belonging to the Lord also calls us to responsibility and obedience to a way of life, and this is neatly summarized and packaged in what’s known as the Precepts of the Church.
Can you name them? They used to be part of the basic catechism instruction we all received as children, but over the years we’ve paid them little attention, but they are significant and important, establishing a sort of house rules for being a disciple of Jesus Christ, a child of God.
They are:
- Attend Mass on Sundays and Holy Days of Obligation.
- Confess sins at least once a year and any time we are aware of grave sins.
- Receive the Eucharist at least once a year during the Easter season.
- Observe the days of fasting and abstinence.
- Provide for the needs of the Church.
I’d like to take the next several bulletin articles to highlight each of the precepts, diving into the “why” behind each one, because understanding and living out these precepts is what serves as the foundation of our life belonging to the Lord. They are the solid foundation of God’s house. I hope you’ll dive in with me!
Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!
All you holy saints of God, pray for us!
In the love of Christ Our Lord,
Fr. Michael