In yesterday’s meditation, as we delved into the discernment of spirits, we pointed out some drifts of the ecclesiastical hierarchy which can concretely affect the lives of the faithful. But what is even more tragic is the fact that the face of the Church is being distorted in such a way that, instead of being a beacon of the Gospel for the nations, in many areas it is adapting itself to the spirit of the world.
We need to be constantly reminded that the primary task of the Church is to bring people the salvation that the Heavenly Father offers them. In other words, evangelisation, as it has been understood until now, is about the salvation of souls. Man is not able to save himself from his misery, but needs God’s grace, which is offered to him in Jesus Christ. Once he has accepted faith, the Church accompanies the believer with all the means that God has entrusted to her.
Although the Lord may find a way to save a person who, through no fault of his own, has not found access to the true Church, this must not paralyse our zeal to take the Gospel to the whole world in accordance with Christ’s command.
But what happens when false doctrines infiltrate the proclamation, when the morality of the Church is weakened, when all religions are considered as ways to God, when the drifts of a modernised Church adapted to the world spread? The light of the Church is dimmed or even extinguished; the salt loses its taste.
What does this mean for the people of the world? They are deprived of the Gospel message and offered substitutes. Political issues come to the fore, and the Church becomes more and more an institution that pursues worldly goals instead of proclaiming salvation to people. It presents itself as just another voice of the world, but it is no longer the voice of Christ leading the world out of error.
In the light of discernment, one clear observation must be made: the modernisation of the Church as we are currently experiencing it is a betrayal of Christ’s mission and of the people of the world. We cannot cooperate with this spirit without diminishing or even corrupting the beauty and truth of our faith. Unfortunately, the wrong direction of the current pontiff is being imposed on even the smallest dioceses and religious communities, so that some priests and faithful are finding it necessary to go underground, or rather into the desert, in order to remain faithful to the traditional Catholic faith. For those who want to know more about this issue, I recommend reading my blog posts (https://en.elijamission.net/blog/), especially the series on “The Five Wounds of the Church” mentioned in yesterday’s meditation.
As far as discernment is concerned, it remains to say that true unity can only be achieved on the basis of truth. Whoever separates from doctrine gives up unity. It would therefore be wrong to label as “schismatics” those who cling to the traditional teaching of the Church and who do nothing more than what is necessary in the present crisis: remain faithful to the Gospel and to the authentic teaching of the Church.
To conclude today’s meditation, let us listen once more to a quotation from Dietrich von Hildebrand, whose heart burned for the Church and who insisted on the necessity of mission:
“The apostolate belongs essentially to the holy Church — the apostolate and indeed the conversion of every individual soul, which is more important in the eyes of the Church than the fate of any natural community. This flows necessarily from the love of God as ‘well as from the true love of neighbour. The love of God impels the Church, but also every true Christian, to bring each man into the full light of truth, which is the teaching of the holy Church. Every Christian must log for all men to become acquainted with the Revelation of Christ and to respond to it with faith, for every knee to bend to Jesus Christ. And similarly true love of neighbour requires this. How can I love somebody and not ardently desire that he become acquainted with Jesus Christ, the begotten Son and Epiphany of God, that he be drawn into His light, believe in Him and love Him, and know that he is loved by Him? How can I love him without desiring for him even on earth the blissful encounter with Jesus Christ, which is the greatest source of happiness? How can I content myself with the fact that God’s infinite mercy will — perhaps — not refuse him eternal beatitude in spite of his erroneous beliefs, or lack of faith? Truly, all deeds of love for my neighbour are only the noise of “sounding brass” if I am uninterested in his finding the true God, and in his becoming a member in the Mystical Body of Christ: if I am uninterested in his greatest good.”