(Malachi 1:14 - 2: 2, 8-10; 1st. Thessalonians 2:7-9, 13; Matthew 23:1-12)
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, our readings today are topical: we are told of some priests who lead people astray by their bad example and faulty teaching and, in passing, of some lay-people who promise much but produce little.
If we take a look at the lay person mentioned in our
first reading:
Cursed be the swindler who has a male in his flock and
vows it, but sacrifices a blemished animal to (Me)," says the LORD of
hosts, "for I am a great King.
There, someone vows to offer a fine animal in sacrifice
to the Lord, but then, after second thoughts, substitutes a blemished, and
unworthy one in its stead, saving himself some money thereby.
I write as a retired parish priest and former curate, and
priest(s) and parishioners are well aware of seemingly fine Catholics who in no way live up to the impression they
give in parish life. They may be
relatively well off but put little or nothing on the collection plate; they may
speak the right words but will not perform, they frequently criticise but never
seem to help; they usually require certain standards, such as clean pews and
nice flowers, but never have time to join any rota for church cleaning and the
provision of flowers. I don't wish to
overemphasise the point, however, for no one living in any parish can be
ignorant of what I am describing, unless, perhaps, they are themselves among
the culprits.
Then we heard of some priests of the tribe of Levi
dishonouring the Lord:
“And now this commandment is for you, O priests. If you do not listen, and if you do not take
it to heart to give honour to My name," says the LORD of hosts, "then
I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings."
In this respect Pope St. Gregory the Great, who sent St.
Augustine to bring the faith here way back in the year 597, over 1400 years
ago, bitterly complains in one of his sermons that there were thousands of
priests in the Church at that time, but so many of them did not do the work of
priests:
“Look how the world is full of priests, yet only very
rarely is one of them to be found at work in God's harvest.”
There is no doubt that things are much better now in that
respect, for the great majority of priests give themselves sincerely to work in
God's vineyard. Nevertheless,
human sinfulness, ignorance and weakness, are still part of every human being’s
make up, and so there are today instances of priests dishonouring the
Lord. Malachi said in the first reading
to them:
The lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men
should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of the LORD of
hosts; but as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many
to stumble by (your) instruction; ….
you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction.
The Pharisees to whom Jesus spoke in the Gospel reading
were neither priests nor lay-people.
They were religious leaders and guides, handing down the religious
traditions of Israel which they interpreted according to their own group
principles and practices. In that way
they were, as Malachi said of the priests of his times, partial in their
instruction: smothering the observance of the Law with the stifling burden of
their own innumerable regulations and restrictions, which earned them these
words of Jesus:
They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men's
shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a
finger.
The Pharisees prided themselves on their fidelity to the
Law, and tended to look down on others who were neither so learned nor so
meticulously observant as themselves.
Pride, that is, inclined them to arrogance.
Today, however, People of God, it can happen at times, that
priests who fail the Lord and their people, do so, not out of a perverse or
domineering attitude towards people but, from a mistaken understanding of how
to honour God. They want to make Him
more easily appreciated by their people, more immediately likeable and
understandable to them, and so they seek to make themselves -- as His servants
and representatives -- popular with, liked by, even loved by, the people to
whom they have been sent. They try to be
found humanly understanding and sympathetic, whilst studiously avoiding any
appearance of teaching with authority, correcting or reproving. St. Gregory the Great, again, speaks of this
in his 'Pastoral Rule' saying:
“Just as thoughtless remarks can lead people into
error, so also ill-advised silence can leave people in their error …
Negligent religious leaders are often afraid to speak freely and say what needs
to be said – for fear of losing favour with people.”
Besides keeping silent for the sake of popularity -- and
they think they are making Jesus popular too, don't forget -- such priests and bishops
may also pursue the same end by over-adapting the Gospel truth to modern
opinions and expectations: the Gospel's strictures are softened; hard words of
Jesus are passed over or explained away, while those of the apostles, especially
St. Paul, omitted altogether; the word 'love' is much used, indeed it is bandied
around repeatedly, despite the fact that 'love', in our world of today can and
does commonly mean attitudes that are quite contrary to the Gospel; and the
Christian word 'charity' is no longer understood or used.
However, just as the prophet Malachi reproved both faulty
priest and what he called 'swindling' lay people, so also St. Gregory is
even-handed in his appreciation of what was wrong in the Church of his time:
“It is often the fault of those in their care that
leaders are deprived of the opportunity preach … sometimes preachers are
prevented from speaking through the sinfulness of those in their care, as the
Lord says to Ezekiel: 'I will make your tongue cleave to the roof of your
mouth, so that you shall be dumb and unable to reprove them; for they are a
rebellious house.' It is as if he had
said quite openly: you are not allowed to preach, precisely because this people
is not worthy to have the truth preached to it.”
In such situations priests can be encouraged in their
pursuit of popularity by people who want to hear only good news, or those who
want the priest to preach only that which they themselves want to practice, or
finally those who simply want the sermon to end as soon as possible.
And so, People of God, it has always been the same: in
the times of the Prophets, in the Church of Jesus Himself, of St. Gregory the
Great (about the year 600 AD.) and still today in our times, there are some
leaders, priests and religious, bishops and popes, who go astray and fail both
God and their people for reasons that can be quite personal, professional, or perhaps,
even sordid, reasons for which, at times, not only those leaders and priests
are at fault, but also the people themselves.
What then should, what can, be done?
Listen to Jesus speaking to ordinary Israelites, including
some of His occasional ‘disciples’, semi-observant of the Law at best:
The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in
the chair of Moses; therefore, all that they tell you, do and observe, but do
not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.
Note that Jesus said 'do and observe all they tell you' because
such occasional, temporary followers of Himself, such ‘surface’ observers of
the Law, would not be harmed by the literal
law-teaching of the Scribes and Pharisees. Indeed, Jesus Himself, when teaching
His saving truths to such followers, spoke to them only in parables
Jesus bequeathed Mother Church to us as He bequeathed His
Mother Mary to John the beloved disciple; for her, Mother Church, He sustained
the Cross and poured out upon her, and now continues to bestow, His most Holy
Spirit: He knows well how to protect and sustain her no matter what her
trials. Jesus will, most certainly,
never fail those seeking Him, in sincerity and truth, through the Church which
is His Body and our Mother.
People of God, do not let those who hate Mother Church or
those who may fail her, ever diminish your confidence and trust in Jesus, or your care and solicitude for His much loved
and faithful Spouse; for Mother Church is structured and strengthened by Jesus’
abiding ’Gift’ of His most Holy Spirit and our, His People’s, service and prayers.
Today, despite the current example of the Church in Germany,
which is far from sharing fully or worthily in the name Catholic (universal)
Church, we are having synodality officially stuffed down our throats. And I, with your prayers in mind, and in my own solicitude, want to cite only one
small, most disturbing – and not only -- quote from documents sent to me
concerning the recent synod of Bishops in Rome: “Christian Initiation … Convergences
… section ‘e’ “
‘The celebration of the Eucharist …. “By calling us to
participate in his (sic!) Body and Blood, the Lord Jesus forms us into one body, with one another and
with Himself.’
Dear People of God, by calling us to participate in His
Body and Blood the Lord Jesus forms us into one Body with Himself directly. The words “forms us into one body with one
another” are misplaced and also dangerously ambiguous: they can, possibly
and rightly, mean ‘forms us as members of His Body, the Church’; they cannot
mean ‘forms us – you and me, neighbours and friends, here and now –
directly, into one body. Jesus
must come first, for all is through, in, Him
Jesus, in our reception of His Eucharistic Body, forms us into one Body with Himself, and all that can, in God’s design, follow such a wondrous fact and truth, is dependent on, subservient to, for the glorious fulfilment of, that unique, self-standing, truth.
