Search
October 22, 2023: God's Truth Never Changes
-
I do love the words of St. Paul in this week’s second reading from his first Letter to the Thessalonians where he writes, “For our gospel did not come to you in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with much conviction.” In fact, the Gospel came with so much conviction in the Spirit, that there were/are those in the Church who felt/feel the need to “lighten the load.” Where God’s force of truth, for lack of a better term, can be lessened, watered down, become less heavy, less forceful, because, well, it just gets in the way of how we want to live our lives. Nothing new under the sun.
And this would be true. The Gospel we subscribe to as Christians, the Gospel given to us by Jesus Christ, passed on by the Apostles, does in fact get in the way of how some of us would rather choose to live our lives. In the past, present, and very likely in the future, the most prominent way the Gospel we adhere to for the purpose of living a life of holiness, the most prominent way the Good News of Jesus places a roadblock to living out our stubborn will in the present climate, is in the way of sexuality. And sexual choices. Again, we want what we want what we want, and even in the Church today there are leaders and followers who want to raise a person’s sexuality and the choices that come with it to that of a preeminent spot. Really, to a false god. One that attempts to supersede in importance the true Gospel of Christ and his Apostles.
The excuse is given, and I’ve heard this spoken from some Bishops across the globe, that science has somehow taught us enough about human sexuality and its choices that we can now change the truth of what Jesus has taught us through his Apostles, especially through the above noted St. Paul. In essence, what they are saying is that a mule can become a horse, or a horse can become a zebra, or a zebra can become a monkey. They are the same shepherds who disdain the letters of St. Paul. Why? Because the Apostle holds back the false science claim that leads to watering down our Christian faith so it becomes a faith with less conviction. With less heaviness. They would even say with less hatred, which, in essence, is a statement that says God originally taught us something hateful to believe. I wouldn’t want to be the one standing before Jesus asking him, “Lord, why did you teach us something hate-filled all those centuries toward those who wish to choose to practice an illicit sexual lifestyle – or gender lifestyle - that goes against the beautiful human way of living and creating you taught us? How could you get this so wrong for the past 2000 years? It’s a good thing I helped change this teaching of yours you gave us through St. Paul that held back others from living their ‘freedom?’”
In the present synod in Rome, there are, unfortunately, some very strange ideas being bantered about in serious tones. While the Holy Land is going up the spout, there are participants (some, not all) residing in Rome for a few weeks discussing matters of how a mule can become a horse, and a horse can become a zebra….. Apparently believing that this is even possible when it’s not. If I was a Bishop over there now, I would be begging the Vicar of Christ on earth to let me go back to my people so I can be with them in this time of increasing worldly peril, leading them and being present with them in ways of begging for peace, rather than sitting at a comfortable table in a comfortable hall with some folks with strange ideas of what it means to be a Christian in my sexuality. There’s something odd, and so wrong, about sitting there day after day talking about Christian beliefs that cannot change, of how a mule cannot become a horse, while the world is burning around me. Would I want that to be my place right now? Or do I want to be with the people I shepherd?
To say it once again; GOD’S TRUTH NEVER CHANGES. I do pray we all understand, accept, and live these words. They are essential to our salvation. That we do not allow anything or anyone in this good life to get in the way of our living out God’s beautiful teachings. There was the issue of God’s truth on who Jesus is, which Mother Church was forced to confront in the 4th and 5th centuries, when some leaders in the Church were presenting ideas that misrepresented the Savior of the world. Some Church leaders said back then that Jesus was not truly Divine. Or even fully human. Like he was a weird sort of android that came from heaven, but fell short of being part of the Triune Godhead. That Jesus somehow wore his flesh like a cloak, where he could put it on and take it off whenever, however, and wherever he wished. Very strange indeed. So strange that it was heresy. It causes me to think he must have fooled his Mother Mary a bunch of times when he played hide-and-seek with her. How could Mary ever find her Son if he “took off his flesh,” making himself invisible? What a great advantage to have in the playing of that great game we all learned as kids! But the truth was figured out about Jesus in the 4th and 5th centuries by faithful Fathers of the Church that he, the Lord of all, was/is fully human and fully divine, rather than a horse claiming to be a zebra. Blessed Mary did not give birth to a horse. This pretty much defines the gender confusion today, where parents sadly believe their child can become another creature they are not, and never can be, because of their unchangeable substance as male or female.
A grave concern, among others, about the meetings taking place in Rome is the real possibility of false teaching (heresy) coming forth, teaching that contradicts Divine Revelation, resulting from the gatherings. I’ve read of two very odd proposals that came from tables at this synod. One, that polygamy is somehow to be reconciled with Catholicism and Jesus’ words in Matthew, chapter 19 in the Lord’s discourse on marriage and divorce. And two, from a Jesuit priest who will remain unnamed, spewing a very strange idea, that Voo Doo, (yes, Voo Doo) can be reconciled with the Christian faith. I cannot make this stuff up. I’m struck by the apparent level of false proposals presented at a Catholic synod where the Holy Spirit, we are told, is present at the center of all discussion. Polygamy is a grave sin and an assault on Christian marriage. And Voo Doo is 1000% inconsistent with the teachings of Jesus Christ, but consistent with the Devil. I’m certain the good people of St. Anne’s Parish already know this regarding the above facts. But, just in case you were doubting and thought it a possibility….
Our dear Pope Francis and the entire gathering of those present at the synod are subjects and servants to the Word of God. They are not its master. There is only one Master: Jesus Christ. No one, no Pope or anyone below him, has any degree of authority to alter God’s revelation found in the Holy Scriptures and Holy Tradition. What God has given to us in the Person of Jesus Christ are the high points – the highest points - of teachings that allow the human person to not become slaves to our bodies, but to be servants for our Lord Jesus in true, authentic freedom and love. This is God’s way of loving us. They are teachings that lead all humanity to the highest forms of authentic love for one another, lived in the Holy Spirit who has taken up residence in our bodies. St Paul: “Do you now know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you...” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). These words are a call to holiness for us sinners. To recognize our dignity as grounded in the Lord Jesus in our Baptism, continued in our reception of the Eucharist, and not in the world or a sinful culture.
Also found in 1st Corinthians, Chapter 6; 9-10, is a list that St. Paul provides of those who will not inherit the Kingdom of God. It’s a list of behaviors that were being lived in the Corinthian community of believers, which is the reason for Paul’s list. I call it the “going backwards list,” where they, after their Baptism, reverted to their former ways as pagans. This Pauline list is God’s list, given to Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit whom Paul knew with the greatest intimacy and closeness. The same cannot be said for some attendees at the synod. Nothing on the list (which I pray you read) changes over periods of time or generations when science can provide us with greater understanding of the human person. God’s anthropological truth is eternal. It is forever true and supreme. God does not change his colors due to what we learn from science. Any science used to change God’s law is alter-science. The mule does not become a horse. If so, then science has become God. In this Divine-human context, there is nothing new under the sun with reference to our faith. Jesus has already given this world the pinnacle of human anthropology and human sexuality. Any suggestions that emanate from the present synod that contradict St. Paul’s list is false teaching, driven by human worship of false gods. Same old, same old we’ve been doing for centuries. When will we ever stop creating false gods through so-called enlightened thinking that continues to attack God’s call for us to holiness?
May our Christian conviction for the Gospel’s truth not be misguided through the world of feelings and affirmation. Or lessened. Or watered down. Or become a foreign faith that falsely worships our sexuality and bodies over and above holiness and authentic love. There are some strange ideas being proposed in the eternal city. I do pray the Holy Father rejects what is contrary to the Gospel, preaches the message of repentance that Jesus began his ministry with, calls sinners to conversion for the good of their bodies and souls, and holds fast to what is good, pure, loving, true, and faithful, and not to a world with false attempts to make men and women ultimately happy in this life. Which is impossible. If something comes out of the gathering in the large, handsome hall that is contrary to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, it will be passed on to you, with fair warning not to cooperate.