Today’s Liturgy speaks of
the true fruit of Catholic life and invites us to ask ourselves what fruit we
have produced so far and what fruits we are expecting to have in the future.
St. Paul says in Today’s Epistle, "When you were the servants of sin, you brought forth the fruit of death, but now,
being made free from sin and become servants of God, you have your fruit unto
your sanctification."
So our sanctification
should be the fruit of our Christian life. And it is good to examine ourselves
on this point. What progress are we making in our spiritual life?
In today’s Gospel,
Jesus directs our attention to the false prophets who appear in the clothing of
sheep but inwardly are wolves. And there are many who claim to be teachers in
spiritual or moral matters. And sometimes false doctrines are offered to us
even though they may not seem false at first because they have always the
appearance of truth. It happens sometimes that a teacher who was known as a
good teacher is completely ignored at his death.
Thus the discernment
between a good and a false teacher is sometimes so difficult. How can we discern
between true and false?
The Gospel of St. Matthew gives us a simple key to solve this very
subtle question.
"So, Teacher, what good shall
I do?"
This dialogue of Jesus with
the young man could serve as a useful illustration for discerning between a true
and a false teacher. A young man said to Jesus, “Good Master, what good shall
I do that I may have life everlasting?”
Jesus said to him, “Why do you ask me about
what is good? One is good, God. But if you wish to enter into life keep the commandments,
the laws of God.”
Here it is very useful to
understand the meaning of the word “law” because in history many philosophers have
said that the law exists only to violate it.
Law in the widest sense is
understood as that exact guide, rule or standard by which a thing or person is
moved to action or held back from it.
Our daily experiences show
us that all things are driven by their own nature take a determinate and
constant attitude.
But once we enter into the
moral law of our actions, it is not so easy to discern between a true and a false
teacher. This is so because the cause of our actions is often hidden, even to ourselves.
St. Thomas defines law as “A
regulation in accordance with reason promulgated by the head of a community for
the sake of the common welfare.”
Law is first a regulation,
which aims at ordering the action of the members of the community, and the law
is a binding rule and draws its force from the authority of the superior. Human
authority is only a participation in the supreme power of Divine Providence. Moreover, law must promote the common good. And it is impossible that God could give
the human community the right to issue laws that are unreasonable and in
contradiction of His Will. God only permits such things to happen in history-- and
history shows us that human laws which contradict Divine law finish by falling by themselves.
The glory of God the Father
is the final goal of the Divine Providence and His laws. And God desires to
attain this glory by the happiness of mankind and our sanctification.
Here lies a deep mystery of
the suffering of the just, the existence of evil and the value of sanctification. This is the constant question, “Why does God permit the evil to
prosper and the just to suffer?”
The Cross of Jesus is the
most direct answer to this perpetual question. All the martyrs who suffered for
the faith by keeping the commandments and the laws of God give us the testimony
of the Cross of Jesus.
The observance of the Moral
Law should guide us to discover the great value of faith which is worthy of
giving one’s life for love.
Indeed St. Paul says that “without
faith, it is impossible to please God.” Because faith is the foundation of our relationship
with Him. And for the man without faith, God has neither meaning, nor value, nor
place in his life. But we Catholics live by faith. The more lively our faith
is, the more God enters into our life until finally He becomes our all, the one
great reality for which we live and the one for whom we can face sorrow and
even death.
Indeed, we do not lack
faith, but it is not sufficiently alive and practical to make us see God in everything
and over everything.
Faith does not depend upon
the data received through the senses, on what we can see and touch like natural
science.
For faith is a supernatural
virtue. And it is a free gift of God and is accessible to all who humbly seek
it.
The time in which we live is not easy. Dear faithful, let us pray
for the grace of a lively faith so that we can fulfill God’s Will in the midst
of contradictions. Amen.
1 comment:
Wonderful post. Thank you for the insights. Nice to see the pictures of children with scarfs receiving holy communion.
Even in our community in Kochi, India, which is very far back in the trends of the new world in many ways, head scarfs at church are fast disappearing.
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