The Chinese have a famous
curse: “may you live in interesting
times.” It is clear that we live in
interesting times. The world around us is
shifting and changing in ways our parents and grandparents would never have
imagined.
With the recent decisions by the
Supreme Court concerning the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and California 8,” the very foundations upon which our society is built are being called
into question. Some are rejoicing, and see
this as a step along the way to a new form of liberty. Those who grasp the fundamental teaching of
the Church concerning God’s design for human beings and the truth of marriage feel
a sadness that is hard to express. The
directions our culture is choosing in the name of liberty are, in fact, leading
us to a greater enslavement to a way of thinking that will not get us where we
truly want to go.
At the same time, we continue to
experience a rejection of our liberty to be true to our Faith and our understanding
of God’s plan for us. The Health and
Human Services Mandate concerning insurance that pays for abortions and
contraceptives is an affront to our freedom to put our Faith into practice and
to live by the principles we have always taught as a Church. We are being forced to violate our conscience
and to support actions that are morally abhorrent to us. We are told that we have freedom of worship,
but not freedom to practice our Faith in a public way, with a direct engagement
in the public sphere by a proclamation of the Gospel in what we say and
do. We are given a definition of Church
that is restricted to a narrow understanding of Faith and that stands in the
way of our establishing and maintaining institutions (hospitals, nursing homes,
schools and businesses) that are conducted in accord with moral norms we hold
to be true. Our very right to serve
those who are not members of the Church is being limited.
The Church is being painted as an
institution that is out of touch and that needs to change to get with the
times. The simple fact is, our Church is
standing tall in a society that has made a choice to ignore the true destiny of
human beings – a living relationship with God.
The Church came into being in a culture that was in many ways similar to
our own. She has survived through the
centuries, in good times and in bad, and she has ever been renewed by men and
women who had the courage to live the Truth no matter what the consequences. Now is the time for every good Christian to
come to the aid of the Church. We are
invited to search out the Truth revealed by God through Scripture and through
the teachings of the Church. We are
called to respond to what is going on around us with a commitment to put into
practice what we have been given so that the world may come to know this
Truth. The Gospel teaches us that God
has poured out His Spirit on us and will bring us to fulfillment. We are given the divine mandate to go out to
all the world to make disciples, teaching them all we have been taught. This is the answer that will bring about true
liberty and justice for all. How do you
show concretely that you are standing with the Church?
Year of Faith October
11, 2012 – November 24, 2013
We continue our journey through the Year
of Faith. As one way of observing
this year, each week a small section of the Catechism
of the Catholic Church is read before the start of Mass.
ARTICLE
3 SACRED SCRIPTURE
III. The Holy Spirit,
Interpreter of Scripture
The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for
interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it. (Dei Verbum 12 § 4)
112 1. Be especially attentive
“to the content and unity of the whole Scripture.” Different as the
books which comprise it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of
God’s plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his
Passover. (Cf. Luke 24:25-27, 44-46)
The phrase “heart of Christ”
can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart, closed before the
Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since
the Passion; since those who from then on have understood it, consider and
discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted. (St.
Thomas Aquinas)
113 2. Read the Scripture
within “the living Tradition of the whole Church.” According to a
saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church’s
heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her
Tradition the living memorial of God’s Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who
gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture “according to the
spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church.” (Origen)
114 3. Be attentive to the
analogy of faith. (Cf. Romans 12:6) By
“analogy of faith” we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among
themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.
Comment: Catholics
agree with all Christian denominations and with members of the Jewish faith
that the Sacred Scriptures present us with the Word of God. We also acknowledge that these texts are a
primary source for our teachings and practice.
However, we also note that interpretation of the Scriptures must be done
through the life of the Church as she exists now and through the ages. The whole canon of Scripture helps to bring
understanding to the parts. The living
Tradition of the Church guides our grasp of the texts and shapes our capacity
to live it. The depth of meaning of the
Scriptures can only be received in relation to the whole body of teachings of
the Church. How do you seek out the
support of the Church in your own effort to deepen understanding of the Bible?
Focolare Word of Life for July 2013: For the whole law is summed up in a single
commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal. 5:14)
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