Do Not Believe Every Spirit But Test Against God's Word

The Vatican Radio station published the homily that the pope gave at his Mass yesterday.  The full text is here.  Remember - this is on the Vatican's website. You can't blame the "big bad media" for taking the pope's words out of context. He spoke about docility to Amoris Laetitia the Holy Spirit.  Well, we can glean just what he meant.  Here is a key line.

"Do not resist the Holy Spirit under the guise of loyalty to the law."

Now what is this law to which the Pope so disdainfully refers?  Let's be blunt; it's the Sacred Tradition of the Church found in her dogmas, Sacred Scripture, canon law, moral precepts, etc.  Now from where did these originate?  From God Himself and that would also include the Holy Spirit.  So in light of these facts, let's rephrase that line.

"Do not resist the Holy Spirit because of loyalty to the Holy Spirit."

True docility to the Holy Spirit is not this "will o' the wisp" lark that the pope seems to embrace.  Remember his "god of surprises" schtick?  Where in all of Scripture or Tradition does anyone find precedent for that phrase?  We don't.  Some time ago there was yap and yammer from the pope about "change".  Not possible.  The Sacred Deposit of Faith and Tradition will not change.  Why? Because God, the source of the Faith is Himself immutable.  So if "loyalty to the law" renders you resistant to the spirit, keep resisting for that "spirit" is not the Holy Spirit.  Sacred Scripture in fact tells us to "test the spirits" for there are many out there that are malevolent.  One key way of doing that is to measure these "spirits" against God's already-revealed Word.

Do we have here yet another attempt at grooming the Catholic populace for seismic changes in "pastoral practices" that will be tantamount to de facto changes in doctrine.  Note I said "de facto" and not "de jure".  The pope can never change solemn Church teaching per se; but he and others can do immense harm by instituting "pastoral practices" that have the same spiritual effect.

Please pray.  Please be aware.

I'll now put up a clip created by my blogging colleage at AKA Catholic.

False Dichotomes Between Faith And Intellect, Being Joyful And Being Serious

In his morning homily yesterday the Holy Father described what he believes are two groups into which humanity can be classed.  One group is those open to the Holy Spirit and docile to His movements, who move by faith.  The second group puzzles me a bit.  While he says they are obtuse to God, he says they are so because "everything was about the mind, the intellect..no love of beauty, no harmony".

I know some folks who are quite hostile to God.  Trust me when I say that their hostility to God has nothing at all to do with their intellects.  More often than not, their sensuality has deadened not only faith but any intellectual prowess they might have had.  It is Our Lady of Fatima herself who told the three children that more souls go to hell due to sins of the flesh more than anything else; I would assume that includes any intellectual pride.

Since when are "intellect" and "openness to the Holy Spirit" mutually exclusive as the Pope seems to be implying?  Since we are created in the image and likeness of God primarily through intellect and will, I would think that there is no "openness to the Holy Spirit" without some modicum of intellectual rigor.  I would think that there can be no real "love of beauty" without a sound intellect to inform us of the nature of true beauty.

He then said, "when there is a lot of seriousness, the spirit of God is lacking".  What does that mean?  Since when does a serious outlook preclude the presence of the Spirit of God?  I might think that the Spirit of God might bring about a more serious outlook on life and the eternal realities surrounding us.  True joy and seriousness are not mutually contradictory.  That assumes we understand that real joy has nothing to do with posing in selfies while wearing clown noses.  Our Lord Himself always displayed the fruits of the Spirit, did He not?  Does that include the time known as His Passion?  I would think so.

These artificial dichotomies that appear in the Pope's remarks seem confusing and divisive rather than helpful.