The reproach of St. Paul is devastating and it is hard to not hear how it echoes in our own day. Once immorality becomes known the Church has a responsibility to root it out – if we do not and try to justify it out of pride, the whole lump of us will rot. We have nothing to boast about as a Church if we begin to condone what is wrong or simply fail to pronounce judgement in a way that demonstrates clearly that sin separates us from God. The Church can only remain attached to Her Spouse if she detaches Herself from sin. On the one hand, each of us are personally held accountable before God for our own sins and failings – we are called to repentance so that the Lord’s mercy may heal us and we may convert our lives with the help of His grace. On the other hand, we are collectively responsible for the holiness of the Church – this is where the practice of excommunication came from. Certain errors and sinful practices, when they become publicly known and defended must be removed, and if that means individual persons are no longer held to be in communion with the Church, it is for their good and the good of the Church. They cannot be saved if they do not understand their need to convert in order to return to communion. The Church cannot be a sacrament of salvation if it espouses the lies and practices of Satan.
Friday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
The image of the new wine and the new cloak help us understand the difference between grace and the law. It is tempting to to oppose the two and say that the goal of grace and the goal of the law are two completely different things. Jesus speaks to this temptation when He says that not one iota of the law will pass away until all things are fulfilled. The more insidious temptation however is to attempt to return to the law after beginning the life of grace. Baptism is the new garment we’ve been given – we shouldn’t use baptism as a patch that simply covers the hole in the cloak of the old man and the old law. Very concretely this means that we will rip and shred our lives apart at the core of our soul if we try to use the grace of Christ to give some appearance of perfection to others, to ourselves, or to God. Grace is not given to us so that we can simply do a better job of obeying the ten commandments – Grace is not a patch for our moral life. The grace of Christ is given to us so that we become intimately involved with the persons of the Trinity. Whoever insists that the major goal of Christianity and criteria to judge Christian life has to do with righteousness and moral purity is nothing more than a modern pharisee. They rip and shred themselves and others to pieces because Jesus becomes simply an enforcer of the Old Law instead of the Savior and giver of a New Law.
Thursday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time
In the minds of the Church Fathers, the Church was not at all an earthly kingdom. The Church, as they explain, is a hospital. St. Maximus of Turin sees the Church as a boat wherein we find an abundance of fish pulled out of the waters of the world and half-dead. By remaining in the boat, the fish are brought – not to the market – but to the shores of eternal life. The fish are certainly taken out of the comforts of the waters where they swam, but they are given lungs to begin breathing the pure air of the Spirit.