Sermon for the 4thSunday after Easter, May 2nd, 2021 ( on doctrine with piety)
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen
My dearly beloved in Our Lord,
Our Lord has always been very object-centered in his dealings when it comes to the essence of the divine mission which he has come to accomplish: To reinstate fallen mankind in the grace of God. He was to pay the price for all sins in order to appease divine justice once and for all. He taught the souls of good will by example as much as by word. He reformed all things according to his divine will and founded the everlasting covenant, the true arc of Noah, Holy Church.
St Luke clearly indicates as early as in ch. 9 that Our Lord knew what was going to happen in Jerusalem, and that he firmly willed it, writing “that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem”. (Lk 9:51) He is entirely consumed by the zeal for God’s glory, shown by his driving out the vendors and buyers from the Temple (Jn 2:14-17; Mk 11:15-17).
“Modern” man on the contrary is not object-centered and objective in his dealings, but entirely subjective and self-centered. This culminates in theological voluntarism: The human mind takes itself for divine, and thus as able to determine the sense and the end of things – but this is entirely God’s prerogative, who alone acts freely by his volition: “But our God is in heaven: he hath done all things whatsoever he would.” (Ps 113:11) Man is not all-good. God alone is all-good. Therefore no evil can come from his mind or will. Whatever He does, is necessarily good. Whenever man does what he wills, without taking his measure from God’s will, he sins; or if he does something good, this action, without being a sin, is far from achieving what it could or should achieve.
Therefore “modern” theology chooses “situational ethics”: The given circumstances of a place or time and a person’s intention determine whether an action is good or evil in the first place, and not the intrinsic, objective value of an action. Pushed to its limits, it is the “morality” of the abortionist, the murderer and the thief: That which I judge to be good – for myself, here and now – is the right thing to do. It is the rejection, in principle, of a stable natural law, of an objective nature of things willed by God.
What am I trying to say? It is this: That it is not the same whether you stroll on a mine-field or on a garden path… In the first case you will rather sooner than later lose your life, or at least your good health. In the second case you are safe. It does not matter what you think or believe regarding a mine-field – objectively it is a very bad spot to be, let alone for taking a walk.
In the same manner it is fatal to have a wrong notion or concept of the Church founded by Christ.
Christ has taught his disciples, and us through them, as much by word as by example: “coepit facere et docere” (Acts 1:1; cf Lk 24:19). By dying on the Cross, he has obtained all the spiritual means necessary for the Church. Then after his Resurrection he taught the Apostles all they needed to know in order to carry out the mission of the Church, which is none else than what he had begun: “As the Father hath sent me, I also send you”, as we have heard on White Sunday (Jn 20:21).
The modernists believe that the Church – ever changing, of course! – evolved from the shambles left behind by Jesus of Nazareth whose mission had ended in tragedy. Modernists do not believe in Christ’s physical resurrection!(Similarly all evolutionists believe that the world evolved from chaos into order.)
Catholics know that Christ has instituted the Church once and for all in all her essential features. They know it because Christ has said so, through the words quoted above, andagain at the moment of his going awayon the day of his Ascension: “And Jesus coming, spoke to them, saying: All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” (Mt 28:18-20) Clearly the triple power of the Church – teaching, sanctifying and governing – is stated; and the first and most important power is that of teaching.
Therefore the doctrinemust always come first. The administration of the Sacraments together with piety, and also the governing role of the pastors must always be in keeping with the sane doctrine, and inspired by this doctrine. As soon as, and in so far as the liturgical or pastoral behavior become detached from doctrine, they are on a slippery slope.Pope St Pius X said that the divine service (liturgy) is of no use if it is not understood; if the souls do not know the basics of the Faith and therefore do not apply them in their lives. Then, the great Pope goes on to say, piety becomes sentimental and religion is no longer the norm and the indicator for conducting one’s life.
Piety is important and vital; the Sacraments are vital and important, but it does not always depend on the individual faithful whether or how frequently they can have access to the Sacraments, particularly nowadays. What is primordial and indispensable for all, is that they profess the true Faith, and that they know its contents as best they can! The late Bp Robert McKenna (USA) used to put it into these words: “You can go to Heaven without the Mass; but not without the Faith!”
We all know by experience that it is much more difficult to study the catechism or some other book dealing with doctrine, than reading the lives of the Saints or doing pious devotions. For some it is the other way round… Feeding our soul is quite similar to feeding our body. If you only eat what you like, this one-sided nutrition won’t do much good to your body. If you only do what you like best in the spiritual domain, it won’t do much good to your soul. There are people with a strong tendency to learning – but they fail to be pious; just as there are people (and they are the vast majority) who are quite pious – but they fail to nourish their prayer and piety with doctrine. Either attitude is one-sided and wrong. Do one thing without omitting the other! “doctrina cum pietate” or “pietas cum doctrina” – doctrine with piety, or piety with doctrine, never mind what you put first. But you must not dissociate and disconnect doctrine and piety!
Choose those devotions and pious exercises which Catholics have always practiced and which have been consecrated by the use through the Church herself, or strongly recommended by her, rather than newer (and sometimes eccentric) devotions! The Stations of the Cross are intimately connected with the mystery of the Redemption. The Rosary of Our Lady is a reflection on the principal mysteries of the Incarnation, the Redemption and the glory of Our Lord.
And keep in view that these devotions are, and must be centered on doctrine. If you don’t, you are, or will soon be, a good modernist, but no longer a true Catholic. The Polish pope fooled a great many, not only by his acting skills, but also by his motto “totus tuus – all thine” which together with the blue color of his coat of arms referred to Our Lady. This did not make him a true devotee of Our Lady, nor a good Catholic, nor a true Pope…! His many acts of apostasy – kissing the Koran, praying with pagan “priests”, praying alongside and with representatives of false religions and so forth – speak to us much louder and clearer than a nebulous coat of arms or motto. Don’t forget that the “modern world” is but a gigantic smoke screen intending to make us forget about that which is necessary and essential!
Therefore be devout and pious, but without forgetting to refer everything back to the sane doctrine. Be docile and erudite, but without omitting to be pious and prayerful. If you lack one or the other, humbly ask God to complete in you what is missing, as the Church exhorts us these days, giving us to meditate on the Epistle of St James (4th & 5th Sunday after Easter; Rogation days). He writes in the beginning: “But if any of you want wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men abundantly, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (Jac 1:5) Ask this through the intercession of Our Lady, whom we specially venerate in this month of May, and whom Holy Church invokes as the “Seat of Wisdom”!
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
P. Arnold Trauner (paterarnold@hotmail.com), njemački i engleski
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