Homily #59: Magisterium, Infallibility & the Well-Formed Conscience

 

Homily #59e (Sun., 12pm Mass)

 

Homily #59d (Sun., 10am Mass)

 

Video Homily #59a (Sat., 5pm Mass)
(Wife said I needed to smile more and be myself.)

 

+ A Reading From the Holy Gospel According to John.

(Sat., 5pm Mass)

 

Homily #59c (Sun., 830am)

 

Homily #59b (Sun., 7am Mass)

 

HOMILY #59

6^th Sunday of Easter

Sunday, May 1, 2016

 

“Magisterium, Infallibility, & the Well-Formed Conscience”

 

 

Magisterium, Infallibility, & the Well-Formed Conscience—

Based on the Word of God today, I am going to cover 3 simple points:

 

1.)  Jesus gave teaching authority to the Pope and bishops (Magisterium).

2.)  The Magisterium cannot teach errors in matters of faith and morals (infallibility).

3.)  A well-formed Catholic conscience is formed by Magisterium teachings            (not human opinions or moral relativism).

In sum: Magisterium, infallibility, and how to have a well-formed conscience.

I

In today’s Gospel, Jesus said, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.”  As you know, there are new issues that constantly come up in our own time today.  These modern issues are unheard of during the time of the Gospels.  So how does Jesus practically teach us today?  What does it mean that the Holy Spirit will teach us today?  This is the first main point: Jesus gave his own teaching authority to the Magisterium which is defined as the Pope and bishops (together).

Remember, Christ selected Twelve Apostles.  Those Twelve Apostles, in turn, selected other new apostles to join their ranks.  Have you ever wondered who replaced Judas Iscariot?  After the resurrection of Jesus, the Eleven Apostles chose St. Matthias to replace Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus.  The word in Greek to describe St. Matthias’ office in the Bible is episkopoi.  In English, episkopoi is translated as bishop. 

And the Apostles, the first episkopoi, knew they had Jesus’ own authority to teach.  Look at the First Reading from Acts of the Apostles (Ch. 15).  The Bible says, “The apostles and elders, in agreement with the whole church, decided to choose representatives to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas” to authentically and once and for all settle a particular controversy.  The Apostles said, “It is the decision of the Holy Spirit and of us…”  Did you catch that?  Not only are the Apostles bold enough to say that their teaching comes from the Holy Spirit, but they say that this teaching is binding by virtue of their own authority.  Here, we see a clear between the Gospel and the First Reading, a clear connection of how Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to teach and how the Apostles acted with the Holy Spirit.

Those Twelve Apostles eventually died but left successors to replace them.  From those Twelve Apostles, we now have over 5,000 Catholic episkopoi or bishops, all over the world in every nation and country today, all of them united in the same teaching over 2,000 years with this profound spirit of unity. 

II.

The one Pope and 5,000 bishops united today cannot make an error when teaching, but it has to be specifically on matters of faith and morality.  This is called the charism or gift of infallibility.  It doesn’t mean that they can’t sin.  They are not impeccable (only Jesus and Mary don’t have sin), but they are infallible.  In fact, they are sinners, but the point is that when they speak as pastors and teachers, explicitly exercising authority as official teachers representing Christ of faith and morals, the teaching is protected from doctrinal mistakes.  They’re not speaking their own personal opinions, or what type of food and drinks they like, or off-the-cuff remarks to reporters on airplanes, or their favorite sports team, but they must be officially speaking as Successors of the Apostles on faith and morals.  It’s not over something trivial and private, as if we are supposed to hang on their every word they utter, but it must be regarding faith and morality.  Only the Catholic Church has the audacity enough to make this claim.

Here’s why this is important: If you’ve ever driven your car and a tiny little pebble hits the windshield, that tiny little pebble may cause a small dent today, but tomorrow it can grow into a large crack.  Over time, that large crack can eventually shatter the whole window.  In the gift of infallibility, Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to protect His Church from teaching tiny little pebbles of error against the windshield of the Church.  One pebble of error against the windshield of the Church on faith and morality can shatter the whole structure.

III.

Here’s the third and final point: Without the infallibility of the Magisterium, we will be like leaves in the wind, tossed to and fro by every trendy thing that comes along.  But a well-formed Catholic conscience should find out about the official teachings of the Magisterium on faith and morals.  There are many ways to do this, but one of the best ways is to prayerfully study, live and love the Catechism of the Catholic Church, because it’s not a mere subject we’re studying, but a person, Jesus, who we will someday meet.  This is what is meant by, “Whoever loves me will keep my word.”  Jesus and His Church are one flesh.  Her teachings are his own!  The two are one body.  We show our love for Jesus concretely by doing what he asks us through His Church.  Let us be vigilant against the forces of moral relativism where people say, “It may be true for you but not true for me” or “I’m gonna do my own thing.”  Let us learn what the Church officially teaches.  It’s not mere human opinion but the teachings of Jesus Himself.

In sum: the Magisterium, infallibility, and forming our consciences with the Church’s official teachings.  Let us form our heads and our hearts and our consciences like a Bride coming down the aisle prepared for her husband.  Let us, the Church, be forever the spotless, unblemished Bride of the Lamb.  And like in the Second Reading from the Book of Revelation, we are the Church which is the new holy city of Jerusalem, preserved from error through the teachings of her Beloved Jesus.  And let us passionately fall in love with Jesus and his teachings, so that the Father will come to us and dwell with us.

I close with the words of the Responsorial Psalm.  With this profound spirit of unity all over the world, a unity more profound than any political or social unity, we have in the Church a spirit of brotherly love.  And all the nations because of this unity will praise God.  And that’s what we see as we sang in the Responsorial Psalm, “O God, let all the nations praise you!”