The Mystical Body of Christ

Sunday’s gospel reading focused on the “Parable of the Weeds among the Wheat” (Matthew 13: 24-30). In the allegory a gardener sows good seed in his field, only to have someone defile it overnight by adding weeds to it. When the crop emerges the gardener’s slaves see the weeds and ask if they should tear them from the ground. The gardener answers, “No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until the harvest.”

Most commentaries on this parable suggest that Jesus was instructing his followers to be patient with the lost sheep of the flock. In fact, The New American Bible’s footnote (Memorial Bible Publishers, 1976) to the tale explains the “moral of the story” as such:

“The refusal of the householder to allow his slaves to separate the wheat from the weeds while they are still growing is a warning to his disciples to not to anticipate the final judgment of God by a definitive exclusion of sinners from the kingdom.” (New American Bible, p 1174)

The above analysis is logical and corresponds with Jesus’ other parables describing God’s infinite mercy and love. (For ex., from the “Parable of the Lost Sheep” we learn that even the loss of one soul deeply saddens God.) However, after contemplating the Weeds among the Wheat parable, I believe Christ’s message is more concerned with protecting the Mystical Body than with sinners and their exclusion from paradise.

Pope Pius XII discusses the doctrine of the Mystical Body in his 1943 encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi:

“We would define and describe this true Church of Jesus Christ—which is the One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Roman Church—we shall find nothing more noble, more sublime, or more divine than the expression ‘the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ’—an expression which springs from and is, as it were, the fair flowering of the repeated teaching of the Sacred Scriptures and the holy Fathers.” (Mystici, 13)

“That the Church is a body is frequently asserted in the Sacred Scriptures. ‘Christ,’ says the Apostle, ‘is the Head of the Body of the Church.’ If the Church is a body, it must be an unbroken unity, according to those words of Paul: ‘Though many we are one body in Christ.’” (Mystici, 14)

“Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed.”

(Mystici, 22)

Catholic thought teaches that Judgment Day will come when the Mystical Body is complete, fully-matured:

“For this reason St. Paul says that Christ is being brought to fulfillment, and thus he achieves the fullness of life, that is, the mystical stature that he has in his mystical body, which will reach completion only on judgment day.”

(The Mystery of Christ in us and in the Church, St. John Eudes)

This eschatological principle is essential to understanding the gardener’s refusal to tear out the weeds. He does not reject the option in the hopes that the weeds will eventually become wheat or because they may serve a future unknown purpose. He rejects the choice because the slaves “might uproot the wheat along with them [weeds].” Tearing out the wheat would prevent it from ripening, maturing to full-growth. Without full-growth the harvest would be incomplete. Similarly, passing judgment on the wicked before the souls of the elect have matured would leave the Mystical Body incomplete, immature.

One final note: When explaining the parable to his disciples, Christ defines the weeds as “the children of the evil one”—hardly a sympathetic term asking for patience. (Matthew 13:38)

Donald Tremblay

Mass Conversion in Rome ’s Future?

Damian Thompson covers the Roman Catholic Church for the London newspaper the Daily Telegraph. His “Holy Smoke” columns often raise issues that you rarely read in American religious publications and virtually never read in our secular newspapers. An example of this can be found in his Wednesday, July 16 column “Benedict is Encouraging Anglican Converts” (http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/damian_thompson/blog/2008/07/16/benedict_is_encouraging_anglican_converts)

Thompson correctly points out that “progressive” American Catholics are horrified at the prospect of a mass conversion of orthodox Anglicans to the Roman Church. In response they are spreading the fallacy that Pope Benedict rejects any support of those in conflict with the Anglican churches latest moves supporting homosexual clergy and women bishops:

“Liberals claim that Pope Benedict has ‘let it be known that he does not support the defection of conservative Anglicans to the Roman

Catholic Church’. He has done no such thing.

The Pope is supporting moves by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to construct a model whereby a group of rebel conservative Anglicans, the Traditional Anglican Communion, can be received en masse and occupy their own structures inside the Roman Catholic Church. This model which is being constructed in secret – could serve as a blueprint for mainstream Anglicans wanting to convert as a group.”

Thompson also reminds readers that this is not the first time that Pope Benedict has supported conservative Anglicans. In 2003 then-Cardinal Ratzinger “sent a personal message of support to conservative Anglicans meeting in Dallas ,” an action that put him in conflict with the Vatican ’s ecumenism representatives.

Read Thompson’s column.

Donald Tremblay

Smaller, But More Devout

An interesting column can be found on www.spirit.daily.com entitled “DOES POPE AIM TO BRING CHURCH BACK BY MAKING IT SMALLER, PURER, MORE

DEVOUT?” (http://www.spiritdaily.com/smallchurch.htm) Perhaps Pope Benedict is reading the signs of the times. Secular humanism has enticed many in this world, reminding one of Christ’s words that His second coming would be preceded by the deception of many. This deception would naturally lead to a smaller, more zealous flock. Smaller because of the loss of those lead astray; more zealous because those who withstood the trial by fire emerged spiritually stronger. Could the Pope have this in mind?

Another reason the Pope may be working towards a smaller, purer Church is for ecclesiological reasons, as is mentioned by Dr. Joseph Maucier in The Millennial Papacy.

"We might take a moment here to ponder the thoughts of Pope Benedict on the character and activity of the Church in the coming decades of the third millennium. His analysis is not economical but ecclesiological. Nonetheless he looks at both possibilities. Pope Benedict has spoken of a smaller, more faithful Church as perhaps the model of the Church for these perilous times, not unlike the early Church in its intense solidarity.”

There’s a lot to be said for Maucier’s view. Arguably, the Church never flourished as much or saw a greater intensity of devoutness than in the early days of its inception. Despite the persecutions its sized continued to grow exponentially. One might even argue that it grew as quickly and as strongly as it did because of the persecutions. Many believe the Church is facing its greatest persecution since those early days. If so, that smaller, purer approach may be just what is needed.

After all it did work once.

Donald Tremblay

I Desire Mercy, Not Sacrifice

I went to a function over the weekend that started as a birthday party for a 12-year-old cousin, but quickly morphed into a family reunion since many of us were seeing each other for the first time in years. In fact, when I shook hands with my cousin Kenneth it was the first time we’d crossed paths in nearly three decades. We all reminisced and the conversation inevitably led to the matriarch of my mother’s family, my deceased grandmother who lived to the ripe age of 95.

The woman had lived a difficult life since arriving at Ellis Island as a little girl with her Polish family. She gave birth to 10 children, but only seven survived until adulthood. A set of twins died at birth and a 10-year-old daughter died after the poison from her abscessed tooth shot to her brain. She buried her husband and four sons, all of whom were alcoholics. When she said goodbye to the last of her sons she told those in earshot that she “was supposed to be the one in the casket, not her son.” And then she added the words that all parents feel when they lose a child: “It’s not normal to bury your kids.” Later in life when she was in her 60s, she raised one of my cousins, rescuing her from an unfit mother.

Later that night as I drove home from the party, I was reminded of a conversation I had with Monsignor Cassato from St. Athanasius Church in Brooklyn , NY . I was considering writing a column about how the Church was doing a poor job teaching the flock Catholic doctrine and dogmas. I asked the monsignor his thoughts and he said, “Donald, we try when we can. The truth is there is so much sadness and pain in the world that often we don’t have the time to do that. You wouldn’t believe the calls we get every day from people, beaten down by life.”

Beaten down by life.

I think of my grandmother now, and perhaps for the first time in my life I truly understand Christ’s scolding of his fellow Jews for not understanding the words, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” We all need to remember, and I may need this reminder more than anyone, that as we defend the Faith we must keep compassion foremost in our minds. It’s not easy sometimes. Some people’s personalities make it very difficult to do so. But it’s at these times that we need to remember Christ’s description of the last judgment to his disciples:

“Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:

Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee? Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee? And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me. “ (Matthew 25: 34-40)

Donald Tremblay

This Is How it Begins

Yes, this is how it begins. Sure we have a first amendment, but activist judges will find a way around that inconvenience. It’ll start the way it did in places like Canada . Laws will be passed to prevent discrimination. Then those laws will be used to argue that “offensive” words are a form of discrimination and violate a person’s rights. Eventually the very teachings of Christianity will be considered hate speech and will result in lawsuits. Paranoia on my part? Hardly. (See: “Attack on Religious Freedom Begins in Earnest in Canada ” - Battleground Homosexuality - http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06100601.html )

We now have the beginnings of this in the United States . The Church Report Online announced in their newsletter today that “a Michigan man has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that certain Bibles from Thomas Nelson Publishing and another Bible publisher discriminate against gays.” (http://www.thecronline.com/mag_article.php?mid=1369&mname=July)

Here is the scriptural passage under dispute:

"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the Kingdom of God ? Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the Kingdom of God ." (1 Corinthians, 6:9)

Bradley Fowler, the homosexual man who has filed the lawsuit, says “he believes the use of the word homosexual in the Bibles is a misinterpretation and that the verse isn't translated correctly.”

It seems unlikely that the case will be heard . . . but it doesn’t matter. This is the beginning of the slippery slope. More lawsuits will follow in the coming months and years, each one more focused on the minutiae of the law, intent on finding a loophole that will allow an activist judge to strike a blow against the homophobic Catholic Church.

Be watchful. Be aware.

Donald Tremblay

Comic Relief

Even those who daily “fight the good fight” need a good laugh. So here’s one for today.

According to yesterday’s Daily Telegraph, a very angry group of people resent Pope Benedict XVI’s invitation to Australia for the World Youth Day celebrations. The Gay Raelian society “staged a demonstration outside Parliament House to protest the Pope's arrival for World Youth Day next week.” (http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,23994345-5006009,00.html)

What are Raelians? Well, Raelians believe that the world was created by an alien civilization 25,000 years ago. “Raelian spokeswoman Eden Bates said it was an insult that the Pope would be welcomed into Australia when ‘our gorgeous, fantastic spiritual leader Rael wasn't even given the respect of a visa’.”

Indeed. That is quite a slap in the face to our extra-terrestrial creators.

Perhaps NASCAR officials could help with the visa issue since Rael is “a Frenchman and former motor sport journalist and race-car driver whose parents, the Vorilhons, called him Claude.”

The group’s website (http://www.raeliangay.org/en/index.html) offers the following welcome to visitors:

ARAMIS is the Raelian Association of the Sexual Minorities that gathers men and women who are homosexual, bisexual, transsexuals or transgender on all five continents and was founded by RAEL, the spiritual leader of an atheist religious movement: The International Raelian Movement.

The members of ARAMIS are thus members of the philosophy of the one who was the first spiritual leader to have said that the sexual orientation is genetic and not a choice of life. . . . ARAMIS also denounces the major traditional religions that spread false beliefs that create prejudices, taboos and violence toward the GBLTT, particularly the homosexuals. In the same token, ARAMIS invites them to apostatize from their religion if the latter has homophobic writings, discourse or attitude.

You would think an alien civilization that went through the trouble of creating a world would insist that its followers focus on more important issues plaguing its creation, such as war, famine, and disease. But apparently not.

Incidentally, what is an atheist religious movement? Is that like an all-you-can-eat buffet at a weight-loss camp?

You can’t make this stuff up.

Donald Tremblay

Just When You Think You’ve Heard it All

No, I haven’t heard it all.

Every time I think I have, something else comes along to straighten me out.

In 2007, The Children’s Hospital Boston added the Gender Management Service Clinic. What is Gender Management? Good question. Well, according to an article in this month’s issue of National Catholic Register entitled “Boys will be Girls?” the clinic “allows young children to select their own gender and treats them with hormones.” (National Catholic Register: July 6-12, p 12)

Oh. And that’s not all.

“So-called ‘transgendered’ children are increasingly likely to be channeled into programs that treat them with hormones and on the road to full ‘sexual reassignment’—including amputating surgeries to give them pseudo-genitalia of the opposite sex.” (Ibid)

“Pre-adolescents are given hormone injections to delay puberty, and children as young as seven are encouraged to decide whether they want to be male or female.” (Ibid)

Disgraceful, and dangerous, as former psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore Paul McHugh wrote in a 2004 article for First Things magazine:

“I have witnessed a great deal of damage from sex-reassignment. The children transformed from their male constitution into female roles suffered prolonged distress and misery as they sensed their natural attitudes. Their parents usually lived with the guilt over their decisions–second-guessing themselves and somewhat ashamed of the fabrication, both surgical and social, they had imposed on their sons.”

Catholic Online posted a column about Boston ’s Gender Management clinic on May 8, 2008. (http://www.catholic.org/printer_friendly.php?id=27890&section=Cathcom) In the article moral theologian Father Anthony Mastroeni of Paterson NJ , who has taught at Franciscan University of Steubenville and Christendom College , blasts the idea that sex-change surgery might be morally justified:

“It does nothing but increase human misery. There’s no scientific evidence that anyone is born with gender dysphoria.”

This clinic is nothing more than a homosexual and transgender recruiting center. It is political correctness masquerading as science. But don’t expect the mass media to cover this outrage since they have been the biggest flag-waivers for the same-sex movement. It is only by reading a Catholic newspaper that I first learned of it.

Is there any doubt that the homosexual and transgender movements will stop at nothing to force their intrinsically disordered lifestyles onto the heterosexual community?

Donald Tremblay