In the midst of my plight, I turn to you, O holy Mother of God, my Mother, begging you to turn the gaze of your merciful eyes upon me, surround me with your love and protection, and lead me to know and love your divine Son, Jesus Christ my Lord.
A loved one of mine was going through a difficult time in her life and, as I looked on, I sought to pray for her in the same measure as her difficulties were great.
My prayer was guided by what I had recently discovered about the intimate union of our Lady with the Sacred Heart of her divine Son, in the midst of His most difficult moments, through the revelations of Sister Maria of Agreda (a 16th century Franciscan nun in Spain).
Sister Maria writes that holy Mary, through a special grace, was given the privilege of “seeing” all that her divine Son suffered during His Sacred Passion, as well as perceiving the unceasing acts of love and prayer of His Sacred Heart.
Christ had long promised His Mother that “in return for the new human existence which she had given Him in her virginal womb [the Incarnation], He would, by His almighty power, give her a new existence of divine and eminent grace above all other creatures”, and this promise of Christ “was continually fulfilled [in the course of her earthly life].”
“To this favour was due also her deep science and enlightenment concerning all the operations of the sacred humanity of her Son, none of which ever escaped her knowledge and attention.”
But whatever Mary “perceived” in the interior of her Son’s Heart, she also ”imitated” with fidelity:
“Whatever she thus perceived she imitated; so that she was always anxious to study and penetrate [Christ’s interior acts] with deep understanding, to put them promptly into action, and to practice them courageously and zealously during all her life. In this neither sorrow could disturb her, nor anguish hinder her, nor persecution detain her, nor the bitterness of her suffering weaken her.”
As a consequence of her “deep science and enlightenment”, Mary “felt in her own virginal body all the torments of Christ our Lord, both interior and exterior.”
But within such a hidden mystery, “there was concealed therein another mystery. This was, that the desire of Christ to see His exalted love and [goodness] as exhibited in His Passion copied in all its magnitude in a mere creature, was fulfilled in her, and no one possessed a greater right to this favour than His own Mother.” (Mystical City of God, volume 3, Chapter XXII, 670)
Thus was Mary increasingly conformed to the likeness of her divine Son, both in His suffering and in His acts of mercy—even in the midst of His most difficult and painful torments.
Filled with these thoughts, I pondered, how much more can Mary’s vision penetrate the depths of our own experiences, trials, and struggles?
With each glance of her soul, Mary understood the depth of Christ’s suffering as well as the unfathomable love which moved Him to suffer. If her gaze can penetrate all the depth of the Son of God’s suffering, love, and interior movements, how much more can Mary penetrate all the depth of our own hearts?
Do we not pray in the Salve Regina, “…turn then, O most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy towards us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus”?
Just as Mother Mary was fully present to Christ in His suffering, she is also able to be present to me in the course of my earthly pilgrimage, and nothing is impervious to the turn of her merciful gaze.
By a special grace from God, the one who is “full of grace”, with one glance of her eyes, understands me better than I understand myself. And with that understanding, Mother Mary sees clearly all the depth of my struggles, the nature of my pain, and the desires of my heart.
I therefore resolved to make the following prayer for my loved one, and to entrust her, and all the dimensions of her quest, to the holy Mother of God:
I beseech you, holy Mother of God, my Mother Mary, to turn your loving gaze upon my loved one, surround her on every side with your unfailing protection; cover her in your holy mantle; press her to your holy bosom; and receive all the depth of her needs, struggles, and intentions in your Immaculate Heart—both those intentions that are spoken, and those that remain hidden—with the same love with which you never failed to watch over your divine Son, unto peace, joy, and eternal life.
“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
The prophet Elijah appears in the Old Testament as suddenly as a lightning bolt, effortlessly manifests one miracle after another, until in the final analysis he is caught up into the heavens without suffering death.
But it doesn’t end there for Elijah. Prophecy declares that Elijah revisits the earth both (1) before Christ’s first coming and (2) before Christ’s second coming.
We know that Elijah has already fulfilled (1) –he has already preceded Christ’s first coming–from our Lord’s own words:
“The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.” (Matthew 17: 10-13)
Of all the prophets known to us, Elijah stands out as conspicuously as his miracles are powerful, and his influence continues to be felt throughout the centuries, leading into our own time.
Recent research has uncovered the fact of a letter that was written by Elijah outlining the various epochs of human history that will lead straight into the final coming of Christ and the definitive establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth.
Dr Ken Johnson’s documentary reveals that Elijah spoke of a glorious thousand year reign of the Kingdom of God upon earth at the culmination of human history—something that is unequivocally corroborated in the Book of Revelation:
“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4-6).
Saint Paul also confirmed that “[Christ] must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For ‘God has put all things in subjection under his feet.’” (1 Corinthians 15:25-27) Clearly, this represents a real triumph on the part of Christ over all His enemies on every level, until the definitive establishment of the Kingdom of God on earth (remember the Lord’s prayer: “…thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”).
Elijah’s letter, referred to above, seems to have been lost to posterity but, thanks to the providence of God, a commentary on his letter is extant in the Tanna Eliyahu.
What is conspicuous about Elijah, among other things, is that he was given to physically conquer the false prophets of his time, to stir the conscience of an entire nation, to help restore the Covenant in Israel, to know the future course of events, and to escape physical death.
It is clear, therefore, that Elijah has been given a pivotal role to play in ancient times, no less than in the future, to return towards the end of time to prepare for the final coming of the Messiah:
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.” (Malachi 4:5,6)
What will Elijah’s future coming to earth look like? This is not an easy question to answer–suffice it to say for the present that a deeper study of prophecy would likely yield (at least) some glimpses into the answer.
God is preparing great things for those who love Him. The time of trials and troubles, we know very well from Scripture, is only temporary—it is a sort of stepping stone for spiritual victories and future glory, especially because trials really only help to transform the faithful soul into the precious jewel that the Lord already perceives in the soul’s “DNA” (so to speak), even as gold is purified in the fire (cf. 1 Peter 1:7).
We must tread the path set out for us by God through the ‘valley of tears’, sustained by the grace of God, encouraged by the example of the saints, strengthened by the sacraments of the Church, and, above all, nurtured and protected by the holy Mother of God and by the Sacred Heart of Jesus, “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:13)
Jesus will return and establish His Kingdom on earth in the fulness of time. That’s why He taught us to pray: “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Theology is the study of God’s relations with humankind, God’s intervention in human affairs, God’s Self-revelation, especially in the Incarnation, when the Son of God became man and entered human history as Jesus, the Christ.
God’s Self-revelation was complete when the Father sent His only begotten Son into the world, because the Son of God is “the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance.” (Hebrews 1:3)
Theology seeks an understanding of God’s revelation, or as St Anselm put it, theology is “faith seeking understanding”.
The revelation of Jesus Christ is summarised in the Apostles’ Creed, elaborated in the dogmas of the Church, and further expounded in the teachings of the Church Councils, the Fathers, Doctors, and Saints of the Church.
The word “dogma” does not mean “an obstinate insistence upon a certain point of view” (the modern day, pejorative sense of the word), but actually means a teaching that is both (1) revealed by God; and (2) defined by the Church as an integral part of God’s self-revelation.
Therefore, a “dogmatic teaching” is a teaching that is always and everywhere true, because it rests on the authority of the God who reveals Himself, and the authority of the Church which testifies to God’s self-revelation.
Some of the greatest theologians in the history of the Church include Saint Paul the Apostle, Saint John the Beloved, Saint Augustine, Saint John Chrysostom, Saint John Damascene, Saint Thomas Aquinas, and others.
The appetite for pleasure, money, and power: these are the fundamental appetites of human nature. Any and every temptation can only appeal to one or more of these three appetites.
These appetites can be man’s downfall, or else the path by which he overcomes temptation and merits victory in Christ.
For to master these appetites is to be the master of oneself, to be self-possessed, and to be in a greater capacity to surrender oneself to the will of God. But to be mastered by one’s appetites, by one or more of the appetites, is to become a slave to them, a slave to sin, and to be estranged from the grace and glory of God.
Saint John the Beloved warned against these appetites: “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from the world. The world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.” (1 John 2: 15-17)
If one is mastered by one’s appetites (the lower desires), this becomes like a spiritual wound which festers and grows, perhaps becomes a sort of spiritual abscess, against which the soul will struggle as it seeks sound health, until it is set free by the mercy and grace of God.
“The love of money is the root of all evil.” (1 Timothy 6:10) The same can be said of an immoderate love of pleasure or power.
How many souls have fallen because they could not liberate themselves from an attachment to the love of money, power or pleasure?
Whether one is a Christian or not, religious or not, priest or nun, brother or sister, mother or father, son or daughter, one can only advance toward union with God by seeking the mercy of God, by doing the will of God, through the gift of God’s grace with which He empowers us to overcome sin, temptation, and to master ourselves, for the glory of God.
He who does not master himself cannot submit his will to God, and he who does not submit to the will of God cannot master himself. These two go hand in hand.
For “the world is passing away, along with its desires; but whoever does the will of God remains forever.”
Notice too that the devil’s three temptations of Christ in the wilderness correspond to the three appetites (Matthew 4:1-11): for pleasure, power, and riches.
Isn’t it interesting that history seems to have given us clear examples of all three appetites leading to the downfall or perhaps the temporary downfall of some poor soul?
One mystic wrote that Judas betrayed our Lord because Judas was, from the very beginning, only interested in success and attached to the love of money—he controlled the common “purse” (collective money) for the apostles and he ultimately betrayed the Lord for 30 pieces of silver.
Saint Paul (before his conversion) was attached to power: he wanted to round up all Christians and put them away or put them to death.
Pope Alexander VI fell from grace because of his attachment to pleasure, power, and money: he had several mistresses and fathered several children, while securing his power through alliances with various political powers.
No one is immune from such trials, and we ought to be sober, watchful and vigilant, as the Lord encouraged us to be. (Luke 21:36)
Through our Lord Jesus Christ we can overcome all things and know the victory of Christ, the joy of living in Christ, and the peace that surpasses all understanding.
The Bishops of the Church today face the most difficult crisis in the entire history of the Church–a crisis greatly magnified by a series of crises layered one upon another, a crisis that manifests on every level of the Church’s existence: spiritual, ecclesiological, theological, liturgical, and pastoral. But the Bishops, successors of the twelve Apostles of Christ, also have great potential to transform the Church and the world.
In this letter I propose to give a brief outline of the origin of the Bishop’s Office, the range of challenges which confront the Bishops, the heart of the present crisis, the spiritual danger that souls are facing, and, last but not least, the power and efficacy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Origin of the Bishop’s Office
In the year 33 AD our Lord Jesus Christ, having risen from the dead, ascended into heaven in the sight of His holy Mother Mary and His Apostles and was seated at the right hand of the Father. Ten days later the Holy Spirit came upon them amid the sound of a rushing wind and tongues of fire which sat upon their heads.
The twelve Apostles were empowered to teach the Gospel, govern the Church, sanctify souls for heaven, and to pass on their mission in an unbroken succession of shepherds until the end of the world.
The Apostles launched their evangelical mission with little more than the rigorous training, the spiritual gifts, and the Divine authority which Christ had bestowed upon them. The Church which they helped to establish (Ephesians 2:20) had, within three centuries, transformed virtually the entire world.
The Present Crisis
Fast forward 2,000 years and it appears that today there are powerful forces both in the world and in the Church hierarchy which would seek to reverse everything that the Apostles worked so hard to establish.
From the Second Vatican Council to the effects of the sexual revolution to the threat of totalitarian regimes to the ever widening influence of relativistic ideologies to the advent of Pope Francis to the widespread contestation of the definition of marriage to the present day Covid Crisis, the Church has suffered so many assaults within the space of just a few, short decades.
The Church is being tossed to and fro in a severe storm that threatens her very life, the teaching of the faith, the objectivity of moral values, authentic pastoral practice and, it seems, the very foundation of her Divine authority.
Will she survive? Will she emerge unscathed? “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:8)
A Real Pandemic?
Today we are witnessing a world thoroughly shaken by an alleged health crisis.
Given the near global response to the virus, as the life and activities of the Church have undergone significant reconfiguration, the nature of the Church and her relationship to her children are implicitly called into question.
But who is pulling the strings of history? Is it the global elites who seek to build an earthly utopia on their own terms and conditions? Or is the Covid Response Team simply reacting to a worldwide health crisis? Or is it fair to say that, in the greater scheme of things, any and all such manoeuvres and machinations, regardless of their origin and purpose, are subordinate to the omniscience and omnipotence of a benevolent God, who determines the real course of history in mysterious ways?
Whatever you think about these matters, what is undeniable today is that we are witnessing the most universal and pervasive forms of intervention in the state of human affairs that the world has ever seen.
So what is really happening? Is the pandemic really real?
The Two Narratives
There are basically two competing narratives playing out on the world stage.
On the one hand, there is a narrative that says the new coronavirus is highly dangerous, that we ought to practice widespread lockdown measures in order to save lives and to completely eradicate the virus from society, and that we ought to suffer whatever the cost to our social, economic, and political freedoms in the meantime.
This idea was based upon theoretical contagion models—not on real data—which predicted millions and then tens of millions of deaths, was widely promoted by the mainstream media, and was acted upon by (most) governments.
On the other hand, there is another narrative, supported by many scientists and medical experts, which claims that the coronavirus is only about as dangerous as the common flu, that you cannot possibly eradicate it completely from society (no matter how many lockdowns you enforce), and that widespread lockdown measures have caused far more damage than the virus could ever have done.
A large number of governments together with the mainstream media are opposed to this narrative—so much so that many of us have long stared with wide-eyed fascination at how insular the Covid Response Team has been to the well researched and highly reputable opinions of renowned scientists and top medical experts from around the world.
The list is enormously long but it is worth mentioning a few of them:
In May 2020 the UK’s Chief Medical Officer confirmed that covid-19 is “harmless to the majority” of people.
Also in May the CDC (Center for Disease Control) released a statement saying that coronavirus is “nowhere near as lethal as earlier [theoretical] models claimed.”
In August the head immunologist at Tel Aviv University revealed that 99.99 percent of the world’s population has survived covid-19.
And from a medical report in September 2020: “According to the latest immunological studies, the overall lethality of Covid-19 (IFR) in the general population ranges between 0.1% and 0.5% in most countries, which is comparable to the medium influenza pandemics of 1957 and 1968.”
Early in October, 9,000 (nine thousand) medical professionals signed a joint document strongly criticising the lockdowns. One could multiply such corroborating reports almost endlessly.
Which of these two narratives will prevail, in the final analysis? That remains to be seen.
Assume For A Moment
But let’s assume for a moment—just for argument’s sake—that there is a real pandemic. What would that mean for the Church?
Even if there were a real pandemic, could the Bishops actually relinquish their responsibility for the care of souls—a responsibility they have assumed in the eyes of God? Could the Bishops’ God-given mandate to save souls be justifiably subordinated to the strictures and demands of a health crisis? Would souls have less need of God in the event of a health crisis?
Let us acknowledge, the choice to close or to restrict Church services in the event of a health crisis is to subordinate the care of the soul to the care of the body, and effectively to reverse the order of priorities mandated by our Lord Jesus Himself:
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” (Matthew 10:28)
Such a reversal of priorities has consequences for the understanding of the nature of the Church. It reaches deep into the life and consciousness of the Church, undermining traditional doctrines regarding the Divine foundation of the Church, her God-given authority, and her God-given mission.
If the subordination of the soul to the body continues it will lead, sooner or later, to the complete subordination of the Church to the State, forsaking obedience to her Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.
The Message of Complicity
When the doors of the Church are closed in the face of believers this fosters an insinuation that the holy Mass and other Church services are no longer “essential”.
When masks are mandated in Church this is counterproductive because, according to Scripture, we come together as the Body of Christ so that “with unveiled faces we may behold the glory of the living God.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
When believers are denied Holy Communion on the tongue it robs them of a precious opportunity to express due reverence, devotion, and love for the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist.
When Church services are cancelled this deprives the faithful of coming into the sacramental Presence of God and worshipping God.
When the Bishops are all too ready to capitulate to widespread Church restrictions and closures—never before witnessed on such a scale in 2,000 years of Church history—this cannot but give a subtle impression that the Church has been transformed into a social institution, an instrument of the State, and has implicitly denied her Divine constitution.
Such a reconfiguration of the life and activity of the Church cannot help but insinuate that the Church is, in essence, subject to change; that she is no longer the custodian of the Revelation of Jesus Christ; that her role in the economy of salvation is non-essential.
Assault On The Faith
How many souls will be able to withstand the Covid Persecution? How many will emerge with a living faith? In the face of such wholesale surrender to the State, will the Church ever recover her rightful place in society?
This assault on the Faith is rendered all the more dangerous because it follows upon the heels of decades of spiritual devastation: for at least two or three generations vast numbers of Catholics have been deprived of authentic catechesis, secular ideologies have been quietly invading the life of the Church, moral values are ridiculed or altogether abandoned, and the Gospel often suffers dilution and compromise.
The Church and the World
The Church cannot serve both God and the world. She must choose one or the other.
The Lord Jesus said that we are “in the world” but not “of the world.” (John 17: 11-19) And the Apostle John wrote: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)
But we might ask: Ought not the Church to love the world, as “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life”? (John 3:16)
Here we come face to face with a profound paradox—a paradox that we ought to embrace rather than surrender to an unholy compromise with the world.
As G.K. Chesterton famously wrote, can a man “hate [the world] enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing?” (Orthodoxy)
Ever since Vatican II, when Pope John XXIII’s fundamental impulse was to bring the Church up to date with the times (aggiornamento), the Church adopted what can rightly be called an ambivalent attitude towards the world—an attitude which has rarely been clarified or set right.
Can the Church both love and not love the world at the same time? Yes, but each in a different sense. The Church ought to conform herself, not to the world, but to Christ for the sanctification of the world.
Any suggestion or hint that the Church could possibly learn from the world in matters pertaining to the salvation of souls is not only unwise but thoroughly and grievously mistaken.
It was the Council’s compromise on this point, explicit or implicit, that introduced a basic disorientation into the heart of the Church, a festering wound that has spawned a multitude of errors and heterodox tendencies.
Saint Paul reminds us: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
The basic orientation of the Church to the world will feed into everything: the Church’s faith, doctrines, moral teaching, pastoral practice—everything!
Pope Francis
Vatican II’s ambivalent embrace of the world is complicated even further by the advent of Pope Francis, who demonstrates, intentionally or unintentionally, a strong and consistent tendency to engage with heterodoxy.
The Bishops have a grave responsibility to remind Pope Francis what the First Vatican Council taught clearly and unequivocally:
“For the Holy Spirit was promised to the successors of Peter not so that they might, by his revelation, make known some new doctrine, but that, by his assistance, they might religiously guard and faithfully expound the revelation or deposit of faith transmitted by the Apostles.” (Session 4, Chapter 4, paragraph 6)
A Silent Spiritual Holocaust
For all the above reasons, what we are now witnessing is a silent, spiritual holocaust: the holocaust of multitudes of vulnerable and unsuspecting souls on the altar of the Bishops’ silent complicity with the world.
How many will survive?
The Lord declared: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you as My priests. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.” (Hosea 4:6)
Jesus said, “the truth will set you free.” (John 8:32)
Christ came “neither to condemn us in our sins nor to condone our sins, but to save us from them”, as a faithful priest once said. Hell is real. Salvation is real. The Lord takes no pleasure in “the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” (Ezekiel 33:11)
These truths do not change with the passage of time.
A Call to the Bishops
Today in the midst of this crisis, as one crisis has been added to another and again to another, the Church has need of Bishops and priests who will be like the Apostles, their predecessors, who transformed the world by the witness of their word, and most often by the witness of their blood, the Holy Spirit working through them with great signs and wonders.
There is no challenge, obstacle, or difficulty that could prevent our shepherds from achieving what the twelve Apostles achieved.
Saint Paul testified, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” (Romans 1:16)
The Gospel is “ever ancient and ever new”, the fruit of God’s Self-revelation in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the fount of eternal salvation.
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) His message does not change with the changing times.
When proclaimed in its purity and entirety, the Gospel exerts a powerful attraction on the soul—because the soul hungers, consciously or unconsciously, for the word of the Lord, for the truth that will set it free, for the fruits of the Redemption which Christ paid for with His own Blood.
This is not to say that the Bishops are entirely missing in action. A few Cardinals and Bishops have been strongly vocal about the rights, duties, and needs of the Church. But the majority are still silent—so much so that recently Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò noted that such silence is ”deafening”.
When Peter and John were hauled before the council of priests and high priests they were commanded “not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” (Acts 4:18)
But Peter and John responded: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19)
What will the Bishops now say?
We need you, the successors of the Apostles, to rise to the occasion. The Lord is waiting for you. The Church is waiting for you. The world needs your unfailing witness to our Lord Jesus Christ.
LG Sleiman
Lastest revision: 2:00 pm, 7th November 2020. Sydney, Australia.
The discussion on how to define marriage in Australia has stirred our hearts, forced many of us to take sides, refined our debating skills, raised awareness about the stakes, and spurred us on to unprecedented levels of activism and advocacy.
Most importantly, the marriage debate has brought to light the fact that, underlying the discussion and the debates, there is a serious degree of misinformation—misinformation about the notion of “equality”, about how to ask the right questions, about human rights and where they come from, about how to define marriage, about how to understand human nature. And, finally, who is to decide?
Is it a matter of faith? Or is it a matter of reason? Can we afford to throw out both one and the other?
Some Christians are quick to point out that homosexual acts are offensive to God, that God made man for woman, and woman for man, and that this is the essence of marriage. Other Christians are equally quick to point out that God is merciful and desires the salvation of every soul. Perhaps these two approaches are not mutually exclusive. After all, a true parent is both loving and firm, merciful and just.
But again, what if society decides to do away with the “faith” dimension? And, moreover, to ignore the obvious truth that traditional marriage is founded on the natural complementarity of male and female which, in turn, is ordered to procreation, the preservation of the human race? Then we shall have to bear the consequences, all of us without exception, knowing that past civilisations have risen and fallen with the ebb and flow of their moral integrity.
It’s not merely that we’re debating who can marry whom. It’s that we are questioning the very foundations of thought and liberty. In such an atmosphere, where the debate ranges from civil discussion to open hostility, the realisation that we are no longer certain about the basics of human nature has slowly, eerily dawned upon us.
Whether or not you agree with the traditional definition of marriage, whether or not you think we can ignore this question, whether or not we arrive at a resolution, one thing is certain: there is a sense that something has gone wrong, that the foundations of human existence have been shaken and disturbed.
Like the Hobbits in “Lord of the Rings” who were persuasively removed from their beloved Shire, we feel as though we have been robbed of our true culture. Nothing will be right for the Hobbits until they can return safely home, even if in the meantime they must confront the darkest forces in the world. Nothing will be right for us until we can return to the truth about human nature, even if in the meantime we must confront competing ideologies and various humanisms and half-truths.
If a nation throws out both “faith” and “reason” then it is already in grave danger.
Nevertheless, the Lord revealed to Saint Faustina that “Mercy is God’s greatest attribute.” (Diary 301). This means, of course, that sometimes mercy triumphs over justice, which is what happened on the Cross when Christ freely poured out His Blood for us. God’s real desire is to save our souls, no matter how much we deceive ourselves, no matter how much we resist His calls and inspirations, no matter how much we despise His words and commandments.
While some accept some religious authority on the question of marriage, others do not.
Be that as it may, the homosexual question has been so politicised that it has created problems and misconceptions on many levels. The only way forward is a dispassionate presentation of the truths which to a great extent have remained unknown, truths such as: (1) preserving traditional marriage and maintaining respect for homosexual persons are not mutually exclusive; (2) affirming the dignity and worth of a human being does not entail agreeing with their opinions; (3) homosexual persons in Australia are no longer discriminated against (see the Same Sex Relationships Act of 2008); (4) changing the Marriage Act could potentially rob all Australians of the freedoms of speech, association, conscience, and education; (5) human rights do not come out of nowhere—they have a foundation in reality, in human nature, in our capacities, in our real purpose.
But while you might proclaim such truths and meet with varying degrees of success, there is another, more subtle, more dangerous consequence to the idea of a “vote” on marriage. Think about this for a moment. If the majority voted in favour of telling lies or stealing goods or killing an innocent human being, would that suddenly make it “lawful” to commit such acts? Which, of course, begs the question: What is the “good”? Surely, the good has to be good for everyone.
But let’s put such philosophical considerations aside, shall we? The realists in our society, those who courageously confront this grave moment in Australia’s march through history, are quick to remind us that our fundamental freedoms are now up for grabs. Right now in the hallowed halls of the Australian parliament. The freedoms and rights which we have long enjoyed in Australia are no longer guaranteed for us. The Australian people are on the threshold of a profound cultural and political turning point. This will make or break our long standing traditions and rights and freedoms.
So what good is it to bring to people’s attention the religious or philosophical foundations of the marriage debate? The point is that, win or lose, ideas have consequences in real life. The point is that our senators are currently positioning themselves in a vote for or against the rights and freedoms of Australians.
What are the possible outcomes? At best, changes to the Marriage Act could be reconciled with the fundamental rights and freedoms of all Australians. At worst, we could lose the foundations of a liberal democracy as we know it.
But who cares, you might ask? That’s the real the question.
And even if the Australian government were to pass an unjust or inappropriate or inconvenient law tomorrow—that would not stop us from being genuine activists, would it? It would not stop us from fighting for human dignity, on one level or another. You can’t legislate against the creative power of the human spirit; you can’t legislate against love; you can’t stop the human spirit from rising above the limitations of the prevailing culture. There will always be room for the creative freedom of men and women of good will to recreate culture, and to recreate the world.
Is this marriage debate really about equality or about pointing the finger at homosexual persons? And if not, then what really is the nature of this present moment that we face as Australians?
Janet Albrechtsen gave a succinct answer in The Australian (15 November 2017, ‘Forget Hurt Feelings, Free Speech is a Birthright’): “The outcome of this contest is not just a matter for gay people and religious people. It’s a matter for all of us in a liberal democracy. It will settle, one way or another, whether the country can finally confront and reconcile a 30-year project aimed at the sustained corruption of classical liberal ideas of universal human rights.”
Such universal human rights are what we are now having to fight for in Australia when these rights ought to be unconditionally protected and preserved by our politicians.
What good is it to remind the world that God punishes a nation for its sins when Christians themselves fail in their Christian duty? What good is it for a minority group to cry for equality when obvious features of our human nature are wilfully denied? Can we really solve this problem by fuelling a minor social conflict into a nationwide debate without careful consideration of all the relevant questions?
I don’t think so.
There are philosophical presuppositions in the debate which need to be corrected. There are false dichotomies which need to be resolved. There are social ills and misconceptions which need to be healed with love and truth, not merely legislated. The greater responsibility lies with us who believe in Jesus Christ, not with those who do not yet know the Lord.
“If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
As Pope Saint Pius V said: “All the evils in the world are due to lukewarm Catholics.” And in the words of Khalil Gibran: “The true wealth of a nation lies not in its gold or silver but in its learning, wisdom and in the uprightness of its sons.”
Perhaps it’s time that Christians took the Lord’s words seriously: “You are my friends if you do whatever I command you” (John 15:14). Those who are friends of the Lord are in a position to call down blessings on an entire nation, to intercede to God for the outpouring of His mercy, and to raise up a new generation of sanctified souls in the service of the well-being of the whole nation.
In 1257, just over thirty years after the death of Saint Francis, the Franciscan Order was nearly at breaking point. The fierce conflict between some Franciscans who purportedly wanted to adhere to the real spirit of Francis of Assisi’s life (the “Spirituals”) and those other Franciscans who wanted a more conservative, monastic type of existence (the “Conventuals”) had been raging for years.
This conflict was further intensified by the manifestation of the prophecies of Joachim of Fiore, and of conflicting interpretations of those prophecies.
Joachim taught that the entire history of humankind can be divided into three periods of time which correspond to the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. The final age, the Age of the Holy Spirit, according to Joachim, will be an age of universal peace and of the manifest Kingship of Christ. This age still lay in the future and it would (allegedly) supplant the present age of Grace.
At this time Father Bonaventure, a Franciscan friar and priest, was called to take leadership of the Franciscan Order in order to resolve the fierce conflicts and restore stability to the Order. He had been teaching theology at the University of Paris and was now required to mediate between the two factions within his own Order.
Two years later, perhaps overwhelmed by the enormous pressures of his office, Bonaventure withdrew into private retreat on Mount Alverna, where St Francis had received the Stigmata, to seek guidance and to delve more deeply into the spirit of St Francis. He apparently had some kind of mystical experience at this time and emerged something of a transformed man.
We do not know what was the exact nature of his mystical experience but when Bonaventure returned to govern the Franciscan Order his teaching took on a new direction. Over the next twenty years he began to unfold a new understanding of Franciscan spirituality and eschatology (prophecy), which culminated in a series of most interesting lectures grouped together under the title, “Collations on the Hexaemeron” (Conferences on the Six Days of Creation).
St Bonaventure explained in this work that Saint Francis of Assisi (through his intercession in heaven?) would in the future bring about a transformed order of Franciscans completely conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ. These great “saints” would be perfectly conformed to the spirit of St Francis, be perfectly enlightened as to the meaning of the Sacred Scriptures, and be completely surrendered to the Holy Spirit. They will usher in the final era of perfect peace in the world before the Second Coming of Christ.
In 1969 Father Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI) published an in-depth study of St Bonaventure’s work and, amongst other things, wrote:
“Like so many other masterpieces of scholarship, Bonaventure’s interpretation of the creation-account has remained incomplete. Neither he nor Aquinas were permitted to finish the real Summa of their lives….. Nonetheless, it does form a unified whole, and the basic lines intended by Bonaventure are unmistakable.
“At the vanishing-point of his theology of history we find the very same word which Augustine had used at the close of his ‘City of God’, which in itself is so different from the work of Bonaventure. That word is peace: ‘And then there will be peace.’ But for Bonaventure, this peace has come closer to earth.
“It is not that peace in the eternity of God which will never end and which will follow the dissolution of this world. It is a peace which God Himself will establish in this world which has seen so much blood and tears, as if at least at the end of time, God would show how things could have been and should have been in accordance with His plan.
“Here the breath of a new age is blowing; an age in which the desire for the glory of the other world is shaped by a deep love of this earth on which we live. But despite the difference that may separate the work of these two great Christian theologians, still there is a basic unity; both Augustine and Bonaventure know that the Church which hopes for peace in the future is, nonetheless, obliged to love in the present; and they both realise that the kingdom of eternal peace is growing in the hearts of those who fulfil Christ’s law of love in their own particular age. Both see themselves subject to the word of the Apostle: ‘So there remain faith, hope, and love, these three. But the greatest of these is love’ (1 Corinthians 13:13).”
From: “The Theology of History in St Bonaventure”, by Joseph Ratzinger, pages 162, 163.
When my own designs in life are frustrated and I feel like a failure, I might stop and consider the will of God. When my own strategies and ideas come to naught and I feel like a fool, I might begin to seek the wisdom of God. When my own strength fails me and I feel all alone in this world, it’s time to discover the grace of God and the power of trust in Him.
Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” St John 15:4,5.
Lord Jesus, in difficult moments grant me to realise that, if You allow me on occasion to fall, it is only to draw me back into the Loving Heart of God, wherein is my true beatitude, and to place all my confidence in You.
Today 2nd April 2015 is exactly ten years since John Paul II passed away.
St John Paul II, clothed in Jesus Christ, you walked through so many dangers and troubles in this world and you rose to victory even in this life, taking countless souls with you, and inspiring the whole world to believe in God’s goodness and mercy. Pray for us that we may keep our eyes on the Truth, always be filled with hope, and learn to overcome in Christ, to the glory of God and for our eternal welfare. Amen.
Jesus Risen 