The Litmus Test of Your Faith
by Fr. David M. Knight
Friday, October 11, 2024
Twenty-Seventh Week of the Year
Saint John XXIII, Pope
Lectionary 465
Gal 3:7-14/Lk 11:15-26
Galatians 3:7-14 is a “litmus test” of our religion. On a day-by-day basis, are we aware of ourselves as living basically human lives characterized by conscientious observance of God’s law? Or are we aware that we have “died” in Christ and “risen” as Christ to let him live and act in us by his divine power?
It all depends on how we understand the mystery of Baptism: as a ritual act required by God for the “removal” of Original Sin; or as the mystery of “presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice” to be incorporated into the body of Christ on the cross—who “became a curse for us” by making us, with all our sins, his own flesh—and dying with him to let him rise in us to continue—with us, in us and through us—his divine mission on earth.
If it is the first, we might pray for help to keep out of sin. If it is the second, we might say the WIT prayer all day long. Or its equivalent. The essential is to remember we are living a divine life, not a human one, and we are doing it in union with, through interaction with, Jesus within us acting through his Spirit.
The “law observers” see sins as human failings and ask “forgiveness” from God as they would ask pardon of a human being. But forgiveness changes the forgiver, not the forgiven. Paul says, “All who depend on observance of the law are under a curse.” All will sin sometimes, and when they do, even if God forgives them, they remain what their sins have made them: forgiven but flawed. Or corrupt. As Martin Luther said, “like a dunghill covered with snow.” They are “covered by the blood” of Jesus, but underneath they are dung.
But if we die in Christ as “Lamb of God” our sins are “taken away,” annihilated by our dying in him. Our history is over and we rise as a “new creation,” the living body of Christ. “For our sake God made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” We have “become Christ.” (See 2Corinthians 5:14-21; Galatians 6:15 and Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 795.)
If we understand Baptism as mystery, when we sin, we give our sin to Christ to be incorporated in his body on the cross. He does not just forgive; he “takes away the sin of the world.” And we are free.
Luke 11:15-26 applies this same contrast to the question of Church unity. We can see unity as primarily human: teaching doctrine in approved words; keeping the Commandments in expected ways; maintaining order in the Church through uniform observance of laws; affirming the established structure of the Church through customary deference to authorities. This produces the visible image of a united Church.
From this perspective, unity will be maintained by human means. Nonconformity will be punished by those sanctions authority can impose. There are no more ecclesiastical prisons, and the hierarchy no longer has the power to get heretics burned at the stake. But there is excommunication (or the unofficial excommunication of just denying Communion). Theologians, priests and bishops can be removed from their positions, or their writings “condemned.” Those who do conform can be rewarded with the only rewards the hierarchy can bestow; namely wealth, prestige, promotion and power. To the approved, the Vatican gives titles—some empty, such as “Monsignor” and certain kinds of “Cardinal”—others with a more affluent lifestyle, position and power attached. With every title comes the “privilege” of wearing a special, distinguishing dress. And “precedence” is carefully spelled out, so that in processions and seating all will be honored exactly according to their rank.
The system works—to achieve conformity, if not excellence. Bishops tend to be “yes men” to the pope, and priests are careful not to speak or act in any way that will disqualify them for selection as bishop. The result is a disciplined Church. But is there “communion in the Holy Spirit”? And will the unity last?
Jesus said, “When a strong man fully armed guards his palace, his possessions are safe”—until “one stronger than he attacks and overcomes him.” The devil can use the same human tools to disrupt the Church that the hierarchy uses to keep it united. There is only one security:
Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
Spiritual unity depends on union of mind, will and heart with Jesus, through the work of his Spirit. If the Church wants this, bishops will pray with their priests—not just in formal, scripted ceremonies, but in shared prayer and discussions. And recreate with them! (Those who do not play together lack the trust to pray together).
“Collaborative ministry” will be experienced, not just talked about, on the level of diocese and parish. Even the pope will interact with the “college of bishops” as “the first among equals”—a fellow bishop consulting his peers about the direction and management of the Church over which he has unique authority, but not unique responsibility. Top-down management will disappear. Decisions and directions will be determined by frank and trusting discussions on every level, which alone can enable “discernment of the Holy Spirit”—as was the practice in the Church of Acts.
The goal should always be to encourage personal relationships between all the members of the Church, and particularly between the “ordinary” members and those whose position tends, in the present system, to separate them from the rest. Relationship is the life of the Trinity. It should be the life of all who live by the life of Father, Son and Spirit.
There will always be sin and dissensions in the Church. It is natural to want to “clean house.” But if we do it with the broom of power instead of the wind of the Spirit, we open the door for the devil’s return. Then “the last state will be worse than the first.”
Initiative: Examine the images you have of the Church that is and that should be.
Reflections brought to you by the Immersed in Christ Ministry
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