Thursday of the Twenty-fourth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 446

 

“Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days’ wages and the other owed fifty. Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?”

 

In today’s gospel Jesus uses a homely riddle to enlighten his host, a prosperous Pharisee. A quibbler, disrespecting the Lord’s authority, might have responded with a high-minded retort, “Neither debtor would love the merciful creditor more! You can’t buy love!" 

With such a smartaleck reply he might choose a life of inane foolishness and the loss of salvation.

However, the Pharisee, knowing the Lord was about to make an important statement, gamily replied, “The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven.” And Jesus approved his answer, “You have judged rightly.” The Pharisee obviously respected Jesus and stood ready to be instructed.

I have been reading Saint John Newman’s Apologia pro vita sua and I am struck by the seriousness with which he and his contemporaries took religion. First as an Episcopalian and then as a Roman Catholic he saw “liberalism” as the enemy of religion and the human spirit.

I’ll confess I have not understood the hullabaloo about liberalism and modernism, although every deacon, priest, and bishop, at one time, had to swear an Oath against Modernism. 

At this late date it appears to me as an indistinct belief that religion doesn't matter, plus a deliberate attempt to redefine religious truths in the language of psychology or some other frame of reference. So our Catholic tradition of devotion to the Blessed Mother, for instance, might be redefined as a loyalty to the Church, since "Mary is a symbol of the Church." 

It sounds insipid and that's intentional. Modernism, liberalism, or secularism regards religion as a thing of the past. Some people will say all religions are the same, or any religion is better than none. Which is the same as, "No religion is better than any." 

People who go that route might describe themselves lamely as "spiritual but not religious" or, more simply, "none." If they declare they still believe in God, they mean they suppose there might be a God. But they would not say they actually believe in God as in, "I would stake my life on God's fidelity." 

Saint John Newman saw it coming in the nineteenth century and he frankly blamed the Protestant Reformation in general. After a long tortuous inward journey, he turned away from the "mother" who raised him, his Church of England, and joined the Roman Catholic Church. He embraced the binding authority of Rome which -- today and forever -- holds the Church together. 

   

In today's gospel I notice the deference the Pharisee gave to the Rabbi Jesus whose presence and demeanor command enormous respect. We hear it at the beginning of the passage: 

Jesus said to him in reply,

“Simon, I have something to say to you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

If he did not respect religion he would not have invited Jesus to his home. 

Saint John Newman believed in religion and he made enormous personal sacrifice in his quest to discover the true religion. At the end of that search, he urged deference to the Roman Pope and his infallible authority. He recognized the obvious limits of that authority. Popes don't predict the weather or define quantum theory. They do urge us to believe that Jesus is our Lord and we are saved despite our sins by belief in him.

Pope Francis as a religious authority tells us we must respond to the moral crises of environmental degradation, deepening poverty, and mass migrations of people. Belief in God requires moral action. Some (few) scientific authorities might disagree with him, but our religion demands respect for the authority of the Pope and his bishops, and a willingness to follow their lead.