There is a specific depiction of Christ known as Christ Pantocrator. It was widespread in the ancient world and still is today. The title “Pantocrator” is most often translated as “The Almighty One” or “The Omnipotent One.” It comes from the Greek words παντός (pantos, meaning all) and κράτος (kratos, meaning strength, might, or power).
In the particular image at right, Christ is seated (as a sign of authority). In many of the specific images he holds a book, sometimes open and sometimes closed. If the book is open, there can be a few of many different texts displayed. In some of the images there is an interesting juxtaposition of texts meant to provoke thought and lead to both catechesis and repentance.
Among the more interesting and provocative juxtapositions of texts is the one commonly used in the Neocatechumenal communities (see above right). On the left-hand page of the open book is the Gospel from today’s mass (Tue. of 11th Week), in which Jesus says, “Love your enemies” (Matt 5:44). On the right is the one in which Jesus says, “I am coming soon” (Rev. 22:7).
Provocative, indeed—and a sober call repentance! It is hard to see how we could hope to enter Heaven with hatred or vengeful anger for our enemies in our heart. With that eating away at our heart it wouldn’t be Heaven! Therefore, we should consider our final end and beg for the grace to love our enemies by praying for them, working for their conversion, and supplying their basic human needs (cf Rom 12:20; Prov. 25:21). Our goal is to be at one with them in Heaven, and even here in this life if it be possible and rooted in the truth.
Jesus sets apart the love of one’s enemies as the “acid test” for Christians:
Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect (Matt 5:44-48).
There’s nothing like a passage such as this one to get us on our knees asking for grace and mercy! Indeed, we will surely fail if we seek to love our enemies only through the power of our own flesh or from our own fallen nature.
Jesus is coming soon and He will look for this fruit in us. All the more reason, then, to ask it of Him:
Good Jesus, who alone can save me from my hard heart, grant me the grace to love my enemies and pray for those who persecute me. I am too weak, self-centered, and thin-skinned to do it on my own. I consent, good and merciful Jesus, to this work of yours in me. Accomplish this, Lord, by your grace!
There is an important interplay and balance between the virtues that many modern minds set in opposition to one another. False dichotomies often prevail when the subtlety of virtues are lost or their meanings are grasped in simplistic or inaccurate ways.
Consider three virtues that are related and which enable and moderate one other: fortitude, patience, and meekness. To most people, these virtues seem more opposed than related. Today, fortitude conjures up an image of a fearless warrior in battle or an intense prophet fearing nothing of the opinion of men. Meekness seems to be thought synonymous with weakness and conciliation. Finally, patience in modern parlance often means either not acting at all or acting indecisively and without courage.
There are, of course, many problems with this thinking; the modern understanding of these words is quite different from their biblical or scholastic meaning. So part of our task is to recover a more accurate understanding of these words, but another aspect is to see how these virtues balance and moderate one another.
Fortitude – Consider first that fortitude is the virtue that enables us to withstand even great difficulties that hinder us from attaining our true goal. A chief feature of fortitude is being able to endure difficulties and see an act or decision through to the end. It is not merely being brave in the face of danger or sallying forth into battle; it is also being steadfast in spite of obstacles and enduring without sadness or loss of faith.
As with any virtue, there are certain sins that may emerge (by excess or defect) in relation to fortitude. Timidity, pusillanimity, faintheartedness, and softness are defects of fortitude. There are also excesses related to fortitude such as being foolhardy, presumptuous, overly ambitious, vainglorious, and headstrong (pertinacious).
Thus, patience and meekness are aspects of fortitude, especially in helping to govern excesses related to fortitude. While the modern mind considers them to be in opposition to fortitude, they are actually integral parts of it, because they not only moderate fortitude but are ways of living and expressing it.
Patience – This is perhaps the most frequent form under which fortitude is exercised in the face of the difficulties of life. St. Thomas Aquinas said that patience is attached to fortitude because it helps us to resist giving way to sadness and to bear up under the difficulties of life with a certain equanimity or steadiness of soul. By it, we do not give way easily to emotional sadness or excessive anger. Thus patience is an act of fortitude, because it bids us to endure painful or difficult things without weakening in our faith or our commitment to the truth. With patience, we are steady in the face of the vexations and contradictions of life.
Sadly, many in our culture equate patience with weakness. However, to be patient and to endure is a great strength. As St. Thomas points out, Endurance is more difficult than aggression … because endurance implies a length of time, whereas aggression is consistent with sudden movement (Summa Theologica IIa IIae q. 123, a. 6).
The fact is that many troubles and contradictions last for a long time. Not all (or even most) things can be changed for the better simply or quickly, so patience and suffering are often necessary acts of fortitude; they require great strength and brave endurance. Jesus said, In this world you shall have tribulation, but have courage, I have overcome the world (John 16:33). St Paul added, Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God (Acts 14:21).
While fortitude will often summon us to face danger bravely, to proclaim the faith, and to do what is right; while it will rebuke cowardliness, faintheartedness, and softness; it will also enable us to endure difficulties without sadness, fear, depression, or excessive anger. In all these ways there is strength and courage to be found. While the modern mind does not often connect patience with fortitude, it is in fact one of its most common manifestations.
Meekness– Even more so the modern mind does not connect meekness with fortitude. The average person today does not even know the real definition of the word “meekness.” Most consider the word to be associated with being a pushover or a doormat. In this flawed sense, meekness is despised as weakness and fearfulness.
But meekness, in its traditional and theological sense, is anything but weakness. The meek are those who have authority over their anger, who can command and control its power, moderating and directing its energy to good rather than destructive ends.
Aristotle defined meekness as the proper middle ground between too much anger and not enough. Anger has an important place in the human psyche but it must be mastered and moderated, for it is unruly. The meek are those who have mastered their anger and know how to use its creative power to set things right.
In our culture, an “angry prophet” gets some credit as he denounces the powerful and vents his anger, but a prophet who is merely angry is not a true prophet. True prophets love God’s people; their anger results from the love of God, His truth, and His people. Beware mistaking true zeal born out of love with angry zeal, which sermonizes indiscriminately. The angry prophet preaches in order to get something off his chest and vent his anger. The true prophet speaks out of zealous love and from a meekness that gives him authority over his anger and zeal.
Fortitude without patience and meekness is like fire with nothing to contain it. Such a fire spreads wildly and destroys what it should illuminate and heat; it destroys what it should purify and transform.
Therefore, patience is not opposed to fortitude but rather is itself an act of fortitude because it courageously resists discouragement when the battle seems long and fierce. It enables fortitude to act over a long period, consistently and persistently, to attain an end that mere zeal would impatiently forsake in the absence of immediate results.
Similarly, meekness is also not opposed to fortitude but is also a form of it, by authoritatively governing the anger directed against injustice and error. The meek person is ultimately at peace deep inside, even while engaging in a struggle on the outside. This, of course, is essential for fortitude to reach its goal because reaching a goal (say, of establishing the truth, refuting error, or restoring justice and respect for life) is nearly impossible for a soul consumed by anger. Meekness, therefore, is the courage of fortitude along with the control that helps focus anger, zeal, and brave action.
Thus, as with so many things, we ought not to separate what God has joined, in this case fortitude, patience, and meekness. Scripture says, be angry but sin not (Eph 4:26). With respect to our virtues we might add this: have the courage and zeal of fortitude, but be not foolhardy, presumptuous, or headstrong.
Have the courage and zeal to enter the battle. Don’t be like so many people today who are soft, cowardly, and indiscriminately conciliatory. Conversely, enter not with wild, ungoverned fortitude (which isn’t really true fortitude at all); enter with a fortitude that is patient and willing to endure through what may well be a long battle. Enter with a fortitude that is authoritatively mastered and stabilized through meekness.
We began reading the Sermon on the Mount during daily Mass this week. One of the flawed ways of reading it is to see the Lord’s teaching merely as a list of moral demands that we must fulfill out of our own flesh or human ability. To do so is to miss the point.
The better way to understand the Sermon on the Mount is to see that our Lord is painting a picture of the transformed human person. In effect, He is saying, “This is what your life will look like and be as I increasingly live my life in you.” The Sermon is description more so than prescription; it is a gift to be received more so than a set of demands to be met.
With this interpretive key in mind, let’s take a look at the Beatitudes, which begin the sermon. What I offer here is a brief pastoral look at each beatitude that states the meaning of each and then ponders an implication or two. My goal is to find the gift that each beatitude describes and see each one as a brushstroke in a beautiful painting the Lord makes of the transformed human person, one in whom He lives.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
The poor in spirit depend on God humbly and serenely. They are poor to this world because their treasure is in Heaven. As the Lord says, “Where your treasure is, there also will your heart be” (Matthew 6:21). With their treasure in Heaven and their hearts focused there, the poor in spirit are not obsessed with this world’s trinkets. Their desires are properly aligned with what matters, with what lasts: God Himself and the eternal joys of Heaven. There is a great blessedness and simplicity to be found when one is freed of obsessions with wealth, popularity, and conformity to this world’s constantly changing and distracting demands.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Those who mourn are those who see the awful state of God’s people. They see that many are lost, basing their lives on what can neither save nor satisfy, living lives that are misdirected and futile. The mournful weep for God’s people, but it is not a depressed mourning, rather, it is a motivational one. By it, they pray and work for the salvation of souls. Their mourning places an urgency in their hearts to reach the lost, fallen, and confused. The text speaks of them as being comforted, but both the Greek and Latin roots of the word “comfort” have more to do with being strengthened and assisted than with being consoled and relieved of burdens. The mournful are given the strength and courage they need in order to address what makes them mourn and be strengthened unto the salvation of souls.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
The meek are those who have authority over their anger. Their anger is directed properly, towards things such as injustice and ignorance of God’s ways. They are increasingly freed from anger over insignificant, egocentric, and fear-based things. Their proper anger is like a creative energy directed toward working for justice and the proclamation of God’s truth. They inherit the land because those who work for justice and truth secure a better future for the land and people they love. Of the meek, Scripture says, And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in (Is 58:12). By using proper anger, they turn it into a creative and healing force; they and those they have healed inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
A common human problem is desiring the wrong things. We often have excessive desire for things that we know are harmful for us while being rather disinterested in things that are demonstrably good for us. For example, things such as prayer and moderation seem burdensome and difficult to us while overindulging in liquor and spending our time viewing immoral or trivial material comes easily. What a gift it is to see our desires come into conformity with what is actually best for us, with what God really wants to give us! Those who attain to this gift of properly ordered desires are satisfied because righteousness and all it entails is are what actually satisfies. These are the things with which we are designed to thrive and thus they give a deep satisfaction.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
To be filled with mercy implies that the Lord has filled us with His mercy. The merciful are first and foremost happy and blessed because they have profoundly experienced how merciful, kind, and good God has been to them. Having been filled with mercy, they have a joyful gratitude that in turn makes them blessed and happy. Because they are filled with mercy they are equipped to show mercy to others. It will go well for them on judgment day because the measure we measure to others will be measured to us (see Luke 6:38).
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
The phrase “clean of heart” is probably better translated as “single-hearted.” The Greek word katharoi speaks to a kind of purity, being one thing without admixture of impurities or anything else. The pure of heart are focused on one thing: God. They want only one thing: God. This is a very great gift. So many are torn apart by hearts that are divided; they desperately want many things, often ones that are contradictory to one another. Oh, the gift to know what we want and to be free of competing demands, the gift to be clear and single-hearted in our pursuit! This beatitude is not only a gift in itself; it leads to the greatest gift of all: God, the very one for whom our hearts were made.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
The peacemakers are not merely those who keep us from killing one another. The word “shalom” (peace) as well as the Greek word eirene (used here to translate shalom) have the notion of wholeness, of having in our life and relationship everything that should be there. The peacemakers are those who work to ensure that the things that make for wholeness and integrity are available to others. They work for and teach truth, justice, respect, reciprocity, reverence, and virtue. In this they set forth the ingredients for peace. They are the children of God because this is the very thing that God does and children resemble their parents.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in Heaven. Thus they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The persecuted are blessed and happy because they know that they suffer for the right things and are in good company. They also know that they are suffering for being the right thing, the contrasting thing in a world hostile and opposed to God. They are light in darkness, free men among those in bondage. Although they are persecuted, it matters less to them because their hearts are with God and set on the things of Heaven. Even death has no sting because death is the very thing that births them to the eternal glory for which they long. They know that their reward is great, far eclipsing any suffering they endure. They are blessed, happy, and free.
Such a gift it is that is being described here: the life of the transformed human person! Note how each of the beatitudes amounts to a matter of the heart: a heart that is pure, a heart that is set on one thing rather than torn by anger or other disordered passions, a heart that hungers and thirsts for righteousness and is increasingly free from the world (except to rescue others who are trapped in its false claims and futility). Having their treasure in Heaven, the blessed are poor to this world because they have little need to hoard its trinkets. They are rich, however, for theirs is the Kingdom of God and God Himself.
At an angle of 45°, we look both up and out, and this is a good paradigm for life. At 45° degrees, we can view both up: seeing and loving God, and out: seeing and loving our neighbor.
At 90° (i.e., straight up or straight out) our field of vision misses either God or the people whom He loves. For example, if I look straight up (90°) I am looking toward God but not toward the people He loves; if I look straight forward (90°) I am looking toward the people I love but not toward the God I love. At a 45° angle, I can see them both.
The Christian life should be lived at 45°. A life directed only to God but oblivious to our neighbor is incomplete, for it lacks the second table of the Law (love of neighbor). A life wholly devoted to man and humanitarian endeavors but forgetful of God is not spiritual at all; it is mere social activism and neglects the first table of the Law (love of God). It is at 45° that we find the proper balance for life.
Here is an interesting video that takes up this theme:
As most of you know, the Washington, D.C. City Council recently took a step toward legalizing physician-assisted suicide for those with less than six months to live.
Although I have written elsewhere about the dangerous implications of this legislation, in today’s post I want to stand up for the dying, at home and in nursing homes, the fully lucid and those with advanced Alzheimer’s, those who are moving toward death relatively painlessly and those who are suffering.
As a priest, it has been my privilege to accompany many people as they prepare for death. Some have gone quickly; others have lingered for years. From a pure worldly perspective, death seems little more than a calamity and a cause for great sadness. But from the perspective of faith, there is something beautiful going on.
I know you may think it bold that I describe it this way, but in the dying process something necessary and quite beautiful is taking place. It is born in pain, but if we are faithful it brings forth gifts and glory.
I have seen these gifts unfold for the many I have accompanied in death, both parishioners and members of my own family. They forgave people, said and heard important things like “I love you” for the first time in years, let go of stubborn attachments, began (perhaps for the first time) to long for God and Heaven, and experienced many other healing and powerful things. Death focuses gives perspective like nothing else. In all this there is beauty as well as needed healing before judgment day.
I shudder to think that so many today fail to recognize these necessary fruits of dying and would so easily jettison its critical gifts, which come in an admittedly strange package.
In addition, in many who are dying I see two Scriptures essentially fulfilled.
I. Jesus said, “Unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”(Matt 18:3). When I walk the halls of nursing homes I behold a rather astonishing thing: Many men and women who raised families, ran businesses, protested bravely in the Civil Rights Movement, fought wars, gave sage advice to their children, and commanded respect in their communities have become like small children.
Some can no longer walk. Some need to be fed. Some cry and need consolation. Some clutch dolls. Some wear diapers, Some can no longer talk. Many need constant care. “How tragic,” the world says. But I see a beauty, for they are changing and becoming like children again. A kind of innocence is being restored, a complete dependence, without which they might never make it to Heaven. Their status as children is fully evident and they become humble enough for Heaven.
It’s painful but beautiful—very beautiful.
Some years ago, a very dear friend of mine died. Catherine had been the pastoral assistant and business manager of the parish of my first pastorate. She had been at the parish for more than 50 years and seemed to know just about everything, and I depended on her for practically everything. Rather suddenly, she came down with a rare and aggressive form of Alzheimer’s disease. Within six months of the diagnosis she no longer recognized anyone. And yet there was a childlike joy that came over her. She had a favorite doll she hugged closely and when I would walk into the room she would light up. She did not seem to recognize me but she loved company. She would sing, and although I couldn’t make out the words, it seemed to be some sort of nursery song.
It was a remarkable thing to witness. Here was a woman on whom I had so thoroughly depended, now in such a dependent state. And yet she was happier than I had ever seen her. She had become like a little child, and it was clear that God was preparing her for Heaven. That was a gift, though a painful one.
Another great gift was this: Almost to her last day, she never failed to recognize Jesus in the Eucharist. Long after she had stopped recognizing anyone else, she still received Holy Communion with great devotion. She might be humming or looking around, but as soon as I reached in my pocket for the pyx, she stopped, looked, made the sign of the cross, and folded her hands. That was the result of years of training and faithfulness. It was a beautiful testimony to her undying faith in the Eucharist and it was her last lesson to all of us.
II. There is only one thing I ask of the Lord, this alone I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and gaze on the beauty of the Lord within his temple (Psalm 27:4).
Most of us who are still healthy and reasonably active would have a hard time praying this prayer absolutely. The fact is, we want a lot of things: good health, creature comforts, a pay raise, and for our pet project to go well. And oh yes, somewhere in all that, God and Heaven, but later; Heaven can wait.
How obtuse we can be in our desires! It’s really quite strange to want anything more than God and Heaven. And yet many struggle to want God more than the things of this world. Somehow God has to purge us of earthly desires gradually until all we want is Him.
And here, too, the dying process is so important and so beautiful. Little by little in life we give back to God our abilities, our health, and many of our loved ones. Finally, we are led to the point during our dying days when we are given the grace to give everything back.
I remember my father saying to me in his final weeks, “I just want to be with God.” I heard my grandmother say that too. Many others I have accompanied on their final journey have said the same thing: “I just want to be with God.” And they meant it, too; it wasn’t just a slogan. They had given everything back; their treasure was now in Heaven. They had sold all they had for the “pearl of great price.” Now they could sing the words of the old spiritual, “You may have all this world, just give me Jesus.” They had given away everything they had and were now ready to follow Jesus.
For most of us it, will take the dying process to get us to the point when we can say,“There is only one thing I ask of the Lord, this alone I seek, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life and gaze on the beauty of the Lord within his temple.”
And so there it is, the “beauty” of dying. It is a strange and painful beauty to be sure, but a beauty nonetheless. In this age of increasing acceptance of suicide, that sees no value or purpose or value in the dying process, we do well to behold and proclaim its strange but true beauty. We must recognize the dignity of the dying, who fulfill Scripture as they make their final passage.
Surely we grieve, but through faith we also recognize this strange and wonderful beauty.
One of the finest hymns about dying, “Abide with Me,” was written by Henry F. Lyte in 1847, as he lay dying from tuberculosis.
Abide with me; fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide;
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me.
Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day;
Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away;
Change and decay in all around I see—
O Thou who changest not, abide with me.
Hold Thou Thy cross before my closing eyes;
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies;
Heav’n’s morning breaks, and earth’s vain shadows flee;
In life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
The video below is a trailer for an upcoming movie. I can’t comment on the full context of the movie (since it hasn’t yet been released), but there are several important messages in the trailer. Allow it to bring forth in you a salutary fear; don’t be fascinated by the cheap parlor tricks of Satan or the Hollywood depiction of them.
Let’s take away four lessons from the trailer.
As the trailer begins, it seems that some scam artists have drawn in gullible people with fake séances and other forms of divination. There are hidden people who speak and make noises in order to convince the “customers” that the dead are actually being contacted.
Lesson One: Never dabble in the occult, even as a ruse or a joke. Those who do so often discover that the spirits they invoke in jest are deadly serious and quite real. Never invoke dark sprits and never seek information from the dead. Evil spirits can and often do masquerade as the souls of the departed; it’s a deception.
As the trailer progresses, things get very ugly. The characters go from lies and ruses (which are sinfully ugly enough) to an encounter with the Father of Lies. One of the characters, noting the abnormal behavior of a young girl asks, “Who are you talking to?” Believe me, you don’t want to know!
Lesson Two: Calling out to the dark world beyond often brings a response, and a very dark one at that.
As the trailer unfolds it seems that things get bad very fast. One of the characters says, “Something is happening that we can’t understand.”
Lesson Three: Satanic powers are masters of deception. All the parlor tricks (levitation, slamming doors, etc.) are meant to incite fear. But the real battleground is the mind and the very subtle deceptions of the Evil One. He subtly takes up the personality of the possessed soul and makes it difficult to understand who is really talking. Indeed, something is happening that is very difficult to understand, except perhaps for a trained exorcist. Even an exorcist enters the battleground with humility and careful discernment, rooted in considering the counsel of others on the team. For this and other reasons, an exorcist should never work alone. He should have an assistant priest and a team to assist him, to observe, to advise him, and to pray.
At one point in the trailer the priest says, “… you’ve opened up a portal.”
Lesson Four: Never open a door to the occult, even in a playful way. Ask not, lest you be answered, seek not lest you be found. Don’t joke or revile evil spirits (cf Jude 1:9). Our only message to them should be this: “In the name of Jesus, the Lord, be gone!”
Keep your eyes on Jesus and the saints. Do not be fascinated by demons or any aspect of darkness.
Movies like this one can incite a salutary fear, but they can also encourage an undue fascination with devilish things. No one who has ever assisted in an exorcism shares any of this fascination at all. Exorcisms are usually lengthy, tedious, and exhausting. There is no dramatic music, and things are never finished in a convenient 90 minutes. It’s an ugly process that weighs heavily on the participants. The demons usually shift quickly from cheap parlor tricks to subtle psychological deception.
If you chose to see this movie, please learn these lessons. Shed any fascination; there is nothing fascinating about evil. It is depressing, dark, and difficult to endure.
Remember that the Lord is more powerful that any satanic force. If you should ever encounter such evil, even through no fault of your own, summon the Lord and repeatedly declare aloud, “Jesus is Lord.” The sacraments, Holy Water, and other sacramentals are also very helpful. Do not panic, just have a salutary fear such that you keep a healthy distance from any dark powers.
Use care when watching this trailer. Let it provide you with information, but don’t let it fascinate you.
In the first reading from today’s Mass (Tuesday of the 23rd Week), St. Paul is practically livid that the Corinthians have not sought to correct and discipline an erring brother who is indulging in illicit sexual union. He orders them to act immediately, lest the brother be lost on the day of judgment.
Today, when things are arguably as bad or worse than in the first century, St. Paul’s anger might will flair at the silence of the Church—the clergy and the laity—in the face of public sin and error.
Indeed, one of the most forgotten virtues and obligations we have is the duty to correct the sinner; it is one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy. In his Summa Theologica, St. Thomas Aquinas describes it as an act of charity
[F]raternal correction properly so called, is directed to the amendment of the sinner. Now to do away with anyone’s evil is the same as to procure his good: and to procure a person’s good is an act of charity, whereby we wish and do our friend well (Summa Theologica II, IIae, 33.1).
The world and the Devil have largely succeeded in shaming Christians from doing this essential work. When we call attention to someone’s sin or wrongdoing, we are said to be “judging” him or her. In a culture in which “tolerance” is one of the only virtues left, to “judge” is to commit a capital offense. “How dare you do such a thing?” the world protests. “Who are you to judge others?”
To be clear, there are some judgments that are forbidden us. For example, we cannot assess that we are better or worse than someone else before God. Neither can we always understand the ultimate culpability or inner intentions of another person as though we were God. Scripture says regarding judgments such as these: Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart (1 Sam 16:7). Further, we are instructed that we cannot make the judgment of condemnation. That is to say, we do not have the power or knowledge to condemn someone to Hell. God alone is judge in this sense. The same Scriptures also caution us against being unnecessarily harsh or punitive: Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. … For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you (Luke 6:36-38). So in this text from Luke’s Gospel, “to judge” means to condemn or be unmerciful, to be unreasonably harsh.
Another text that is often used by the world to forbid making “judgments” is from the Gospel of Matthew:
Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye (Matt 7:1-5).
But pay careful attention to what this text is actually saying. First, as we have already seen the Luke’s Gospel, the word “judge” here is understood to mean to be unnecessarily harsh and punitive or condemning; the second verse makes this clear. To paraphrase verse two colloquially, “If you lower the boom on others, you will have the boom lowered on you. If you throw the book at others, it will be thrown at you.” Further, the parable that follows does not say that you shouldn’t correct sinners; it says that you should get right with God yourself and then you will see clearly enough to properly correct your brother.
Over and over again, Scripture tells us to correct the sinner. Far from forbidding fraternal correction, the Scriptures command and commend it. Here are some of those texts, along with a little of my own commentary in red:
Jesus said, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Matt 18:15-18). Jesus instructs us to speak to a sinning brother and summon him to repentance. If the matter is serious, and private rebuke does not work, others who are trustworthy should be summoned to the task. Finally, the Church should be informed. If he will not listen even to the Church, then he should be excommunicated (treated as a tax collector or Gentile). Hence in serious matters, excommunication should be considered as a kind of medicine that will inform the sinner of the gravity of the matter. Sadly, this “medicine” is seldom used today, even though Jesus clearly prescribes it (at least in serious matters).
It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and of a kind that is not found even among pagans; for a man is living with his father’s wife. And you are arrogant! Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you. For though absent in body I am present in spirit, and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment in the name of the Lord Jesus on the man who has done such a thing. When you are assembled, and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened. … I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with immoral men; not at all meaning the immoral of this world, or the greedy and robbers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But rather I wrote to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or robber not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Drive out the wicked person from among you” (1 Cor 5). The Holy Spirit, speaking through Paul, commands that we “judge” the evildoer. In this case the matter is clearly serious (incest). Notice how the text says that the man should be excommunicated (handed over to Satan). Here, too, the purpose is medicinal. It is hoped that Satan will beat him up enough that he will come to his senses and repent before the day of judgment. It is also medicinal in the sense that the community is protected from bad example, scandal, and the presence of evil. The text also requires us to be able to size people up. There are immoral and unrepentant people with whom it is harmful for us to associate. We are instructed to discern this and not to keep friendly company with people who can mislead us or tempt us to sin. This requires a judgment on our part. Yes, some judgements are required of us.
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any sin, you who are spiritual should recall him in a spirit of gentleness. Look to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ (Gal 6:1-2). We are called to note when a person has been overtaken in sin and to correct him, but to do so in a spirit of gentleness. Otherwise, we may sin in the very process of correcting the sinner! Being prideful or unnecessarily harsh in our words is not the way to correct. The instruction is to be humble and gentle, but clear. It also seems that patience is called for, because we must bear the burdens of one another’s sin. We do this in two ways: First, we accept the fact that others have imperfections and faults that trouble us; and second, we bear the obligation to help others know their sin and of repent of it.
My brethren, if any one among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins (James 5:19). The text is ambiguous as to whose soul is actually saved, but it seems that both the corrected and the corrector are beneficiaries of well-executed fraternal correction.
You shall not hate your brother in your heart: You shall in any case rebuke your neighbor, and not suffer sin upon him (Lev 19:17). This text tells us that refusing to correct a sinning neighbor is actually a form of hatred. Instead, we are instructed to love our neighbors by not wanting sin to overtake them.
If anyone refuses to obey what we say in this letter, note that man, and have nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. Do not look on him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother (2 Thess 3:14). Notice again that the medicine of rebuke—even to the point of refusing fellowship (in more serious matters)—is commanded. But note, too, that even a sinner does not lose his dignity; he is still to be regarded as a brother, not an enemy.A similar text says, We instruct you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to shun any brother who walks in a disorderly way and not according to the tradition they received from us (2 Thess 3:6).
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teach and admonish one another in all wisdom (Col 3:16). To admonish means to warn. If the Word of Christ is rich within us, we will warn when that becomes necessary. A similar text says,All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:16). Reproof and correction are thus part of what is necessary to equip us for every good work.
And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all (1 Thess 5:14). Fraternal correction is described here as admonishing, encouraging, and helping. We are also exhorted to patience in these works.
There are many more examples, but by now you get the point: Fraternal correction is prescribed and commanded by Scripture. We must resist the shame that the world tries to inflict on us by saying (simplistically) that we are “judging” people. Not all judgment is forbidden; some judgment is commanded. Correction of the sinner is both charitable and virtuous.
It is possible to correct a sinner poorly or even sinfully, but if we are to have any shame at all about proper fraternal correction, it should be that we have so severely failed in our duty to correct. Because of our failure in this regard, the world is much more sinful, coarse, and undisciplined. Too many people today are out-of-control, undisciplined, and even incorrigible. Too many are locked in sin and have never been properly corrected. The world is less pleasant, charitable, and teachable because of this; it is also more sinful and in greater bondage. To fail to correct is to fail in charity and mercy; it is to fail to be virtuous and to fail in calling others to virtue. We are all impoverished by our failure to correct the sinner.
He who winks at a fault causes trouble; but he who frankly reproves promotes peace (Proverbs 10:10).
A path to life is his who heeds admonition; but he who disregards reproof goes go astray (Proverbs 10:17).
I just finished reading Ross Douthat’s (pronounced DOW-that) book, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics. As I have told you before, I highly recommend this to your reading attention. The book is an excellent summary of what has happened to the Christian faith in the last sixty years, especially in this country.
Mr Douthat especially emphasizes how the careful balance of classical Christian orthodoxy tipped and an unbalanced, pick and choose, heresy took its place for most Americans. Hence where things tipped left we got things like liberation theology, the “god-within movements and the syncretizing of Oprah, new age and other odd blends. Where things tipped right we got things like the prosperity gospel, and an odd blend of country worship generally termed, Americanism.
The level of detail and keen theological insight make the book an important resource for anyone who seeks answers, and a strategy out of the current difficulties.
The answer of course is orthodoxy, and orthodoxy seeks to hold the tension of somewhat competing biblical and theological teachings in balance, rather than to choose some and discard others.
In the final chapter Mr. Douthat offers some thoughts on what a recovered Christianity might include. I want to reflect on one of those thoughts in this post, namely that Christianity should be both moralistic and holistic (respecting of the whole). In other words, we must courageously proclaim the moral vision of the New Testament, but we must also be careful to proclaim the “whole counsel of God” (cf Acts 20:27). For it sometimes happens that we emphasize certain moral teachings which agree with our view, and neglect to preach others which challenge our view.
Orthodoxy must present the balanced and complete moral vision. Otherwise it too easily looks co-opted by other lesser agendas such as politics, economics, social science etc.
Let me have Mr. Douthat speak for himself. He begins by asserting the need to courageously proclaim our moral vision:
No aspect of Christian faith is less appealing to contemporary sensibilities in the faith’s long list of “thou shalt nots,” and no prohibition attracts more exasperation and contempt than the Christian view of chastity and sex. But, recurring efforts to downplay the faith’s moralistic side, to make his Commandments general rather than particular, to recontextualize Bible passages that offend contemporary sensibilities, to make the faith seem more hospitable to America’s many millions of divorced people, cohabiting couples, and (especially) gays and lesbians, have usually ended up redefining Christianity entirely. The traditional Christian view of sexuality is more essential to the faith as a whole than many modern believers want to acknowledge….[And] it doesn’t just rest on a literal reading of a few passages in the Scriptures which can easily be revised to reinterpreted. Rather, it’s the fruit of centuries worth of meditation and argument on the whole biblical narrative, from the creation of Adam and Eve, to Jesus’ prohibition on divorce
It seems easy enough to snip a single thread out of this pattern, but often the whole thing swiftly unravels once you do.
Yet many conservative Christians often make a similar mistake; they have emphasize the most hot-button (and easily politicized) moral issues, while losing sight of the tapestry as a whole. There are seven deadly sins not just one, and Christianity’s understanding of marriage and chastity is intimately bound to its views on gluttony and avarice and pride.
….It is rare to hear a rip roaring Sunday’s sermon about the temptations of the five course meal, and the all you can eat buffet, or to hear a high-profile pastor who addresses to sin of greed in the frank manner of, say, St. Basil the Great in the fourth century A.D.:
The extra bread you possess belongs to the hungry. The clothes that you store in boxes, belong to the naked. The shoes rotting by you, belong to the barefoot. The money that you hide belongs to anyone in need. You wrong as many people that you could help. (Basil, Homily on Avarice)
Note that Basil isn’t arguing for a slightly higher marginal tax rate to fund modest improvements in public services. He’s passing judgment on individual sins and calling for individual repentance. There are conservative Christians today who seemed terrified of even remotely criticizing Wall Street tycoons and high finance buccaneers, lest such criticism be interpreted as an endorsement of the Democratic Party’s political agenda.
Douthat goes on to warn that our partial outrage over certain things weakens our overall credibility before a skeptical world, since it seems that something, other than true and sincere Christian adherence to biblical norms, drives the concerns we express. And, since the world is particularly skeptical of the Church teaching on sexuality and beginning and end of life issues, our seeming silence on other biblical norms undermines our credibility. For indeed, considerable ink is spilled in the Biblical texts on issues related to greed, envy, jealously, anger, hatred, and God’s passion about how we care for the poor, as well as on sexual matters and concerns for the family and human life.
And even within the questions of sexual morality we need to be careful not simply to single out homosexuals and ignore many egregious examples of heterosexual misbehavior. Douthat writes:
…The Christian case for fidelity and chastity will inevitable seem partial and hypocritical if it trains most of its attention on the minority of cases – on homosexual wedlock and the slippery slope to polygamy beyond. It is the heterosexual divorce rate, the heterosexual retreat from marriage, the heterosexual out-of-wedlock birthrate that should command the most attention from Christian moralists……asking gays alone to conform their lives to a hard teaching will inevitably seem like a form of bigotry. [Kindle edition Loc 5771-90]
I have long held this same view and will almost never address the sin of homosexual acts without also cataloging and warning against heterosexual sins such as fornication, adultery, pornography, contraception, abortion, divorce and so forth. Frankly, it would seem the case can be made that, the emergence of more widespread homosexual tendencies, and homosexual demands, has come in the aftermath of over sixty years of widespread heterosexual misbehavior and our own redefinition of marriage.
We have insisted on easy divorce (biblically prohibited), and turned procreation and raising of children into an option (via contraception), and a way of accessorizing marriage, rather than one of its most central tasks (again, completely unbiblical). In effect, for most heterosexuals, marriage has little more meaning than two adults being happy.
We cannot prophetically stand against gay “marriage” with such a vague and unbiblical notion operative in the lives of most Christians. Only the true and orthodox stance that the Scriptures proclaim, can withstand the charge of duplicity by an increasing number of Americans. Namely, that marriage is a stable and lasting union intrinsically oriented to the procreation and rearing of children.
And, to disagree with Mr. Douthat a bit, I do not think that most Catholic priests would be found guilty of of preaching “rip-roaring” sermons on sex or even focusing much on it. Frankly, and I think most Catholics would agree, Catholic pulpits have been too silent on sexual matters, and to be honest, on most moral topics. Too many Catholic sermons of the past sixty years are a collection of generalities and abstractions. Not only would most Catholics not hear a sermon about sex, but they would not likely hear all that much about what Basil says either.
Our outrage at homosexual acts (which I fully think we should have) can seem very hollow when, for some sixty years we have tended to ignore heterosexual promiscuity on a wide and huge scale, and worked with, and largely facilitated, the divorce culture. And then, when the homosexual community steps forth with their sinful demands, we should not be surprised that our claims to oppose to them is only about protecting the sacredness of the family, falls on deaf ears. We have sown in the wind and now we are reaping the whirlwind.
To be fair, some of this is changing and, especially younger clergy, are more likely to address specific moral topics. And if that be the case, then we clergy ought to be willing to address a wide sampling of the Christian moral vision in a non-political bu clear way, as Douthat admonishes and exemplifies by quoting St. Basil.
And thus we are brought back to St. Paul’s insistence to the Church at Ephesus that he preached to them “the whole counsel of God”Acts 20:27. For the true and orthodox moral vision of the Church is wide, and embraces all issues and all people. And it is not so much a faith that prohibits, as it is one that points to freedom by Grace:
Freedom to be able to experience and show mercy, forgiveness,
Freedom and have authority over our anger and hatred,
Freedom over our greed and the capacity to be generous and caring of the poor,
Freedom and authority to love our spouse, and children and be faithful to the commitments we have made, even in tough times,
Freedom and authority over our sexuality and the capacity to live chastely and joyfully,
Freedom and the capacity to welcome immigrants, and be free of the fears related to bigotry, ignorance and prejudice.
Yes, freedom, grace, power and authority over every sinful drive
And the joyful openness to greater love, mercy, kindness, chastity, generosity, joy, serenity, justice, piety and growing love for God and neighbor.
This is orthodoxy: holistic (respecting the whole), wide reaching, comprehensive and transcending of political categories and boxes.
The whole counsel of God.
If you can tolerate looking at Bill Maher, Ross Douthat handles him pretty well:
There is a specific depiction of Christ known as Christ Pantocrator. It was widespread in the ancient world and still is today. The title “Pantocrator” is most often translated as “The Almighty One” or “The Omnipotent One.” It comes from the Greek words παντός (pantos, meaning all) and κράτος (kratos, meaning strength, might, or power).
