“The Light of the World” (Jn.8:12)
FR. CAMPBELL
St.
Luke writes in his Gospel of a man named Simeon, just and devout, who
approached Mary and Joseph after the presentation of the Child Jesus in
the Temple. Simeon exclaimed:
“Now
thou dost dismiss thy servant, O Lord, according to thy word, in peace;
because my eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared
before the face of all peoples: A light of revelation to the Gentiles,
and a glory for thy people Israel” (Lk.2:29-32).
Since
the time of Simeon, there have been relatively few who have truly
believed in the Divinity of Our Lord. The Jews, as a whole, rejected
Him, and in their Talmud He is portrayed as suffering in the depths of
Hell. The Muslims consider Jesus a mere prophet of much less importance
than Muhammed. Even among those who consider themselves Christian, only
the few believe as Peter did. When Jesus asked His Apostles, “Who do you
say that I am?” Peter replied:
“Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Mt.16:16).
True
Catholics believe with Peter, that Jesus Christ is the God-Man, the
Divine Son of the Father, born into this world as a Man, and Son of the
Blessed Virgin Mary. We express this belief every time we say the
Apostles Creed, or the Nicene Creed during Sunday Mass.
Many
would-be Christians believe that this is enough, and that if they
accept Jesus Christ as their “personal Savior” they are guaranteed
salvation. But if we believe in Jesus Christ, we must also obey Him. Our
Lord speaks clearly:
“He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me” (Jn.14:21).
In response to a question by our own St. Jude, the Lord said:
“If
anyone love me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and
we will come to him and make our abode with him. He who does not love me
does not keep my words. And the word that you have heard is not mine,
but the Father’s who sent me” (Jn.14:22-24).
St. Paul’s words to Timothy make it clear that our salvation depends not only on our faith, but on the kind of life we live:
“I
urge therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers,
intercessions and thanksgivings be made for all men; for kings, and for
all in high positions, that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all
piety and worthy behavior. This is good and agreeable in the sight of
God our Savior, who wishes all men to be saved and to come to the
knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one Mediator between
God and men, himself man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for
all, bearing witness in his own time” (1Tim.2:1-6).
The One Mediator
mentioned by St. Paul is, of course, Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is
the One Mediator, then there is no other way to know God, or to find
God. All other paths are dead ends. Jesus makes this clear over and
over, as in these passages from St. John’s Gospel:
“I am the light of the world. He who follows me does not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn.8:12).
“I
am the door of the sheep. All whoever have come are thieves and
robbers; but the sheep have not heard them. I am the door. If anyone
enter by me he shall be safe, and shall go in and out, and shall find
pastures. The thief comes only to steal, and slay, and destroy. I came
that they may have life, and have it more abundantly” (Jn.10:7-10).
Speaking
of thieves and robbers, “Papa” Bergoglio has outdone them all in
worshipping with heretics and schismatics, as with the Lutherans, and
taking part in Jewish worship with his friend, Rabbi Abraham Skorka,
even at the Vatican. Such worship is “universally prohibited by
natural and divine law,” as is stated by the Council of Trent. This is
not something that can be changed even by the Church. But is doesn’t
seem to bother anyone that the Novus Ordo flock are being led deeper
into heresy and serious sin by Bergoglio.
Francis
does not even require Baptism for salvation, and he makes no effort to
convert unbelievers to the true Faith. The conciliar popes have used
the word “faith” loosely, saying that we are men and women of faith as
long as we have some form of quasi-religious belief. Thus they call
those of any religion whatsoever “believers”. Christian Faith, however,
is a supernatural virtue, one of the three Theological Virtues, not to
be confused with ordinary human trust or confidence.
Jesus
asks you, too, as He asked the Apostles: “Who do you say that I am?”
The Gospel is a challenge. Some hear it and believe, others hear it and
turn away. When Our Lord told the parable of the sower and the seed, he
explained to His Apostles:
“When
anyone hears the word of the kingdom, but does not understand it, the
wicked one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This
is he who was sown by the wayside. And the one sown on rocky ground,
that is he who hears the word and receives it immediately with joy; yet
he has no root in himself, but continues only for a time, and when
trouble and persecution come because of the word, he at once falls away.
And the one sown among the thorns, that is he who listens to the word;
but the care of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the
word, and it is made fruitless. And the one sown upon good ground, that
is he who hears the word and understands it; he bears fruit and yields
in one case a hundredfold, in another case sixtyfold, and in another
thirtyfold” (Mt.13:19-23).
St. Peter, our first Holy Father, tells us not to stray from the right path:
No comments:
Post a Comment