The Divine Physician

Vol 8 Issue 10 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
March 7, 2015 ~ St. Thomas Aquinas, opn!

1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (9)
2. Third Sunday in Lent
3. St. John of God
4. Marriage and Parenthood (10)
5.Articles and notices

Dear Reader:

Included are the continuation of the various commentaries. I know that the issues of the world may absorb ones time with worry. I saw a publication from a conservative “Catholic” organization that looked exactly like something you would expect from the Jehovah Witnesses. Yes, fear can force one to act rashly and irrationally—but as Catholics one’s actions must coincide with the Will of God. What is the Will of God? Unless one is instructed, it may devolve into becoming the individual’s will or following a leader that fits into one’s idiosyncrasies or void. To assist in knowing and understanding the Church’s teaching on subjects that cover a Catholic’s life this Newsletter was started. It is intended especially for Catholics who do not have the blessing of a priest to provide Mass and instructions on a dominical basis. I pray that the readers will imbibe the teachings so they are able order their lives according as the Church sets the Will of God before its members, taking the words of Saint Paul’s letter from the Second Sunday in Lent: This is the will of God, your sanctification.

As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Baptism

Means of Salvation

Lost of Original Innocence

The Original Sin (d)

And the Lord God called Adam, and said to him: Where art thou? And he said: I heard thy voice in paradise; and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself. And he said to him: And who hath told thee that thou wast naked, but that thou hast eaten of the tree whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And Adam said: The woman, whom thou gavest me to be my companion, gave me of the tree, and I did eat.

In calling Adam, it was not that God was looking for Adam, rather it was God calling Adam to give an account. One may compare it to a father who has discovered a scratch on his car and knows his son, after he told his son not to ride his bike around it, is responsible. Calling out loud: Son, where are you?—but knowing his son his hiding around the corner—he is  not looking for the son, but demanding his son own up to the damage. So Adam knew he had transgressed, his shame and confusion caused him to hide. The response of Adam admitting his nakedness was to turn from the accepting his responsibility of his act. Adam knew that the source of his shame was in disobeying the command of God; that the knowledge, or experience, of concupiscence was a consequence of his disobedience; that the consequence was the loss of God’s Grace: the offense was displeasing to God and man could no longer face God in this disgrace. But Adam did not admit his fault—his pride, despite the evident breaking of God’s command, prevented him from appearing humbly before His Creator. But God tells Adam he condemns himself, for only sin deprives one of innocence. As Augustine relates 

What pride! Did he say, “I have sinned”? He has the deformity of confusion, not the humility of confession. This interrogation has been written down precisely because it took place in order to be recorded truthfully for our instruction (if it were not recorded truthfully, it would not instruct), so that we may see how men today are suffering from the disease of pride as they try to make their Creator responsible for any sin they commit, while they want attributed to themselves any good they do. (Gen. ad litt. XI, 35, 47)

Adam excuses himself by placing the responsibility upon the woman. Peter, at the inquisition of a woman, denied Christ. (cf. Mark 14:66ff) Peter wept bitterly over his sin, but Adam does not weep. The woman was to be a companion, a help-mate—one with man, but Adam implies she is the source of man’s fall. Again, Augustine objects to this concept of a woman in Adam’s words, As if she had been given to Adam for this purpose, and not rather that she should obey her husband and that both of them should obey God! (opera cit.) How many fall into sin by the seduction of a woman? It is not that the man is lord over the woman, but woman is his companion.

In the book of Ecclesiasticus, the inspired writer takes these words of Adam to tell the reader:  From the woman came the beginning of sin, and by her we all die. (25:33) and again taken up by Saint Paul: But I fear lest, as the serpent seduced Eve by his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted, and fall from the simplicity that is in Christ. (2 Cor xi. 3). In context, the authors are reminding man of his responsibility and that it is not to be usurped by the woman. As the devil is the most “subtle”, he knows the nature of man and knows how man relates to woman. He knows the order established by God and knows his victory is in upsetting this divine order. Therefore, he doesn’t tempt Adam as head, but Eve as companion. The sense is that Adam must choose between his helpmate, who is bone of his bones, and flesh of his flesh. . . . called woman, because she was taken out of man” and “a man shall leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they shall be two in one flesh (Gen. 2:23, 24), and God, Who gave him Eve as a companion. Adam, who names all the animals, does not see a helpmate like himself and is alone. (cf. Gen. 2:19-20, 18) Now that he has a companion, he finds himself complete and unwilling to be separated from the woman but knowing it will separate him from God. It is the difference seen in the choice of Abraham, who is set as a model of faith (cf. Gen. 22). Abraham, too, must choose between his son, given him by God and upon whom is to come his offspring, and God, who has seemingly asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, i.e., be willing to separate himself from Isaac. This sets a scene of two men, both having to choose between the one God has given and God’s command. Both decisions hold the future destiny of man. One learns, through the faith of Abraham, that God’s will must be executed despite how opposing it seems to human knowledge since God knows all things, directs all things and brings all things to completion. Even the conception of Isaac is caused by Abraham obeying the command of God, despite the protestations of Sara: And she [Sara] laughed secretly, saying: After I am grown old and my lord is an old man, shall I give myself to pleasure? And the Lord said to Abraham: Why did Sara laugh, saying: Shall I who am an old woman bear a child indeed?  (Gen 18:12-13) As unacceptable as it may seem in today’s world, man’s rejection of this order of God that man is responsible to see God’s will is fulfilled has caused such disorder and sin.

Where is the place of woman? If the most manly man is the perfect type of man (Christ), then the most feminine woman is the perfect type of woman (Mary). Again, the woman attempting to usurp the role of man does not make her a woman, but destroys her femininity and brings chaos into society that consists not of just man, but of man and woman. Man, in obeying the command of God, does not usurp a role, but accepts his role as outlined in 1 Corinthians 11:7 and Ephesians 5: 22. Saint Paul confronts a pagan world where chaos reigns because man has not submitted himself to God, as Saint Peter also exhorts these early converts from paganism: Be you humbled therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in the time of visitation (1 Peter 5:6). Saint Paul instructs the Corinthians to make a clear distinction between the roles of a man and a woman when he writes: The man indeed ought not to cover his head, because he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of the man. For the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. For the man was not created for the woman, but the woman for the man. (1 Cor. 11:7ff). And though he does not enforce the rule as absolute (cf. 1 Cor. 11:16), he still points to the nature given by God to a man and to a woman as dissimilar: Doth not even nature itself teach you, that a man indeed, if he nourish his hair, it is a shame unto him? But if a woman nourish her hair, it is a glory to her; for her hair is given to her for a covering. (1 Cor. 11:14-15) As he teaches the Corinthians he does not fail to also instruct the Ephesians in the same divergence of roles when speaking of husband and wife: Being subject one to another, in the fear of Christ. Let women be subject to their husbands, as to the Lord: Because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ is the head of the church. He is the saviour of his body. Therefore as the church is subject to Christ, so also let the wives be to their husbands in all things. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the church, and delivered himself up for it. Since the subject matter is not Matrimony, suffice it to say there is a stress on being subject to one another, not of subservience, of slave and master, but of relationship to each other in the role of man and woman which makes up the one body and necessarily means one directs the whole while both fulfill their parts. It is only in the woman being a woman that she is a woman. It is only in being a wife that she is a wife. It is only in being a mother that she is a mother. In being a woman who wants to assume the role of a man she loses being a woman.

The book of Proverbs, chapter 31, 10-31, provides a view of a woman that does not see a woman as passive, but active:

Who shall find a valiant woman? far and from the uttermost coasts is the price of her. The heart of her husband trusteth in her, and he shall have no need of spoils. She will render him good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She hath sought wool and flax, and hath wrought by the counsel of her hands. She is like the merchant’ s ship, she bringeth her bread from afar. And she hath risen in the night, and given a prey to her household, and victuals to her maidens. She hath considered a field, and bought it: with the fruit of her hands she hath planted a vineyard. She hath girded her loins with strength, and hath strengthened her arm. She hath tasted and seen that her traffic is good: her lamp shall not be put out in the night. She hath put out her hand to strong things, and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle. She hath opened her hand to the needy, and stretched out her hands to the poor. She shall not fear for her house in the cold of snow: for all her domestics are clothed with double garments. [She hath made for herself clothing of tapestry: fine linen, and purple is her covering. Her husband is honourable in the gates, when he sitteth among the senators of the land. She made fine linen, and sold it, and delivered a girdle to the Chanaanite. Strength and beauty are her clothing, and she shall laugh in the latter day. She hath opened her mouth to wisdom, and the law of clemency is on her tongue. She hath looked well to the paths of her house, and hath not eaten her bread idle. Her children rose up, and called her blessed: her husband, and he praised her. Many daughters have gathered together riches: thou hast surpassed them all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: the woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands: and let her works praise her in the gates.

As a person, the woman is made in the image of God (cf. Gen. 1:26, 27) Saint Paul points out the equality when speaking of those who are the children of God through baptism: there is neither male nor female . . . you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:28)

It may be asked why in the case of the human race alone the distinction of sex was expressly mentioned in Genesis. Perhaps in order to make it clear that woman also was created to the image of God. Such a statement would by no means be a useless or unnecessary one in a country and at a time when woman was commonly held in low esteem. This text of Sacred Scripture, “Male and female he created them,” makes it clear that the distinction of the sexes is immediately from God; that the sexes were equally created to the image of God and have consequently one and the same divine end. From these words of Sacred Scripture follows woman’s claim to the possession of full and complete human nature, and therefore to complete equality in moral value and position as compared with man before the Creator. [II Sent., d.16, a.2, q. 2, concl., t. II, 403b] The same essentially identical human nature appears in the male and female sex in twofold personal form. There are, consequently, male and female persons. Since man’s likeness to God resides in his intellectual nature and, since woman is endowed with the same nature, she, too, is the image of God. Man and woman, then, distinct from each other by their sex, but equal to each other by their nature, share the same dignity. “If woman was created to the image of God and the equal of man,” says St. Bonaventure, “it seems that the divine image is found equally in man and in woman.” [ibid., d.16, a.2, q.2, f.l, t.I1, 403a.; Healy, 4f]

The greatest honor, hyperdulia, is paid to Mary, a woman; and through her honor is directed to all women. As Saint Paul reminds husbands to love their wives (cf. Eph. 5: 25), so Saint Peter reminds husbands: giv[e] honour to the female as to the weaker vessel, and as to the co-heirs of the grace of life: that your prayers be not hindered. (1 Peter 3:7)

Science today can opaque some truths while divulging others. While biology studies the animals, the tendency has become to categorize and hierarchialize humans at the top of the animal kingdom. Looking at man as male and female has been focused on the difference as one that is necessary for procreation—yet it need not be necessary that God create man as male and female to procreate, but rather God chose to create man as male and female to stress that man is not independent of another, but must give himself (herself) to the other by nature and the refusal to give oneself would be the end of his (her) existence. There is asexual procreation in nature. That there is also sexual procreation in nature (outside of humans) does not mean that it is necessary, but that man sees the obvious: like produces like, but only in a dual relationship. Again, the male is not absolutely the dominant in all animal species to show it is not essential; but male dominance in the animal kingdom instructs man of his obligation to provide, to protect, to lead. Therefore, it is God Who determines roles; and Genesis says: male and female he created them (1:27).

But, as the cause of God in creating roles is obscured by biology, specifically the attempt to see everything through Darwinian Evolution, at the same time biology is providing proof of the origin of all humans from a common parent. Genetics had shown that the man and woman each contribute half of the molecular chemistry that will develop into a new human life, for both contribute half of the chromosomes. All the theories of the woman as a passive receptacle, as a deformed man or defective within pagan concepts—such as Aristotle (though sometimes adopted by Catholics). The order that maintains an equal amount of male and female humans born into the world all point to fulfilling the intention of the Creator to create man as male and female within the laws of nature; but in assigning them roles, He has the man and woman personally choose to embrace his or her vocation: To lead: To follow.

(To be continued)

———————-

Week of Third Sunday in Lent

Benedict Baur, O.S.B.

WEDNESDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

God’s commandments

1. Today we stand at the tomb of the holy pope and martyr, St. Sixtus, and receive the Ten Commandments, which in the early Church were given to the neophytes on this day that they might learn them by heart and meditate on them.
2. In spirit we are on Mount Sinai. Peals of thunder and flashes of lightning and the glare of the burning mountain announce the presence of Jahve. Like the Israelites, we are seized with terror. “Thus saith the Lord God; Honor thy father and thy mother; . . . thou shalt not kill. . . You shall not make gods of silver. . . You shall make an altar of earth unto me,” and you shall offer sacrifice. The Ten Commandments, which we accepted when we were baptized, are nothing but the expression of the will of God, holy, wise, and as immutable as God Himself. These commandments result from the providence, wisdom, and holiness of God. There can be nothing more reasonable, more important, more holy, than the will of God as expressed in the Ten Commandments, which we vowed to keep at the moment of our baptism, when we dedicated ourselves to the service of God. Today we renew this dedication and renew our resolution to keep the Ten Commandments. In one way or another they all concern themselves with the great commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord they God, with thy whole heart and with thy whole soul and with all thy strength, . . . and thy neighbor as thyself” (Luke 10:27).

How have we observed the commandments of God? Let us hope that we have observed them with more sincerity than had the Pharisees of today’s Gospel. They twist the meaning of the immutable commandments so that they can fulfill them outwardly, yet accomplish their own will in the end. They “transgress the commandments of God for your tradition” (Gospel). They substitute human wisdom for the commandments of God. May such an observance of the law of God be far from us who are baptized.

We should receive the commandments of God in reverence and in faith, because we believe that they express the will of God. We keep them because we wish to conform our wills to His; because we love God and our blessed Savior. We observe the commandments because we believe their observance is pleasing to Him. The will of God is our joy. “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me” (John 4:34). In baptism we died to ourselves and to the desires of the old man; we gave-up our right to direct our own activities and to live according to our own desires. We dedicated ourselves unconditionally to the will of God and to a blind trust in His providence. “Thy will be done.” I was baptized “not to do my own will, but the will of Him” who called me (John 6:38). To do God’s will is the essence of a good Christian life. The devout Christian submits to the holy will of God in all things. Are we so disposed? Do we seek first the will of God and look to Him for guidance in all things?

3. At the Offertory of the Mass today we place our heart and our will on the paten. We will die to ourselves in order to rise again with Christ and live according to the divine will. In Holy Communion He inspires us with His spirit and supports us by His strength. We conform ourselves to Him who followed, not His own will, but the will of His Father. “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me.” In our lives, as in the life of Christ, there must be a complete conformity to the will of the Father. This should be the fruit of our reception of Holy Communion.

Men often substitute human traditions for the laws of God. What fantastic notions our age has of the meaning of sin. Many no longer look upon what used to be called sin as a rebellion against the commandments of God, but rather as a misconception of a darker and earlier age. Or they look upon the notion of sin as the fruit of a faulty education or self-deception. Some would have us believe that we are fundamentally evil so that man is incapable of avoiding sin. With these and a thousand other flimsy devices, modern man seeks to set aside the clear commands of God. Unfortunately, even some Christians take this attitude. Every voluntary sin is at the bottom an attempt of man to substitute his own wishes and desires for the will of God.

PRAYER

Grant us, we beseech Thee, a Lord, that being disciplined by salutary fasting and abstaining from baneful vices, we may the more easily obtain Thy merciful forgiveness.

Grant, we beseech Thee, O almighty God, that we who seek the favor of Thy protection, may be delivered from all evil and serve Thee with a quiet mind. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

THURSDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF LENT

The Divine Physician

1. Today at the tomb of the holy physicians, Cosmas and Damian, the Church implores God that we may have the strength to keep holy the second half of Lent, and continue our penance with courage and fidelity.
2. Jesus enters into the house of Simon Peter. “Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever, and they besought Him for her. And standing over her, He commanded the fever, and it left her. And immediately rising, she ministered to them” (Gospel). Christ was moved to perform this act of charity by the pressing desire of His heart to help those who suffer. He is in name and by His very essence a Savior. St. Augustine, in explaining this gospel, says that we are afflicted by the fever of avarice, passions, lust, ambition, and anger. We are sick and acknowledge with humility that we are weak and that we have been guilty of sins and imperfections of all kinds. Only Christ can cure us. We hasten to Him now in the Mass and at the time of Holy Communion, in the reception of the sacrament of penance, by our acts of contrition. “The eyes of all hope in Thee, O Lord; and Thou givest them meat in due season. Thou openest Thy hand and fillest every living creature with blessings” (Gradual). Thou art the Savior. Thou dost come to us during the holy season of Lent, and particularly at the time of Mass and Holy Communion, to be a savior for Thy people and for Thy Church. “The eyes of all hope in Thee.” “There is no other name under heaven given to men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4: 12). “I am the salvation of the people, saith the Lord; from whatever tribulation they shall cry to Me, I will hear them; and I will be their Lord forever” (Introit).

In the house of Peter (in the Church) the divine physician carries on His works. “Hear ye the word of the Lord, all ye men of Juda that enter in at these gates [through baptism] to adore the Lord. . . . And I will dwell with you in this place,” in the house of Peter, the Church (Epistle). The more intimately we enter into the life of the Church, the closer the Savior comes to us. We draw close to Him by faith, by obedience to His Church, by submission to her authority, and by the devout use of her sacrifice and her sacraments. Our attitude toward the body of Christ, the Church, is the determining factor in our relationship to Christ Himself. Here in the family of the Church we shall find salvation after the Lord has died and returned to His Father.

3. The Epistle addresses us earnestly: “Make your ways and your doings good. . . . For if you will order well your ways and your doings, if you will execute judgment between a man and his neighbor, if you oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, . . . and walk not after strange gods to your own hurt, I will dwell with you in this place,” in the community which is the Church. “Trust not in lying words, saying: The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, it is the temple of the Lord”; that is, do not assert foolishly: “I am a Catholic, therefore I shall be saved.” God demands more than mere membership in His Church; He demands also a holy life within the Church.

Who will measure the extent of the sacrifices made by the Son of God for the salvation of men? Let us consider well His incarnation, His poverty, His degradation, and His humiliation. How cruelly He was calumniated! And how persistent is that calumny even today! Who can weigh the depth of the ingratitude of His people, who called upon the Roman governor to “crucify Him”? He who would understand the suffering and the love of Christ, must consider His agony in the Garden of Olives, His cruel scourging at the pillar, the pain of the crowning with thorns, the bitterness of the mockery when the soldiers thrust the reed into his hands as a scepter. He who would understand the love of God must follow Him on the way of the cross and watch Him die on Calvary. All these sufferings He accepted to accomplish our salvation. How grateful we should be for such a Savior!

At Holy Communion we should unite ourselves to our Savior. “Thou hast commanded Thy commandments to be kept most diligently; O that my ways may be directed to keep Thy justifications” (Communion). That should be our program for life.

PRAYER

May the blessed solemnity of Thy saints, Cosmas and Damian, magnify Thee, O Lord, for by Thy ineffable providence Thou hast granted eternal glory to them and assistance to us.

May heavenly favor increase the people subject to Thee, O Lord, and make them always obey Thy commandments. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

__________________________________________________

MARCH 8

St. John of God, Confessor

1. St. John was born of poor parents, in Portugal, March 8, 1495. When he was about eight years old, a Spanish priest visited his home and told about his travels and about the wonderful things in Madrid. Seized by an irresistible wanderlust, the boy secretly left home with the priest. His mother died of grief soon after; his father became a Francisca. Deserted by the priest, John wandered aimlessly, finding employment, first as a shepherd, then as a soldier in various wars, later in the service of a banished Spanish nobleman in Africa, again as a peddler of religious literature and articles, and, finally, as a book merchant in Granada.

In this city he happened to hear a sermon of John of Avila, in 1539; and he was so deeply impressed that he gave away all his religious goods and wandered through the streets of Granada, repeating over and over, the words: “Woe to me! Grace and mercy!” People took him to be insane and committed him to an institution. Then, John of Avila talked to him and set him aright. Soon, he was permitted to serve the sick among the inmates; this gave him the notion of devoting his life to the care of the sick; and he did so with tireless, tender love.

John was not disturbed by the many slanderous rumors circulated about him; he answered them with patience and silence. Before long he had gained help and understanding from both ecclesiastical and civil authorities. On March 8, 1550, his fifty-fifth birthday, he died, worn out by his labors for the beloved sick. John had not intended to found an order and had given his helpers no rules or statutes. It was not until twenty years after his death that these men formed a society, pronounced vows, and bound themselves to the care of the sick without charge. Thus arose in 1586 with papal approbation, the Order of Merciful Brethren (Brothers of Mercy of St. John of God). St. John was named patron of hospitals, of the sick, and of nurses, by both Leo XIII and Pius XI.

2. “God who didst cause the blessed John, afire with love of Thee, to pass through flames unscathed . . .” (Collect). Having, with God’s grace, passed through the difficult early stages of his career as a nurse, John was able to acquire a house for his dear sick. Then he roamed the streets in search of patients, some of whom would otherwise have died of exposure. In his “Hospital of Mercy,” he gave them the most devoted attention. In addition to physical care he also concerned himself with the healing of souls; he listened to his patients’ stories of woe; he comforted them; then he urged them to cleanse their consciences.

In the evenings he would shoulder his sack and carry a basket on his arm, going from door to door with the greeting: “Do good, brethren, for your own sakes.” John also looked after needy sick in their homes, especially widows, girls who were in danger, and poor people ashamed to go to the hospital. Whatever time was left after his charitable activities, he devoted to prayer and contemplation. Once, when his hospital caught fire, the Saint rescued his patients without the least harm to himself. He was usually shabbily dressed because he was always giving his better garments to the poor. Finally, the bishop clothed him in a habit, which he was not allowed to give away, and named him John of God. What a change God’s grace had wrought in this former vagabond! In a moment, it had completely changed him and filled him with the fire of love for God and his neighbor. Wonderful is God in His saints!

“Master, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” Our Lord’s answer to this question of the lawyers is familiar to all Christians: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart and thy whole soul and thy whole mind. This is the greatest of the commandments, and the first. And the second, its like, is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments, all the law and the prophets depend” (Gospel). St. John not only fulfilled the Great Commandment of love of God and love of neighbor, but he did so in a heroic degree. Christian love of neighbor sees not only the creature of flesh and blood or certain attractive traits; it sees Christ, according to the sentence of the future Judge: “When you did it to one of the least of my brethren you did it to me” (Matt. 25:40). Courtesy and human sympathy toward the sick, the poor, and the suffering are good; but these are not yet Christian charity, for this must grow out of supernatural faith, which sees in one’s neighbor a child of God, a member of Christ, yes, Christ Himself. Christian love is infinitely more excellent than pure natural esteem; it loves for the love of God, of Christ.

St. John’s charity was eminently Christian, a love that was strong and active, a love that embraced every human being, even the most repulsively diseased, the most depraved—anyone who needed love and assistance. With good reason did the bishop call this man John of God, for his merciful, sympathetic, self-sacrificing love was surely from God; it was a work of God’s grace, not of human nature. We congratulate the Saint on the rare gift that was given him. We ask him to obtain for us, too, from God, genuine, true, supernatural, self-sacrificing love of neighbor.

3. In the Collect, we pray God “that the fire of Thy love may burn away our sins.” Considering the shining example set before us in St. John today, we beg and desire that we, like him, may be inflamed with the fire of divine love. What would we have, if the love of God were not alive in us? “I may speak with every tongue that men and angels use . . . I may have powers of prophecy, no secret hidden from me, no knowledge too deep for me; I may have utter faith, so that I can move mountains; yet, if I lack charity, I count for nothing” (I Cor. 13:1-2). Love is everything-pure, holy love of God and neighbor.

St. John of God, obtain for us an ardent, active love of our brothers in Christ!

Collect: God who didst cause the blessed John, afire with love of Thee, to pass through flames unscathed, and by his means didst enrich Thy Church with a new offspring, let his merits plead with Thee; grant that the fire of Thy love may burn away our sins and heal us for all eternity. Amen.

MARRIAGE AND PARENTHOOD

The Catholic Ideal

By the Rev. Thomas J. Gerrard

(1911)

CHAPTER V 

MIXED MARRIAGES

THE Church, in her dispensation of the Sacraments, always acts as a good and kind mother. She has regard to the weakness, as well as to the strength of her children. Her divine message is all beautiful. The ideal which she sets before her children is a perfect ideal. She ever emphasizes this ideal even though she knows that in many cases it will not be realized. She wishes her children to conform to the ideal as nearly as possible. Consequently she condescends to them, and where in her wisdom she finds that the weak ones cannot realize what she wishes, she allows, within certain limits, that which is less good. She knows that the Sacraments were made for men, not men for the Sacraments. She prefers, then, to administer the Sacraments with certain accidental imperfections rather than allow her children to go without the grace which the Sacraments convey. For this reason she tolerates what are known as mixed marriages. Strictly speaking, mixed marriages are those which take place between baptized persons, of whom one is a Catholic and the other a non-Catholic. Thus, the ceremony performed between a Catholic and a Jew would not be a mixed marriage in the sense of the word as we use it. A mixed marriage, generally speaking, is that which takes place between a Catholic and a Protestant. Now, although the Church tolerates such marriages under certain conditions, yet she ever deprecates them. They fall below her ideal. In order, then, to understand clearly why the Church looks so unfavorably on such marriages we must keep before our minds the nature of her ideal. The bond between man and wife is as the bond between Christ and His Church.

The chief characteristic of the bond between Christ and His Church is its intense intimacy and absolute perfection. Christ, indeed, by another comparison, likens it to the substantial union between Himself and His eternal Father. Nowhere can distinctness and unity be so complete as in the bosom of the blessed Trinity. The distinctness is infinite, and thus enables the Father and the Son each to receive an infinite love. Their unity is that of one infinite substance, which enables them to communicate to each other an infinite love, a love which issues in the person of the Holy Spirit. This is a type of the union between Christ and His Church. The Church, of course, is a finite creature and incapable of giving an infinite love to Christ. Nor again is the union between Christ and the Church a substantial union. The Church and Christ do not make up together one substance. But since that union has been likened to the substantial and infinite union of the Father and the Son, we conclude that it must be of a nature far more intimate and far more perfect than we can ever hope to comprehend. And since the union of man and wife has been likened to the union of Christ and the Church we conclude that that also must be of a nature far more intimate and far more perfect than we can ever hope to comprehend. The Sacrament of marriage is a great mystery, a shadow of the mystic union of Christ and His Church, a shadow of the eternal and substantial union of the Father and the Son in the blessed Trinity.

The first and foremost reason why the Church deprecates mixed marriages is because they spoil God’s ideal. Christ came on earth to speak the mind of the eternal Father. The Church exists to speak the mind of Christ. Any suggestion of difference of thought between the Father and the Son, or between Christ and His Church, carries with it the evident mark of its own absurdity. From this absurdity, however, we may gather something of the imperfection of a marriage union in which the parties profess different faiths. The Catholic faith is the most precious treasure, the most illustrious adornment, which a man can possess. It is a possession, moreover, which is unique of its kind. It cannot combine or make terms with any other faith. If one article be changed only in the slightest degree the whole faith is rendered vain. A marriage union, therefore, in which one party makes profession of Catholicism and the other of Protestantism cannot be but an ungraceful thing in the eyes of God.

Indeed, there are few people who do not recognize the irregularity. It is only the immediately interested couple, who, for the time being, cannot see that it is a matter of the highest importance. They are madly in love, and where it is a question of so much love the faith must accommodate itself to circumstances. Yet, if they could only see the connection between faith and love, they would have to recognize that diversity of faith in the marriage union must eventually tell against love in the marriage union. Faith is the gift by which we believe in God and in His word. Without belief in God we cannot love Him. Without the full acceptance of His word we cannot follow His commands and ordinances. We cannot live in sympathy with that wonderful system of morality by which He adjusts and fosters the love between man and man.

Thus it is that the Protestant married to a Catholic cannot avail himself of the teaching and the Sacraments of the Catholic Church which might be so effectual in fostering love between man and wife. Real love is that only which has faith for its foundation. But in the mixed marriage the faith is all on one side. It does not flourish with that fecundity which would be present were the parties united in one and the same belief. Further, this absence of faith-informed love on the part of the non-Catholic partner must in a measure react on the Catholic partner. Grace is very powerful, but it needs a nature upon which to act. And if the faith-informed love of the Catholic partner finds no response in the non-Catholic partner, if it receives an inferior love in return, or if it discovers itself misunderstood and unappreciated, then, if it does not dwindle away, it at least fails in its possible measure of fruitfulness.

The Church has her eyes wide open to the weakness of human nature when she tolerates a mixed marriage. A mixed marriage is a real Sacrament, and all the graces of the Sacrament are capable of being conveyed through it, though these graces may often fail in their effects through the want of disposition in the non-Catholic party. The Catholic party may do his or her best, as the case may be, but as human nature is so weak, there is naturally an ever-present danger of the Catholic losing the faith. Over and above the certainty of spoiling God’s ideal there is the disadvantage of risking the loss of faith altogether.

Therefore it is that the Church, when she allows a mixed marriage, insists on the condition that the Catholic partner shall not be hindered in the practice of the faith. The non-Catholic must give an explicit promise to this effect. He may not make any contrary conditions, either before or after the marriage. Any attempt to compel or persuade the Catholic to go to a Protestant Church, to stay away from Mass, or to abstain from Confession, is a dishonorable violation of the condition and promise.

(To be continued) 

For those who purchase through Amazon, please help support the work here at Saint Joseph’s by going through this link:

http://smile.amazon.com/ch/94-2855162

———————–

Father Courtney Edward will be in Phoenix, AZ, on March 12 for the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Fr. Ephrem Cordova’s priestly ordination. On March 31, he will be in Eureka, Nevada.

_________________________

The topics of Faith and Morals will correspond to the Roman Catholic Faith in Tradition and the Magisterium. The News will be of interest. The commentaries are for the reader to ponder and consider. The e-mail address will be for you to provide thought for consideration. The donations will be to support the continuation of this undertaking.

While the Newsletter is free of charge it is not free of cost. Please consider supporting St Joseph’s Catholic Church with a tax – deductible donation by clicking the secure link below

Click Here to Donate 

Or if you prefer send a check to

Catholic Tradition Newsletter

c/o St Joseph’s Catholic Church

131 N. 9^th St

Las Vegas, NV 89101

Visit us on the Worldwide Web: http://stjosephlv.org

e-mail news and comments to: tcatholicn@yahoo.com

To unsubscribe, please type, “unsubscribe”‚ in subject line.