Fight to the death
Friends in the Lord, today in the first reading, we see that King Saul is in big trouble; what did he do? Well, ever since Israel had entered the Promised Land, they had to fight against a whole host of enemies; one of these enemies was the Amalekites.
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Saul had been commanded by God to exterminate them. All of them! But he did not follow this order; when his army conquered them, he spared the leader, Agag. Samuel then says to Saul, ‘The Lord sent you on a mission to exterminate the Amalekites, but you have disobeyed.’ ‘Therefore the Lord has torn the kingdom from you this day.’ Then Samuel said, bring Agag, the king of Amalek to me. And he cut down Agag.’
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Friends, this is the context of today’s 1st reading, and we may feel revulsion at this gory scene and God’s order to exterminate them. But these things were recorded as spiritual lessons for us. Of the Old Testament, St. Paul will say, ‘all these things happened to them as examples, they are written for our correction.’ (1 Cor 10:11, Rom 15:4) So much of the Old Testament is full of types and symbols pointing to the New Testament. And the New Testament interprets the Old.
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When Israel entered the Promised Land, it was through the Jordan River, and this is a ‘type’ or sign of our baptism. Once baptized, we are consecrated to the Lord. But like Israel, we find ourselves surrounded by powerful enemies: the world, the flesh, and the devil – enemies outside of us, and enemies within us.
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The Holy Scriptures are teaching us a very important spiritual lesson about this war that we are in:
‘do not in any way compromise with the enemy;
‘in no way allow any of your enemies to live,
‘they must be exterminated.
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We can ask the recovering alcoholic how it works, if he just has a little sip of whiskey – NOT. We can ask the drug addict if he can handle ‘just a little bit’ of dope; it doesn’t work. Ask the person struggling against pornography if he can really allow just a little lust in his mind – no! We must utterly exterminate our enemies. Mercilessly.
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More than the addicts, we all must be on our guard because the Amalekites that attack us can be more subtle and cunning than drugs or whiskey. Such addicts know their enemy at least; but for us, the worry is those hidden enemies within, that keep hanging around. Gossip and greed and sloth and a host of others lurk in us like viruses. We cannot ‘sort of tolerate them.’ We must wage all-out war.
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St. Hesychios says, use the name of Jesus to lash your enemies, as flashes of lighting repeat over and over in the sky. Wage war; and as to a hostile thought? Strike it down angrily, curse it, invoking Jesus.
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Spiritual warfare is part of our daily life, so let us fight our enemies to the death.
A great marriage
Beloved in Jesus Christ, some people I know, like to read the whole Bible from start to finish, it may take a year to do it; if you do that, you will notice something interesting: the bible begins with a marriage, and ends with a marriage. For example, in the beginning, there, is Adam his wife Eve – the first married couple. Then at the very end of the bible in the Book of Revelation, we read of a great marriage between the ‘Lamb’, Jesus Christ, and his Bride, the Church.
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This image of a marriage, we will find, winds it’s way through the whole story of our salvation. In fact, the prophets[i] often spoke of God’s relationship to his people as that of a Bridegroom and his Bride. They said that because the people had wandered after false gods and sin, unfaithful to the Lord, they were like an unfaithful Bride. But the message was always the same: God will not give up on us.
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The story of our salvation therefore, is the story of the Bridegroom who comes down from heaven to rescue his bride and bring her to his home in heaven. That is why Jesus is called the Bridegroom many times; and that is why the Church is called the Bride of Christ.
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Today in the Gospel, we encounter Jesus at the beginning of his public life, and interestingly, he is there at – a wedding! The way that St. John writes his gospel is very interesting. He says that at Cana, it is a wedding; he doesn’t mention who the bride or groom are, but he does mention Jesus, and Mary and the Apostles. The 12 apostles represent the Church, and we know that Mary is a sign of the Church.
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Christ will do then his first miracle, he will change water into wine. Now it seems that he had not intended to do this miracle; Mary tells him: ‘Son, they are out of wine!’ But Our Lord responds: ‘My hour has not yet come.’ The hour for miracles hasn’t come yet – nevertheless, his mother thinks it’s time. She tells the servants: ‘Just do whatever he tells you.’ And so, Our Lord does change water into wine.
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On Christmas we celebrated the coming of the Savior into the world; today we see this Wedding, which really shows us that the Bridegroom, Jesus, has come down from heaven for us – for his Bride, the Church.
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In ancient times, when there would be an engagement for marriage, the groom went over to the bride’s house for a meeting. The agreement to marry was finally decided when the groom poured – a cup of wine. At Cana, Mary speaks for the Apostles, the Church; ‘They have no wine,’ she says. Does the Groom pour a cup of wine, to agree with the marriage? Not just a cup. Jesus, produces 150 gallons of miraculous wine!
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What can we learn from Cana? First, we see that Jesus is the Bridegroom of our soul, and what will a groom not do for his dear spouse? He will go to any extreme to help us. In many old prayers and prayer books, they often spoke of Jesus as ‘the Bridegroom of the soul,’ emphasizing this nuptial intimacy between our heart and Christ’s; I think we should still pray this way sometimes.
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The Lord loves each faithful soul as if it were alone in the world, and if the person is willing, this Groom will make his Spouse as beautiful as possible, with graces and blessings. Jesus knows each one of us individually and he desires our salvation. He came and died for you and for me. There is not one detail of our life which was not foreseen by this Divine Bridegroom. As Psalm 139 says: ‘Oh Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I stand…. you knit me together in my mother’s womb.’
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Our Beloved knows everything about us from even before we were made, and he is working for our good, seeking us out, assisting each of us in every action of life. Fr. Joseph Schryvers says:[ii] For those who seek the Lord, God’s effort toward us knows no limits. He will use every event in our life, every difficulty, even our own weaknesses, to our advantage; no obstacle can stop him from guiding us – if we seek him. Jesus the Bridegroom therefore is working to save us and sanctify us 24 hours a day; all that is needed is that we say yes to his proposal, and throw ourself into his arms.
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This is the first message of the wedding at Cana. The other is this: Christ has given us a Mother to speak on our behalf. A Mother who intercedes for us. Our non-Catholic friends sometimes say, ‘why do you pray to Mary?’ ‘Why do you ask her to help you?’ I say: ‘I don’t know! Ask the Bible! Ask God, he gave her to us! Maybe Jesus wants to share his glory with his Mom; maybe Jesus wants people to love and call on his Mother? On earth, good sons love it when people praise their mother, and they listen to the desires of their mother. Good sons do that.
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St. Alphonsus says, that when Mary asked for the water to be made wine, it seemed that the time for miracles had not yet come, for Jesus said, ‘my hour has not yet come?’ And yet Mary, as if the favor had already been granted, told the attendants to do whatever he said. But how could this be? The time for working miracles seemed to not be part of the Divine Plan of God. Yet from all eternity, God had also decreed, that nothing should ever be refused from the Mother of Christ. Mary will intercede with Jesus on our behalf.
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In Germany there was a man who fell into serious sin; because of shame, he was unwilling to confess it, tormented in his conscience, he thought of ending his life. That night, in his sleep, he felt a lady shake his arm, and heard a voice say: ‘go to confession.’ The next night, he again heard the same voice calling him. He went to the Church, yet in his stubbornness, he said he’d rather die than confess that sin. But before going home he prayed before an image of the Blessed Virgin. No sooner had he knelt down, than he found himself quite changed. He immediately arose, called a priest and made an entire confession of his sins. He would often say, that he never felt such joy, as on that day.
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Cana teaches us that we should often go to Mary, because she will always bring us the blessings of Jesus.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Augustine]
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[i] Especially Isiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Hosea
[ii] The Gift of Oneself, p. 18
They captured the Ark
Friends in the Lord, in these days, our 1st reading continues to be from the Book of Samuel; today we witness a tragedy: the Israelites were under attack by their arch-enemy, the Philistines; they must fight. And so they decide that they would bring the Sacred Ark – the most sacred object of Israel – that contained the tablets of the 10 Commandments. They carried this golden ark into battle before them, knowing that then God would help them to be victorious. But shockingly, they were roundly defeated, and their enemies capture the Ark!
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In his Commentary on this passage, Bishop Knecht says that Israel thought that if they had the Ark with them, God would be sure to protect them. But how could the tablets of the Law in the Ark help them, if they no longer carried the law of God in their hearts? They should have first repented of their sins, then God would have been gracious to them.
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If we would go back and read in context, today’s story of defeat, we would see that the high priest Eli had been tolerating much wickedness; and his priest-sons were showing a lack of respect in the holy place of worship. The Lord did not bless them therefore, because they did not honor him. If we expect God to help us and bless us, our lives must be lived in faithfulness, with a real prayer life of worship, that honors the Lord.
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Even the Sacraments will not be of any help to us if we do not turn to the Lord and cast the false gods out of our life; our hearts must be Christian hearts. I was talking with the young people the other day about the sacrament of marriage, asking them questions. One was, ‘If people are in mortal sin at their wedding, do they receive the grace of the sacrament of marriage?’ The answer: no, they do not. Only if they repent of their sins and Confess will the grace of marriage revive in their souls.
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If a person receives Holy Communion with a lukewarm attitude, with no care of what he is doing, does he receive grace? no. nothing. This is why it is good to prayerfully prepare for Mass, and make a Thanksgiving after Holy Communion or after Mass. Just as that holy Ark was of no help to the Israelites against their enemies because of their empty religion, so too we will not receive God’s grace if we ourselves do not glorify Him.
Let us therefore bless the Lord in our souls, that he may bless us in our lives.
Living our Baptism
Baptism of the Lord
Beloved in the Lord, in olden days, the people of Israel, after Moses had led them out of the Egypt, they traveled many years through the desert on their way to the Promised Land. The Promised Land was a place said to be flowing with ‘milk and honey,’ meaning, a wonderful place of happiness.
But it would not be Moses who would lead them in; it would be Joshua who would lead them into the promised land. But they would have to cross the Jordan River to get there. So Joshua had the people prepare themselves, and then he ordered the priests to carry the Sacred Ark, and walk into the Jordan River. As they walked in, the waters actually stopped flowing; the dry river bed appeared, making a way for the people. The people therefore walked safely through the midst of the waters of the Jordan, into the Promised Land.
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Friends in Christ, these events of the Old Testament are recorded as signs for us. The Promised Land is a sign of heaven. And the passage through the Jordan river is a sign of baptism. As the passage through the water was necessary to reach the Promised Land, passage through the waters of baptism is the path to reach heaven. The ancient Father of the church Origen says, ‘the people passed through the Jordan and were baptized into Jesus, in the Spirit and in the river.’
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Who led them through this baptism in the river? Joshua did. And the name Joshua is really the same name in Greek as Jesus.
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We today celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. Christ himself, who though sinless, chooses to be baptized as an example for us, to show us the way. Notice that when Our Lord is baptized, it says ‘the heavens were opened;’ and this is true of our own baptism. Baptism opens heaven for us, it makes it possible for us to begin the Christian life, the journey to heaven.
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Baptism immerses us into a share in the life of Jesus Christ. St. Paul says: Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, we too may live a new life.’
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God himself, has descended to earth to be born; the Son of God took humanity to himself, took on flesh; he lived our life. Jesus grew up like us, worked like us, suffered in his life; and he died and was buried. And he rose, to conquer death and ascended to heaven, to the true Promised Land.
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Well, we are supposed to do the same thing. By our baptism, we are united to the Divine life of God. As we go through life, we work and suffer and try to make our life an offering to God, just like Jesus. And we will die. But the Good News is, we will rise and conquer death, and ascend to heaven – just like Jesus. That’s the plan, and it all begins with our baptism, in which we share in the life of Christ.
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St. Thomas Aquinas says:[i] ‘By baptism a man is incorporated into the Passion and death of Christ, just as if he himself had suffered and died. Consequently, he who is baptized is freed from the debt of all punishment due for his sins, just as if he himself had offered satisfaction for all his sin.[ii]
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At our baptism, we were consecrated to God, and this happens even as a child. Some people say that we should not baptize children, that we should wait until they make their own decision, maybe you’ve heard this before. But what do the Holy Scriptures say? If we turn to Acts 16, we read that St. Paul met this woman named Lydia, and when she came to believe, it says, ‘she and her whole household were baptized.’ Her household – that’s everyone, that means kids, and people then had a lot of kids.
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In that very same chapter, it says that after Paul and Silas had explained the Faith to their jail guard, it says ‘he and his family were baptized immediately.’ So whole families were baptized. There is no waiting for kids to grow up. This is the Bible.
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In the year 215AD, in the very early Church, it explains what was already a well-established tradition. ‘Baptize first the children; if they can speak for themselves let them do so; otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them.’
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Why do we baptize kids? What would be the reason? In Colossians 2:11 it explains that Baptism replaces circumcision. Circumcision was the way into the Old Covenant, baptism is the way into the New Covenant. At what age were you circumcised? When you were 8 days old. That’s a baby! Did they wait until you were 12 to decide whether you wanted to be in the Covenant? No. Same in the New Covenant. Church law says: parents should have their child baptized within the first few weeks.
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Baptism is not ‘a decision to join a club, it is not a decision to join an organization. Baptism is adoption. We are adopted into God’s Family. And when you adopt a baby, you don’t leave the baby outside on the lawn until it is old enough to decide whether to join your family. It needs the family in order to live. Well – we want eternal life for our children, so we baptize the child into God’s family. It’s what Lydia did, its what the jail-guard did, it’s what the first Christians did. We take very seriously what Our Lord has said: ‘Go forth and baptize all the nations.’
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At our baptism, we were consecrated to God. And so many times we have renewed this commitment to be a follower of Christ, to be a disciple. Our life HAS to reflect this. Every time we bless ourselves with Holy Water we are reminding ourselves of our baptism – and so, the sprinkling rite today.
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Today then, let us renew our commitment to Jesus Christ; let us really live out our baptismal vows in the days ahead. There are only two roads for us: one to heaven, the other to hell.
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A young man told me, he had really messed up his life, he was not living right. He went to confession, and the priest told him: ‘Maybe it’s time to start living out your baptismal vows.’ He was startled by that. He had not been realizing that he had a serious commitment to be a disciple of Christ.
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Let’s us renew those vows. Decide again, that we reject Satan, and all his empty promises. No more compromise for us; no more giving in to the world; no more compromise.
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May the Blessed Virgin help us by her prayers; Mary, pray for us, that we will be worthy disciples of Jesus Christ.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton]
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[i] Summa, Q 69 a1
[ii] He adds: ‘The pains of Christ’s passion are communicated to the person baptized inasmuch as he is made a member of Christ, just as if he himself had borne those pains.’
Mortal and Venial sin
Friends in Christ, in the Epistle today, we read from the 1st Letter of St. John. Our translation is one, but here is another: ‘If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal. But there is sin which is mortal.’
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So it is clear from the Holy Scriptures, that there is mortal sin. Some translations call it ‘deadly sin,’ – same thing. There are two types of sin which we can commit: mortal sin, and venial sin. Mortal sins are serious sins against the law of God. They are called ‘mortal,’ or ‘deadly,’ because they kill the life of grace in our soul. Venial sin is a less serious offense against the Lord, which does not however, deprive us of sanctifying grace.
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Sin is best understood in terms of our relationship with God, which is really what the spiritual life is all about. If a boy disobeys his mother and does not set the table, this is a venial sin. It disappoints his mother, but their love remains. But if that boy in an argument would punch his mother; well – this would be a serious break in their love, and somebody would have to apologize big time. So too with God.
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Venial sins can be healed in us in a variety of ways. We tell the Lord we are sorry, we say an act of contrition; the grace of Holy Mass, receiving Holy Communion forgives venial sins according to our devotion and desire; praying the rosary or other prayers, acts of Faith – in a variety of ways, we are always renewing our love for the Lord, and being healed of the many venial sins we commit each day.
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Mortal sin requires a real apology, repentance, and forgiveness, so we must go to Confession. In confession the priest speaks for Christ and for the whole Church; he needs to reconcile us with the Church, because serious wounds harm the whole Body of Christ. In the early Church, people had to stand in front of the whole congregation and confess their serious sins; they would be given an often difficult penance that might last weeks or months. Today the Church makes it easier for us; we can even confess behind the screen.
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When we commit mortal sin, we lose all the merits of all the good actions we have ever done because we’ve turned from God. So, with mortal sin, we must be reconciled in confession, but then all of our former merits are restored.
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For something to be a mortal sin, the action must first of all, be a SERIOUS one. Secondly, we must KNOW that it is a serious sin, and finally, we must FREELY CHOOSE to do it, we can’t commit sin in our sleep. Mortal sins would include any sexual related sins, skipping Mass, hatred, serious theft or lies, really damaging someone’s reputation, and other things. Confession is the place to be reconciled, and to begin new.
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We ourselves should try to not commit even venial sins, so as to always please our Heavenly Father.
Let us then take our relationship with God seriously; and let not anyone tell you that there is no such thing as mortal sin – it’s in the bible!
The world seeks a physician
And the leper said, ‘Lord, If you wish, you can make me clean.’
Friends in Christ, this man who comes to Jesus is sick; but he is the image of each of us in need of healing. We have wounds due to sin – moral evil – and we have wounds due to tragedies and the crosses of life – physical evils.
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Modern man today in general, is wounded – all you have to do is read the newspapers – society is wounded, but cannot find the True Physician. There are so many problems out there; for example, I recently read that venereal disease is way up, it is rampant; the cause of this is human behavior.
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The solution to this problem would be for people to live a Christian life of purity. Could you imagine government sponsored billboards along the roads: ‘Be pure.’ ‘Wait for marriage.’ ‘Be faithful.’ ‘Purity is happiness.’ But this solution is not even mentioned. The world is so wounded, yet they do not know how to see the cure.
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The wounds inflicted today are very great: nearly 1 million went to prison this year for a felony; 1 million babies are aborted each year 20% of men and 15% of women have committed adultery These figures represent enormous pain in the lives of people; in these figures is great sadness and regret.
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‘And he pleaded with him, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean, and Jesus stretched out his hand and said, “I do will it. Be thou made clean.”
The way of the Christian, following Jesus, is the way to life. The religion of the world produces broken hearts. The religion of God produces self-control, virtue, peace, and mercy: the healing of wounds. As St. John tells to us today: ‘God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son; whoever possesses the Son has life. Our Faith in God the Son, is what gives us the power to say ‘no’ to our whims and passions and to develop self-mastery over our desires.
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The life of Faith is what allows a Christian to survive devastating experiences, losses, or illnesses with the assurance that there is more to life than this car accident or this disappointment. Today in the world we are seeing now a strong contrast between life without Christ and life with Christ. Very different.
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But really these are beautiful days for us, because we have a mission: we are the messengers of hope: sometimes by our words, but always by our example of the goodness of our Christian life. As St. Peter says, let us be ready with an answer to those who asks the reason, for the hope that is in us.
They did not understand about the Loaves
Friends in the Lord, normally, the feast of the Epiphany would be today, but in this country it was moved to Sunday; in these days following Epiphany therefore, we have daily readings about other ‘epiphanies,’ ways in which the Lord reveals himself in sign and power.
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Yesterday was the multiplication of the few loaves to feed over 5000 people. The Church has always known this to be a sign of the Holy Eucharist, of the Mass. Miraculous bread is given to a vast crowd, just like at Mass. And notice, Our Lord does not distribute the bread; he has the apostles give it to the people, they will be his first priests.
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Today’s gospel follows that multiplication of the loaves; the apostles are in a boat, which encounters wind and trouble. They cry out for Jesus to come, and he comes into the boat with them. It says that after Jesus got into the boat, the apostles were ‘completely astounded;’ ‘they were astounded’ it says, ‘because they did not understand about the loaves.’
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So what does this mean? ‘They did not understand about the loaves?’ What does the multiplication of the loaves have to do with the boat? Well for this, we have to put on our Catholic thinking caps. When we see a boat in the scriptures we should think of – the Church. The boat is a symbol of the Church; and the sea, with it’s dangers and storms, is a symbol of evil and sin. That’s why we sometimes call the Church, the ‘Bark of Peter.’ ‘Bark is an old word for boat.
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So in St. Mark’s gospel he shows us the apostles in the boat, and we should immediately see there, Jesus’ first priests in the Church. The 12 in the boat, symbolizing the Church, are being tossed about by the wind of the world. They are afraid. They call out for help, and Christ comes into the Church.
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Does that happen now? Yes. The Church is here, we are the Bark of Peter. And daily, we call out to the Lord, amidst the storms of this world, of life, and Jesus comes into the Church – right here, in the miraculous Bread on our altar. This is what St. Mark is getting at.
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Now we can see the meaning of that final, mysterious statement. ‘They were astounded, ‘but they did not understand about the loaves. We understand. The miraculous loaves, the Eucharist – this is Christ, who comes to us here, in the storms of life, into the boat, the Church; and he says to us each time, ‘Take heart, do not be afraid.’
No Salvation outside the Church
Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus
Beloved in Jesus Christ,
In the 1930’s, a Jesuit priest was a rising star in American Catholicism, his name was Fr. Leonard Feeney. Having written numerous books and articles, in 1942 he became director of the famous St. Benedict center at Cambridge.
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Soon however, a change began to take place in him. He refused to allow other priests to be involved at the Center, everything became, ‘his way or the highway.’ In 1947, he started teaching the students that no one could be saved who was not a baptized member of the Catholic Church. For him, Baptism by Blood and Baptism by Desire were false teachings. (see footnote) In his opinion, all those who have never been baptized with water would end in the fire of hell, including those who have never heard of Jesus Christ.
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In 1952 he was twice summoned to appear in Rome to explain his teachings, but he refused to go. Having been expelled from the Jesuit Order, he was excommunicated by the Church.
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Friends in Christ, there IS a doctrine of the Faith which says: there is ‘No salvation outside the Church,’[i] but what do we mean by this doctrine?
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We begin by recalling the words of St. Peter today in Acts of the Apostles: ‘Of this Jesus, who was crucified,’ he says – ‘There is no other name under heaven, by which we may be saved.’ Among all the peoples in the history of the world, all races, religions, nationalities, everything – anyone who makes it to heaven, anyone who is saved – is saved because of Jesus Christ; Christ is the only ladder by which humanity can reach divinity. Trying to get to heaven without Jesus is like trying to jump high enough to get to the moon. Jesus is the only Name by which one can be saved, and so today, in the Tridentine calendar, we celebrate a special feast for this: the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus.
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I am not here to say whether Buddha or Mohammed or Guru Nanak (Sikhism) or Jakob Ammann (Amish) or any founders of religions were good people or not; but if any of them, or any other person is saved, it is by the Incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In the document Dominus Jesus, issued by the Church in 2000, it re-states clearly that while admitting that other religions sometimes possess elements of the truth, the mystery of [Christ’s] incarnation, death and resurrection is the sole and universal source of salvation for all humanity; Christ is the universal mediator for the whole world.
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Some will say that we Catholics are saved through Jesus, but that the Holy Spirit works in other ways with other people; but the Holy Spirit IS the Spirit of Jesus!, and his action cannot be placed outside that of Christ. There is a single Trinitarian economy of salvation, because God is Father of all human beings, and God is ONE.
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The Lord Jesus has given us the Holy Church and the sacraments, as the ordinary means for reaching heaven. ‘This is my plan,’ he says. Be baptized, follow my teachings, Eat my Body, Confess your sins.’ And so, if we know about God’s plan, the plan that he has for us, well then we better follow it! Christ was quite strong on this point. He said if people ‘refuse to listen even to the Church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.’ (Matt 18:17) It will certainly be a worse judgment for a Catholic who knows God’s plan for salvation, and ignores it, than for a person who simply didn’t know.
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Can the Lord work in people outside of the visible elements of the Catholic Church? Yes, he can. The Good Thief was never baptized with water, and yet Jesus told him, ‘today you will be with me in paradise.’
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Here is what St. Thomas Aquinas says:[ii] There are three kinds of baptism: baptism of water, baptism of blood, and baptism of Spirit (he also calls it ‘Repentance’). ‘Consequently, a man may, without baptism of water, receive the sacramental effect from Christ’s Passion, in so far as he is conformed to Christ by suffering for him. ‘In the same way, a man receives the effect of baptism by the power of the Holy Ghost, in as much as his heart is moved by the Holy Ghost to believe in, and love God, and to repent of his sins, and this is called baptism of repentance.’ We today would call it baptism of desire.
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So what about Abraham and Moses and Isaiah and such people of old? St. Thomas taught that they had implicit faith in Christ.[iii] He says that the fathers of old were justified by faith in Christ’s passion just as we are. ‘The fathers of old had faith in the future passion of Christ, which was able to justify them.’
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Now God insists that we follow his plan, his sacraments, but he himself is not bound by the sacraments. The Lord however, does not want us to sit around guessing who might be saved or not, he wants us to spread the gospel! Go! Baptize all the nations! We shouldn’t try to guess who else will be saved – we don’t even know how many Catholics will be saved. St. Peter says it: ‘If it is hard for even the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?’[iv]
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What we DO know, is that anyone who IS saved, is saved through Jesus Christ, and his Church. The Catechism says that the saving work of Christ is active in the Church’s sacraments by which the Holy Spirit spreads the grace of Christ. (CCC 774) The Church is Christ’s instrument for the salvation of all. (776)
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On our altars each day, the Mysteries of our salvation are poured out to a thirsty world. The atoning sacrifice of Our Lord is made present and in this way, applied to the world today, and especially to us in the household of God. As we read today: ‘there is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we may be saved.’ The Church is Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church and Christ are one. We can therefore say, ‘there is no salvation without the Church;’ to be saved, a person must in some way be connected to Christ’s Church.
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There is an old children’s catechism that has a nice picture: a great ship is in the sea, heading forward – that’s the Church. But there are people, in the rough sea, swimming, struggling; they are trying to hold onto ropes, tied to the Mother ship. These are the people who, perhaps in darkness, who are trying to follow God; in some way they can be attached to the Church.
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But that’s them. What about us? We have our hands full with our own spiritual warfare daily! Temptations can pound us and hound us. So let us follow the example of the saints, and in times of temptation, call on the Holy Name of Jesus. St. Hesychios says, ‘the demons will be dispersed at once, if we lash the enemy with the name of Jesus.’
Jesus help me; Jesus guide me; Jesus save me; and may the Mother of Jesus pray for each of us.
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[Entrusted to the prayers of St. John Vianney]
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Note: Baptism by blood refers to those who give their life for Christ, even though they may not have been baptized yet. A number of the early martyrs were among this group, as well as others through the centuries. Baptism by Desire is when a person, desiring baptism but unable to receive it yet, dies; many believe this also applies to those who implicitly desire baptism, if they knew about it, by the fact that they try to follow God’s will, do what is right in their life, and repent of their sins as they know them.
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[i] See Catechism of the Catholic Church, #846, and book by Stravinkas, No salvation outside the church.
[ii] Summa Theologica, under Baptism, Q66 a11
[iii] Summa Q 62 a6
[iv] 1 Peter 4:18
