Vol 9 Issue 49 ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
November 5, 2016 ~ Our Lady on Saturday
1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (93)
2. Twenty-fifth Sunday after Pentecost
3. Saint Leonard
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
Watching the world go to hades on television does nothing but guarantee that the world will go to hades. The TV has become the neo-coliseum. When one returns to the time when the martyrs were brought to the coliseums to be fodder for the gladiators or food for the wild beasts there are found the “good” citizens who were excited to see the spectacles sponsored by the state and who would fill the coliseums watching Christians being murdered. Even afterwards, before the ending of the murder of unfortunate slaves, Saint Augustine speaks of his friend Alypius who, despite condemning the bloody gladiator shows, by simply allowing himself to glimpse upon the killing of one victim became desirous of satiating a diabolical thirst to watch the gladiators continue their butchery:
He, not forsaking that secular course which his parents had charmed him to pursue, had gone before me to Rome, to study law, and there he was carried away incredibly with an incredible eagerness after the shows of gladiators. For being utterly averse to and detesting spectacles, he was one day by chance met by divers of his acquaintance and fellow-students coming from dinner, and they with a familiar violence haled him, vehemently refusing and resisting, into the Amphitheatre, during these cruel and deadly shows, he thus protesting: “Though you hale my body to that place, and there set me, can you force me also to turn my mind or my eyes to those shows? I shall then be absent while present, and so shall overcome both you and them.” They, hearing this, led him on nevertheless, desirous perchance to try that very thing, whether he could do as he said. When they were come thither, and had taken their places as they could, the whole place kindled with that savage pastime. But he, closing the passage of his eyes, forbade his mind to range abroad after such evil; and would he had stopped his ears also! For in the fight, when one fell, a mighty cry of the whole people striking him strongly, overcome by curiosity, and as if prepared to despise and be superior to it whatsoever it were, even when seen, he opened his eyes, and was stricken with a deeper wound in his soul than the other, whom he desired to behold, was in his body; and he fell more miserably than he upon whose fall that mighty noise was raised, which entered through his ears, and unlocked his eyes, to make way for the striking and beating down of a soul, bold rather than resolute, and the weaker, in that it had presumed on itself, which ought to have relied on Thee. For so soon as he saw that blood, he therewith drunk down savageness; nor turned away, but fixed his eye, drinking in frenzy, unawares, and was delighted with that guilty fight, and intoxicated with the bloody pastime. Nor was he now the man he came, but one of the throng he came unto, yea, a true associate of theirs that brought him thither. Why say more?
He beheld, shouted, kindled, carried thence with him the madness which should goad him to return not only with them who first drew him thither, but also before them, yea and to draw in others. . . (Confessions, Bk. vi, 8.)
Our resolves, just like Alypius, disappear once we become mesmerized by the screen. But we are here to do good and promote God’s kingdom. If we find ourselves inert in front of a screen that repeats over and over the same tragic scenes, what good are we accomplishing? Rather may we be found praying our Rosary for the conversion of sinners, studying to extend God’s kingdom, and working to help make the Truth known by conversations, and participation in Catholic Action or other organizations that defend Catholic moral values. A commitment that places us with other good and like-minded individuals helps to support our resolves and becomes beneficial.
As always, enjoy the readings and commentaries provided for your benefit. —The Editor
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Baptism
Means of Salvation
Sacrament of Baptism
Baptism in the Conciliar Church
Again, this mixture of orthodoxy and ambiguity becomes confusing. That the rite of baptism is held in highest honor by all Christians places the Conciliar Church as one of many Christian religions as opposed to the that of the Christian religion being the Catholic Church, while designating the others as separated from the Church or termed Protestants. Those baptized, true, are baptized. But it does not incorporate them (unless an infant) into the Body of Christ, that is, the Catholic Church, because they have placed an obstacle to being engrafted (schism or heresy). As Pope Pius XII taught through his encyclical, Mystici Corporis, of June 29, 1943:
Actually only those are to be numbered among the members of the Church who have received the laver of regeneration and profess the true faith, and have not, to their misfortune, separated themselves from the structure of the Body, or for very serious sins have not been excluded by lawful authority. “For in one spirit,” says the Apostle, “were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free” [ 1 Cor.12:13]. So, just as in the true community of the faithful of Christ there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith [cf. Eph. 4:5]; and so he who refuses to hear the Church, as the Lord bids “let him be as the heathen and publican” [cf. Matt. 18:17]. Therefore, those who are divided from one another in faith or in government cannot live in the unity of such a body, and in its one divine spirit. (Cf. 2286.)
For as Augustine, in engaging in the debate with the Donatists, teaches—and which the Church has accepted as her teaching—they receive the Sacrament, but not the grace. Here are the words of Augustine:
We do not, therefore, “acknowledge the baptism of heretics,”[Cypr. Ep. lxiii. 12: quando a nobis baptisma eorum in acceptum refertur.] when we refuse to baptize after them; but because we acknowledge the ordinance to be of Christ even among evil men, whether openly separated from us, or secretly severed while within our body, we receive it with due respect, having corrected those who were wrong in the points wherein they went astray. However as I seem to be hard pressed when it is said to me, “Does then a heretic confer remission of sins?” so I in turn press hard when I say, Does then he who violates the commands of Heaven, the avaricious man, the robber, the usurer, the envious man, does he who renounces the world in words and not in deeds, confer such remission? If you mean by the force of God’s sacrament, then both the one and the other; if by his own merit, neither of them. For that sacrament, even in the hands of wicked men, is known to be of Christ; but neither the one nor the other of these men is found in the body of the one uncorrupt, holy, chaste dove, which has neither spot nor wrinkle. And just as baptism is of no profit to the man who renounces the world in words and not in deeds, so it is of no profit to him who is baptized in heresy or schism; but each of them, when he amends his ways, begins to receive profit from that which before was not profitable, but was yet already in him.
“He therefore that is baptized in heresy does not become the temple of God; but does it therefore follow that he is not to be considered as baptized? For neither does the avaricious man, baptized within the Church, become the temple of God unless he depart from his avarice; for they who become the temple of God certainly inherit the kingdom of God. But the apostle says, among many other things, “Neither the covetous, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.” 1 Corinthians6:10. (De baptism contra Donat. lib. 4, c. 4, 6, 7)
Therefore, the Council of Trent, Session VII (March 3, 1547),states among the Canons on the Sacraments:
Canon. 6. If anyone shall say that the sacraments of the New Law do not contain the grace which they signify, or that they do not confer that grace on those who do not place an obstacle in the way, as-though they were only outward signs of grace or justice, received through faith, and certain marks of the Christian profession by which the faithful among men are distinguished from the unbelievers: let him be anathema. (Cf. DB 849)
First, what is found emphasized for the Conciliar Rite of Initiation is membership in a Church that forms a community that is a holy nation and a royal priesthood without clarification. Whereas previously one saw emphasis on faith in God who sends His Only Begotten Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, as Redeemer to take away sin, both original and actual, so that one could become justified, that is, sanctified by God’s grace; now it was the faith of the community and joining a faith community. In other words, it was no longer that a relationship God desired between Himself and man was disrupted by original sin and needed to be restored, but rather man disrupted the unity that should be within himself and with his neighbor and this unity needed to be restored within the community. It was not a submission to God’s laws as children obeying a father’s command after repentance and forgiveness, but a rite expressing the unity of humanity in fraternal brotherhood.
Second, the concept of Baptism was not a Sacrament instituted by Christ to give grace (i.e., both sanctifying and actual grace), but a needed sign that mankind uses to show one’s initiation into a society that gives a new status with its obligations as expressed in other pagan rituals, such as the Mithraism rituals of the Romans, and Circumcision among Jews and Mohammedans; and, as such, the “community” must participate in the communal rite.
Third, the necessity of baptism is confined to “Christians” to express their commitment in the teachings of Christ and the Christian Community; but is not needed by “non-Christians” to be saved, as their approach to God is a different path or covenant as Avery Dulles teaches:
The term b’rith is usually translated “covenant,” but this translation tends to emphasize the bilateral and conditional character of the engagement. The same word can also be translated “testament” and was so translated in the Old Latin version before Jerome composed his Vulgate. The term “testament” better conveys the idea that God is acting freely, out of sheer generosity, and that his gift is unconditional. The paradoxical intertwining of the unilateral and the bilateral, the conditional and the unconditional, is one of the elements that complicates the question whether the so-called “Old Covenant” still perdures. (The Covenant with Israel, in First Things, November 2005.)
Or, as Jorge Bergoglio stated to the Jews at Rome’s Synagogue on January 17, 2016: From a theological point of view, it is clear there is an inseparable bond between Christians and Jews,” he continued, “and the church, while professing salvation through faith in Christ, recognizes the irrevocability of the covenant and God’s constant and faithful love for Israel.(RNS, January 17, 2016.) During his visit Karol Wojtyla had already stated in Mainz on 17 November, 1980, that the Old Covenant had never been revoked by God: The first dimension of this dialogue, namely the encounter between God’s people of the Old Covenant which has never been revoked by God and that of the New Covenant is at the same time a dialogue within our church, as it were between the first and second book of her bible. (John Paul II, La ricchezza della comune eredità ci apre al dialogo e alla collaborazione. Incontro con gli esponenti della Comunità Ebraica a Magonza il 17 novembre 1980, in: Insegnamenti di Giovanni Paolo II III, 2 1980 (Città del Vaticano 1980) 1272-1276, cit.1274.)
For a basic outline of universal salvation (This will be taken up again in another section—Author) and the nullification of the Catholic teachings concerning salvation one has simply to turn to the Conciliar Catechism of the Catholic Church, where the following is presented as the new teaching following Vatican II:
839 “Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways.” (Lumen gentium, 16)
The relationship of the Church with the Jewish People. When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, (cf. Nostrae aetate, 4) “the first to hear the Word of God.” (Roman Missal, Good Friday 13: General Intercession, VI) The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God’s revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews “belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ”, (Rom 9:4-5) “for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.” (Rom. 11:29)
840 and when one considers the future, God’s People of the Old Covenant and the new People of God tend towards similar goals: expectation of the coming (or the return) of the Messiah. But one awaits the return of the Messiah who died and rose from the dead and is recognized as Lord and Son of God; the other awaits the coming of a Messiah, whose features remain hidden till the end of time; and the latter waiting is accompanied by the drama of not knowing or of misunderstanding Christ Jesus.
841 The Church’s relationship with the Muslims. “The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.” (Lumen gentium 16; cf. Nostrae aetate, 3.)
842 The Church’s bond with non-Christian religions is in the first place the common origin and end of the human race:
All nations form but one community. This is so because all stem from the one stock which God created to people the entire earth, and also because all share a common destiny, namely God. His providence, evident goodness, and saving designs extend to all against the day when the elect are gathered together in the holy city. . . (Nostrae aetate, 1.)
843 The Catholic Church recognizes in other religions that search, among shadows and images, for the God who is unknown yet near since he gives life and breath and all things and wants all men to be saved. Thus, the Church considers all goodness and truth found in these religions as “a preparation for the Gospel and given by him who enlightens all men that they may at length have life.” (Lumen gentium 16; cf. Nostrae aetate, 2; Evangelii nuntiandi, 53.)
844 In their religious behavior, however, men also display the limits and errors that disfigure the image of God in them:
Very often, deceived by the Evil One, men have become vain in their reasonings, and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and served the creature rather than the Creator. Or else, living and dying in this world without God, they are exposed to ultimate despair. (Lumen gentium 16; Rom. 1:21, 25)
845 To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son’s Church. the Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. the Church is “the world reconciled.” She is that bark which “in the full sail of the Lord’s cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world.” According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah’s ark, which alone saves from the flood. (St. Augustine, Serm. 96, 7, 9: PL 38, 588; St. Ambrose, De virg. 18, 118: PL 16, 297B; cf. 1 Pet 3:20-21.)
“Outside the Church there is no salvation”
846 How are we to understand this affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers? (Cf. Cyprian, Ep. 73.21: PL 3, 1169; De unit.: PL 4, 509-536.) Re-formulated positively, it means that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is his Body:
Basing itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism, and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who, knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it. (Lumen gentium 14; cf. Mk 16:16; Jn 3:5.)
847 This affirmation is not aimed at those who, through no fault of their own, do not know Christ and his Church:
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience – those too may achieve eternal salvation. (Lumen gentium 16; DS 3866-3872)
848 “Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.” (Ad gentes 7; cf. Heb 11:6; 1 Cor 9:16.)
(To be continued)
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Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
Our failings
1. “The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field. But while men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat” (Gospel). Truly, God sowed the best of seed in our souls at baptism. The seed sown there is the seed of sanctifying grace and the seed of the virtues of faith, hope, and charity. Daily He cares for the field of our soul and nourishes by Holy Communion the seed planted there. He gives us the grace to suffer, to grow, and to endure. In spite of the fact that He sowed good seed, and in spite of the fact that He continuously watches over us, the cockle is always there too. When we ask, “Wilt Thou that we go and gather it up,” He answers, “Suffer both to grow.”
2. “But while men were asleep, his enemy came and oversowed cockle among the wheat.” Every day we examine our conscience, and we go to confession weekly. We are continually making new resolutions to amend our lives and to root out our faults. We study the example of our Lord and the lives of His saints, and pray frequently to be freed from our self-love and from our inordinate attachment to the things of this world. In spite of all this effort, we seem unable to uproot the cockle of our daily faults. It is true that not all of our faults are deliberate, yet neither are they entirely blameless. Somehow, when we reflect upon them, we always feel that we could have avoided them if we had been more vigilant. There appears to be no end to our weaknesses, and we appear to make so little progress. At least outwardly we strive to do our duty and to conform to what is expected of us; yet we are continually discovering that our motives are not always pure. If we have conformed to the will of God and our rule of life, our actions are more often motivated by human respect than by our devotion to God. We may ask ourselves: Where does all this lead to? Are we really preparing for a holy death by daily advancing in perfection? We fear that such is not the case in spite of all our firm resolutions to begin now to live entirely for God.
When we engage in some important worldly affair in the success of which we are intensely interested, no care or trouble or exertion is too great for us. But for the things that concern God and our eternal salvation, we can muster very little zeal and hardly any enthusiasm. How eagerly we grasp for excuses that will free us from the onerous task of mastering ourselves! How gladly we embrace exceptions that liberate us from the little sacrifices of regular life and allow us to associate slyly with the world! The cockle is still among the wheat. In spite of all our striving we have actually made little progress in virtue.
“Suffer both to grow.” The servants of the Lord were displeased at finding the cockle and wished to uproot it immediately. But the Lord is wiser and He counseled them, “Suffer both to grow until the harvest.” Now all this cockle serves a purpose. Even the faults which we consider involuntary, faults of character and faults resulting from our natural weaknesses, are not without a purpose and playa definite part in our spiritual life. If we consider them in their true light, they are really opportunities for spiritual growth. They keep us conscious that we have yet far to go to approach the holiness of our Lord and His saints. When we gaze upon ourselves and see ourselves as we really are, we become humble. It is easier for us to embrace the cross when we understand that our own miserable weaknesses require this bitter remedy. Like the servants of the Lord, our willfulness and self- love prompt us to destroy all our faults (our cockle) by one grand gesture. But God is wiser than we: “Suffer both to grow.” He would have us grow strong in virtue by a patient and persistent struggle against our faults. God does not will the faults that He sees in us any more than we do, but He knows that their presence will keep us humble and prompt us to strive incessantly to increase in virtue and strength.
Furthermore, our faults will prompt us to turn to God for help in time of need. Seeing our own weakness, we shall learn to turn at once to God, the source of all strength. Let us ask God for help, for we know that He is ever ready to assist us. Let us ask with confidence for the grace to serve Him faithfully. Our faults serve this purpose, at least: they convince us that of ourselves we cannot succeed, and must turn to Christ for aid.
3. “Suffer both to grow.” This does not mean that we should be indifferent to the cockle which we find in our field. It is a great accomplishment if we can truly say that we have not of ourselves added new faults to the cockle sown by the enemy. When we can say that we have in some measure mastered our weaknesses, when the faults that we have are no longer multiplied, when we no longer commit them willingly, when we meet all trials and temptations with courage and confidence, we shall know that we are dealing with the cockle in the way our Lord approves.
“Suffer both to grow.” Spiritual growth is possible only when there is inner peace, which is most necessary if we wish to pray. Restlessness, violence, and impetuosity are not conducive to the practice of virtue. Such a spirit is more characteristic of pride and self-love. Our love of God and our neighbor must be tranquil and stable. Let us deal with the cockle in our field with patience, perseverance, and determination. Above all, let us trust in the Lord, who is aware of the cockle growing in our souls, and wait for His grace.
PRAYER
O Lord, we beg Thee in Thy never-failing goodness to guard Thy family, and since it depends entirely on the hope of Thy heavenly grace, defend it always by Thy protection. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Temptation
1. “The kingdom of heaven is likened to a man that sowed good seed in his field” (Gospel). Hardly had the man sown good seed in his field when his enemy came and sowed cockle among the wheat. Wherever Christ has sown good seed in the field of the world, there also the devil sows the seed of evil. The seed of the devil is the temptations which he uses to entice men away from God.
2. “My brethren, count it all joy when you shall fall into divers temptations” Gas. 1 :2). No man is ever free from temptation, which may arise from our past sins, from our evil phantasies, from our various passions, or from our own perverted inclinations. The devil may use the things around us and the men and women with whom we live as a means of tempting us to sin. Temptations come, finally, from the devil himself, who, “as a roaring lion, goeth about seeking whom he may devour” (I Pet. 5:8). He lies in wait for us like a serpent seeking a favorable moment to strike us swiftly and silently. The devil is very clever and makes use of a multitude of devices to tempt us.
Whenever the devil attempts to lead us astray, we may be sure that God is also at hand; for no temptation can come to us which He has not permitted. Temptations are not God’s work, but He permits them that we may be strengthened in virtue. He weighs and measures every temptation to which we are subject and makes use of it to advance us in holiness. He has foreseen the effects of the temptation upon us, and in His infinite wisdom has permitted us to suffer the trial. The devil cannot come near us until the Lord has first set the conditions and has provided us with the grace we need to resist the temptation. Why. then, should we fear temptation? “Let no temptation take hold on you, but such as is human. And God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that which you are able; but will make also with temptation issue. that you may be able to bear it” (I Cor. 10: 13).
“Suffer both to grow.” Temptations are beneficial to the soul and help it to grow in virtue. They prove. refine. and strengthen our loyalty to God and His commandments. There is no real virtue that is not tried virtue. We are so attached to the world that temptations are necessary to convince us that the world is not the greatest and highest good. By suffering trials and temptations valiantly and patiently, we may also make satisfaction for our past failures. We may also shorten the time of temporal punishment due to sin more easily by meeting and conquering temptations than we ever could in purgatory. Temptations also keep us conscious of our inner weakness and preserve us from pride when we might be tempted to think that we have attained a high degree of virtue. These temptations give us an occasion to practice virtue and make it a permanent part of our character. Not only are our strength and virtue increased and proved by temptation, but our merit also is greatly increased when we make a successful conquest of temptations. A man who knows his own weaknesses is zealous in prayer. If we suffered no temptations, we should become easygoing and slothful in the spiritual life. and should make very little progress. One grows strong only by frequent and regular exercise, and this fact is as true of the spiritual life as it is of physica
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