Only the Truth gives peace; only the Truth gives life!

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time. August 22nd, 2010

Today, Jesus seems to be saying to us some very divisive and even intolerant words. He tells us to strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many will try to enter and will not succeed.” He says, “I do not know where you come from. Away from me, all you wicked men!” and “Then there will be weeping and grinding of teeth…” Jesus words seem like swords to our modern age of tolerance, disrupting to our apparent peace; after all can't we just get along. But here again, Jesus speaks the truth, the hard truth and yes the sometimes divisive truth.

When hearing the tough truth of the Gospel, we can have the tendency to want to soften it, to remove those things that seem to us to be difficult--divisive or intolerant. Like parents who don’t want to destroy the peace by correcting their children, we can begin to think that to bring people together in peace and unity we should just drop the teachings of the Church that seem to lead to division and a lack of peace. But it never works trying to preserve the peace by denying the truth; Peace is always the fruit of truth.

A good example of this false notion of the preserving the peace and so preserving a false perception of unity has also been seen in the last forty years in the Ecumenical dialogue trying to reunite Christian communities and Churches. After many early successes in ecumenical dialogue after Vatican II, the “spirit of the age” has rendered it for the most part uninspiring and unfruitful. Why? Because too many Christians, especially Catholics involved in the discussions are afraid of offending. “Better to get along.” And so, much of the effort has been in trying to reach the goal of "getting along".

Now, it’s good for us to want to get along, of course; however, the trouble is when getting along is the main goal, many of our significance differences are ironed over and ignored, the fullness of the truth is set aside. Many of our separated brothers and sisters, not to mention Catholics, even priests and religious, have frankly abandoned the full truth of the Gospel for a political correctness, teaching incorrectly for example that abortion and contraception are morally correct or that traditional marriage should be abandoned, and divorce and remarriage, or even so-called homosexual "marriage" should be allowed. More and more Christians are abandoning faith in the Gospels. To try to cover up these grave errors under the umbrella of “getting along, tolerance or inclusivity,” does nothing but lead to a false unity and peace and eventually chaos and destruction...just look at history.

A few years ago there was an instruction that came out from Rome regarding defects in the other Churches. Afterwards, commentators in the news and some Christians condemned Pope Benedict for being divisive and hurting the efforts to “get along” with other Christians. Surprisingly, some of the harshest critics of the Holy Father were so-called Catholic Theologians. However, the Holy Father far from condemning the other Christian communities and Churches was merely stating the truth; that as Catholics we believe that the Fullness of the Truth that Jesus Christ came to bring to the world for our salvation subsist fully only in the Catholic Church and her teachings. He is not saying that other Christians are evil or that they have no truth or that there is no way they can get into heaven, he is only saying that they are missing some of the vital necessary truth that Jesus Christ came to give us in order for us to enter into life. The Holy Father is the universal spiritual father of all souls on earth, Catholic or not; like a good father he is speaking the truth that all God's children need, not only for unity, but for salvation.

To help understand what our Holy Father is saying, and since we have the Eucharistic miracle display in the parish center this weekend after the this Mass, let’s look at another example of one of the teachings that divides us from the other Christian communities, really the main teaching that divides us—the teaching of the Holy Eucharist. Only the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches claim to have the true Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus; all the other Christian communities believe the Eucharist is merely symbolic or spiritual, but not the true flesh of Jesus and the fullness of His human nature along with the fullness of His divinity.

The Catholic Church however, believes that the Eucharist is not symbolic or spiritual or some kind of co-mingling of Jesus with the bread and wine, but that it is truly Jesus Christ still physically present on earth in His human resurrected body. Even if other Christians claim to believe in the Eucharist in this way, according to Catholic teaching it would not be possible for them to have the Eucharist in this way. Why? Because only the Catholic and Orthodox Churches have and can claim to have apostolic succession.

The divine power to confect the Eucharist was given to the twelve apostles at the Last Supper when Jesus laid His hands on them and ordained them priests and bishops, telling them to do this, “in commemoration of me.” This divine power to make present the sacrifice of Calvary and the true body, blood, soul and divinity was then passed on to the apostle successors also by the Laying on of the hands, known as ordination. Only the Catholic Church and orthodox churches have keep intact Apostolic Succession and so have transmitted through out the centuries that same divine power Jesus gave to his apostles.

Why is this truth important for unity and salvation? Because the only way we can reach the Father is through the Son, and particularly through the human nature of the Son, that is through His Human Body, Blood and Soul. Jesus Human nature is the bridge, the only bridge, that spans the infinite gulf between God and man. The Eucharist is this Human Body, Blood, and Soul of Jesus united to His divinity, and so only through Eucharist can anyone, anyone possibly be saved, “Unless you eat my body and drink my blood, you will not have life within you.”

You see the truth matters with regards to our eternal salvation, especially the truth of the Eucharist. Only the Person of Christ can save us and, the Eucharist IS the Person of Christ. So, how can we as Catholics possibly say that other Christian faiths who do not have the Eucharist are not defective, how can we in order to just get along, say they are not missing something vital to life?

Only through an honest and straightforward dialogue with other Christian communities about our differences can we ever hope to have unity and peace. Even more, if we love other Christians and even people of other non-Christian faiths, our own children and family members who have left the Church, how can we not want them to have the truth of the Church's moral teachings which give life, how can we not want them to have the truth of the Eucharist, which is not only necessary for salvation, but which is Jesus Christ, God in the flesh still among us, Love itself still among us...

Today, Jesus tells us that only through our acceptance and living the truth will we finally enter into the Kingdom of God in heaven. Jesus makes it clear however, that to accept the full truth of the Gospel is hard, and to conform our lives to it is even harder; it is the narrow way…this is especially the case with regard to the truth of the Church's moral teachings and the truth of the Eucharist. Only by the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and its acceptance in our hearts and living our lives in conformity to the truth with love, will we have unity and peace, within our families, in our parish and with all the other faiths as well. Only the truth will give us life. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few (Mt 7:14). Holy Mary Mother of all Christians and all people and nations, pray for us. Sweet Heart of Mary be our salvation. Amen.