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| "Damn the Catholic Church!" So ended a telephone message left here at the Cathedral sometime on Wednesday past. We do receive our fair share of calls and messages from people who seem to enjoy being on or beyond the fringe, or who are perhaps not the most stable in their outlook; however, the woman who left this message sounded to be quite rational. She began by identifying herself as a lifelong Catholic. It would appear to be clear that some event, or the actions or behaviour of someone, has left her with a very sour taste in her mouth. | ||
| Actually, this is not the first time that I have heard people tell me that they have decided to turn their backs on the Church, usually based on the actions or behaviour of someone else, yes often a priest, in a given parish. My engineering mentality often leaves me shaking my head at the logic that concludes that the actions of one, or even of a relatively small handful of individuals, within a body of some 1.8 billion makes the whole thing invalid; or that someone, clearly not behaving as a good Christian should, is nonetheless representative of God, and therefore, God is a bad thing. | ||
| Today is Whitsunday, the Feast of Pentecost, often referred to as the "birthday of the Church", when, as we heard read in the Lesson from Acts, Chapter 2, the Holy Spirit filled the Apostles and they began to speak in languages other than their own native tongues. | ||
| Two years ago on this day, I mentioned in my homily that there has arisen in parts of the Body of Christ, the Church, a tendency to view the activity of God the Holy Spirit in isolation from the Father and the Son. Perhaps this is based on the few passages from the New Testament that seem to refer to the Third Person acting individually; but that is certainly not the consistent teaching of Christ, or the Apostles in their letters to the Church, or the early Church in immediate post-Apostolic time. That there is a danger in viewing the activity of the Holy Spirit in isolation is evident in the continued fragmentation of the Body of Christ among such groups. | ||
| The consistent teaching of the Church has largely been based on the lengthy passages in the Gospel according to St. John, where our Lord states a number of times that the Father will send the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name, and that the Holy Spirit would guide His followers - not least by reminding them of Jesus' teachings. Elsewhere in the New Testament and the early Church, this is neatly summarized by referring to the Third Person of the Trinity as "The Spirit of the Risen Lord," or the "Spirit of Christ." Consider also the invititatory to the Venite at Mattins during Whitsuntide, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son " | ||
| Is it right and good to desire that God the Holy Spirit will direct and rule our hearts, guiding us into all truth? Yea, verily, every Christian should be filled with such a desire acknowledging the fact that true influence and guidance from the Holy Spirit only comes insofar as the Holy Spirit is acting within the unity of the Trinity. Most assuredly, it behoves any Christian who truly seeks to constantly be filled with the Spirit of the Risen Christ, to read their New Testaments entirely to understand that God, through Jesus Christ, is the focus of Christianity. If special gifts are received from God through His Spirit, well and good; but seeking of gifts has become for some a diversion from the true focus. As it is a dreadful pity that God the Holy Spirit has become a divisive issue in Christ's Body, we might certainly spend much more time expanding on this important point; however, there is something else special about today, May 19, 2002 in the City of Ottawa at the Parish of the Annunciation. | ||
| Today, we also celebrate another birthday, as we welcome a new member into the Body of Christ by doing what Christ instructed us to do. In just a few moments, we shall all be witnessing the Baptism of John Heighton Wood, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit as Christ commanded us to do. | ||
| Again, in previous sermons at Baptisms, it has been pointed out how other deviations have crept into Christ's Body, the Church, as it pertains to the Sacrament of Baptism: that somehow it is us performing the active, rather that the symbolic, part of the Baptism, and not God; that if the individual is too young to be aware of the awesome action about to be performed on him or her by God, such as in the case of John today, then it is somehow not valid.; that based on a brief practice of the early Church, actually recorded for us in the Acts of the Holy Apostles (and still apparently practised by one small branch of the Church) where some were only baptized in the name of Jesus, and therefore later were filled with the Holy Spirit, that there are two Baptisms, not one; and even though our Lord said that people must be baptized (acknowledging that there must be an opportunity for such) as we heard read on Ascension Day in our Gospel passage for that day, and which He is also quoted as saying elsewhere in the Gospels, that somehow we are more enlightened today and no longer must believe that, or that Baptism might be conveniently delayed in alarming contrast to the constant practice of the Church from the very beginning, as recorded for us in the New Testament. | ||
| We might certainly spend more time expanding on these important points also; however, the Service of Baptism lays out for us, by much quoting of our Lord's teaching, what the Church has always believed; therefore we might view it as the continuation or explanatory footnotes to this sermon. | ||
| In particular, may we note that we are not just giving John a public bath, but that it is God upon Whom we call to cleanse John from his sins and adopt him as one of His children. Note also how often there is reference to the activity of the Holy Spirit in Baptism; that John is being born anew of Water and of the Holy Spirit. If we take God at His Word to do what He promised He will do, then we believe that John will be filled with the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Risen Lord, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, from this day forward. Henceforth, John is properly called a Christian. As he grows, may he be attentive to the presence of God the Holy Spirit within him, so that he more and more exhibits those gifts of the Spirit listed on today's bulletin cover. | ||
| By definition, one cannot be called a Christian until one is baptized. A person might come to full belief in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; but if they are not baptized, then the correct term for them is "God fearer," not "Christian". Again, poor understanding has cropped up in the last few centuries, no doubt based on the all-too-frequent bad behaviour of baptized Christians. "How can someone be called a Christian," the new thinking argues, "when they clearly do not do what Christ commanded, or even go to Church?" Without trying to sound too clinical, it is true that anyone baptized, as Christ commanded, will be, from that day on, a Christian. They might afterward be a good Christian; they might be an indifferent Christian; they might also be a bad Christian. | ||
| God did, after all, give us free will, the capacity for rational thought, which coupled with our inherited sinful nature pretty much guarantees that nobody will always be a good Christian all of the time after their Baptism, even if their Baptism is delayed until adulthood. | ||
| I presume that our caller on Wednesday past was baptized into Christ's Church; and therefore, by definition, as baptism is the seal of the New Covenant or New Testament, she is a Christian. Perhaps she is today an indifferent, or even a bad, Christian; but God has baptized her, just as He is about to baptize John, through us, His Church, in a few moments. Once done, that act can never be taken away, in spite of how badly or indifferently we might behave in the future. | ||
| Our caller on Wednesday past did most certainly receive the Holy Spirit in her Baptism; we must believe that if we believe God to be true to His word. Of course, any Christian, even good ones will readily admit that our wills, our capacity for rationalizing, our sinful nature most often ensure that we are largely oblivious to the presence of God within us. Our caller was exercising her free will fair enough; however, it would appear that her thinking had slipped in terms of being perfectly rational it is never right for us to blame God for the actions or behaviour of sinful man. | ||
| Our caller's sentiment that the Catholic Church should be damned is most probably 180 degrees from what she truly meant. If the Church is in error, it surely needs correction and blessing to set it right much more than damnation. | ||
| May we therefore, on this very special day, pray that the person or persons who precipitated our caller's upset; may we pray that our caller herself; may we pray that each of us in our daily lives; may we especially pray that John, a Christian from this day forward - will be filled with the Spirit of the Risen and Ascended Lord, to Whom, with God the Father, we offer all praise, honour and glory, world without end. Amen. | ||