WAR
AGAINST AND WITHIN THE CHURCH
Since 1963 on the BBC, and seen in countries around the
world, the science fiction series Dr. Who has the main character travel through
time and space in a TARDIS.
The TARDIS is smaller in its exterior than in its interior,
which appears to be an expanse of a seemingly infinite numbers of rooms and
other spaces.
An apt symbol of the Church, for mostly people see the
small, limited exterior: the particular building in which we worship, the
various church institutions, religious orders, etc., rarely entering the
infinite expanse of the Church, to which we can apply that which Jesus says of
His Father’s house, our heavenly dwelling place: My Father's house has many
rooms…[Jn.14:2].
Various things such as a hurricane, a fire, a bomb can
destroy a church building, while a dearth of vocations to the priesthood,
Christ centered marriages and families leads to diminished participation in
Holy Mass, leading to the closing of parishes.
The sins, past and present of popes, bishops, priests,
religious, laity can, have, do, likely will, wound the exterior reality of the
Church.
Thus, it is vital, when reflecting upon the war against and
within the Church we keep within and before our hearts: …the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. [Mt.16:18].
That as Christians we suffer, like Jesus, in union with Him,
should come as no surprise, nor cause us to have anger or lack of compassion
for those who persecute us in anyway: “But I say to you, love your enemies, and
pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly
Father, for He makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall
on the just and the unjust”. [Mt. 5:44] {cf. also: Lk.6:28; Jn. 15: 18-20; Mt.
24: 1-36}
No Christian is persecuted alone.
Jesus is with us: He
fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting Me?” He said, “Who are you, sir?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom
you are persecuting.” [Acts 9:4-5]
It is not just within the human family in general, within
individual families, nations, between nations, where anger, hatred, violence
seem to predominate in our day. This is reality, this is the reality of war
within the Catholic, Orthodox, Protectant Churches and between the Catholics,
Orthodox, Protestants as well.
Because Christ welcomes sinful, wounded human beings as
members of His Mystical Body the Church on earth it is a stark reality that the
blemishes, the sins of the members splatter upon the face of the Church.
Thus aided and abetted by satan, there are those who, within
and without the Church, are always on the lookout for reasons to disparage the
Church, to reject Christ, to ignore the Gospel.
This stark reality is not new.
It has been part of the reality of the Church, both the
reality of external persecution and internal divisions, since shortly after
Pentecost!
By way of example: a reading of the Acts of the Apostles
shows both internal sins and divisions, miracles and the transforming of lives
through proclamation of the Gospel; the book of Revelations shows both a
glorious future for the Church on earth and in heaven, and admonitions from the
Holy Spirit about weakening of faith and other internal issues, words
applicable in our own day; during the first nearly four centuries of the life
of the Church while thousands of Christians were being martyred, thousands of
men and women went into the deserts to lead lives of penance and prayer either
as hermits or in community and thus came about, through these Fathers and
Mothers of the Desert, the establishment of contemplative life which, more than
two millennia later, still flourishes; persecution by intimidation draconian
laws, and by blood continues also to our day, yet throughout the millennia we
have also seen, and see in our own day with the formation of new religious
orders and communities of consecrated lay faithful, to care for the sick, the
poor, all those who come to the field hospital of the Church; we also have
seen, from the Great Schism, to the Reformation and also a seemingly
unending procession of individuals
‘founding’ their own ‘churches’ that sadly millions of souls are cut off from
the fullness of sacramental life, which only can exist, such as in Roman and
Orthodox traditions, where Apostolic succession has not been broken.
Be it attempts by feudal lords or modern governments to
hamper the Church, or evil regimes such as the Communists, Nazis, Islamic
terrorists, to try and destroy the Church by martyring Christians, , no matter
the seriousness of internal divisions or the sins of Her members, clergy and
lay alike, the Church, because She is the Mystical Body of Christ on earth and
is guided and constantly vivified by the Holy Spirit, experiences the truth
that, as Tertullian said: The blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church. Also
animated by Holy Spirit the Church constantly embraces the grace of metanoia,
conversion of heart.
She emerges from all persecutions and scandals, renewed and
holier.
It is too easy, indeed a from of spiritual laziness, to
excuse our own tepid faith, living out of the Gospel, or abandoning Catholic
faith and praxis, by blaming the sins of others, clergy or lay.
Every personal sin wounds the entire body of Christ.
We cannot point the finger at anyone, for as Jesus
challenges to self-assumed righteous seeking to have the woman caught in
adultery stoned to death, who of us is pure enough to cast a stone at the
Church, at anyone?
St. Benedict, founder of Western Monasticism, began
something which established not just profound spiritual growth within
Christianity but cultural foundations which led to the growth of villages, then
towns, then cities, universities, hospitals, literature, science, art.
Rod Dreher, in this book THE BENEDICT OPTION, urges a
re-discovery of this great treasury not simply by the Catholic Church but by
all Christians, noting that: As our civilization seems to be going the way of
the Roman empire, more Christians among its nations are asking themselves – and
one another – how to be latter-day St. Benedicts who preserve the living faith
that gave birth to our own civilization amid empire’s fall. They are awakening
to and claiming the powerful truth conveyed in this saying: “Tradition is not
the worship of ashes but the preservation of fire.” [2]
1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who
2] cf. p. XIX, The Benedict Option, Rod Dreher, Sentinel
2018
© Fr. Arthur Joseph 2018
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