This Sunday we celebrate
the solemnity of Pentecost, the feast of the Spirit of God, however in a sense we can say also that
today is the birthday of the Church,
or the day on which the Church receives the great impulse of the Spirit of God
to begin her missionary activity.
In 1961 Pope
John XXIII wrote an encyclical called Mater
et Magistra[1]
("Mother and Teacher"), and there he described the Church's beautiful
role as mother of the faithful, but also her awesome duty as teacher of
mankind. There he applied the teachings of Jesus to so very specific issues. At
that time one Catholic columnist was upset by what the pope had to say, and he
wrote an essay that became known as Mater
yes, Magistra no! It seemed fine for
the Church be a tender, loving mother, but he gets angry when she pronounced
teachings he did not like.
Well, the
attitude of this journalist sadly summed the attitude of many contemporary
Catholics… Many of us want the church as a mother, but we cannot forget that a
true mother must also instruct, and correct. A good teacher cannot simply
friendly slap a student on the head and say, "keep up the good work."
At times she will have to set a student straight. The job of correcting is not
an easy one. To accept correction is hard. It involves the cross, a willingness
to suffer.
Let me explain
this a little bit better using a good story. A Catholic doctor here in town
once experienced a profound spiritual renewal. He realized his faith needed to
affect not only his role as husband and father, but also his entire life. In
his medical practice he had been prescribing the pill and other forms of
contraception. After studying the effects of these contraceptives, he concluded
many of them not only prevent conception, but also cause the destruction of a
newly conceived human life. Even though the embryo is very small, still what he
prescribed could destroy that tiny child. So, this serious reflection led him
to review Catholic teaching regarding contraception. He made the bold decision
to stop prescribing artificial contraception and instead to teach natural
means.
This doctor's
decision involved the cross. He naturally lost many of his patients; his
classmates treated him like he had an infectious disease. They kept their
distance. His family suffered and there was some fear. But, you know, along
with the cross God gives blessings. It brought his family together like they
never were before, and eventually he built up a practice based exclusively on
natural methods. He now has so many patients he cannot take new ones…
[Anyway], for us
as well it can involve a kind of martyrdom to accept the Church as not only our
mother, but also our teacher. My brother, my sister, following Jesus is not
just a matter of some pious feelings, and at the same time our faith is not a
collection of teachings and practices; it is something much more intimate and
profound. It is a relationship of friendship with the person of Jesus Christ
BUT only by a humble submission to the Church as our teacher can we, as St.
Paul says, discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and
perfect .
To sum up: In the
long run we cannot have the Catholic Church as our mother unless we also accept
her as our teacher, as simple as this! And as Jesus makes clear, in accepting
his Church, we are accepting him.
Let us ask this
morning to our blessed Mother –the Queen and Mother of the Church- her help to
have a good attitude toward the spouse of Christ, toward her teachings, toward
her Magisterium.
Let us NOT
forget that just as Eve was born from Adam's side, asleep, so the Church was
born from the side of Christ, also asleep in the tree of the cross ■
[1] The encyclical was written on
the topic of "Christianity and Social Progress". It was promulgated
on May 15, 1961. The title means "mother and teacher", referring to
the role of the church. It describes a necessity to work towards authentic
community in order to promote human dignity. It taught that the state must
sometimes intervene in matters of health care, education, and housing.
