Vol 9 Issue 49a ~ Editor: Rev. Fr. Courtney Edward Krier
November 12, 2016 ~ Our Lady on Saturday
1. Baptism: Means of Salvation (94)
2. Twenty-sixth Sunday after Pentecost
3. Saint Didacus
4. Family and Marriage
5. Articles and notices
Dear Reader:
I must say that I am truly grateful that Clinton was not elected President. The path that the Rainbow House had set was truly not one of peace but persecution for those opposed to its anti-Christ agenda. Even conservative Conciliar Catholics responded to the reality that they would have to deny Christ if Clinton continued the policies of Obama and voted against Clinton. We know that those filled with hate for Christ and His doctrine will call for the demise of those who have stopped the wheels of injustice, but we cannot allow their hateful rhetoric stop us from pushing that injustice back and attempting to restore some sense of morality in our nation. We may not expect the full support of Trump, but we need to be insistent that the executive orders of the Rainbow coalition be rescinded and that a Justice Court be no longer a kangaroo court and then Catholics can live and spread their faith. The civility of Christians (Catholics) will show forth not in acting as the godless youth in riotousness, but in being an example of the true righteousness (sanctification) of possessing God’s Spirit through charity that is not moved by personal gain but resolute in establishing His kingdom in the hearts of men. May faithful Catholics use this time God has been gracious to bestow to strengthen our faith and work for the salvation of souls. May our parents, I am pleading, pray for and instruct their child in Catholic faith and morals so they do not graft themselves onto the norms of the world but become bulwarks against the forces of evil that surround them. Our parents need to provide an example of living the faith that invites the children to desire emulating them. Our parents need to live their faith that is not just words, but a life reflecting that faith because everything is imbued with the faith, be it words or actions; not an occasional reference, but a continual application of Christian living. As long as the language is vulgar and obscene, as long as the entertainment is vulgar, obscene and blasphemous, as long as God receives no respect for His day (Sunday), and as long as there is no family prayer there will not be Catholic families nor a change in society for today’s children will be voting in the next election to reject the hypocrisy of their parents.
For the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and justice, and truth. (Eph. 5:9)
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
As one sees that his above outline of Conciliar teachings based on Vatican II regarding universal salvation nullifies the necessity of the Church Christ founded, so one can reference the same cumulative section on Baptism:
ARTICLE 1
THE SACRAMENT OF BAPTISM
1213 Holy Baptism is the basis of the whole Christian life, the gateway to life in the Spirit (vitae spiritualis ianua [Cf. Council of Florence: DS 1314]), and the door which gives access to the other sacraments. Through Baptism we are freed from sin and reborn as sons of God; we become members of Christ, are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission: “Baptism is the sacrament of regeneration through water in the word.” [Roman Catechism II,2,5; Cf. Council of Florence: DS 1314; CIC, cann. 204 § 1; 849; CCEO, can. 675 § 1.]
And even though it will speak of being free from sin, when the Catechism of the Conciliar Church (CCC) speaks of the Fall it immediately opens up with Scripture being symbolism:
375 The Church, interpreting the symbolism of biblical language in an authentic way, in the light of the New Testament and Tradition, teaches that our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original “state of holiness and justice”. [Cf. Council of Trent (1546): DS 1511.] This grace of original holiness was “to share in. . . divine life”. [Cf. Lumen gentium 2.]
Knowing that it is symbolic, one does not know what is real and what is metaphorical, but there is then given this following presentation:
376 By the radiance of this grace all dimensions of man’s life were confirmed. As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, man would not have to suffer or die. [Cf. Gen 2:17; 3:16, 19.] The inner harmony of the human person, the harmony between man and woman, [Cf. Gen2:25.] and finally the harmony between the first couple and all creation, comprised the state called “original justice”.
377 The “mastery” over the world that God offered man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. the first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence [Cf. I Jn 2:16] that subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods, and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.
378 The sign of man’s familiarity with God is that God places him in the garden. [Cf. Gen 2:8.] There he lives “to till it and keep it”. Work is not yet a burden, [Gen 2:15; cf. 3:17-19] but rather the collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible creation.
379 This entire harmony of original justice, foreseen for man in God’s plan, will be lost by the sin of our first parents.
Therefore, man was in harmony with all of created nature. The consequence of Original Sin was losing the harmony within created nature—not the loss of sanctifying grace (supernatural grace). Conciliar teaching continues further down in Paragraph 7, speaking ofThe Fall:
385 God is infinitely good and all his works are good. Yet no one can escape the experience of suffering or the evils in nature which seem to be linked to the limitations proper to creatures: and above all to the question of moral evil. Where does evil come from? “I sought whence evil comes and there was no solution”, said St. Augustine, [St. Augustine, Conf. 7, 7, 11: PL 32, 739.] and his own painful quest would only be resolved by his conversion to the living God. For “the mystery of lawlessness” is clarified only in the light of the “mystery of our religion”. [2 Th 2:7; I Tim 3:16.] The revelation of divine love in Christ manifested at the same time the extent of evil and the superabundance of grace. [Cf. Rom 5:20] We must therefore approach the question of the origin of evil by fixing the eyes of our faith on him who alone is its conqueror. [Cf. Lk 11:21-22; Jn 16:11; I Jn 3:8.]
Having proposed the Lutheran approach to sin, Conciliar teaching begins with the mantra Martin Luther assumed, Where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more. (Cf. Rom. 5:20.) It is not that these passages are found in Sacred Scripture, it is that the interpretation that is provided by the Conciliar Church is no longer in the same sense as it has been understood prior to Vatican II. Therefore, what is sin? The Conciliar Church teaches the reality of sin as follows:
386 Sin is present in human history; any attempt to ignore it or to give this dark reality other names would be futile. To try to understand what sin is, one must first recognize the profound relation of man to God, for only in this relationship is the evil of sin unmasked in its true identity as humanity’s rejection of God and opposition to him, even as it continues to weigh heavy on human life and history.
387 Only the light of divine Revelation clarifies the reality of sin and particularly of the sin committed at mankind’s origins. Without the knowledge Revelation gives of God we cannot recognize sin clearly and are tempted to explain it as merely a developmental flaw, a psychological weakness, a mistake, or the necessary consequence of an inadequate social structure, etc. Only in the knowledge of God’s plan for man can we grasp that sin is an abuse of the freedom that God gives to created persons so that they are capable of loving him and loving one another.
And Original Sin is described in these words:
388 With the progress of Revelation, the reality of sin is also illuminated. Although to some extent the People of God in the Old Testament had tried to understand the pathos of the human condition in the light of the history of the fall narrated in Genesis, they could not grasp this story’s ultimate meaning, which is revealed only in the light of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. [Cf. Rom 5:12-21]. We must know Christ as the source of grace in order to know Adam as the source of sin. The Spirit-Paraclete, sent by the risen Christ, came to “convict the world concerning sin”, [John 16:8] by revealing him who is its Redeemer.
389 The doctrine of original sin is, so to speak, the “reverse side” of the Good News that Jesus is the Saviour of all men, that all need salvation and that salvation is offered to all through Christ. the Church, which has the mind of Christ, [Cf. I Cor 2:16.] knows very well that we cannot tamper with the revelation of original sin without undermining the mystery of Christ.
How to read the account of the fall
390 The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. [Cf. Gaudium et spes, 13 # 1.] Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents. [Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1513; Pius XII: DS 3897; Paul VI: AAS 58 (1966), 654.]
So, therefore, what is Original Sin? A choice that, sometime in the beginning, mankind made not to be in harmony with nature. It is a way of explaining the condition of human nature in the absence of a rational explanation and understanding Christ as a Saviour. Take away sin, there is no need for redemption. But such an explanation only places faith in a need man has to know for understanding; but this understanding changes or develops as the knowledge of man increases in the natural realm and which ultimately leads man to reject faith as absolute but initially necessary. For if the understanding can come merely by increasing knowledge, then faith becomes a mechanism to fill the vacuum until knowledge is arrived at. This is why science reigns supreme in today’s rationalistic society, producing atheists rather than believers. Only if Original Sin is absolute as revealed by God as God revealed it can one say absolutely that the cause of man’s condition is due to Original Sin and mankind absolutely needed a Redeemer—not to change humanity from disharmony to harmony once again with himself and humanity and nature, but from sinful to sinless, that is, a life God wills mankind to possess—a partaking in His own Divine Nature. This happens through baptism as the means Christ instituted for mankind after His act of redemption and providing no other means (except shedding one’s blood for Him or perfect love for Him). This is stated as one reads both what is both universally Catholic teaching and what is known to be contrary to Catholic teaching. Jesus Christ died on the Cross for all, but His death would only avail the many who believed. Christ would say: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Luke 23:34) This prayer seemed unanswered as Luke indicates:
But they, dividing his garments, cast lots. And the people stood beholding, and the rulers with them derided him, saying: He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the elect of God. And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, and saying: If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And there was also a superscription written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew: This is the King of the Jews. And one of those robbers who were hanged, blasphemed him, saying: If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. (Ibid. 35-39)
It is a complete rejection of the offering of forgiveness except for one who accepted, the Good Thief:
But the other answering, rebuked him, saying: Neither dost thou fear God, seeing thou art condemned under the same condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this man hath done no evil. And he said to Jesus: Lord, remember me when thou shalt come into thy kingdom. And Jesus said to him: Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise. (Ibid. 40-42.)
This is confirmed by Our Lord when, instituting the Holy Eucharist, He said: This is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many. (Mark 14:24.; Matt. 28:26 adds: unto remission of sins.) Even the other Apostles quote Christ as saying: Take ye, and eat: this is my body, which shall be delivered for you, i.e., those present (1 Cor. 11:24; Luke 22:19) that expresses no universality.
(To be continued)
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Benedict Baur, O.S.B.
The leaven of grace
1. “The kingdom of heaven is like to leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened” (Gospel). This leaven we understand to be the grace of Christ, which leavens all mankind.
2. “In three measures of meal.” The meal is a symbol of our heavily ‘burdened human nature, which needs the elevating power of grace. Pride is one of the most deep-seated of human vices. It poisons all our thoughts and contaminates our most generous actions; it draws us slowly but surely away from God. Even our inborn sensuality, which continually molests the spirit and draws us with a strange hypnotic power toward evil, is really the result of our pride. By ourselves it is impossible to conquer this vice of pride and sensuality, for man is inclined by nature toward evil. As a matter of fact, all our actions, when not tempered by divine grace, are sensual and worldly. “For all that is in the world is the concupiscence of the flesh, and the concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world” (I John 2: 16). Men thirst for pleasure, sensuality, covetousness, and the fulfillment of their own will. Such is the meal of human weakness in which the woman, the Church, hid the leaven.
St. John mentions three sources of evil in the world; the more important are the concupiscence of the flesh and the pride of life. The more a man loses himself in his own pride, the further he is driven from God and truth. Sensuality is like a great weight on the shoulders of men; each time they yield to it, the more firmly it becomes fixed in their soul and the heavier the burden becomes. Sensuality stirs up the flesh to rebellion against the spirit. and as the gap widens between them, men become more and more miserable. Unless the flesh and the spirit can be brought to work in harmony, there can be no peace or rest for either. Men at times try to bridge this gap by plunging headlong into vice, never satiated and never at rest. This violent separation of the spirit and the flesh is the chief obstacle the soul meets in giving itself entirely to God.
In this terrible struggle the woman, the Church, intervenes by mixing the leaven of grace with the meal of human passions. By means of grace she seeks to aid the spirit in subduing the passions. Her task is not to settle the case of one or the other soul, but to bring about the triumph of the spirit over the flesh in the entire human race: “Until the whole is leavened.”
The first step in elevating the soul is taken by God Himself. Knowing as He does that of ourselves we can accomplish nothing, He takes the first step and infuses His gifts into our soul. He lightens the burden of passions and quells the conflict between the spirit and the flesh. Grace, the decisive factor in the struggle, tempers our proneness to evil and strengthens the powers of our soul for the performance of good. Grace elevates the soul and strengthens the powers of understanding, will, and memory. It accomplishes the work of restoration in a twofold manner, as sanctifying grace and as actual grace.
As sanctifying grace it penetrates the soul as the heat of fire penetrates iron. The soul is made to resemble its Creator; we become children of God and obtain possession of divine life and thus a new relationship is set up between us and God and between us and our fellow man. By sanctifying grace we become incorporated in the body of Christ and live by Him as the branch lives by the vine. As grace transforms and elevates the soul, so, too, its powers are refined and strengthened so that we now see that we are able to perform actions that could not be performed by merely human strength. With the infusion of the grace of faith, we obtain an entirely new outlook on life. From that moment we see the world and all it contains, as it were, through the eyes of God. We come to participate in the knowledge of the divinity. With the infusion of sanctifying grace, divine love, too, is infused into our souls. God Himself is the source of this divine love, and He is Himself consumed by it. With sanctifying grace we also receive the virtue of hope, which comes to the assistance of our will. The virtue of hope counsels us in time of doubt, strengthens us in time of weakness, fills us with confidence when we hesitate, and urges us onward. This divine hope bolsters up our courage and keeps us aloof from all things that would lead us away from God; it prompts us to depend on God’s strength. With these three divine virtues, all other supernatural virtues are also infused into our souls, and we are raised to a supernatural plane, far above the sordid surroundings into which we were born.
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