Daily Retreat 05/15/09
2009 May 15 Fri:Easter Weekday/ Isidore the Farmer, mm
Acts 15:22-31/ Ps 56(57):8-9. 10 and 12/ Jn 15:12-17
From today’s readings: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us.... My heart is steadfast, O God; my heart is steadfast.... This is My commandment: love one another as I love you.”
It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us
The Second Vatican Council, convoked over forty years ago by Pope John XXIII, was only the most recent in the series of Church Councils held since Pentecost - the first council of the Church was, in fact, the Council of Jerusalem, held around 49 A.D. and reported in Chapter Fifteen of the Acts of the Apostles.
The decision of the Council of Jerusalem was promulgated solemnly through personal representatives credentialed with epistolary edicts, which included the solemn assertion, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us...” In contrast, at that time, imperial and other official decrees often began with the words, “It seemed good to me and my council....” The Apostles thus were attesting that the decision was made initially and primarily by the Holy Spirit, while their own participation was concurrent, but secondary.
This encapsulates the Church’s teaching about her charism of infallibility - the Pope and Church councils have never presumed to put words in God’s mouth and speak on their own initiative for Him, but they have and do prayerfully listen to God and then share the results of the deliberations about what “seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” The Pope and councils reflect on God’s revelation, interpreting it and repeating it anew, but they don’t add to revelation. In this way, God does continue to speak His eternal truth through the Church because, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains in §890, the Magisterium’s task specifically is “to preserve God’s people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church’s shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals.”
Acts 15:22-31/ Ps 56(57):8-9. 10 and 12/ Jn 15:12-17
From today’s readings: “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us.... My heart is steadfast, O God; my heart is steadfast.... This is My commandment: love one another as I love you.”
It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us
The Second Vatican Council, convoked over forty years ago by Pope John XXIII, was only the most recent in the series of Church Councils held since Pentecost - the first council of the Church was, in fact, the Council of Jerusalem, held around 49 A.D. and reported in Chapter Fifteen of the Acts of the Apostles.
The decision of the Council of Jerusalem was promulgated solemnly through personal representatives credentialed with epistolary edicts, which included the solemn assertion, “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us...” In contrast, at that time, imperial and other official decrees often began with the words, “It seemed good to me and my council....” The Apostles thus were attesting that the decision was made initially and primarily by the Holy Spirit, while their own participation was concurrent, but secondary.
This encapsulates the Church’s teaching about her charism of infallibility - the Pope and Church councils have never presumed to put words in God’s mouth and speak on their own initiative for Him, but they have and do prayerfully listen to God and then share the results of the deliberations about what “seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” The Pope and councils reflect on God’s revelation, interpreting it and repeating it anew, but they don’t add to revelation. In this way, God does continue to speak His eternal truth through the Church because, as the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains in §890, the Magisterium’s task specifically is “to preserve God’s people from deviations and defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is aimed at seeing to it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates. To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church’s shepherds with the charism of infallibility in matters of faith and morals.”
posted by FrPitstick | 5/11/2009
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