Adevărul înflorește

CUVÂNTUL ACUM PE CITITURILE DE MASĂ
pentru 21 mai 2014
Miercuri din a cincea săptămână de Paște
Opta. Mem. Sf. Christopher Magallanes & Companions

Textele liturgice aici

Hristos adevărata vie, Necunoscut

CÂND Isus a promis că El va trimite Duhul Sfânt să ne conducă în tot adevărul, asta nu însemna că doctrinele vor veni cu ușurință fără a fi nevoie de discernământ, rugăciune și dialog. Acest lucru este evident în prima lectură de astăzi, când Pavel și Barnaba îi caută pe apostoli pentru a clarifica anumite aspecte ale legii iudaice. Îmi amintesc în ultima vreme de învățăturile despre Humanae Vitae, și cum au existat multe dezacorduri, consultare și rugăciune înainte ca Paul al VI-lea să-și rostească frumoasa învățătură. Și acum, în luna octombrie se va întruni un Sinod despre familie, în care problemele din inima, nu numai ale Bisericii, ci și ale civilizației, sunt discutate fără consecințe:

The future of the world and of the church passes through the family. —ST. JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, nu. 170

There were no lone-rangers in the early Church. St. Paul, despite the powerful revelations he received directly from Christ, humbled himself before the Apostles. It says in the first reading:

They were sent on their journey by the Church… they were welcomed by the Church.

This should and must become circuitul for everyone who claims to be a follower of Christ: I go forth din the bosom of the Church, in obedience to her voice… and I continue to go la her for wisdom, counsel, and nourishment. This is also what it means to “remain in” Christ—to remain in His word. Anyone who does not remain in this word, and out of deliberate carelessness or self-directed arrogance appropriates to themselves the authority to interpret Scripture apart from Sacred Tradition, “will be thrown out like a branch and wither.” For it is noteworthy that Jesus says to the Apostles:

You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you. (Gospel)

That is to say that the “deposit of faith” that Jesus imparted to them is the pure root from which all truth grows. Dogmas are not grafted to the Vine, but floare from the trunk which is already there. The unity of the Church, visibly preserved in the Pope and guarded by Christ’s own charism of infallibility, is closely linked to this “root of truth.”

Jerusalem, built as a city with compact unity. To it the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD. (Today’s Psalm)

This is why, when it comes to the Church’s teachings on marriage, divorce, homosexuality, co-habitation, etc., no bishop—not even the Pope—has the authority to change what the Father Himself has planted through Christ Jesus. This does not mean that there will not be deliberations, disagreements, and discernment as new moral challenges face the Church. But woe to the one who tries to remove a Branch from the Vine, Sau adauga unu that did not spring from the root. ^[1]cf. Apoc. 22: 18-19

Our era needs such wisdom more than bygone ages if the discoveries made by man are to be further humanized. For the future of the world stands in peril unless wiser people are forthcoming. —ST. JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Exhortation, Familiaris Consortio, nu. 17

This is the hour to pray for the holy priesthood as never before, brothers and sisters, that those in charge of the Father’s Vineyard be faithful gardeners who tend and protect the Vine… not lay the dull axe of presumption and heresy to her.

ÎNTREBĂRI LEGATE