Posted on 05/15/2018 7:28:18 AM PDT by Salvation
The first reading from Tuesday’s Mass is Paul’s farewell speech to the presbyters (priests) of the early Church. Here is a skilled bishop and pastor exhorting others who have pastoral roles within the Church. Let’s examine this text and apply its wisdom to bishops and priests as well as to parents and other leaders in the Church.
Paul’s Farewell Sermon – The scene is Miletus, a town in Asia Minor on the coast not far from Ephesus. Paul, who is about to depart for Jerusalem, summons the presbyters of the early Church at Ephesus. He has ministered there for three years and now summons the priests for this final exhortation. In the sermon, St. Paul cites his own example of having been a zealous teacher of the faith who did not fail to preach the “whole counsel of God.” He did not merely preach what suited him or made him popular; he preached it all. To these early priests, Paul leaves this legacy and would have them follow in his footsteps. Let’s look at some excerpts from this final exhortation.
From Miletus Paul had the presbyters of the Church at Ephesus summoned. When they came to him, he addressed them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time from the day I first came to the province of Asia. I served the Lord with all humility and with the tears and trials that came to me … and I did not at all shrink from telling you what was for your benefit, or from teaching you in public or in your homes. I earnestly bore witness for both Jews and Greeks to repentance before God and to faith in our Lord Jesus … But now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem … But now I know that none of you to whom I preached the kingdom during my travels will ever see my face again. And so I solemnly declare to you this day that I am not responsible for the blood of any of you, for I did not shrink from proclaiming to you the entire plan of God … (Acts 20:17-27 selected).
Here, then, is the prescription for every bishop, priest, deacon, catechist, parent, and Catholic: we should preach the whole counsel, the entire plan of God. It is too easy for us to emphasize only that which pleases us, or makes sense to us, or fits in with our world view. There are some who love the Lord’s sermons on love but cannot abide his teachings on death, judgment, Heaven, and Hell. Some love to discuss liturgy and ceremony, but the care of the poor is far from them. Others point to His compassion but neglect His call to repentance. Some love the way He dispatches the Pharisees and other leaders of the day but suddenly become deaf when the Lord warns against fornication or insists that we love our spouse, neighbor, and enemy. Some love to focus inwardly and debate doctrine but neglect the outward focus of true evangelization to which we are commanded (cf Mat 28:19).
In the Church today, we too easily divide out rather predictably along certain lines and emphases: life issues here and social justice over there, strong moral preaching here and compassionate inclusiveness over there. When one side speaks, the other side says, “There they go again!”
We must be able to say, like St. Paul, that we did not shrink from proclaiming the whole counsel of God. While this is especially incumbent on the clergy, it is also the responsibility of parents and all who attain any leadership in the Church. All the issues above are important and must have their proper places in the preaching and witness of every Catholic, both clergy and lay. While we may have particular gifts to work in certain areas, we should learn to appreciate the whole counsel and the fact that others in the Church may be needed to balance and complete our work. While we must exclude notions that stray from revealed doctrine, within doctrine’s protective walls it is necessary that we not shrink from proclaiming and appreciating the whole counsel of God.
If we do this, we will suffer. Paul speaks above of tears and trials. In preaching the whole counsel of God (not just your favorite passages or politically correct, “safe” themes), expect to suffer. Expect to not quite fit in with people’s expectations. Jesus got into trouble with just about everyone. He didn’t offend just the elite and powerful. For example, even His own disciples puzzled over His teachings on divorce, saying, “If that is the case of man not being able to divorce his wife it is better never to marry!” (Matt 19) As a result of Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist, many left Him and would no longer walk in His company (John 6). When Jesus spoke of His divine origins, many took up stones with which to stone Him, but He passed through their midst unharmed (Jn 8). In addition, Jesus spoke of taking up crosses, forgiving one’s enemies, and preferring nothing to Him. He forbade even lustful thoughts, let alone fornication, and insisted we learn to curb our unrighteous anger. Yes, preaching the whole counsel of God is guaranteed to earn us the wrath of many.
Sadly, over my years as a priest, I have had to bid farewell to many congregations. This farewell speech of Paul is a critical one I use to examine my ministry. Did I preach even the difficult things? Was I willing to suffer for the truth? Did my people hear from me the whole counsel of God or just what was “safe”?
What about you? Have you proclaimed the whole counsel of God? If you are a clergyman, when you move on; if you are a parent, when your child leaves for college; if you are a youth catechist, when the children are ready to be confirmed; if you teach in RCIA, when the time comes for Easter sacraments—can you say you preached it all? God warned Ezekiel that if he failed to warn the sinner, that sinner would surely die for his sins but that Ezekiel himself would be responsible for his death (Ez 3:17 ff). Paul can truthfully say that he is not responsible for the death (the blood) of any of them because he did not shrink from proclaiming the whole counsel of God. What about us?
We must proclaim the whole counsel of God, not just the safe or popular things, not just what agrees with our own politics or those of our friends. We must present the whole counsel, even the hard parts, even the things that are ridiculed. Yes, we must proclaim the whole counsel of God.
You could say that. God found it detestable.
Genesis 38:7-10 (KJV)
But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD took his life.And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.
Think about something that is condemned in the pages of Scripture, condemned by the prophets of Israel and the Fathers of the Church: interest on loans. This is "usury."
Do you, as a Christian, consider interest-bearing loans sinful? Why or why not.
Think about things NOT condemned in the pages of Scripture, and actually practiced by the blessed patriarchs and prophets of old: for instance, polygamy. Or slavery.
Do you, as a Christian, consider polygamy and slavery OK? Why or why not?
If brethren dwell together, and one of them die, and have no child, the wife of the dead shall not marry without unto a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in unto her, and take her to him to wife, and perform the duty of an husband's brother unto her.And it shall be, that the firstborn which she beareth shall succeed in the name of his brother which is dead, that his name be not put out of Israel.
And if the man like not to take his brother's wife, then let his brother's wife go up to the gate unto the elders, and say, My husband's brother refuseth to raise up unto his brother a name in Israel, he will not perform the duty of my husband's brother.
Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak unto him: and if he stand to it, and say, I like not to take her;
Then shall his brother's wife come unto him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face, and shall answer and say, So shall it be done unto that man that will not build up his brother's house.
And his name shall be called in Israel, The house of him that hath his shoe loosed.
All Truth of any type can come through the Holy Spirit.
Some by your physical response to the purity of the Spirit and some through wisdom in thoughts which flow as epiphanies.
There is nothing in the Bible that cannot flow through the Holy Spirit. It really puzzled me at first when scriptures that I had never read nor heard came from my mouth when filled with the Holy Spirit. Only later did I find them verbatim in the Bible.
It wasn’t just a matter of failing to fulfill the Levirate obligation, because the punishment for that is described in detail in Deuteronomy 25: 5-10: it consists of a public insult: the woman can take off the sandal of the man who refused to impregnate her, and spit in his face.
That's it: public disgrace of the man at the city gate.
But Onan was not just given public disgrace: God judged him worthy of death.
Why? Because it wasn't just his refusal of his Levirate obligation-- that only merited a public shaming --- but the WAY he did it: by performing a perverted, contracepted act.
That's why God slew him. God thought this was detestable.
The point is this: for 1900 years, all Christians---Protestant, Orthodox, Reformed, Catholic, Evangelical, all of them--- understood God's law as forbidding any kind of intentionally sterile sex, including both Onanism and Sodomy.
Now, since 1930, most of them ignore, have redefined, or have accepted, Onanism.
BTW, that's not a "development of doctrine." That's a rejection of doctrine.
Give them another 15 years, and most of the contraceptors will redefine Sodomy as well. Many of them already have, because morally they're closely related: both sodomy and contraception are the rejection of natural fertile sex, and the choice of something other than natural fertile sex.
That's not just a "slippery slope," it's a logical four-lane highway.
It does not. There is general revelation in the world, as created by God. Truth with a capital T - inspired directly and recorded in Scripture - is different than general truth identified by science or observation.
There is nothing in the Bible that cannot flow through the Holy Spirit. It really puzzled me at first when scriptures that I had never read nor heard came from my mouth when filled with the Holy Spirit. Only later did I find them verbatim in the Bible.
I don't really have any comment on your own personal experience, since I wasn't there.
He did not do the ritual of not taking his brother’s wife, and bear public shame; instead took his brother’s wife and then did not perform the act of giving her a child. Therefore, he broke the vow.
This example is why doctrine should never hang on a single historical narrative. It is akin to bad case law.
Let’s look at this another way: what if Onan never had a relationship with his brother’s wife? Would he not have violated the duty to bear his brother a child? And is it a sin to intentionally have a childless marriage, regardless of the means?
And as for the other items: fornication and sodomy are outside of marriage, despite what some of your clergy claim.
This got buried in my feed. Sorry for the late response.
The issue here is that the man refused to fulfill God's requirements in the covenant to raise up a child to his brother. It is not birth control.
I heard those words from a Protestant daughter of a Protestant Minister. Not Roman.
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Yeah, AND?
I can rattle off quite an extensive list of wicked things that Roman priests, bishops, cardinals, and Popes have said and done.
Are those supposed to reflect on all Catholics?
Sorry. Your interpretation lacks logic to me.
Sorry. Your interpretation lacks logic to me.
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Interpretation?
It’s right there in the plain text! How is ‘logic’ required?
Are you calling the Apostle Paul a liar?
Keep in mind that NO Christian leader or denomination approved of contraception before 1930, when the Anglicans broke ranks with all of Christendom at their Lambeth conference. According to John Kippley (whose research you really should look up), not a single Christian writing between the 1st and 19th centuries saw Onan's sin as other than perverting sexual intercourse, wasting his seed upon the ground. This is a Christian consensus.
Was that consensus founded ONLY on the fact that contraception is mentioned only once in the Bible, when it is condemned? No, it's also founded on much broader and deeper principles of the Christian understanding of God's holy purpose for marriage.
Fertility is always described Biblically as a blessing and a gift of God. Never once in over 23,000 verses of Scripture is marital fertility described negatively; not once is the impairing of fertility described as a tolerable thing.
Anyone who reads this and does not consider it self-evident, is encouraged to go ahead and use their Biblical concordance and see that it's true.
This lines up perfectly with Natural Law, which sees fertility as a natural sign of health, and therefore the sabotage of fertility as a harm. Thus Natural Law teaches that intentionally impairing fertility via any deviate intercourse included contracepted intercourse, sodomitical intercourse, intentional maiming of sexual competency via sterilization, castration or sex-reassignment surgery, is a wrong. This is acting against the good of normal, healthy sex by impairing its nature.
Natural Law recognizes the good design of sexual intercourse. The Biblical perspective tells us Who was the Designer of this natural good, and for what purpose.
As I said, in the course of 1900 years of Christian reflection on God's purpose and design for sexuality, this has been a constant.
If people can ignore absolute Biblical and Christian consensus on that, lasting several millennia, it would not be surprising for people to approve other deviations from natural sex as well.
Maybe you've noticed.
So, if I understand you correctly, it is a sin to intentionally have a barren marriage?
I'm not arguing against fertility per se, I'm pointing out that Genesis 38 does not necessarily mean what you say it means. If you wanted to argue that contraception violates the general principles that is laid down in scriptures, that is quite a different story.
Besides, if Genesis 38 meant what you think it means, Onan and most boys wouldn't have made it past the age of 14, let alone make it to marriage.
“A failure to think through the moral challenges of 21st century life shows a lack of moral diligence.”
What makes you think a person is refusing to think thru moral challenges if they say the scriptures contain all you need to be “equipped for every good work”? If you apply what you learn from scripture, you will be prepared to handle the questions that come up.
“If it’s “all there” in the pages of Scripture, why would we need to be instructed by the Holy Spirit?”
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is revealed to us thru scripture. The ability to be filled by Him, and what is required to be guided by the Holy Spirit, is revealed in scripture. All you need to know to be guided by the Holy Spirit is found in scripture.
Nothing developed by ‘doctors of the Church’ in the last 1900 years has been necessary for the Holy Spirit to act in my life. I don’t need to rely on the various councils held by the Catholic Church to be filled with the Spirit.
“And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”
13 And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14 he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16 And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?”
Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
We also know how to tell if the Holy Spirit is at work in someone’s life:
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
How did the Apostles and all the believers during the first 1,000 years receive and listen to Him? How did anyone in the New Testament receive the Holy Spirit? Who was required to study theology and philosophy before receiving the Holy Spirit?
According to the Bible, are slavery and polygamy OK for Christians?
Whatever your answer, can you prove it by all-sufficient Scripture only?
Wow, thanks for the post.
If I own a slave, can I still be saved?
If I had multiple wives, can I still be saved?
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