Smoke of Satan in the Church – Part 5
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with the simplicity and sincerity of God, [and] not by human wisdom but by the grace of God. For we write you nothing but what you can read and understand, and I hope that you will understand completely. (Corinthians 1:12-13)
On the evening of Thursday, 29 June 1972, the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, in the presence of a considerable multitude of the faithful coming from every part of the world, the Holy Father celebrated the Mass and the beginning of the tenth year of his Pontificate as the successor of Saint Peter.
In His Homily referring to the situation of the Church today, the Holy Father affirms that, “from some fissure the smoke of Satan has entered the temple of God.”
There is a story about a president of some country, who, when presented with new legislation would go to the janitor of his presidential palace and ask him for his opinion. Only if the document was simple enough and sensible enough that janitor could understand it, would the president sign it.
St. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians is pointing to importance of simplicity “for we write you nothing but what you can read and understand”.
Keeping it simple
Simplicity and clarity is extremely important in avoiding mistakes and confusions. For example, in the Syllabus of Errors issued by the Holy See under Blessed Pope Pius IX, among listed errors we find socialism. Let us take the simplest definition of socialism we could find on the internet: “socialism is a political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole”, and simplified it by replacing means of production, distribution, and exchange with one-word economy ,and words community as a whole with government, we can make it really simple, socialism is government interference in the economy. Simplification allows us to avoid the traps of the devil and opposes him. In example of socialism simplification help us to follow a Syllabus of Errors, encyclicals, Rerum Novarum by Pope Leo XIII, and Mater et Magistra, by St. John XXIII, which are saying that any such interference must be opposed by the Catholic Church and it is a big “No” for Catholics, who are bound by conscience to accept the teachings contained in these documents.
Once the devil said to St. John Vianney; Why dost thou preach so simply? That also makes thee pass for an ignorant man. Why not preach in the big style, as they do in towns?
If the devil doesn’t like simplicity then simplicity must be good. Sadly, in today’s culture “keep it simple” is not popular any longer.
Keeping it Simple – in order to build strong foundation of faith.
“There has been a running argument that has divided the church for centuries. Is grace necessary for salvation or is it fully sufficient for salvation? The Roman Catholic Church has said one thing, and the reformed church has had a different answer.” *
The opinion that the grace of God is sufficient for salvation is popular among Protestants, but it has also been embraced by many Catholics, living their lives in the same spirit.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, part three teaches: Our justification comes from the grace of God. Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call to become children of God, adoptive sons, partakers of the divine nature and of eternal life. 1996
The grace of Christ is the gratuitous gift that God makes to us of his own life, infused by the Holy Spirit into our soul to heal it of sin and to sanctify it. It is the sanctifying or deifying grace received in Baptism. It is in us the source of the work of sanctification: 1999
A short consultation with a young, freshly confirmed catholic on those paragraphs showed the need to place them in the proper context with a simplification. In order to make it simple we have to establish and reveal the reality we are living in, hidden under the veil of everyday events.
From the book of Genesis we learn that God created everything starting with heavens and earth. God created mankind in his image. God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. (Genesis 1;28) and The LORD God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name. (Genesis 2;19)
From these short passages we can safely conclude that world was created for man.
Only God can create something from nothing. We may think that we are creating new things: a new car, airplane, computer etc. We may think that by burning a piece of paper we are making it disappear, but we are just changing its form. In reality we are only operating within God’s creation.
God gives each man a life, soul, guardian angel, body, brain, talents, understanding, everything necessary, and maintains man’s place in time and space. Because we are a creation of God, and everything comes from God, we deserve nothing, and we owe God gratitude, love and service in return. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, is correctly saying in point 1996 that: Grace is favor, the free and undeserved help that God gives us to respond to his call, and It is in us the source of the work of sanctification. (1999)
According to St. Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica) and many Fathers of the Church it is likely that at the same time as corporeal creatures, God created angels. During the process of creation Lucifer and angels following him rebelled against God. Some say that Lucifer, the greatest of angels, proclaimed himself equal to God, others that he rebelled because he didn’t want to serve God by serving man, a creature inferior to angels in every aspect. Other claim that the prospective incarnation of Our Lord Jesus, God becoming man, caused this revolt. It is not important to us which of those versions is correct. What is important is that this started a never-ending war. It is never-ending because angels, human souls, and evil spirits do not expire, they will live forever. This revolt resulted in Lucifer and the fallen angels being thrown out of heaven. We may assume that this rebellion caused God to provide a simple challenge, a test for the first people Adam and Eve, and tempted by Satan (snake) they failed it. Because of those events today the Catholic Church is divided into Triumphant (Heaven), Suffering (Purgatory), and Militant (Earth). The Devil is powerless against God and so takes revenge on mankind, we are his target. We people on earth are on frontier of this war. That is why Catholics receiving the sacrament of confirmation become soldiers of Christ.
Grace is a participation in the life of God, says the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Since we are placed at the front line of the war against evil forces, then participation in the life of God is our participation in this conflict. In this fight man has two choices, either serve God or the devil. There is no neutral option.
Some information about the realities of this war are revealed to us in the visions of Saint Macarius of Alexandria who saw demons assailing the hermits at prayer. They put their fingers into the mouths of some and made them yawn. They closed the eyes of others and walked upon them with contempt when they fell asleep. They placed vain and sensual images before many of the brethren, and then mocked those who were captivated by them. None vanquished the devils effectively save those who by constant vigilance repelled them at once.
God gives man life, and the necessary tools in the Catholic Church to successfully pass this earthly test, some of us are called to service as a priest, monk, others as a father, mother, etc. We all are called, but it up to us to answer this call. By opening ourselves to this call and through our service we become children of God, participants of the divine nature and of eternal life. (1996)
Let us summarize and simplify this.
We are in the middle of the war between good and evil forces, in order to save our souls, we have to participate in this war on God’s side, by doing His will.** We are no match against our enemy alone, but with God’s Grace, God’s help, we will prevail, like many saints before did.
O most blessed grace that makest the poor in spirit rich in virtues, and renderest him who is rich in many things humble in spirit, come Thou, descend upon me, fill me early with Thy consolation, lest my soul fail through weariness and drought of mind. I beseech thee, O Lord, that I may find grace in Thy sight, for Thy grace is sufficient for me, when I obtain not those things which Nature longeth for. If I be tempted and vexed with many tribulations, I will fear no evil, while Thy grace remaineth with me. This alone is my strength, this bringeth me counsel and help. It is more powerful than all enemies, and wiser than all the wise men in the world. It is the mistress of truth, the teacher of discipline, the light of the heart, the solace of anxiety, the banisher of sorrow, the deliverer from fear, the nurse of devotion, the drawer forth of tears. What am I without it, save a dry tree, a useless branch, worthy to be cast away! “Let Thy grace, therefore, O Lord, always prevent and follow me, and make me continually given to all good works, through Jesus Christ, Thy Son. Amen.” (Imitation of Christ: Book 3 By Thomas a Kempis)
Suggesting that grace alone without our faith and participation in God’s plan, is fully sufficient for salvation is foolish and dangerous, it promotes an easy going and struggle free approach to life. No wonder that Protestant churches don’t have people fully devoting themselves to God, like Catholic priests, monks or nuns. If the Grace of God by itself is fully sufficient for salvation that means that we don’t need to follow Then Commandments, Holy Scripture and teaching of the Church because “Jesus paid already for our sins.” This creates a false image of God, undermining His justice. It promotes a pursuit for earthly pleasures under the banner “God wants us to be happy,” ignoring the only truth that real happiness is gained through service to God.
In the example of socialism, simplification makes it easy to stay in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church, and to recognize and oppose new traps of the enemy. Government has a monopoly on power and a tendency to abuse it. By meddling in the economy it creates an environment welcoming corruption. Corruption in the economy leads to corruption of hearts and souls. Government by influencing the economy expands its power and size, and for many it is replacing God. Over a hundred fifty years ago Blessed Pius IX and the Popes followed him, guided by Holy Spirit, recognized the dangers of the new reality created as an effect of the industrial revolution, and created guidelines to follow.
Simplifying the correlation between the Grace of God and salvation of a human soul by placing it in the context of spiritual warfare is bringing back the forgotten, or perhaps just ignored, perspective of sacramental life of the Catholic Church. Pious practices and good deeds performed for the glory of God, understood by many as a pointless, are actually armor and weapons against dark, evil forces. Morning and evening prayers, prayers during the day, avoiding the traps of Satan through discipline of mind, heart, speech, and action, healing wounds in the sacrament of penance, gaining powers in Holy Communion, grouping up with others during the Holy Mass and religious events, keeping close contact with God through devotions and mental prayer etc. become necessities on the spiritual battlefield.
Simplification and clarity was missing in the sermon of some priest, who before the recent presidential election tried to explain to his parishioners the criteria, which must be met by candidates for elected office to be acceptable to Catholics. After the Mass he was approached by three different people, each of them thanks him for reinforcing his choice of candidate. Two of them were about to vote for each of the two major party candidates, the third for an independent party candidate.
A lack of clarity is distorting the teachings of the Church.
To be continued.
*http://www.redemptionfellowship.net/grace-is-it-necessary-or-sufficient/
**“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)