“The
Devil doesn’t fear austerity but holy obedience.”– St. Francis de Sales
(Gospel
Text: MK 1:21-28)
Jesus came to Capernaum with his
followers,
and on the Sabbath he entered the
synagogue and taught.
The people were astonished at his
teaching,
for he taught them as one having
authority and not as the scribes.
In their synagogue was a man with an
unclean spirit;
he cried out, “What have you to do
with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are–the Holy One of
God!”
Jesus rebuked him and said, “Quiet!
Come out of him!”
The unclean spirit convulsed him and
with a loud cry came out of him.
All were amazed and asked one another,
“What
is this?
A new teaching with authority.
He commands even the unclean spirits
and they obey him.”
His fame spread everywhere throughout
the whole region of Galilee.
Before ascending into heaven, Jesus
said to his apostles: "Full
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make
disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have
commanded you" (Mt 28:18-20).
But
Christ also speaks to us today with his authority through the teaching of the Catholic
Church, to whom he gave his own amazing authority to continue his saving work.
He gave that authority in a special
way to the visible head of the Church he founded. He told Peter that he was the
rock on whom he was going to build his Church and then gave him the authority
to open and lock the way to heaven: "I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth
will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven" (Mt 16:19).
The Church firmly believes that that
authority was passed down to St. Peter's successors all the way to Pope
Benedict. Christ also gave his authority to the apostles as a whole (and their
successors, the bishops) so that they could, as ambassadors, teach
authoritatively in his name, "Whoever
hears you hears me, and whoever rejects you rejects me" (Lk 10:16).
Do
we follow it, ignore, or resist the Lord as he teaches us in Sacred Scripture,
or through his Vicars on earth, or through the successors of the apostles? Do
we trust in our own opinions more than we trust what he has said, done and
established?
St. John Marie Vianney addresses one of the biggest obstacles for us when
it comes to grasping this truth, "I tell you that you have less to suffer
in following the cross than in serving the world and its pleasures."
We need to overcome the mindset, that we
learned everything we need to know about the faith by the time we were
confirmed (i.e. age 14).
It's simply not true.
There's
so much to learn, and this truth will set our lives free.
No comments:
Post a Comment