1. Our concern was that the Catholic Church does not have the four visible signs of the Church mentioned in the Nicene Creed.
The Church, today, seldom talks about the four visible signs. In fact, the picture of the true Church which should guide Catholics is not found in Vatican II document ‘Lumen Gentium.’ It mentions something about the Church quoting St. Augustine and St. Robert Bellarmine but did not say what they said. So there is much confusion on what is the true image of the Catholic Church. This is further aggravated by Pope Francis’ comment referring to a US presidential candidate that ‘he is not a Christian’ because he builds wall. The concept of ‘the Church’ have become so shallow that a garage can easily be referred to as a church.
The tragedy of the situation is the fact that the image of the true Church established by Christ is so clear through the centuries that a child can easily point to her just as during those early times anybody could give directions and point directly to where the Catholic Church was. Usually to the desert, to the deep forest, to an island, to the top of the mountain or towards some caves carved in the mountains. She was never in the city.
Today, it is also very easy to point at the spot where the Church is but when we look at the spot the question arises; ‘is that the Catholic Church?’ The image has become so confused that when we point at the Vatican, people are still asking; ‘is that the Catholic Church?’
So in the past posts we have put down all the necessary facts that can become a finger clearly pointing at the direction to where the Church really is. And we made certain it is the right and true Church. Herein we used the four visible signs mentioned in the Nicene Creed and the more popular 15 Marks of the true Church written by St. Robert Bellarmine.
Having pointed our fingers to the right direction, towards the desert as was done in the early Christian times, our obligation stops there. And one’s personal journey begins towards the desert. Hopefully finding St. John the Baptist there (through a life of Penance ) and seeing St. John’s fingers pointing further on to Christ, the Lamb of God.
And we hope that if any fortunate soul find the Baptist in the Old Testament and further finds Jesus in the New Testament, a short prayer be said for the finger that pointed towards the right direction.
Now, in this post, we wish to check if the first finger had really pointed at John the Baptizer who only taught in the desert on how to go to Christ. And this is the concept of Penance.
2. Our next concern is that most Catholics do not know what is Penance.
Just as the doctrine on the four visible signs of the Church is not mentioned anymore in the Catholic Church, today the idea of Penance is not described properly anymore in the Catholic Church; though the word is often used. For us living today, it was Pope Benedict XVI who made us notice this lacuna. But moral theologians had written that this word ‘Penance’ had already ceased to exist in the Catholic mind as early as the 12th century due to the metaphysical nominalism of William Ockham.
Christ’s earliest preaching is ‘Repent, believe.’ The soul has to finish his repentance before he can have the theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity; the three virtues are received by the soul simultaneously and these virtues are essential for the attainment of eternal life. No theological virtues, no heaven. But these virtues will not be given by God to the soul if it has not completed its repentance. So repentance is the necessary disposition for the reception of the three theological virtues.
For the devil to destroy the soul, he does not have to bother destroying Faith, Hope and Charity…..which he knows he cannot destroy in the first place. But if the devil can prevent a soul from repenting, his work is done. Satan can rest and that soul will just go down directly to hell. And that is exactly what Lucifer did. He confounded the concept of Penance or repentance in the minds of men that from the 12th century the Catholic Church did not know ‘how to repent or how to do Penance.’ God had to send saints to occasionally remind the Catholic world how to repent like St. Vincent Ferrer.
In spite of the orthodox teachings of the saints, the act of Penance or repentance took the weirdest forms. And yet, as Chesterton mentioned why he became a Catholic, the formula of the Catholic Church on how sins are forgiven is what convinced him that the Catholic Church is the true Church. What Chesterton knew, most Catholics do not know today. But of course Chesterton was one of the most brilliant mind of the 1800s. But no. We do not have to be brilliant; we only have to have a mind to do penance.
3. Definition of terms.
There is the Sacrament of Penance; and there is the virtue of Penance. The Sacrament is that part of the priest where he hears confession, give absolution, gives a penance. And off goes the penitent. The virtue of Penance is the four steps the penitent does that forgives past sins. It is often referred to as the virtue of Penance or the Life of Repentance; more popularly known as the monastic life.
In theology the role of the priest is referred to as the ‘Form.’ The part of the penitent is called the ‘matter.’ We reviewed this in the past posts.
The virtue of Penance is attained when the penitent does the four steps, namely; knowledge of the sins, contrition for the sins, purpose of amendment for the sins and reparation for the sins. These four steps are demonstrated in the parable of the Prodigal son just a few Sundays ago.
Here are some theological principles concerning the virtue of Penance. First; to have our past sins forgiven, we have to apply perfectly those mentioned four steps on EACH mortal sin that we have committed.
Secondly, we have to apply perfectly those mentioned four steps on ALL mortal sins committed.
Thirdly, if we do not perfectly apply one of the four steps on just one mortal sin, all our mortal sins remain in our souls. No priestly absolution not even a papal absolution can forgive those mortal sins.
Fourthly, if those mortal sins remain in our soul due to just one defect in the virtue of Penance, God’s punishment for those unforgiven mortal sins, according to St. Thomas of Aquinas, is that we shall easily fall into the next mortal sins. And unless we immediately and perfectly practice the virtue of Penance, there is no end to our continuously falling into myriads of mortal sins.
There are more things we wish to discuss about the virtue of Penance but we would like to stop here for the meantime and note some points for consideration.
4. Let us analyze the Vatican Proposal to allow remarried couples to remarry, as Pope Francis stated, ‘fast and free of charge.’
Just an example. The husband had just committed a mortal sin by abandoning his real wife; another mortal sin for abandoning his children. He has committed another mortal sin for living with another woman; and another mortal sin for marrying his live-in partner. And to crown these several mortal sins, he goes to Mass and receive Holy Communion. Because of the state of his soul all his mortal sin remain in his soul because he is an unrepentant soul.
Let us leave this adulterous husband for a while and look at Pope Francis. He encourages husbands living in adultery to continue the adultery and receive Holy Communion. Pope Francis does not seem to know that adultery is a sin and receiving Holy Communion without repenting is an added mortal sin. It seems he does not even have the first necessary step to acquire the virtue of Penance; i.e. to know that you are committing a mortal sin because you are going against the commands of God. All the more he will not have the rest of the three steps necessary to have the virtue of Penance for the forgiveness of his past sins.
We are not referring to the sin of the adulterous husband. We are talking of the mortal sin of scandal committed by Pope Francis, for which Christ said, it would have been better for him to tie a stone around his neck and jump into a lake rather than to keep on insisting during the Bishop’s Synod to allow remarried couples to solemnize their adulterous relation and receive Holy Communion.
Unable to acquire the virtue of Penance because he is unable to do even the first step of the virtue of Penance, this means that all the mortal sins committed by Pope Francis from the time he reached the age of reason up to the present are all present in his soul……he is in a totally unrepentant state.
And the adulterous husband? The same thing. Because he has not done the first three steps that make up the virtue of Penance; namely, he does not know that his sin is intrinsically evil, he is not contrite shown by the fact he continues living in sin and thirdly, he has shown no intention to change his life by returning to his real wife and children. Well, with three outs, he surely would not make reparations for his sins; the fourth step. We have here a very unrepentant sinner.
5. What do we have here?
We have two persons each with an unrepentant sin. This means that all the mortal sins they have committed in their lives are all present in their souls. As punishment for their unrepentant sins, they would be falling into other mortal sins every day, if not every hour.
Notice that both of them have not done even the first step in the act of the virtue of Penance. Certainly, they would not be able to do the second, third and fourth step . Without the virtue of Penance none of their sins can be absolved because they do not have the proper disposition for the forgiveness of their sins. The ‘form’ of the Sacrament, which is the absolution will be ineffective because there is a defect in the ‘matter’. It is like pronouncing the words of Baptism while pouring some gold dust on the forehead of the baby. There is no Baptism even if there is a ‘form’ because the ‘matter’ was defective.
6. The problem of the Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church has four visible signs by which she can be recognized apart from all sect and religions. And these four signs were expanded by St. Robert Bellarmine.
Then we saw how the virtue of Penance, the spirit of the Lenten season is the only way by which we can enter the Catholic Church. This means that a person who has acquired perfectly the virtue of Penance should, also, be exhibiting the visible signs of the Catholic Church. And vice versa; a soul that shows the visible signs of the Catholic Church has had all his past mortal sins forgiven and is no longer in the state of mortal sin. He is in the state of Sanctifying grace……which when defined correctly is described as a state that you cannot lose.
What do we do with a Pope who does not have even the easiest first Mark of the Catholic Church and, therefore would follow that he does not have all the 15 signs given by St. Bellarmine……… and does not have the first step of the virtue of Penance as described in the Parable of the Prodigal Son….both of which are necessary for salvation?
Almost all of Pope Francis’ declarations are a denial of the need for the virtue of Penance.