A few days ago there was an active discussion among friends about whether someone, knowing of the Faith, could remain outside of it without danger to their soul. A somewhat sharp-tongued elder observed, wryly, that such a person was 'screwed' if they did not act on their knowledge. Commotion and chastening followed, but the elder did not bow.
Then appeared this essay by Fr. Perricone in Crisis on-line.
Does Jesus Love You Just the Way You Are?
No.
The author maintains that Jesus 'pities' us with His infinite love, and moves on to the reality of Mercy. Knowing the reality of mercy is required to understand why Jesus does NOT merely 'love me the way I am.' To that end, he cites Aquinas:
...every work of justice presupposes and is founded upon a work of mercy, a work of pure loving kindness, wholly gratuitous. If, in fact, there is anything due from God to the creature, it is in virtue of some gift that has preceded it…If he owes it to Himself to grant us grace necessary for salvation, it is because He has first given us the grace with which to merit. Mercy, or pure goodness, is thus, as it were, the root and source of all the works of God; Its virtue pervades, dominates them all. As the ultimate founder of every gift, it exercises the more powerful influence, and for this reason it transcends justice, which follows upon mercy and continues to be subordinate to it. (ST Ia, q 21, a.4.) ...
But that is not the "AHA!!" moment some would like it to be. Not even close.
...In the light of this teaching of the Angelic Doctor, such sandbox assertions as “Jesus loves us just the way we are” are shown in all their embarrassing shallowness. ...
Here is the reality behind Aquinas' statement:
...Mercy is offered to those who crave forgiveness; those who express profound contrition; those who possess a deep horror of sin. When the hands of a sinner are held out with all these dispositions, Divine Mercy rushes in like a tidal wave....
IOW, we have a responsibility--which responsibility is also present when making the decision to cross the Tiber.
So where does the irresponsible yapping come from?
... In the past decade or so it has come to take on a no-fault coloration, perpetrated by some of the most highly-placed prelates in the Catholic Church. They have drained mercy of its true meaning. To them, mercy comes from a God happy with man and all his sins. This is a mercy turned into a lie, a cruel parody of divine truth. ...
...The clerics who persist in the bilge of “Jesus loves us just the way we are,” are twisting the Catholic faithful into religious stooges. Beneath the weight of such kitsch, it doesn’t take long to recognize there is no need of a Savior, or His Church, of Redemption, or of the Sacraments. Religion becomes but the moment of supreme togetherness and self-realization. Religion becomes a mutual admiration society; Jesus admires me; I admire Jesus.
In that text-thread mentioned above another texter referred to the podcast words of a "Fr. Mike" who marveled at the 'number of souls going straight to Heaven' on their death. "Fr. Mike" must be one of the clerics mentioned by Fr. Perricone above, and "Fr. Mike" is talking himself out of a job. For:
... this is “just the way we are”: prisoners of sin. Even when we have been bathed in the graces of Confession, we are hostages to the wages of concupiscence. So it is that Mother Church calls us by our proper name, “poor sinners,” or “poor banished children of Eve.”...
Fr. Perricone then reviews the parable of the Prodigal Son:
...Recall the father of the Prodigal Son upon his son’s return: “bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and be merry” (Luke 15:22). Exchanging this for the low lie of “Jesus loves you just the way you are” reduces man to rags. It abandons the Prodigal Son to feasting on the husks of pigs. This is prizing graffiti to Fra Angelico.
No. Jesus does not love you just the way you are.
For God does not play such dirty tricks....
No, indeed.
5 comments:
You’re mistaken, Fr Mike’s reflection on how few souls go straight to heaven - most all of us will be in purgatory for quite awhile before we see the face of God.
The item I saw was unclear. But that's OK....he launched some thought.
But the Church fathers say otherwise:
“Everyone should be anxious and fearful for himself the more ignorant he is of what is in store for him, because — this must be said often and not forgotten — Many are called, but few are chosen.“— St. Gregory the Great
One of Saint Leonard of Port Maurice's most famous sermons was:
"The Little Number of Those Who Are Saved."
It was the one he relied on for
the conversion of great sinners.
This sermon, like his other writings, was
submitted to canonical examination during the process of canonization.
In it he reviews the various states of life of Christians and concludes with
the little number of those who are saved, in relation to the totality of
men.
Here is the Link.
http://www.saintsbooks.net/books/St.%20Leonard%20of%20Port%20Maurice%20-%20The%20Little%20Number%20of%20Those%20Who%20Are%20Saved.pdf
The mentality of. “ everyone gets a trophy school of niceness”, does not apply to salvation. 🤡
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