Like many
of my fellow Catholics, I tend to focus on particular issues (in my case life
and family issues) as an expression of my faith and as a means of
evangelizing. There is always the danger
of losing sight of the “big picture” when we commit ourselves to specific
causes which are necessarily finite and subordinate to Eternal Truths. For instance, one criticism of the “Abortion
Myths” series that I have been posting is that we are in danger (or I am in
danger) of reducing Catholicism to nothing more than an anti-abortion
crusade. One commenter suggested that we
should instead simply preach the Gospel, and once we have converted the world
the abortion problem will solve itself.
Raphael's St. Paul Preaching in Athens |
There is
a degree of truth in such criticism: there is always a possibility that we will
be governed more by our own limited enthusiasms than by the will of God. On the other hand, it is God’s will that we
act against wrongs being committed in our own time and place. This is stated over and over again in Holy
Scripture, as in this Old Testament passage:
"So you, son of
man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word
from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O
wicked man, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to
turn from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I
will require at your hand. But if you
warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way; he
shall die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life. (Ezekial 33:7-9)
And here we see the same principle in the New
Testament:
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 5:19-20)
Saint
Peter gives us some guidance on how we can address particular situations
without neglecting the Full Gospel:
But even if you do
suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in
your hearts reverence Christ as Lord.
Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account
for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep
your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good
behavior in Christ may be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:14-16)
By exemplifying in our manner and mode of address
respect for the dignity of our adversary, we are preaching by example the
Gospel of Christ’s love.
We very
often see wonderful examples of this approach in some of the Church’s teaching
documents, and in a special way those addressed to correcting a particular
wrong. These magisterial correctives
take advantage of the interest generated by a particular “hot topic” as a
teachable moment both to gently but firmly invite back those who have strayed,
and also to give a positive lesson on how the Church’s teaching in a particular
area is grounded in the greater principle of God’s all-embracing love.
One such
document is Pope Paul VI’s 1968 Encyclical Humanae Vitae [here], to which I will be returning in the near future. Another less well-known one is the 1984
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith document called Instruction on Certain Aspects of
the “Theology of Liberation” [here],
signed by the CDF’s then prefect Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. The main purpose of the document is to
correct errors in the Liberation Theology movement similar to those described
above, specifically that it tends to give worldly “liberation” from material
want and suffering precedence over the Liberation from Sin that is the true
core of Christian belief, and also that it associates itself too closely with
the anti-Christian political philosophy of Marxism. At the same time, the document acknowledges
the areas where Liberation Theology is right, particularly its focus on very
real problems of poverty, suffering and injustice in many parts of the world. Finally, the document takes the opportunity
to present a wonderfully concise mini-lesson in the Catholic understanding of
poverty and our responsibility as Christians to work actively on behalf of the
poor and oppressed.
This
document is but one of many examples of the fact that the Big Picture and
finite issues are inextricably intertwined.
If our attempts to address and correct particular wrongs are not first
grounded in Christ’s Love, then we are no better than “a noisy gong or clanging
cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1), or worse than that if our lack of charity actually drives people away
from the Gospel. On the other hand, if
we simply preach the Love of God without applying it to concrete situations, it
becomes an insubstantial abstraction, and our Faith is as good as dead (see James,
chapter 2). Our role as Catholics is to
be both/and, body and soul, and to witness to the Word made Flesh. In no other way can we, as Saint Paul says (1
Timothy 6:12), “Fight the Good Fight”.
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