1. The Liturgy.
Every Liturgical Year, we celebrate Christmas, the day Christ was born. And we celebrate Holy Week, the day Christ died. These feasts are repeatedly celebrated every year; Christmas – Holy Week, Christmas-Holy Week. Why so repetitious? Because these two feasts show the birth and the death of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, which is born and dies in history.
Christmas represents the mystical birth, while Good Friday represents the mystical death. Being the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church also have its mystical birth and its mystical death repeatedly recurring in history.
The birth of the Church is seasonally celebrated during Christmastide and as a person commemorated in the feast of the Santo Nino or Holy Child. Its mystical death is commemorated on Holy Week and specifically on Good Friday.
2. The Mystical birth of the Church.
This, historically, occurs on Christmas. Mystically, it occurs whenever a community is born within the Church. Catholics are born mystically into the Catholic Church as spiritual babes. Then they spiritually grow into adults. Thus St. Paul described their diet; milk for babes and solid for older babes.
Thus the Church can be seen at its beginnings in the community of spiritual babes symbolized by the Holy Child whose feast we celebrate this day.
This feast is a fitting preparation for the coming Lenten Season to portray in our minds this birth-death sequence that often occurs in the Church. Catholics should know in what stage of this sequence is the Catholic Church today; are we in the stage of being babes or are we in the stage of being oldies who are sick, weak and about to die. Or have we remained as children and, therefore, worthy to share everlasting life.
If we have become ‘oldies’ then Christ commands us to become children again; otherwise we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.
3. Does the Catholic Church die?
Never! When the members of the Church are born babes and remain as babes, as described in the Gospel, then the Church remains strong and robust and never grows old to die.
Allegorically, we say that the Church grows old and dies when the members ‘grow to adulthood’ in their attachment to the world and to sin. This way the Church grows old, weak, sickly and about to die the first and second deaths. Thus Christ exhortation ‘to be like babes,’ and ‘to remain as children.’
When the Church becomes old, weak and wicked, there are always a few that remain ‘like little children,’….and they sustain the Church.
Let us leave the ‘dying part’ and concentrate on ‘being as children.’ When Catholics are born into the Catholic Church, they begin as spiritual babes. As such they must have the characteristics of spiritual babes which are akin to the natural traits of babes. This characteristic is described as ‘INNOCENCE.” Let us leave the physical description and rise up to the spiritual description of babes as described by St. Thomas of Aquinas.
4. A newly established Catholic Church must look like a ‘babe’.
The Catholic Church is born every minute wherever a community is evangelized. It dies every minute wherever a community loses its Faith.
A nascent Christian community always begin as a Catholic babe and, hopefully progress to the perfection of Charity. How can we know that a community has begun well? It has the characteristics of a babe. St. Thomas of Aquinas gives three descriptions of the babe that we must imitate to enter the kingdom of heaven. These baby characteristics must be imitate by adults so that they can become ‘like children.’
First, children do not have high ambitions. They do not aspire to become president when they have clearly lost the election; they do not aim at solving immigration problems or prevent global warming; they do not think of solving the economic problems of the world; they do not even aim at settling in other countries other than their place of origin; they do not even care to be known by their neighbors. They do not dream of forming a one world religion with Lucifer or Martin Luther as head; and they do not campaign for candidates of the most undemocratic democracy on earth.
They have only one ambition, and that is ‘to play’. Similarly, for adults ‘to become like children again’ they must have only one desire according to St. Paul and that is ‘to play’ for all eternity in heaven; and to bring the rest of the world to be their playmates in heaven.
The knowledge on how to go to heaven is the only knowledge entrusted to the Church. The Church is not an expert on other matters. Though as a result of Faith they come to know many natural things pertinent to the work of salvation. She should not pretend to know other things like global warming and write an encyclical on it.
Secondly, children are not emotional.
they are rational; they think and reason straight. It is said that ‘children say the darnd’est things’ that usually embarrass grown ups. No, they do not say the darnd’est things; they say very logical observations that usually humiliates grown ups. Darn kids!
The whole world is too emotional; i.e it does things without thinking but only from feelings. They elect a president and refuses to recognize him. Asked why? They say because they do not like him. That is not a reason; that is pure emotionalism. Though they call it ‘their reason’ it is in fact irrational. Demonstrators don’t make sense and it is impossible to talk to them because they are irrational. Thus Pope Gregory XVI condemned demonstrations. The first Christians never demonstrated though they had the worse emperors and had the number to overthrow them.
Note how many of the oppositions literally rage against their newly elected president. When there is the vice of ‘rage’ they become blind; blindness is God’s punishment for the proud. They cannot reason and act like neurotics with absolutely no contact with reality. Imagine a nation ruled by a government that is blind with rage. Being unrealistic, they will insist on remaining in office though they lost.
Thirdly, children easily forgive those who have done them harm or injustice. They are the best examples of ‘those who forgive those who sinned against them.’ The world today cannot forgive those who have sinned against them. They cannot even forgive those who have not even sinned against them. They cannot even forgive those who have done them good. In their rage they kill even those who have not harmed them. Why do they kill babies? Why blow up planes with people they do not even know. Or shot people who are quietly eating supper in a restaurant. What reason do they have for such atrocities? They cannot forgive people imagined to have done them wrong. Yet Christians are obliged to be like children; forgiving those who are clearly crucifying them. Though isn’t it.
5. The Vatican Church is no longer ‘like little children.’ It would have been great if she have become an adult who have become like ‘little children’ in obedience to the command of God. But no. She had lost her innocence and had grown up to become like the world; having a thousand great ambitions, being emotional in everything and unforgiving towards imagined enemies.
Pope Francis’ main agenda is saving mother nature, or saving souls who are unrepentant in their adultery, or saving souls who refuses to believe, and bring to heaven souls already condemned in hell. That is all impossible. How unchildlike.
See his overwhelming emotionalism. He pities broken marriages and encourages them to remarry without thinking of their immortal souls that can go to hell. He is worried about the youth who have no jobs but does not think of their souls being ignorant of how to go to heaven. He is complaining of old people who are lonely but is not worried about bishops and priest who do not know how to teach the way to happiness. Ask him for a good reason why remarried couples should be allowed to receive Holy Communion. His reason is purely emotional. He has no logical nor theological reason.
Pope Francis’ greatest enemies are the cardinals, bishops and lay theologians who are correcting him. They are doing him the greatest act of Charity and he persecutes them. If he cannot even love those who do him good how can he forgive his true enemies, of which he has none.
We live in a world early deprived of its childhood. And we have a Catholic Church that is unable to become ‘like children’ again. To them is addressed these words of Christ on this feast of the Holy Child; ‘unless you become like children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
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