The ongoing crisis in the Church raises numerous questions of Catholics about some issues concerning the infallibility of St. Peter’s successors. Father Augustyn Pelanowski O.S.P.P.E. refered to the matter in his homily.
In his homily the Paulin monk takes the question of the true knowledge of God into consideration. “Is my knowledge of God in conformity with His teaching or is it a subjective judgment?” – Father Pelanowski ponders, revealing that before delivering the homily he prayed for being God’s instrument and preaching what is in accordance with His will. “Can we imagine Our Lord however we like? Or the way He would like to exist in us?”, Fr. Pelanowski asks.
Wesprzyj nas już teraz!
“Our Lord Jesus speaks about wolves in sheep’s clothing in a metaphor. The wolf is the truth about the wolf and the sheep’s clothing is the notion the wolf has about itself. But it also might be this way that the thief dressed up as a shepherd thinks he is a shepherd but actually he isn’t him at all. I’m thinking about the Pharisees about whom so much has already been said. They have a terrible reputation although they were very pious people, really believing, religious, ascetic… Those Pharisees had degenerated in their religiousness so much that they preferred human commentaries, interpretations to the Word of God. Legal articles were put above the intention of the Holy Spirit in their imaginations. They limited themselves only to words, they lost contact with the will of the Holy Spirit, with His breath. They set themselves above God which as a matter of fact was repeatedly proven to them by Jesus. We will all agree that it’s hypocrisy to prefer people’s statements to God’s teaching. It would also be idolatry of a person or institution if any authority usurped the right to change God’s teaching, if someone said: I know better then God or said: it is not like that” – Fr. Augustyn Pelanowski points out, explaining at the same time the principle of papal authority.
In his homily the monk reminded of that conversation between Our Lord and St. Peter in which the Son of God asked the Apostles who people said He was. “The time is as it is when this conversation is actually taking place in front of our very eyes. Jesus asked this question and the Apostles gave different answers. Only Peter told the apposite Truth, the Truth in accordance with Jesus’ expectations. He said who Jesus truly was, not what He seemed to be to people. He answered with the Truth in conformity with the Revelation: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” – the Paulin monk says, pointing out that answering to the Truth expressed by Peter, Our Lord told him the truth about himself – the truth about Peter as the Rock on which His Church was built. This is how the primacy of Peter began. But, as Fr. Pelanowski explains, Peter is the Rock as long as he tells the truth about who Our Lord Jesus Christ is because in another scene – when Jesus prophesied His Cross – Peter objected to it, he wanted to censor and not to talk about His Passion and therefore he heard in answer: Get behind me, Satan!
“This means that when a pope tells the truth about Jesus he is a pope, but when he lies about Him – he stops being a pope” – the monk points out in his homily.
“Sometimes someone asks me, how to understand this in the context of all these ambiguities that have appeared in the Church, who should we listen to? It simple: Get behind me, Satan! Saying it other way: as long as you, Peter, say the truth about me – you are Kefas, Pope, but when you lie about me, when you manipulate my truth then you’re influenced by Satan and Satan is not to be listened to but exorcised. Our Lord did not reject Peter. He exorcised him and Peter agreed with the Truth, he became meek and improved, he accepted that correction, the Correcto fraternal” – the Paulin monk says.
It is necessary to distinguish – says Fr. Pelanowski – people’s subjective opinions about what God is from the Truth in conformity with Our Lord’s teaching, with the deposit. People couldn’t listen to a pope only because he is a pope if he stated that e.g. there was no Son of God and Christ was a liar. Or if he talked about the “Holy Four Persons of God”, undermined the fact that abortion is a sin or said that there were “homosexual marriages”. “That would be idolatrous to unquestioningly believe everything such a person said” – Fr. Pelanowski points out.
“Someone has asked me: Father, in paragraph 3 of Amoris Laetitia there are such words: Since “time is greater than space”, I would make it clear that not all discussions of doctrinal, moral or pastoral issues need to be settled by interventions of the magisterium. Does it mean that the dogmatic or moral doctrine can be changed depending on a latitude? I wonder – I got such a question, this is paragraph 3 of Amoris Laeitita – does it mean that in Poland adultery is a sin, but in Germany it is not? Did Jesus want it this way? Did Jesus say so?… I don’t mean to criticize anybody here but I’m offering a problem to consider – Father Pelanowski says.
“Pope’s teaching is infallible only when it is in conformity with Jesus’ teaching. And Jesus didn’t tell his Apostles this way: You must go to the whole world and proclaim a different Gospel, depending on a place say something different, depending on what people want to listen to. He told them to preach the same Gospel everywhere, regardless of the latitude” – says the Paulin monk reminding us that the Church doesn’t require naïve obedience and in spiritual matters we need to use reason while the Pope is infallible in the matters of faith and morality if he says what Jesus said – as Cdl. Burke has reminded us recently.
In one of the scenes of the New Testament, Fr. Pelanowski notices, Our Lord appreciates Nathanael’s prudence. He knew the Bible and therefore he wasn’t very enthusiastic about Jesus Christ when Philip mistakenly told him that Christ was from Nazareth. Nathanael knew that in the Scripture Judea and Bethlehem were mentioned as the birthplace of the Savior. Jesus praised such an attitude: Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit! We also have to know the Scriptures, the Gospel teaching not to be deceived by an imitation of Truth, by false messiahs – says the Paulin monk.
“We are faithful to the Catholic Church and the twentieth centuries of her teaching and first of all to Jesus’ teaching” – he reminds us. “It is an extremely important thing, worth praising in the eyes of Jesus himself, not to be naïve in looking for the Savior or not to be blind following another blind person, not to fall into eternal damnation” – he adds recalling also St. Augustine’s words: If you don’t know the Bible, you don’t know Christ! To know Christ you must needs know the Scripture very well – adds the monk.
“Because many imitations of Salvation have appeared in recent times therefore we, Catholics, faithful to the Catholic Church, must really take care of the purity of faith. It’s easy to distinguish the true shepherd from the false one. Why? Because the true shepherd protects his sheep against wolves but the false one invites wolves to devour his sheep” – Fr. Pelanowski says in his homily, recalling St. John’s words from his letter in which he warned not to trust each spirit as not each spirituality is holy. It is necessary to examine spirits – if they are from God as there is no lack of false prophets and not everything which is spiritual comes from the Holy Spirit.
“Even the Magisterium of the Church isn’t above the word of God but we must serve it, explain what the Scripture contains. Christ states clearly: Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she marries another, she commits adultery. Is it written so? Yes, it is! So there cannot be any teaching that opposes what Jesus said” – Fr. Pelanowski reminds us.
The monk agrees with the opinion of Bp. Athanasius Schneider who has noticed that there are hierarchs who want a different gospel, the “gospel” of the right to divorce, sexual license, the gospel without the sixth commandment and they use stratagems, rhetoric, manipulation, oblique statements and half-truths in order to admit divorced and remarried people to Holy Communion without fulfilling the condition of living in full chastity which is required by the Law of God. “I agree with him because this is the same teaching which is in the Gospel and the twentieth centuries of the Catholic Church teaching” – Fr. Pelanowski adds in his homily.
As he points out, where re-married divorcees are admitted to Holy Communion, confession becomes unnecessary as everyone, even Emma Bonino, can receive Communion. Then we have public sacrilege on a large scale and the Gospel will become an anti-Gospel, the gospel of this world. In the presence of such a gospel – Fr. Pelanowski says – even beautified by such words as “mercy”, “motherly care” or “accompanying”, St. Paul’s words from his letter to the Galatians should be recalled: there is no other Gospel! But there are some who are confusing you. St. Paul says: But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you – and not one letter, not one stroke of a letter will pass – let that one be accursed! “We also curse such people. I’m not afraid of signing under St. Paul” – Fr. Augustyn adds.
“Someone might say now that I’m destroying the Church. Am I destroying the Church reminding you of the Truth? Or is it that one who says that the Truth is not the Truth any more?” – the monk says in his homily, adding that “Who destroys the Church he will be destroyed by God”.
Ending his homily Fr. Pelanowski also recalled St. Peter’s story from the New Testament. The first pope treated converted Gentiles of Antioch appropriately but in the presence of Christians of the Jewish origin he changed his approach. St. Paul pointed out his wrong behavior but – as Fr. Pelanowski notices – then the power of Peter revealed when he admitted making a mistake of wanting to please everyone, which is hypocrisy.
MWł
