Pope Francis regarding Donald Trump's "Mexico Wall" - what is or isn't Christian?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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WHO IS A CHRISTIAN?
WHAT IS IT TO BE CHRISTIAN?
WHO CAN CLAIM TO BE CHRISTIAN?
WHO CAN SAY THAT A PERSON IS NOT A CHRISTIAN?

Acts 11:25-26     ²⁵ Then Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for an entire year they met with the church and taught a great many people, and it was in Antioch that the disciples were first called “Christians.”    NRSV

From the beginning of what we now call Christianity the disciples of Jesus did not call themselves Christians, but it was other people - ordinary citizens who were neither believers in the Jewish faith nor believers in Jesus - who called Jesus' disciples "Christians". People identified them as followers of the Nazarene Jesus Christ precisely as Jesus himself had foretold it would happen. 

John 13:34-35     ³⁴ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”     NRSV

According to Jesus' own mind and intention, any who follow Him as his disciples will be recognized as his disciples by the love they have for one another, a love which would become plain and visible to everyone as distinctive from what is to be found in the rest of society. When Jesus was arrested all twelve of his apostles failed in their love for Him. One betrayed Him, one denied Him, and the others ran away and abandoned Him. The one who betrayed Him could not cope and hanged himself. The other eleven in their regret sought to reverse their acts of weakness. They only succeeded when Jesus appeared to them and forgave them, restoring them to friendship and confidence in Him. Jesus strove to empower them to love one another after the example He gave by loving them even to the point of laying down his life for them.

The "great commission" by Jesus to his apostles

Matthew 28:16-20     ¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Jesus' intentions clearly revealed the will of God in his final act as the master and teacher of his 12 apostles, now temporarily only 11, and of his other disciples. He commissioned them to go out into the world and the primary thing they were to do is make disciples - without distinction of national or ethnic origin - by baptizing them, immersing them, in God the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and teaching them to observe all that He had commanded them.

Clearly then the "test" of a disciple is going out to make other disciples, and the substance of a disciple is the quality of love with which he or she loves others with Jesus as our model.

Any individual can desire or claim to be a Christian, but only others can truly say whether or not anyone is a Christian, a disciple of Jesus Christ. I can be a member of a Christian church, have proof of my initiation, and even regularly attend and contribute, but I could just as well be a member of a country club. Only my neighbors together with my enemies can say whether I truly live as a disciple of Jesus, who commanded his disciples to go so far as to love and forgive their enemies and do good to those who do evil to them, always returning good for evil.

Matthew 7:15-20    
¹⁵ “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷ In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹ Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ Thus you will know them by their fruits.     NRSV

Jesus immediately knew what kind of person came up to Him or spoke out in front of his disciples. Jesus would not allow himself of those who followed or listened to Him to be manipulated by others just because they can speak the loudest, hide behind their public office or status, or intimidate others by employing the most influence or power or flaunting their success or riches. In every age Jesus wants his disciples to enjoy the same freedom, the freedom of the children of God. So He gave us simple criteria for discerning what kind of person another is on the basis of what comes out of them. 

Matthew 15:19     ¹⁹ For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander.     NRSV

It is no coincidence that it is we, the healthy and wealthy of the Earth who take the means to isolate ourselves with walls of stone or economic protocols or other exercises of power. We in the Americas built our society upon the "ethnic cleansing" of genocide of the native peoples we found here when they would not submit to our every whim and tried to defend themselves, their peoples, and their way of life. Such a violent and murderous undertaking was certainly not the intention of most settlers and pioneers who brought high moral standards with them. However these good people were poorly represented by their leaders and the effect of the "land grabbing" attitude of Europeans was still deadly for the indigenous populations of this rich land. It is the same in every land and has been this way since the dawn of humanity, but it was not so in the original design of the Creator. To make it seem easier to exploit others all we have to do is consider them inferior, but such attitudes and policies dehumanize those who employ those very same practices.

Genesis 1:26-30     ²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”²⁷ So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. ²⁸ God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” ²⁹ God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. ³⁰ And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.      NRSV

There is a clear lesson from this account of the Creation given by God to the Jewish People as his Chosen People. In the inspired Word given by God to his People, He tells that they are to be the first among his children, intending them to draw to Him all the nations of the world. From God's point of view all the abundance of the Earth is intended by Him to be enjoyed by all of humanity without any exception or preference of privilege. The Jewish Scriptures make it clear that it is out of fear and greed that human beings make distinctions among ourselves, hoard good things to ourselves, and by the same token exclude others from having access, let alone enjoy, the good things of the Earth.

Pope Francis by his whole way of being is all about reaching out to others in respect and dialogue, open to what good can come from authentic encounter between people. This attitude and approach includes a willingness to be touched or moved by the experience and conditions of the other and do what is possible to ease the other's difficulties and through sharing and caring build bridges of good will and understanding in favor of unity and peace through works of justice and caring. This is very clearly an attitude that Jesus wants even today for any who would be his disciples. 

Any approach that would build walls instead of bridges and harden the protocols that hinder others from having access to the good things of the Earth is not only unchristian but it is fundamentally an inhuman attitude. Such policies are the policies of those who would rule over others by force and do all that is deemed to be necessary to assure the rule of those with access to power, influence, riches. Many writers have explored and commented the ills of the deliberate exploitation of others, such as George Orwell in his novels Animal Farm and 1984.

What cannot be seen by those who refuse to see can often be plainly visible to mere children. This truth has been marvelously illustrated by Hans Christian Andersen in his fable "The Emperor's New Clothes". Perhaps what may prompt Mr. Donald Trump to say what he does, with all due respect to him and his bid to be the next President of the U.S.A., and all those who agree with him, is the American doctrine of "separation of church and state". 

The Roman Catholic Church agrees with citizens of the world that the civil state has its proper competence and jurisdiction in matters of civil government and that the religious institution such as the church, temple, or synagogue has competence and jurisdiction in matters of religious governance. Some especially in America would make of this an ideology that would attempt to reduce practice of a faith to the realm of private life and go so far as to abhor any public manifestation of faith. 

It is clear that the Creator of the universe as revealed to the Jewish People and in Jesus of Nazareth the Christ that God intends his children who believe in Him to practice their faith so thoroughly that it changes, enriches, and enhances every aspect of their life, including all public manifestations of their life and faith. It makes no sense therefore for a person to attempt to be a devout person of faith in church and at home but live as a pagan without regard or respect for others in school, at work, in the lab, in the marketplace, in public office, or anywhere else out in the world.

Christians are to live out their faith in God in Jesus through every aspect of their life including a rich and complete participation in the social life of their community and people. The Roman Catholic Church teaches, as in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, that Catholic Christians are never to attempt to impose their faith or practice on others but rather are to live so fully their faith in every aspect of their life that they will have the effect of a leaven for the common good within society.

So, Mr. Trump, with all due respect to you, your party, and your supporters, everyone is entitled to say whether anyone is a Christian, and we all need to heed the voices of others, especially the voices of our opponents and enemies, for they are the least likely to be motivated to flatter or get into our good graces and the most likely to see clearly all those aspects of our lives which we cannot see.

God bless you and America in this final year leading to your presidential elections.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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ALL WILL BE WELL, WON’T IT?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Living the Gospel, Catherine Doherty's Little Mandate – by Fr. Gilles A. Surprenant, Madonna House Associate, Family Life Chaplain, Archdiocese of Montréal – from my Journal – 14.07.2002 - Composed in Dina Belanger Poustinia while on summer vacation / poustinia retreat 

       Today, I met my Sister and asked, “How’s it going? Is everything well?” Sadly, her
expression – already full of pondering – said, as she moved away, “Well, it ....” I called after
her quietly, “All will be well.” Another said, “That’s so easy to say.” Yes, it is so easy to say,
“All will be well.” It is so easy to hope, when once we have known hope, when once we have
known love, when once we have known joy, when once we have known delight, when once we
have known peace. It is so very easy to say “All will be well” when we are immersed in hope,
love, joy, delight, and peace.

       What do we do when we are not sensing our blessedness, when we can only remember
seeing dreary dusty despair, tasting bitter loneliness, hearing sorrowful sadness, smelling of
death and decay, and feeling troubling torment – when we can no longer remember the color of
hope, the taste of love, the sound of joy, the smell of delight, or the feel of peace? What do we
do then? It’s so easy to say, “All will be well” when everything within and around me or us
screams back “How do you know? All is not well! All will never be well again! Will any thing
ever be well? Was anything ever well? How dare you say ‘All will be well’?”

       Upon a time, the radiant color of all things – of people and living creatures, of the sky,
the earth, and the water – their color illumined me with hope…. O where has it gone? Then
too, your love filled me with the taste of bread and wine, and of the sweetest fruits. At the very
sound of your footsteps or your voice, joy leapt up within my heart. The fragrance of your
garments, of your hair, and of the meals we shared filled my soul with delight. The very breeze
in the air surrounded me with the warmth of your presence and cradled me in your peace. O
where have they all gone? Where have You gone, O my Beloved? No, all is not well – not well
at all…. Oh, in so many ways, all is not well.

       All is not well – my ailment is back. Lord, I thought You had heard my prayer and had
answered it. Why has my ailment returned? What’s going to happen now? Do you intend to
heal me? How much longer must I pray? What’s the point of praying to be well again if You
have no intention of healing me? Why does your will always have to come to me through others
– why can’t You just reveal your will to me yourself? What do You want of me? How can I
know it? How can all be well when I am not? Is it true – will all ever be well again?

       Upon a time, though I did not seek attention or approval, the eyes of my brothers and
sisters were full of warmth and understanding for me – but now I see judgment, and their
disappointment – now they are embarrassed or concerned for me. I ache so much once again
to be self-oblivious: to have eyes only for the well-being of others, to hunger only for your love
in the hearts of all, to have ears only for your Word – that your every desire might be my
command, to want only the scent of my labor and ours – all done for love of You and for the
least of these sisters and brothers of Yours, ours, and mine, and to take comfort only in the
sensations accompanying the satisfaction of being spent for love and filling me with gratitude
for your wondrous gift of life renewed each day as an echo of your promise of eternity. O, in
what depth of darkness have I fallen, for assuredly, all is not now well.

       All is not well – the one You’ve entrusted to me for formation has such glaring faults –
what do You want of me? Am I supposed to continually correct this person? It doesn’t look
like this is someone who’s going to change in a hurry, so what am I supposed to do? Is there a
bottom line, a minimum that is acceptable, and whose responsibility is it to make sure that this
minimum is met? What do You want of me? When will this all be well?

       Indeed, all is not well – I keep falling back into my faults – my sisters, my brothers, keep
correcting me, again and again I become embarrassed and feel humiliated, but I keep falling
back into my faults, and it just keeps going on and on…. How long will this last? When will my
heart become pure and undivided? Will You not do this for me? O, how long, Beloved, till You
rescue me from these depths? What do You want of me? How would You have me bear this
cross? When will I rest? Will You not make all things well?

       Upon a time, my mind was at rest – understanding enough of your ways that my labors,
my rests, my pains, my delights, my sorrows, my joys – all made sense to me in the comfort of
your presence and your love. Now, I feel like a traitor, like a guest who has overspent his
welcome, like a child who has become a burden, like one who is an embarrassment, like one
who should have gotten things right by now, like one who seems without discipline, like a stone
on everyone’s ankle. Then, my heart was content, my body was secure, and my spirit was in
surety, but now I am in distress. How long, O Lord, will You leave me among the dead? Do
You not see that all is not well?

       Are You not all-powerful and sovereign over all? Can You not make all things well?
And yet You do not act, You leave me to languish in my misery. Can You be testing me? If it is
so, then what do You want of me? If I am as a child in pain, and You are comforting me –
though I am aware only of my hurt – would You have me dry my tears? Would you have me
echo your words, “All will be well?” Would You have me hope in my pain suffered for You? If I
am as one crushed by too many rejections, and You are encouraging me – though I see You not
in my defeat – would You have me take heart in my humiliation? Would you have me echo
your words, “All will be well?” Would You have me love though I am crushed?

       If I am as one wounded in battle, and You are attending me – though I am aware only of
my wounds – would You have me silence my groans? Would you have me echo your words,
“All will be well?” Would You have me take joy in my wounds suffered for You? If I am as one
staggering in the desert, lost in the wilderness, parched and weakened by hunger, and have lost
all sense of life in me, and You are finding me – would You have me let You sweep me off my
feet? Would you have me echo your words, “All will be well?” Would You have me take
delight – even in all I have endured for You? What do You want of me?

       If I am as one haunted by the relentless troubles of the world, cut to the heart by the
untold suffering of countless throngs of your children – embarrassed to still be in the grip of my
own pain, insignificant though it seem in comparison, and You are calling to me in my depths of
shame – would You have me come out of my tomb? Would you have me echo your words, “All
will be well?” Would You have me find peace in You? What do You want of me?

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Sex - Marriage - Divorce - Family - Gender - Why are we in the mess we're in?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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SEX

A century ago the societies of most nations on Earth had ritual behaviors of various sorts around the experience and use of human sexuality and for the most part a certain primacy was given to marriage and family and the exercise of sex was shrouded in conventions of respect and modesty that kept it out of public display. In the time that elapsed since then various interests have attacked these social norms, qualifying them as taboos harmful to the full human freedom of expression.

As a result we have seen not only the dismantling of sexual taboos but radical loss of respect for the human person and women have suffered the most. The disintegration of marriage and family has caused ever increasing numbers of women to be reduced to the ranks of the poor as they struggle to raise their children as single parents after their divorce or failure to marry. More men than ever are failing to take their full share of responsibilities as spouses and fathers after they have enjoyed sexual union with their partner.

The so called "sexual revolution" of the mid-twentieth century was initiated to free women so that they might be as free as men to fully experience and enjoy their sexuality, but the actual result has been to reduce women to abandonment and poverty in the end. How could we fall so far so quickly?

MARRIAGE

It is no coincidence that during this same period of time Hollywood played a strong role in changing social moral values not only in Western societies but worldwide. Such institutions as the arrangement by parents of the marriages of their offspring worked fairly well for centuries if not for millennia; yet very quickly under the scrutiny of the camera such proven traditional practices were put to shame by ridicule in favor of romance. Tragically, romance did not live up to its enthusiastic claims and has proven to be far less effective in establishing successful and stable marriages and families. Once romance is claimed as a perennial value, it is hard to "turn it off" after one has married the spouse with whom one fell in love. The high hormonal experience of falling in love is often preferred to the long term development of a deeper loving relationship which is the basis and heart of marriage.

DIVORCE

When one perennially sighs for the next partner with whom one can "fall in love" one tends to get stuck in adolescence or at least in young adulthood. By electing not to face the challenges of the real and ever deepening human intimacy which is essential to marriage, one gets locked into what Pope Francis calls the "throw away culture" that is quite willing to "drop" or "throw away" the spouse or partner with whom one is no longer satisfied in favor of another who would be more likely to stir up the high hormonal reaction of "falling in love". When a human being does not live fully or deeply there results a need to experience more intense hormonal reactions in order to verify that one is still alive because the ordinary experiences of everyday life are merely being sampled but not fully tasted.

This is not to say that everyone who divorces is immature and selfish. Sadly, it happens far too often that a mature, selfless, and loving person marries with the best of intentions someone who is not as fully mature or committed as they were. There are few more painful experiences in life than being abandoned by a less committed spouse after one has given everything and held nothing back. The sense of betrayal one experiences under such circumstances is profoundly painful and may for a time be quite debilitating.

PERFECT LOVE

Thankfully, the person with even a minimum of faith can find in God release from such pain and suffering. The human soul was designed by the Creator to seek and receive the presence and love of the Holy Trinity, and the experience of marital abandonment in separation or divorce can become an opportunity for a person to discover God more deeply and personally. It brings great peace and joy to realize that in actual fact only God can truly and perfectly satisfy the longing of the human heart to be loved perfectly, completely, and unceasingly.

The intimate friendship showered by God on chosen individuals such as Abraham, Moses, and the prophets during the time of the Jewish Covenant was also offered and is still offered today to those willing to learn the "fear of the Lord", the way of wisdom which God offers to those who wish and who commit themselves to "walk in the Lord's ways". Such a walk and way of life implies study of the Torah and a life of prayer by both women and men in ways consistent with their calling in life.

Jesus of Nazareth, whom his followers call the Christ - the Messiah - sharpened the focus of God's call and the desirable human response around his commandment to his disciples that they love one another as He loved them and that they teach others to do likewise. Jesus revealed that God is not just a divine being but one in whom there are three persons. In his teaching, life, and example Jesus revealed that God is, in effect, a community of divine persons in one divine being. Jesus taught that we human beings are designed to love and be loved through the same self-giving by which the Holy Trinity pours the divine life of love into us.

FAMILY

Our Creator God designed human beings for a fullness of life through love such that we have truly been created "in the image and likeness" of God as told in the first chapters of Genesis. Bishop Lionel Gendron, P.S.S., Bishop of the Diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil south of Montreal in the Province of Québec teaches that the human family is patterned after the Holy Trinity.

Jesus revealed that He the divine Son receives his life from the Father and that He ever seeks to give his life back to the Father as an offering freely given and with the value added of his life, ministry, and sacrifice. The fruit of the love between the Father and the Son is another divine person, the Holy Spirit. When a man cherishes his wife he reflects the love of the Father for his Son; as a cherished wife returns this love to her husband with the value added of her devotion to him, and later to their children, the fruit of their love is the new entity or life which is their "couple" relationship.

Joined in a lifelong commitment in marriage, they are no longer two but one flesh, not only in the physical and emotional union of intercourse but in the mutual self-giving of their shared life and love together. It is the faithful, exclusive, devoted, and unending love and life of husband and wife as a couple that gives birth to a family, whether or not they are able to conceive their own children. The couple made up of a husband and wife who draw their life and love from God is the richest formula for family that can be conceived of, because each relies on God for love and bestows that love on the other. The human heart has such a need for love that no human being can perfectly satisfy it, but only God. When a married couple rely on God's love, they are free to love one another without holding the other responsible for their happiness.

A loving couple consisting of a husband and wife possess in themselves the fullness of human life as  complementary male and female, providing their children with all that they could need as mentors for their upbringing and formation for life. In addition, the family in which the parents are rooted in God provides for the children an environment in which they can come to know and love God as they come to know and experience his love for them by being first introduced to God by the example, formation, and direction of their parents.

GENDER

While the sexual revolution of the 1960's was in part an attempt by some women to experience the same freedom men seemed to have to enjoy sex without responsibility or consequences, women can never free themselves from their biological and psychological design for the conception and gestation of human life. A few try by seeking conversion into males, but then they are no longer females.

Attempts to block conception, control fertility, or induce temporary infertility remain just that, efforts to circumvent or frustrate our natural human design and purpose. While we can do this in a "green" way by respecting our natural processes and avoid conceiving new life for a time, navigating against the current remains a strain for our whole being. The deepest satisfaction human beings can know is that which comes through cooperation with the fundamental design of our nature: we are designed not only to live but also to give life.

In most cultures and human societies there are some who are called not to marry or have children but to live as celibates for another purpose. Celibates reorient their vital energies to live and to love by giving life in other ways and through other forms of contribution to the common good.

Advances in the social sciences - especially in biology and psychology - help us to understand how it is that in most societies and times there are some individuals who for various reasons are not at ease identifying with their own gender. For some it may be that they find it difficult to embrace their own gender mode - the male mode is scientifically established as the "intrusive" mode, and the female mode is scientifically established as the "inclusive" mode - and so they may actually prefer the mode of the other gender or of their opposite gender parent. For some individuals this may lead them to prefer or to identify with the other gender rather than their own.

Failing to embrace or being loath to embrace one's own gender causes confusion for the individual but also for others. There is already enough confusion in human relationships, but gender confusion makes everything much more complicated by tending to confuse much non-verbal communication.

At this time at the beginning of the 21st century there seems to be more gender confusion than ever. There is a social movement or trend lobbying for the elimination of gender distinctions altogether, which would extend gender confusion throughout the whole society. Such a view seems based on the assumption that human nature is a blank on which we can design whatever we wish and on the denial of specific ends for which we have been deferentially designed male or female.

SEXUAL FEELINGS, ORIENTATION, AND IDENTITY

Still, compassion and understanding require of us respect for others and a willingness to give them the benefit of the doubt in the absence of clear explanations for the way things are as they are. Since 1961 when "the pill" was first manufactured and marketed, we have seen the advent of three or more new generations of offspring who have - to a greater or lesser extent - accumulated the effects of this chemical invasion of our women. The pill interferes with a woman hormonal balance with the stated aim of forcing her fertility cycle to become more regular and the admitted side effect that it prevents conception either from taking place or from progressing after it has taken place.

As far as we know at present no longitudinal studies have been conducted to ascertain whether or not additional effects of the pill might be to so upset women's hormonal balance as to cause subsequent gender confusion in some of their offspring. This could be a plausible explanation for same sex attraction in some individuals.

Another factor concerns what social and psychological scientists call the latent sexual period in children aged six to twelve or until the onset of puberty. In a society where sexual matters are kept out of public display children enjoy greater protection from the invasiveness of sexual imagery to disturb their imaginations before this happens naturally in the course of puberty. During the latency period children have sufficient concerns to occupy their complete attention and have been shown to be better prepared for the changes precipitated by puberty when they have been allowed to rest from these added pressures until they are sufficiently developed to face and endure them.

The overwhelmingly public tidal wave of explicit sexuality, sex in advertising, and pornography of varying degrees of intrusiveness has become so all pervasive that children are allowed little or no rest or protection from the invasiveness of sexual imagery and the complex emotions associated with it, such that many children are deprived of the "latency rest" and forced to endure sexual confusion earlier than they would want and before they are sufficiently developed to make sense of it.

In such a hostile environment it is not surprising that more children experience gender confusion from an early age. In addition the proactive if not aggressive lobbying of homosexual movements is undoubtedly adding to the pressure already experienced by confused children to "lock themselves in" and identify themselves with a particular sexual orientation. Given that human beings remain in a process of development that is not completed until the early to mid twenties, though it may not be fully realized until much later in life; it would seem a violation of their human dignity and freedom to require of children that they prematurely label or define themselves so narrowly as by sexual feelings that for the most part are often only incidental, passing, or temporary.

WHY ARE WE IN THE MESS WE'RE IN?

In philosophical and anthropological discourses one can find just about any view conceivable of what a human being is, or what might be the meaning and purpose of human life. The spectrum goes from claiming total freedom to define human life in whatever way we wish, at one end, to declaring, at the other end, that we are already locked into the design of our nature as it is whether we like it or not.

Social scientists tend to limit themselves to factors that are visible, tangible, and measurable, which is why they tend to put aside and exclude from consideration invisible, less tangible, immeasurable factors such as spirituality and divine revelation. Such biases considerably weaken and limit our ability to comprehend the full value and potential of human life, given that we are amphibians of a sort, living both in the physical world and in the spiritual world.

GENESIS - DIVINE REVELATION OF OUR HUMAN ORIGINS

Please read this article by novelist Michael O'Brien....

Modesty in the Culture of Shamelessness - by Michael O'Brien - October 8, 2008

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Struggles, worries, fears - human beings face to face with God - managing our time, talent, & treasure

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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Struggles, Worries, Fears, and God

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 Called to be good stewards of the Earth for the common good

Struggles? Yes, I have them… doesn’t everyone? Worries? Life would be better without them, but unfortunately they are there. Fears? Oh yes…. These three, among others, describe much about our human condition. Struggles every day, worries touching on the future, and fears about many things – these three – add much burden to our lives and make it more difficult for us to be happy.

God loves us and doesn’t want us to be unhappy. That is why He has given us his solutions to these weak points in our humanity. The three most sensitive points in our lives are probably the same for all of us: time, energy, and money. Rare are the days when time is not an issue, or we don’t run out of energy, or we aren’t haunted by fear. God feels sorry for us when He sees us suffering and unhappy; so this is why He told his Chosen People about his solutions and taught them how to put them into practice. Jesus also practiced these solutions and showed us by his example how important and practical God’s solutions are.

TIME

Time is how we experience our life as a gift from God. He began to give us life through our parents. Even the most terrible of parents deserve at the very least respect and gratitude from their children if, for no other reason, because God used them to begin giving us life. The reality is that we receive life from God moment by moment, which makes time a key way that makes us aware of being alive.

Why then is time so often difficult or painful for us? We have to get somewhere and get upset when we think we not arrive in time. We are doing something and find ourselves running out of time. We enjoy a good experience and time seems to go by too quickly. A situation makes us suffer and time seems to slow down to a crawl. We become concerned that there is more time behind us than there is ahead of us.

As we grow older and wiser we realize that we have little or no power over time or over the thoughts and feelings that time generates in us in the course of our lives. We feel helpless to change our relationship with time despite our best resolutions and efforts to make changes.

God announced a simple solution to our problem with time. Our trouble with time was originally caused by the breakdown in humanity’s relationship with God. Time can only become a blessing again by allowing God to restore us to an intimate relationship with Him. Here is what the Lord told his people.

Exodus 20:8-11   “⁸Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy. ⁹ Six days you shall labour and do all your work. ¹⁰ But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it.” (NRSV)

For us to be restored to an intimate relationship with God we need to allow God to be God in our lives. This means we need to make room for God’s way of looking at us and our lives. God knows that we need time to rest and so He gave his own example in the account of how He created the universe and us. When you think about it, resting is attractive and makes sense. Even machines need to be turned off so they can cool down and be maintained.

So God’s solution is that of the seven days He gives us each week, we give Him back the day that He has marked for us to spend with Him. We keep holy the Lord’s Day, the “Sabbath” or seventh day, by giving Him worship and then spending the whole day with family and friends, relaxing, celebrating, playing, and putting aside all work and worry. We will have the next six days to work all we want. 

ENERGY and its twin TALENT

(Energy well spent makes the best use of our talents and abilities.)

One way we know we are alive is by generating and spending energy. We do that in ways that are pleasant or unpleasant. We can spend our energy in ways that replenishes our energy at the same time or we can spend our energy in ways that depletes our energy reserves even faster. When we stubbornly push against obstacles that won’t move or throw ourselves at those walls in anger and other tough emotions we deplete our energy twice as fast. On the other hand, when we take a moment to stop and figure out what is happening and how best to apply our energy we can experience better results, feel greater satisfaction, and find that instead of depleting our energy reserves we are building them up at the same time that we are spending them. Even great effort can be rewarding when we direct our energies well.

Another way we rapidly deplete our energy reserves is when we struggle with tasks because in ways that are not effective or without the necessary skills. Clumsy efforts tend to use up more energy than efforts that employ skills to guide and precisely direct our energy to the desired objectives. We probably all know a person who is always angry and miserable in the course of their tasks and another person who is always glad and cheerful. The angry person will tend to be exhausted more often than the cheerful person.

God sees how we use our energy and is sad when we struggle under heavy burdens and are unhappy because He loves us and wants us, like any good parent, to succeed and experience the satisfaction of tasks well done. That is why each human being has a unique personality and set of talents and abilities. Some of these function well from the first time we use them and just get better with use, while others require more practice or learning and development. There is much satisfaction to be had from well directed efforts.

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37    ²⁵ Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus.^[j] “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” ²⁷ He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.” ²⁹ But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” ³⁰ Jesus (then told him about the good Samaritan who cared for a stranger who had been mugged and left on the ground to die. Then Jesus asked the lawyer:) ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (NRSV)

The purest or holiest use of our energy and talent is when we do so entirely for the good of others, out of charity or perfect love. Within the family this happens when spouses care for one another, parents care for their children, children care for their parents, the young care for the elderly, the healthy care for the sick, and so on. It also happens outside the family and out in the world when we care for our neighbour, or forgive enemies, or for strangers or the poor, sick, lame, wounded, prisoners, or other suffering persons.

It also happens when we serve others through the Church, Church institutions, non-governmental organizations, or other groups or agencies. The most inspiring work we can find is that done by parents and grandparents, people who proclaim the Gospel by their lives and by their words, and all those who serve the People of God in response to Jesus’ call to serve as priests, religious, other consecrated persons, or other dedicated lay people. When what motivates us is pure love even considerable effort and expenditure of our energy brings both satisfaction and the restoration of our energy reserves because our love for others puts us into sync or communion with the Holy Trinity and opens us to receive even more of their life and love. 

TREASURE

(All material goods in this world are intended by God to be enjoyed equitably by all of humanity.)

Our experience of time can indeed cause us considerable stress and suffering. In addition, so many factors can cause us to suffer from the constant depletion of our vital energy, particularly when we struggle in difficult situations or at tasks for which we are ill suited or trained or prepared. Perhaps what causes us the greatest suffering in life is our relationship to material things, to what could be called treasure. Jesus was quite clear in his teaching and example regarding earthly treasure and material goods.

Matthew 6:19-21    “¹⁹ “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰ but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”   Mark 14:3-9    “³ While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. ⁴ But some were there who said to one another in anger, “Why was the ointment wasted in this way? ⁵ For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii,^[c] and the money given to the poor.” And they scolded her. ⁶ But Jesus said, “Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. ⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. ⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. ⁹ Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.” (NRSV)
 

Jesus taught by example that material goods have value by the use we make of them with other human beings and with God. Material goods and money can strangle us with greed and fear or they can give great joy to others and increase our own joy. We cannot be free of greed, fear, or anxiety about material goods on our own. For this reason God gave his Chosen People a guideline. He inspired Abraham and others to give to the service of God a tithe or ten percent. This seems to be an ideal that symbolizes and expresses in a practical way the detachment we need to put our trust in God rather than in ourselves or in riches.

Jesus offers us the freedom of the children of God when we “give back to God” the holy portion, the tithe or ten percent, which is sufficient to allow God to set us free from greed and fear. This includes what we give to God’s work in his Church as well as what we give and share with the poor and all those whom we help in our families. It is amazing to realize that God will never be outdone by us in generosity.

JESUS HAS GIVEN US HIS EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW

When we hear or read about Jesus in the Gospels we see in Him a human like us in all things but sin, a man who always has plenty of time for everyone who comes to Him. He never seems in a hurry or worried about time. Jesus is eager to make the best use of his talents and to put Himself at the service of everyone without worrying about running out of energy. 

When He was tired, He rested or slept, like the time He sat down at Jacob’s well and asked the Samaritan woman for a drink because He was tired and thirsty. Jesus was never concerned about shelter, clothing, food, or money, and He taught his apostles and disciples to adopt the same attitudes of absolute and practical trust in the providence of his heavenly Father. 

Saint Francis of Assisi is probably the saint who imitated Jesus most literally in these attitudes. What Jesus invites us to do is truly possible and the most direct route to peace, satisfaction, joy, and the happiness of perfect love. When we dare to imitate Jesus we are surprised to find ourselves already enjoying a taste of the life that will be unending in the radiant presence of the Holy Trinity with all the angels and saints in heaven.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Laudato Si - How do we dialogue with Muslims?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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In "Laudato Si" Pope Francis invites all Catholics, Christians, and indeed all of humanity to consider that much of our distress in the world today is caused by human beings valuing many things more than the human person, family, and the common good. Pope Francis calls us to hear anew Jesus' teaching and example in the Gospel and to embrace the Holy Spirit who wants to realign our beliefs, thoughts, priorities, decisions, and behavior in such a way as to be in accord with the will of God for all of humanity and for the common good of all human beings.

Due to the unceasing acts of terrorism in our world today, especially those acts of violence claimed by people who identify themselves as Muslims acting for the glory of Allah and Islam, people not only in the western nations but also people in Muslim nations are increasingly subject to fear. It is not only Christians who are targeted for violence and murder but people of other religions and no religion and even Muslims of other Islamic sects and views.

Against these fears the quintessential Catholic and Christian response is what Saint Francis said and did, that is, a literal and complete trust in God expressed in prayer and loving outreach to even those violent extremists. We believe as Jesus taught that the Good News of abundant life offered by God is for everyone who will listen, hear, and accept it. This is manifestly the attitude and approach of Pope Francis as spelled out in his "Laudato Si", and so it is a very Christian way of looking at the world, at life, at religion and society.

For Muslims the views are radically different and not unlike what our views were in the Middle Ages. During those centuries all of society at all levels was permeated by religion. In that context, as people saw things, the Spanish Inquisition seemed to make perfect sense. It made sense to them not to spare the physical body in the process of trying to convince people to repent of their errors and in this way return to true faith in God and allow Him to save their immortal soul.

The most deadly danger was understood to be those beliefs that were erroneously in contradiction with the divine revelation of God as expressed in Christian faith and morals. They understood that errors in belief gave rise to thoughts, words, and behaviors inconsistent with the Sacred Scriptures or with the teachings of the Church and put one at risk of walking away from God.

In such world views that we could call "medieval" there are no distinctions between religion and government, between the church and society, because it is all one reality. Until today westerners look at Islamic states and expect their leaders to be like those in our own societies where religious and civic leaders are independent of one another. Under Islam religious leaders are in sync with the government which operates according to religious principles to the point that there are no longer any distinctions between "church" and "state". An Islamic state is under Sharia Law and all laws and civil judgements and punishments are in accord with the Qur'an and other Muslim writings and traditions.

Since the 1928 foundation of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt a wave of renewal or revivalism, to use a Christian term, has been sweeping the Muslim world in a very deliberate and unrelenting effort to bring successive generations of Muslims to return to their roots in Islam and the Islamic impulse to bring the whole world into the subjection of Islam, that is, into "submission" to Allah and his prophet Mohammad and to make the whole world governed by Islam.

What Christians point to as the "peaceful" verses in the Qur'an are considered by Islam to be "early" verses before Mohammad was called to become a militant warrior. The "violent" or "later" verses are seen as the final call of Allah to subjugate the world under Islam for Allah. In this widespread view Jews and Christians are the first who must be subjected because they are considered to have lost the original truths revealed by Allah and to have corrupted the "Book" of Scripture. Tim Staples is a Catholic evangelist who made an exhaustive examination of Islam through the lens of the Christian faith in talks available on CD entitled "Islam Exposed - The Crescent in Light of the Cross".

The Muslim societies that aspire to conquer the world for Allah under Islam are not interested in dialogue with the Christian faith which they consider inferior and surpassed and perfected by Islam. The conviction of being superior generally held by Muslims makes authentic dialogue with Christians very unlikely. Nevertheless, dialogue and the willingness to dialogue is intrinsic to the Christian faith as shown in the Gospels witnessing to Jesus' eagerness to dialogue with everyone.

Christians aspire to a world united in peace and love under Christ and in the Holy Trinity; whereas Muslims aspire to a world united in submission to Allah and the principles of Islam. These are fundamentally irreconcilable views. Muslims who show true and authentic understanding, sympathy, and agreement with our Christian view are at times called "moderate" Muslims but in the eyes of the fervent Muslim world they are heretics or traitors and hence considered irrelevant.

This is why our world is in God's hands and all we can do is continue to walk with our Lord Jesus Christ, remain faithful to Him, live our faith and bond of charity with others and the world, proclaim the Good News, accept to endure persecution for the glory of God, and pray for our enemies or those who make themselves our enemies.

I welcome your views, either to agree or disagree, and only ask that you substantiate your claims. 

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Why do we feel close to God and then feel like it's all gone?

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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In our lives our days are full of experiences at one level and on another level there is what we think and feel about those experiences and about ourselves within those experiences and what is left after we leave those experiences behind. 

Whatever we live, think, feel, do, say or experience... our true motives are often concealed from our own conscience when we are flooded with emotions. Simple example, when I care for a family member or neighbor and receive back from them love and gratitude, perhaps even remuneration, then it is more difficult to know how pure my motivation is. 

I may truly be doing it out of selfless and perfect love, but even then, my earthly reward at the very least clouds or shadows my perfect love. I would then need to be accepting the rewards simply out of consideration for the other, glad to provide the other with an opportunity to experience and to show gratitude. However, when to do or say a thing motivated out of love for others is difficult to do, tiring, stressful, or painful, and I still do it and persevere over time in doing it, those difficulties and absence of pleasure purify my motives and clarify my heart, mind, and soul, and the Holy Trinity can more easily bring me into sync with them, into perfect love and communion. 

It is for this reason that various saints came to know this and to value times of pain and suffering and actually went out of their way to embrace such difficulties in the exercise of loving service of those most in need of experiencing the selfless love of another in order to come to really believe in the love of God for them. 

I believe what our Church teaches as Jesus did that God in Jesus is a Good Shepherd who knows his sheep and gently leads us in the way we most need to be led and cared for. We do well to grow in trust of Him regardless of what may be happening in our thoughts and feelings, which tell us something about what is going on but they cannot tell us everything. We can perceive much more in our soul deep down beneath the sensations of our flesh and where the Holy Trinity dwells with us and infuses us with their divine life. This is how St Paul came to say "It is no longer I who live, but Jesus who lives in me."

Our life in the "flesh" - what the Sacred Scriptures understand as our human life with all its facets as mortal and weakened by the original sin - serves as a wonderful image or icon of our spirit or soul, our life as immortal that will live on after the death of our mortal flesh and will then await the resurrection of the dead and entry into eternal life. 

 

From this point of view we can understand how it is that in the course of our life journey we go through stages, just as we do in the flesh. We began in the womb, were born through birth pains into this world through this great act of love of our parents - especially our mom - then were coddled at the breast, wanted to go down on the floor where we crawled around exploring, then got up and walked like everyone else, got into everything, began to learn not to touch certain things which hurt us, learned how to go potty and how "we do things in this family", how to use our hands, tell colors and count and read and write, make friends and learn how to deal with aggressive angry kids, went out of home for the first time on our own to go to school, how to follow discipline, how to learn in a group and on our own, how to study and do homework, and we progressed rapidly through many stages, got to become very skillful at play and many things, then came crashing down to some degree through the upheavals of puberty, with or without skillful or kind or wise guidance from our elders, and somehow found our way, and on and on through all the stages and seasons of life we have the great privilege of experiencing and receiving as a gift from our Creator.... 

 

Through all these and all the other stages and landscapes of our lives God was there, hovering over us like a loving parent, at times touching, cajoling, disciplining, but mostly leaving us free to go about our lives. As we may have gotten attached to our parents and their comfort, so too we can get attached to God and his consolations or certain forms of his consolations. 

 

We can only grow in love as we accept to put aside these desires of ours in order to give all our attention to the other, to the beloved, in order to grow in selfless love, in complete and undivided attention and devotion to the other. We can only do this by free choice renewed countless times each day and day after day... and we do well to grow in trust and eager obedience of the three wonderful Persons of the Holy Trinity, who have planned for all of us to enjoy their company and the company of each other for all eternity, which is no trifling thing.... 　

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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Human freedom is not about sex but the nature of love - God calls us to live in the truth while at the same time practicing mercy.

My purpose in these posts is to bring a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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There is worldwide interest in the Synod of Bishops taking place at the Vatican in Rome. News outlets seem rather obsessed with the issue of the admission to Holy Communion of the faithful who are civilly divorced and remarried without having first been declared free to remarry by Church authorities. The vexing principle at work is Jesus' clearly reported teaching on marriage and divorce in the Gospels. The Church's challenge is how to apply Jesus' teaching in the lives of the faithful. However the bishops in Synod are studying together the much bigger picture of the call and challenge of the family to follow Jesus and live and proclaim the Gospel with our lives in our world today.

For many the issue is about a claim to unrestricted freedom to engage in sex and cut loose from historic and cultural definitions and taboos to the point even of redefining marriage and family. I believe that the true issue at work here is not so much sex but rather the true nature of love. Jews and Christians believe there is only one God, the Creator, who revealed to his Chosen People something of his nature and of his purpose in creating us human beings. He loves his creation and He loves us and simultaneously offers us and expects of us a genuine and reciprocal relationship of authentic love, which manifests itself in a paramount desire for and dedication to the good of the other. God's good is to be known and loved widely as He is and our good as human beings is to live in harmony with God and with each other. This is the heart of the Jewish faith and their specific vocation is to give witness to God in the world.

Jesus fine tuned the understanding of this revelation in his person, teaching, and example to the point of laying down his life for the glory of God and for the salvation and sanctification of sinners. Jesus has given to all of humanity a clearer and more readily understandable teaching and example of authentic love, both divine love and human love. Authentic human love is a living and true reflection of divine love, a love which pours itself out, gives itself completely to the other, holding nothing back and yet losing nothing of itself in the giving. Actually, it is only in giving oneself wholeheartedly to the other that one attains the fullness of authentic love and in a true sense fully becomes a person. In contrast, it is in the self seeking, the obsessive grasping for one's own pleasure and satisfaction, that love is distorted and reduced to a destructive counterfeit that destroys life, people, families, and society itself and that a human being shrinks and shrivels as a person.

After listening to several reports on the Synod and interviews with several bishops and Pope Francis himself, it seems increasingly clear that no one at the Synod is showing any desire to change what God has revealed as this is transmitted in Church teaching or for that matter to compromise the Gospel. A primary factor at play is that the bishops under the influence and example of Pope Francis are becoming more aware and hence also more preoccupied that for quite some time the Church has in many places and at various times been more likely to wield the truth as a club rather than show compassion and pastoral concern for the state and suffering of the faithful. This is the kind of failure of authority to truly serve for which Jesus reproached the religious leaders of his day.

The focus then is not so much on dogma but rather on the attitude and behavior of pastors - bishops and priests - towards the faithful. What comes to mind is Jesus' reproach to the religious leaders of his day that they did not keep the law in their heart, and what is worse, they did not lift a finger to ease the burden they as religious leaders imposed so harshly on the faithful in all that had to do with the observance of religious laws. "You do not enter the kingdom yourself and also prevent others from doing so." They were not faithfully representing God to the people but were in effect only serving themselves. They did not love the faithful as God does.They were obsessed with external observance of religious law but not with the restoration of the people to an obedient and loving worship of God and service of the neighbor.

The principles at work in reviewing the Church's pastoral care of the faithful are several.

1.  God alone is the judge. Jesus made it clear we have no right or authority to judge because we are incapable of acting out of both divine justice and divine mercy simultaneously. Moreover, only God knows truly the condition of souls and He alone is qualified to judge. He alone truly loves each soul and perfectly desires its good.

2.  When Jesus gave authority to the Church to bind and to loose, He did so in order to extend and widen in time and space the exercise of divine mercy which He had inaugurated, not to restrict access to the blessings and new life of the kingdom. The binding is for dealing with sinners' unwillingness to turn away from sin and with hypocrisy and hardheartedness as when Jesus dealt with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes.

3.  The bishops are considering how they and all the pastors of the Church are to exercise the pastoral ministry more faithfully to Jesus and his example. They desire as successors to the Apostles to remain faithful to the truth given to us in the person of Jesus and at the same time to the divine revelation contained in Jesus' person, teaching, and example. The Pope and the bishops are to help us learn and follow the ways of the Lord.

Reactions to the work of the Synod come from at least two extreme positions or views.

As the whole Church, all Christian churches and faithful, and people in the world at large observe the Synod fathers in their collective study and deliberation, there are people who are disturbed and react out of fear perhaps because they need the security of "black and white" answers. Not unlike the religious leaders in Jesus' day, such people try to find their security in setting themselves apart from all those whom they judge to be sinners or guilty of breaking some law. At the other end of the spectrum there are those who look for freedom from any law, from any restriction on their thought, speech, and behavior. They claim to love and to defend the truth, but they are not open to the whole truth, nor do they have any love, true love, for others.

Some of these people go so far as to qualify the RC Church as oppressive, not realizing that they misinterpret the Church's stance as some kind of fascism or dictatorship. Through the centuries the Church has always been composed of people of their own time. When society was such that authority was imposed by force, the Church tended to do likewise. The Spanish Inquisition was a reflection of medieval society in which the rule of law coincided with the rule of force, but today the Church has changed as has the society in which it is embedded. In our world today there are still societies that rely primarily on the rule of force but most western societies rely on responsibility and compliance from their citizens. Similarly, the RC Church no longer imposes or enforces its teaching by physical force or punishment. Even centuries ago when Church authorities did use the harsh methods of the times they were ostensibly seeking the good and eternal salvation of those souls, those people they deemed to be in error and in sin.

Currently, the bishops are remembering that the Church's only authority is that of Jesus in his person, his teaching, and his example to the point of laying down his life. They realize and remind us that our Church, in its ways and practices, comes from the historical process of its development. The laity, such as married couples and families, are witnessing that in many situations pastors treat them harshly rather than with the compassion and kindness with which Jesus treated people. There has been too much insistence on the law and too little on the patience and mercy of God. Church authorities have not only been teaching the truth but at times they have been employing ways of imposing the teaching on people to the point of dictating their behavior and applying punitive sanctions and social pressure. The bishops are trying to recover Jesus' approach, which in any age is a difficult challenge but possible with the help and the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Not unlike today then, in Gospel times the Scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees were constantly trying to pin Jesus down to clear and unequivocal answers that would clearly condemn sinners and cast them out while establishing themselves as "the pure ones", but Jesus consistently resisted this approach and attitude, saying He came for mercy not sacrifice. Those Jesus called hypocrites live their lives on the basis of appearance whereas God looks at the heart, mind, and intentions of the soul.

Jesus was killed for his merciful attitude toward sinners, which threatened all those who sought their security in the letter of the law, and the more the bishops try to approach Jesus' own attitude and pastoral care today and at any time the more they too will be resisted, judged, and rejected. It remains an incredible challenge for pastors to care for souls, to receive them and guide them through the mercy of God, while at the same time striving to increase and perfect the formation of their conscience, to care for the truth while also loving the sinner.

The temptation is great to "take over" the sovereignty of the individual conscience and "dictate" to others their behavior, but that was not Jesus' way. He spoke the truth as clearly and eloquently as He could but left people free to govern themselves, knowing that God alone could judge rightly. When anyone came to Jesus with a request He responded to them, often granting their request, but also warned them to sin no more. We are frightened and severely challenged by the patience and respect God shows each person and expects us to show one another and we continue to seek our security in the letter of the law rather than in a true and living relationship with God.

Only the tyrant refuses to respect others, to grant others the right to make mistakes. It was only with the hardhearted, hypocritical, and tyrannical that Jesus took the tough approach. Our purpose in life is to walk towards the light and none of us accomplishes the journey overnight. If it took me thirty years to come to a point of true conversion, who am I to demand that others make that jump on demand? It is not my concern. Even then, I have not arrived once and for all in safe harbor and must continue to struggle for perfection to my final breath.

God is ever just but simultaneously merciful, kind, and patient. He suffers not the shepherds who lead the sheep astray by letting them do whatever they want without warning them of the dangers they face and ignore at their peril. Shepherds must constantly teach the truth and warn the faithful of the dangers of misusing God's many gifts to us and then in their dealings with the faithful they must present to them the kind, patient, and merciful face of God in Jesus. Not only shepherds but all of us believers must be ever vigilant to confess our own sins and failure to love truly, and only by daily confessing our own sinfulness can we avoid sitting in judgement on others. Those who taste the goodness of the mercy of God can in their turn be empowered by God to show mercy to others. Those who refuse mercy and the humility of self confession and seek to justify and rationalize living in sin are at risk to harden their hearts, which was the overriding condition of many if not most of the religious leaders in Jesus' day. Hardened hearts ever need to justify themselves at the expense of others by accusing others and finding fault in them.

Perhaps what contributes to the intensity of contemporary concern about our Church's approach to moral issues and pastoral care is the nature of our culture and society in this age of instant communication and social media. This setting may be abused by those who harbor a hypocritical attitude and seek to exploit the situation in order to justify themselves in their hardheartedness. I remember a class in high school religion when the teaching brother, Bro. French, was giving a class by having us read the text book out loud. The topic was human sexuality and the desirability of chastity. A student stopped reading and questioned the teaching and, finding the brother's responses unsatisfying, asked "But Brother, how far can we go?" This is an adolescent attitude focused solely on pursuing pleasure with no preoccupation whatsoever about true love. The selfish pleasure seeking attitude does not desire true good both for oneself and for the other, but shows total disregard for the will of God and God's intention in our regard. Rather than accept to allow God to lead us to true and complete happiness, we prefer to grasp for caricatures of happiness as the world promotes them.

It is the role of the Church to bring light to such consciences and to insist on the truth, all the while striving to allow Jesus as the Divine Mercy to continue to speak to souls today. Morality is a drama that plays itself out between the individual soul and its Creator, and we cannot avoid suffering the consequences of our collective choices and behaviors. We all share in the collective responsibility to serve the common good and our common need for order. The tension between individual freedom and the common good is a balancing act which requires ongoing discernment on the part of pastors and unrelenting patience, the patience of the loving parent who knows how to be firm with kindness.

That high school adolescent was a sort of Pharisee, an immature one, but a Pharisee nonetheless. Jesus did not hate them but loved them and the love they needed from Him was a firm hand and this is what Jesus showed them. He won some of them over but the others were not yet ready to welcome the light, but perhaps they would later.

Today, with the social media, people from differing points of view are quick to pounce on every word that comes out of the Synod, from the Pope or from bishops. The bishops need resolve and trust in God to be firm and resolute in attending to and following the guidance the Holy Spirit is giving them. They must continue to deepen their study of this complex situation of the Church as mother and shepherd as well as the condition of souls living in our time because we are all called to develop and deepen our humanity. The bishops and pastors are very much in need our prayers.

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My purpose in these posts is to help spread the contributions of a variety of Christian and other writers in a desire to share significant writings that in my estimation contribute to the common good and directly or indirectly give glory to God and extend the Lord's work of salvation to all of humanity. G.S.

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© 2004-2021 All rights reserved Fr. Gilles Surprenant, Associate Priest of Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montreal  QC
© 2004-2021 Tous droits réservés Abbé Gilles Surprenant, Prêtre Associé de Madonna House Apostolate & Poustinik, Montréal QC 

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