As
promised, this is my transcription of the first sermon I mentioned the other day, entitled "Christ is the Point", which you may listen to here. My transcription of second sermon, "Spiritual Contraception", will be coming soon!
What we'll start
with is, for the most part, a long quote, with some editing and paraphrasing,
from the work of Fr. Horace K. Mann.
The Synod in
Rome of 897 was really something.
Unwillingly, and in fear, the bishops and other clergy were gathered
together by the Pope's orders.
But Pope Stephen
VII had commanded that someone even more important attend the Synod. He had commanded that Formosus attend the
Synod. OK, so who was Formosus? Well, Formosus had been the Pope, from
October 891 until April of 896. And Pope Stephen commanded that Formosus be
present for the Synod...even though he had been dead for 9 months. So the corpse of the unfortunate Pope
Formosus, still more or less entire, but of course, half corrupt, was dug up,
clothed in full pontifical vestments, and placed on a seat before the
assembly. A deacon was assigned to speak
for the dead Pope and answer the charges laid against him, while Pope Stephen
sat in the judgment seat.
That's right: a
dead Pope. A dead Pope: Dug up, dressed up, propped up, and put on trial…by the
living Pope.
Now, in order to
understand the charges that Pope Stephen made against Formosus, we have to
realize that the ancient tradition demanded that a bishop remain with his flock
through thick and thin, and that he could only be ‘translated’ (which means
moving him from one diocese to another) in the most exceptional circumstances. This
tradition was obviously rooted in the idea of spiritual fatherhood – something
that used to be important in the Church.
Okay. So,
Formosus was already the bishop of Porto – a diocese just outside of Rome -
before he was elevated to the see of St Peter, and, in fact, he had originally
refused the honor of the Papacy and had actually fled to the altar of his
church, from which he had to be dragged, still clinging to the altar
cloth. Now, with all that as background,
let's return to the trial: The central
charge leveled against Formosus was that at the time of his election, he was
already the bishop of Porto, and therefore his election as the Bishop of Rome,
as the pope, was invalid.
Formosus was
found guilty as charged. I guess the deacon didn’t do such a hot job answering.
And so, he was anathematized and - worse yet - his ordinations were declared to
be null and void! In other words, all
the men that Formosus had ordained to the priesthood or consecrated as bishops
were declared to have never been ordained. (And of course, that meant, that
none of their Masses had been Masses; none of their absolutions in the
confessional would actually have absolved anybody of any sin; none of the anointings
would have actually been anointings; etc, etc!)
Then they began abusing Formosus' dead body: it was stripped of its
sacred vestments and then dressed in lay clothing. They actually cut off the three fingers of his
right hand that he had used to use to impart the papal blessing when he was
alive.
By
the order of Stephen, he was buried in ground reserved for pilgrims. (As his
body was being dragged away for burial, fresh blood was flowing out of its
mouth on to the pavement.) Shortly thereafter, he was dug up again, and this
time, thrown into the Tiber (the river which flows through Rome). Although some blame Pope Stephen for this, it
seems more likely this was done by treasure-hunters who were searching for
valuables.
The night that
Formosus was thrown into the Tiber, a terrible storm broke out over the
city. The Tiber began to flood. The corpse was carried along by the rushing
river, until it was finally thrown up onto the bank near Porto. Three days
later, Formosus appeared in a vision to a monk, and asked him to go and bury
his dead body, and the monk did so.
What became of
Pope Stephen? A few months later, during an insurrection, he was seized, loaded
with chains, cast into a dungeon, and strangled.
In December of
987, Pope Theodore II caught wind of the burial of Formosus in Porto. So he ordered the body to be brought back to
Rome with the greatest solemnity; so they processed with the singing of psalms
and hymns, and torches and incense, and so forth. He was clothed once again in pontifical
vestments, brought into St Peter's Basilica, where, in the presence of Pope
Theodore, Mass was said for Formosus, and his body was restored to its
tomb. One chronicler reports that he had
it “from most religious men of Rome” that when the body was brought to St Peter's,
it was “reverentially saluted” by certain images of
the saints.
The next Pope,
John IX – who ruled from January 898 to January 900 – rehabilitated
Formosus. He called two Synods, during
which he condemned the acts of Stephen's Synod, and ordered that they be
burnt. He forbid “re-ordinations” of the
bishops and priests who had been ordained by Formosus but declared to be laymen
by Pope Stephen - and re-instated them to their offices.
Sometimes it is
really hard to believe the things the Pope does, or says...
In the past few
months, a lot of pious people have – understandably - gotten pretty worked up
over statements made by Our Holy Father Pope Francis. The secular press and the
mainstream liberal Catholic press are having a hay day; as for the conservative
Catholic commentators, they seem to be scattered all over the place, ranging
from doing out-and-out verbal gymnastics and cartwheels trying to explain
phrases, or explain them away - to falling into apparent discouragement, or
anger, or even accusals of heresy and modernism on the other side.
And the priests
have been hit with questions like: What are we – as faithful Catholics – to
make of all this? How should we
react? Or should we react at all? What if it gets worse?
We started with
the trial of Formosus, the point being that whatever is going on these days, it
doesn't even hold a candle to that nightmarish situation.
One Pope
ordering another Pope, 9 months in the grave, be dug up, dressed up, propped up
on a chair, charged with crimes, with a deacon answering for him? Then the vestments torn off his body – they actually
tried to tear his body to pieces but it was too strong to dismember - the
fingers he used for blessing cut off – tossed in a simple grave.
It’s unbelievable.
But it didn't
end there. It didn't end there.
Pope Sergius III
– who reigned from 904-911 – called ANOTHER Roman Synod. By using violence, bribery, threats of exile
and other evils, Sergius III got the Roman clergy to once again agree that the
holy orders conferred by Formosus were null and void. Now is turning into a
colossal mess. Over time, many men had been ordained to the priesthood or
consecrated as bishops by the men who had been consecrated by Formosus. And so now
these men's ordinations were suddenly declared null and void as well. Which, of course, implied that none of their
Masses had actually been Masses; none of their sacramental absolutions had had
any effect; no one that they had anointed had actually been anointed, etc,
etc! Talk about a mess! Many of them submitted to re-ordination, but
as you can well imagine, the whole ecclesiastical world of Italy was thrown
into a tumultuous uproar. Little
Guiseppe six-pack doesn't know if his priest is a priest! He doesn't know if his bishop is a
bishop! He doesn't know if his dying
grandmother had actually been anointed!
And the reason
he doesn't know this - is because of the misbehaviors of the POPES! Now if the
Church wasn't a work of God, there is no way we could survive something like
this.
Pope Stephen VII
and Sergius III were certainly wrong, and seriously wrong. A validly conferred
ordination can NOT be repeated...
Wait a
minute, Padre, did you say that those Popes were wrong?
Yes, I did.
But I thought that
Popes were infallible.
They are, in
certain conditions. And we are going to cover that, and a lot of other details
about Papal teaching, in another sermon.
The important thing today is to realize that not one of the Popes who
are known or who are believed to have held false views on the conditions which
make ordinations invalid ever tried to impose his ideas on the whole
Church.
My friends,
starting with St. Peter denying the Lord three times and fleeing from the
Cross, throughout history there have been crazy things both said and done by
the Popes. We've weathered some pretty
dreadful storms. And we'll weather this
one, too – at least, everyone who doesn't get panicky and jump overboard...
So, supposing
that a Pope says or does something that causes consternation: What should a
faithful Catholic do? How should a
faithful Catholic react? And should he
react at all?
Well, the first
thing to do is to keep everything in perspective and remain calm. Keep it in perspective. Let's just stand back from the concrete
situation for a minute and do a thought experiment: Imagine you’re on a boat, and it’s in a
typhoon, so it’s getting tossed around; you’ve got the wind howling, you have 70-foot
seas – and suddenly you learn – you’re hanging on for dear life – and suddenly
you learn that up in the wheelhouse, you have a bunch of drunks having a
fist-fight. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna let go and jump overboard? Or are you gonna keep hanging on for dear
life? You might not appreciate what they’re doing up there, but who cares? It’s
a storm, you hang on. It's a no-brainer.
That’s what you would do.
Okay. Well, by the Grace of God, we are in the
Catholic Church. That means that we are
already in the Ark of Salvation. And
this ship WON'T sink; it CAN'T sink, or
we priests would’ve done it a long time ago. It just can’t work like that; it’s
a work of God. So even if we had a bunch
of characters going crazy up in the wheelhouse, the very last thing we wanna do
is jump overboard. We just need to keep some perspective, keep calm, and hang
on!
We need to keep
in mind, it’s a salvation issue. In order to preserve our union with Christ, we
have to preserve our union with our Holy Father the Pope; we have to preserve
our union with the local bishop; we have to preserve our union with our priest.
The hierarchy is of divine origin. And that union is not based on how we feel about it; we have to have that
union on Christ’s terms, not our terms. It might be crazy up there in the
wheelhouse, but all we have to do is hang on. Okay?
So if we've been
working on our relationship with Christ, if we've been saying our Rosary and
keeping close to the Sacraments, if we're staying in the state of Grace, then
even when the storms blow and things seem crazy on the outside, we should be able
to preserve peace in our hearts. We should have an inner peace and a calm in
our hearts. That's really important, to keep
that inner peace. The Lord works in calm and peace; it’s the devil who fishes
in stormy waters.
So, if the Pope
says or does something that causes consternation, take a deep breath, say a
prayer to remain calm, pray for the Pope, and relax. God's in charge, and He
hasn't abandoned us – and He's NOT going to abandon us. That's just
foundational...
So the first
thing to do is keep some perspective and keep calm.
Second: We also
need to keep in mind that the fact that the Pope can’t change anything that is
essential to salvation. As we've said,
later we'll take a detailed look at what the Church teaches concerning the
Papacy, but for today, it's sufficient to realize that the Pope can't change
anything that is essential for salvation. He might make things pretty rough,
but it won't be impossible. Stay on board.
Third: Get closer to Our Lady. During the Passion of Our Lord, who stayed
faithful at the Foot of the Cross until the bitter end? It wasn't the Pope. With one exception, it wasn't the
Apostles. During the Passion, the ones
who stayed faithful until the bitter end were those who stayed close to Our
Lady through it all. As we enter into the Passion of the Church, let's be very,
very careful to stay close to Our Lady.
Say your rosary; wear your Scapular, and practice the True Devotion of
St Louis de Montfort or that of St Maximilian Kolbe.
And fourth:
Don't let yourself be scandalized. This is essential. Quick review so everybody knows what we’re
talking about here: What is
scandal? St Thomas says that scandal
occurs whenever “a man either intends, by his evil word or deed, to lead
another man into sin, or, if he does not so intend, when his deed is of such a nature as to lead another
into sin.”
So scandal is an action or a word which can lead another
into sin. And being scandalized means
allowing another's action or word lead us to sin – OK? Let's take an example: suppose a girl wears a bikini in public. By
wearing something like that, she is guilty of scandal, since her deed is of
such a nature as to lead others into sin, whether she intends to or not. OK. So she is guilty of scandal. But every
single guy that sees her, and ALLOWS himself to fall into sin, is guilty of
being scandalized, OK? So – as soon the
man who is serious about saving his soul sees this girl – he would have to
quickly move his eyes, and his mind's eye away from her, okay?
OK. The same principles apply with the words and
behavior of the Pope, or any cleric.
It is especially
important that we don't let ourselves be scandalized by anything the Pope says
or does because this could very easily damage our faith - or even cause us to
lose the faith. So we need to be careful
about that. We also need to be careful about what we think or say about the
Holy Father, because the 4th Commandment certainly applies here, and sometimes
people don’t seem to recognize that. Just like it applies to your physical dad,
it applies to the Holy Father. We have to honor him. We have to be very careful what we read and
listen to: a lot of what passes for Catholic commentary is really just so much
ecclesiastical porn, and that’s the nicest word I can think of for it.
So, quit reading that book, that magazine,
that newspaper, that website. Quit
listening to this or that person, or this or that priest whose preaching is not
leading us closer to Christ, who is getting us riled up and fomenting anger or
hatred in our heart against the Holy Father, or against the Church. We need to
pray for him and get busy reading things that will bring us closer to Christ
and His Mother. In order to keep ourselves from being scandalized, we could take
the advice St. Philip Neri used to give his directees; he was alive during another
era of great scandal in the Church, St Philip used to tell his directees: I
don't care what you read, as long as the author's name starts with “St.” Good
advice!
The Inspired
advice of St Paul (found in Philippians 4) is perfect here: Be not anxious; but
in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your
petitions be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding, will keep your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus. For the rest, brethren, whatsoever things are true,
whatsoever modest, whatsoever just, whatsoever holy, whatsoever lovely: think
on these things. That’s the Holy Spirit.
Be not anxious,
brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever modest, whatsoever just,
whatsoever holy, whatsoever lovely... think on these things.
One last thought
on scandal: That great Doctor of the Church,
St Francis de Sales said, “While those who give scandal are guilty of the
spiritual equivalent of murder, those who take scandal — who allow scandals to
destroy their faith — are guilty of spiritual suicide.”
OK. If you're getting too worked up, relax, don't
worry, go have a cold one. I’m totally
serious. Christ hasn't abandoned us. We might abandon Him – but He won't
abandon us. We might abandon Him – by allowing
ourselves to get too discouraged and falling into despair; by allowing
ourselves to become scandalized, and jumping overboard, and drowning in the waves
of apostasy, heresy, schism, and scandal and sedevacantism.
Stay calm. Keep your inner peace. Stay close to Our Lady. Don't let yourself be scandalized. Remember that Pope can't change anything that
is essential to salvation. He can make
things pretty rough, but it won't be impossible. Stay on board.
Let's close with
some thoughtful comments written by Frank Sheed during the terrible chaos
following the Council. Frank Sheed:
“In
the criticisms uttered by many... there is a failure to see Christ as the whole
point. So much in the daily running of
the Church they find depressing – the sermons, they say, take no one deeper
into the reality of God or man; this priest or that cares for nothing but money,
the sick are neglected, the old are rejected; the hierarchy know nothing of the
emotional or intellectual problems which are eating away at their people's
faith, the Curia is simply a bureaucracy, using every trick to hold on to its
power; as for the pope...
“It
all adds up to ‘the Institutional Church’, with so many wondering if their
spiritual integrity will permit them to remain in it.
“But
Institutional Israel, the Chosen People, as the Prophets show it, was even
worse than the harshest critics think the Catholic Church, yet it never
occurred to the holiest of the Jews to leave it. They knew that however evilly the
administration behaved, Israel was still the people of God. So with the Church:
an administration is necessary if the Church is to function, but Christ is the
whole point of the functioning. We are not baptized into the hierarchy, we do
not receive the cardinals sacramentally, we will not spend eternity in the
beatific vision of the pope.
“St.
John Fisher could say in a public sermon, ‘If the Pope will not reform the
Curia, God will’: a couple of years later he laid his head on Henry VIII's
block for papal supremacy, followed to the same block by St Thomas More, who
had spent his youth under the Borgia pope, Alexander VI, lived his early
manhood under the Medici pope, Leo X, and died for papal supremacy under
Clement VII, as time-serving a pope as Rome had had.
“Christ
is the point. I myself admire the present Pope [he was writing of Paul VI]; but
even if I criticized as harshly as some do, even if his successor proved to be
as bad as some of those who have gone before, even if I sometimes find the
Church (as I have to live in it) a pain in the neck, I should still say that
nothing a pope could do or say would make me wish to leave the Church,
though I might well wish that he would. Israel, through its best periods as
through its worst, preserved the truth of God's Oneness in a world swarming
with gods – and the sense of God's majesty in a world sick with its own pride. So with the Church. Under the worst
administration – say as bad as John XII's a thousand years ago – we could still
learn Christ's truth, still receive His life in the sacraments, still be in
union with Him to the limit of our willingness.”
[Repeats these
quotes:]
“While those who
give scandal are guilty of the spiritual equivalent of murder, those who take
scandal — who allow scandals to destroy their faith — are guilty of spiritual
suicide.”
“In the
criticisms uttered by many, there is a failure to see Christ as the whole point.”
“We are not
baptized into the hierarchy, we do not receive the cardinals
sacramentally, (we) will not spend
eternity in the beatific vision of the pope.”
“Nothing a pope
could do or say would make me wish to leave the Church, though I might
well wish that he would.
“Under the worst
administration – we could still learn Christ's truth, still receive His life in
the sacraments, still be in union with Him to the limit of our willingness.
Christ is the point.”
“Christ is the
Point.”
AMEN!
ReplyDeleteWow. Wonderful and needed, especially by me. Thank you. Kathy
ReplyDelete