Holy Mary mother of Truth Himself, Mother of Truth’s Church, Help of Christians pray for us poor sinners who have recourse to thee; keep us always in the Truth! Amen.

Matthew 5, 17-37 Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. February 16th, 2014

Today in our Holy Gospel, Jesus tells us that He has not come to take away or change any of the doctrines or truths that are found in the Old Testament of the Bible. In fact, He tells us that He has come instead to restore those doctrines that the people have discarded through their ignorance; or in some cases, through their sin and arrogance; He has come to perfect others and elevate others to Higher moral level—restore, perfect and elevate, but not change!

We see all of this very clearly in today’s Gospel when he takes the moral teachings as found in the Ten Commandments explains them in depth, and then elevates them to an even higher level, thus demanding even more from His disciples that those disciples of Moses. For example, “You shall not kill,” remains but is now elevated and perfected to whoever is even angry with his brother is liable to judgment. “You shall not commit adultery,” is not only restored but is now elevated and perfected to if you even lust at a women (or a man) in your heart you are guilty. The Ten Commandments and the law remain, and in Jesus, who is God Himself, they are now elevated to the greater demands of authentic and true love.

I can remember getting into a discussion once with a Catholic who considered himself a more open-minded Christian. In the lively discussion that ensued, I mentioned this, that moral right and wrongs of the Old Testament are still in effect. He argued that Jesus came to do away with the Law and even the Ten Commandments, freeing us from such legalism; that Jesus instituted the new law of freedom and love…in which we are not to be judgmental and intolerant, but instead are to be open to everyone and tolerant of all people’s truths and opinions. I reminded my friend of the passage from today’s Gospel and Jesus’ strong words. And I reminded Him the fact that the truth never changes because it comes from God who never changes.

This mistaken idea of truth being subjective, of the truth changing is very prevalent. Another place we see it is with to the teachings of the Church, that the Church’s teaching themselves change and are therefore not objective but subjective. And example of this is how some view the nature of the teachings of the Church before Vatican II and after. There are some in the Church that mistakenly believe that what the Church taught before that great meeting of the bishops in 1965, was actually changed by the bishops; and as result, they believe that the Church now teaches different truths, different doctrines than before the Council.

I also hear this wrong idea (that the Church’s teachings can change) when I hear it said "It's just a matter of time before our current Holy Father Francis changes the Church’s teaching on Marriage and allows for marriage between members of the same sex." This is of course obviously wrong because the Pope, or any other bishop or priest for that matter, can’t change any of the Church’s teachings because they are truths that come not from man, but from God Himself-from Jesus who was and is God come to earth as one of us and who said that He Himself is the Truth. And so, what was true yesterday is true today and will still be true tomorrow. And as Blessed John Paul II, Pope Benedict taught and as Pope Francis is taught and is still teaching, the Church before Vatican II is the same as the Church today, and the Church of tomorrow will be the same as today, this goes for her teachings as well. The popes can’t teach otherwise!

The truth is for us a solid supporting pillar in our lives and in our world; it is an unshakeable column, and we for our part cannot give way to it even in little things…even though we might be tempted and inclined to comprise it in order not to hurt people or create division, or to be seen as intolerant of others. It was the great Archbishop Fulton Sheen, who has been declared a Venerable Servant of God the first step to Canonization, Bishop Sheen said that, “there is no other subject on which the average mind is so much confused (today) as the subject of tolerance and intolerance…” Sheen went on to say, “Tolerance applies only to persons, but never to principles. Intolerance applies only to principles, but never to persons…We must be tolerant to the erring (person),” he said, “because ignorance may have led them astray; but we must be intolerant to the error, because Truth is not our making, but God's.” Another similar saying of Archbishop Fulton Sheen is that "Moral principles do not depend on a majority vote. Wrong is wrong, even if everybody is wrong. Right is right, even if nobody is right." This quote is very closely connected to the saying of the great St. Augustine, “Right is right even if no one is doing it; wrong is wrong even if everyone is doing it.”

One of the reasons why Jesus founded the Catholic Church on the twelve Apostles, who were the first bishops and priests, was to preserve faithfully throughout all time and pass down faithfully to all generations that truth He came to give us in order that we could conform our lives to it and be truly free and so be saved. The whole body of teachings or doctrines of Jesus is known as the Deposit of Faith and it is the source of all saving truth and moral discipline. It a treasure that each generation receives authentically from the Church that Jesus Himself founded for this very purpose. It is the truth that sets men free! Free for what? Free to love God and neighbor fully and authentically!

Through the successors of the Apostles, who are the pope and the bishops in union with the pope (and only the bishops in union with the pope), the Catholic Church keeps the Deposit of Faith faithfully under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the Church alone has the authority from Christ Himself (who is God) to authentically interpret it. With the Holy Spirit safeguarding the purity of all the teachings of Jesus, we can be sure that what the Church teaches is really what Jesus who was God come to earth really taught for our good and for our salvation. These are the truths of Our Beautiful Catholic Faith, and they have always and everywhere been taught authentically by the Catholic Church the Sacrament of salvation, founded by God Himself for this very reason.

To keep the truths of our faith in their fullness is essential to our salvation and the salvation of mankind, not to mention essential to our happiness. Again because they come from God Himself, Jesus, they cannot ever be changed; nor can their ever be introduced any “new” truths. As one writer put it, “What truth is there that can save other than the truth of Christ? What new truth could be of interest, even if it sprang from the wisest of men, if it led us away from the teaching of the Master? Who would dare to interpret, alter or accommodate the divine Word to suit his own whims (or opinions)? That is why Our Lord warns us today that, “Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.”

We as faithful disciples of the Lord Jesus and as faithful sons and daughters of the Church He founded to proclaim the truth that sets men free, we must never compromise on any of the truths our Catholic faith, not even in little areas. If we do we actually become guilty of the very intolerance that we may be trying to avoid, we become guilty of the intolerance of the truth itself, guilty of the intolerance of not letting the truth be proclaimed by our very lives…in this we fail to proclaim the Gospel with our lives.

We must never forget that proclaiming the truth to others is often the greatest good we can do for those who surround us. It is the greatest act of charity because there is no true charity, no true love without the truth; in other words, it is impossible to love without the truth. And what’s more is that, “whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” And one final thought closely connected to all of this, is that we must always hate the error and the sin but love the one in error and love the one in sin, even to the point of laying down our lives for him or her in imitation of the love of the Master…who never tolerated sin and error but always tolerated the errant and sinner, tolerated them even to the cross, even while on the cross...

At this Holy Mass let us ask through the intercession of Our Blessed Mother for the grace to let our ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes,' and our ‘No’ mean ‘No,’ for anything more is from the evil one.” Let us ask her to help us to believe in the fullness of the Gospel truth as taught by the Catholic Church; and even more, to live this truth out faithfully in our lives in order to proclaim by our lives the truth that saves and sets men free for Love. Let us ask as well for the grace to let go of anything we have against our brother or against the teachings of the Church so that we can be reconciled with our brother and with the Church and so be reconciled with Jesus in order to offer our gift at His altar worthily. Let us ask that the gift of our whole heart, our whole life, offered through the Immaculate Heart of Our Blessed Mother and by the living paten of her hands, may be worthy and acceptable to the Lord God Almighty. Holy Mary mother of Truth Himself, Mother of Truth’s Church, Help of Christians pray for us poor sinners who have recourse to thee; keep us always in the Truth! Amen.