Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Does the Catechism promote private interpretation of Scripture?


Does the Catechism promote private interpretation of Scripture?

Full Question

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "knowledge of revealed truth" is "deepened" by "theological research" and by "the intimate sense of spiritual realities which [believers] experience" (CCC 94). I thought that the magisterium was the authentic interpreter of Scripture and that private interpretation was taboo.

Answer

There is no conflict between the work of exegetes, scholars, and believers in exploring the meaning of Scripture, on the one hand, and the work of the magisterium in authentically defining the meaning of Scripture, on the other hand. Exegetes and believers must not pit their private judgment against the mind of the Church or treat their methods as the ultimate arbiters of what Scripture can or cannot mean (this is what is meant by "private interpretation"). But that doesn't mean that ordinary Catholics and Scripture scholars cannot use their intellects to probe the meaning of Scripture. Indeed, Scripture is so rich that even when a given passage has been connected authoritatively with a certain doctrine, that does not remove that passage from the sphere of scientific or devotional inquiry. We can interpret and explore Scripture, just not in a way that contradicts what has been defined concerning it.

There is an interrelationship between the work of exegetes and believers and the work of the magisterium. It is the magisterium's task to be the ultimate arbiter of whether or not a given theological idea belongs to the Catholic faith. But where does the theological idea come from in the first place? Who thinks of it, formulates it, develops it, expresses it? Bishops, yes, but also priests, saints, scholars, even ordinary believers. All of us, bringing our spiritual and critical faculties to the sources of faith (Scripture and Tradition) in a spirit of humility and docility to the teaching authority of the Church, may explore the meaning of divine revelation for ourselves.

Any interpretation we arrive at must not contradict what has already been defined as Catholic truth. That is why God gave the Church the power of defining things-to keep us from going wrong. We must be willing to submit our interpretations to the final judgment of the magisterium. But it would be a mistake to think that we are limited to parroting what the magisterium already has defined. That would be a recipe for crippling the ongoing development of doctrine that continually enriches our faith and unfolds the glories of that which was once for all delivered to the saints.


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Monday, February 25, 2013

TOMMY THE ATHEIST'S TESTIMONY – A TRUE TALE



TOMMY THE ATHEIST'S TESTIMONY – A TRUE TALE


John Powell a professor at Loyola University in Chicago writes about a student in his Theology of Faith class named Tommy:

Some twelve years ago, I stood watching my university students file into the classroom for our first session in the Theology of Faith. That was the first day I first saw Tommy. My eyes and my mind both blinked. He was combing his long flaxen hair, which hung six inches below his shoulders.

It was the first time I had ever seen a boy with hair that long. I guess it was just coming into fashion then. I know in my mind that it isn’t what’s on your head but what’s in it that counts; but on that day I was unprepared and my emotions flipped.

I immediately filed Tommy under "S" for strange ... very strange. Tommy turned out to be the "atheist in residence" in my Theology of Faith course. He constantly objected to, smirked at, or whined about the possibility of an unconditionally loving Father-God. We lived with each other in relative peace for one semester, although I admit he was for me at times a serious pain in the back pew.

When he came up at the end of the course to turn in his final exam, he asked in a slightly cynical tone: "Do you think I’ll ever find God?"

I decided instantly on a little shock therapy. "No!" I said very emphatically.

"Oh," he responded, "I thought that was the product you were pushing."

I let him get five steps from the classroom door and then called out: "Tommy! I don’t think you’ll ever find him, but I am absolutely certain that He will find you!" He shrugged a little and left my class and my life.

I felt slightly disappointed at the thought that he had missed my clever line: "He will find you!" At least I thought it was clever. Later I heard that Tommy had graduated and I was duly grateful.

Then a sad report, I heard that Tommy had terminal cancer. Before I could search him out, he came to see me. When he walked into my office, his body was very badly wasted, and the long hair had all fallen out as a result of chemotherapy. But his eyes were bright and his voice was firm, for the first time, I believe. "Tommy, I’ve thought about you so often. I hear you are sick!" I blurted out.

"Oh, yes, very sick. I have cancer in both lungs. It’s a matter of weeks."

"Can you talk about it, Tom?"

"Sure, what would you like to know?"

"What’s it like to be only twenty-four and dying?"

"Well, it could be worse."

"Like what?"

"Well, like being fifty and having no values or ideals, like being fifty and thinking that booze, seducing women, and making money are the real ‘biggies’ in life."

I began to look through my mental file cabinet under "S" where I had filed Tommy as strange. (It seems as though everybody I try to reject by classification God sends back into my life to educate me.)

But what I really came to see you about," Tom said, " is something you said to me on the last day of class." (He remembered!) He continued, "I asked you if you thought I would ever find God and you said, ‘No!’ which surprised me. Then you said, ‘But he will find you.’ I thought about that a lot, even though my search for God was hardly intense at that time. (My "clever" line. He thought about that a lot!) But when the doctors removed a lump from my groin and told me that it was malignant, then I got serious about locating God. And when the malignancy spread into my vital organs, I really began banging bloody fists against the bronze doors of heaven.

But God did not come out. In fact, nothing happened. Did you ever try anything for a long time with great effort and with no success? You get psychologically glutted, fed up with trying. And then you quit.

Well, one day I woke up, and instead of throwing a few more futile appeals over that high brick wall to a God who may be or may not be there, I just quit. I decided that I didn’t really care ... about God, about an afterlife, or anything like that. "I decided to spend what time I had left doing something more profitable. I thought about you and your class and I remembered something else you had said: ‘The essential sadness is to go through life without loving. But it would be almost equally sad to go through life and leave this world without ever telling those you loved that you had loved them.’ "So I began with the hardest one: my Dad. He was reading the newspaper when I approached him."

"Dad". . .

"Yes, what?" he asked without lowering the newspaper.

"Dad, I would like to talk with you."

"Well, talk."

"I mean. .. It’s really important."

The newspaper came down three slow inches. "What is it?"

"Dad, I love you. I just wanted you to know that." Tom smiled at me and said with obvious satisfaction, as though he felt a warm and secret joy flowing inside of him: "The newspaper fluttered to the floor. Then my father did two things I could never remember him ever doing before. He cried and he hugged me.

And we talked all night, even though he had to go to work the next morning. It felt so good to be close to my father, to see his tears, to feel his hug, to hear him say that he loved me. "It was easier with my mother and little brother. They cried with me, too, and we hugged each other, and started saying real nice things to each other. We shared the things we had been keeping secret for so many years. I was only sorry about one thing: that I had waited so long. Here I was just beginning to open up to all the people I had actually been close to.

"Then, one day I turned around and God was there. He didn’t come to me when I pleaded with him. I guess I was like an animal trainer holding out a hoop, ‘C’mon, jump through.’ ‘C’mon, I’ll give you three days .. .three weeks.’ Apparently God does things in his own way and at his own hour. "But the important thing is that he was there. He found me.

You were right. He found me even after I stopped looking for him."

"Tommy," I practically gasped, "I think you are saying something very important and much more universal than you realize. To me, at least, you are saying that the surest way to find God is not to make him a private possession, a problem solver, or an instant consolation in time of need, but rather by opening to love. You know, the Apostle John said that. He said God is love, and anyone who lives in love is living with God and God is living in him.’ Tom, could I ask you a favor? You know, when I had you in class you were a real pain. But (laughingly) you can make it all up to me now. Would you come into my present Theology of Faith course and tell them what you have just told me? If I told them the same thing it wouldn’t be half as effective as if you were to tell them."

"Oooh . . . I was ready for you, but I don’t know if I’m ready for your class."

"Tom, think about it. If and when you are ready, give me a call." In a few days Tommy called, said he was ready for the class, that he wanted to do that for God and for me. So we scheduled a date. However, he never made it.

He had another appointment, far more important than the one with me and my class. Of course, his life was not really ended by his death, only changed.

He made the great step from faith into vision. He found a life far more beautiful than the eye of man has ever seen or the ear of man has ever heard or the mind of man has ever imagined.

Before he died, we talked one last time. "I’m not going to make it to your class," he said.

"I know, Tom."

"Will you tell them for me? Will you . . . tell the whole world for me?"

"I will, Tom. I’ll tell them. I’ll do my best."

So, to all of you who have been kind enough to hear this simple statement about love, thank you for listening. And to you, Tommy, somewhere in the sunlit, verdant hills of heaven: "I told them, Tommy . ... ...as best I could."

With thanks,
Rev. John Powell, Professor Loyola University in Chicago


Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Lenten Penance

From: Fr. Tom Mangattuthazhe 

Lenten Penance

Penances must conform to our inner contrition and sorrow for our sins. Acts of penance are our outward signs of inward realities. Saint John the Baptist said: “Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of penance.” (Matthew 3:8, ) Saint Paul also said: “I preach that they should do penance and turn to God, doing works worthy of penance.” (Acts 26:20) I very much like how
the Apostle speaks of "works worthy of penance."

Below are some traditional Catholic penances. These acts should be unseen by men and offered only to God:

1. Abstaining from all meat
2. Abstaining from all alcohol
3. Abstaining from all sweets and desserts
4. Having only one or two meals per day
5. Eating little or no food of Fridays - the weekly remembrance of the crucifixion
6. Waking up for a night vigil of prayer
7. Abstaining from television, music, radio, and/or movies for all of Lent
8. Daily Mass
9. Weekly Confession
10. Daily Rosary
11. Daily Divine Mercy Chaplet
12. Daily or Weekly Stations of the Cross
13. Attending a parish mission
14. Increased Almsgiving
15. Acts of Mercy and Charity

Talk to your spiritual director before you do anything. If you do not have a director, talk to your priest in the confessional about how you can take it to higher level this year. The goal is to give greater glory to God, grow in holiness, and bring graces to others who need Christ.

As we learn from St Therese, even the smallest thing done for the love of God is great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Picking up piece of trash or opening the door for someone with a heart full of love for God and neighbor is better than a bitter heart enduring a hair shirt for forty days. This is why you need a holy spiritual director to help you think these things through.


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