The child grew and became strong in spirit and he was in the desert until the day of his
manifestation to Israel. Today in the life of the church we have the honor of celebrating the
solemnity that honors the birth of Saint John the Baptist, a unique solemnity within the church
for the only other births we celebrate is the birth of our Lord and of his most holy mother
the ever-blessed Virgin Mary and so this becomes a crucial passage from scripture
for indeed the church tells us in regards to scripture that it is the living word of God
that it speaks to the church in every age and every time and so in going back to the time of
the birth of Saint John we must learn lessons that help the church in this modern era and in
these modern times for indeed as members of the mystical body we follow a truth
that is always ancient and always new always ancient because it is wrapped up in the mystery
of an eternal God always new because it is wrapped up in the mystery of an eternal God
a God who had mercy on his people and so the account of the birth of Saint John the Baptist
first tells us of the extraordinary nature of the mission of the Immaculate Virgin Mary
for indeed she is the all-powerful or as many saints call her
the omnipotent beggar with God and so it begins because the Blessed Virgin Mary was praying
that the reproach of Saint Zachariah and Saint Elizabeth would be taken from them
for the whole time of our Lord's coming was a preparation and so especially during the time
of Saint Zachariah and Elizabeth the chosen people were ripe with the rumors that the Messiah was
coming into the world and it was considered an extreme reproach if God didn't do it
not bless a marriage with a child and so it was through the intervention of the mother of God and
through her prayers that in their old age miraculously they would conceive this child
who would become the precursor of Christ the Lord and so he has a unique mission and a unique role
within the mystical body of Christ and it is to this mission that we must always return for Saint
John would be the precursor and so it is that he would prepare the way of the Lord but we must
understand this not often as our own imaginations understand them but indeed as the church explains
them to to us and to this Pope John Paul II in our modern times tells us that the mission of
Christ the Redeemer which is entrusted to the church is still very far from completion as the
second millennium of after Christ's coming draws to an end.
An overall view of the human race shows that this mission is still only beginning and that we must
commit ourselves wholeheartedly to its service. God is opening before the church the horizons of
humanity more fully prepared for the sowing of the gospel. I sense that the moment has come to commit
all the church's energies to a new evangelization and to the mission agentes. No believer in Christ,
no institution of the church can avoid this supreme duty.
To proclaim Christ to all peoples he is reiterating what Pope Paul VI said before him that the primary
mission of the church is not many many of the offices and functions within her. He specifically
said the primary mission of the church is not the liturgy because the liturgy is offered for the
salvation of souls and that is the primary mission of the church for the church by her very nature is
pastoral and spiritual.
So in our own day and in our own times we see very clearly how much the hearts of the faithful are encouraged by
devotions to Christ the good shepherd or Christ the good pastor. And so it was that Saint John the Baptist
would prepare the way for this good shepherd would prepare the world for the coming of the mercy of God.
Indeed once Saint Zacharias lips are loosed he will declare and thou child shall be called the prophet of the
highest for thou shall go before.
Through the face of the Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation to his people unto
the remission of their sins.
Through the bowels of the mercy of God in which the Orient from on high hath visited us and so we have great
lessons to learn for what Saint John is essentially saying when Saint Zacharias is essentially saying.
When he says that his child is called to prepare the way of the Lord is that is that which we can see in something
that happens often in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ.
life of the human family. When a great dignitary is coming, a great king or a great politician
or someone whom is considered great and noble, often we see, even in our very day and age,
that the roads are wont to be prepared, leveled and advanced by removing stones, filth, and other
impediments or eyesores. So St. Zachary's son prepared the way of Christ the King by removing
what might offend him in the minds of the Jews by exhorting them by word and example
to repent and to receive Jesus as the true Messiah sent by God and to believe and obey him
and so obtain from him salvation and the forgiveness of sins and the grace of God. And so
it is St. John the Baptist who emphasizes this pastoral nature of the church, that is, the
salvation of souls. Often we are startled by his remonstrations with
the leaders, but he treated the Pharisees and the scribes much different than he did the ordinary
lot. For we know by scripture that where they would go out into the desert and there, sitting
at the feet of St. John the Baptist, they would learn those eternal truths. For St. John was
entering into dialogue with the people, bringing them to a greater understanding and a true
understanding of the very nature and mission of the Redeemer. It was to the Pharisees and scribes
that he took a much greater understanding of the nature and mission of the Redeemer.
It was to the Pharisees and scribes that he took a much greater understanding of the nature and mission of the Redeemer.
They took a much different pastoral approach because, as he would declare to them, it is
ultimately the hardness of their hearts, by which they seek to usurp the mission of Christ
the Redeemer and ultimately claim it for themselves. And so they had to have a sterner approach,
a sterner correction. But the ordinary lot of mankind is not that of those who are entrusted
with authority, but rather we are called to follow and to do truths. And so there is a
mystery
it reflected even in the natural order. We see in the family that often it is the father who gives
the command, and every one of us can recall from our childhood those times when dad commands
something and we haven't got a clue as to what he asks us to do and what do we do. We turn to the
mother and say, mom, what does dad mean? And indeed, while the analogy often breaks down, we see this
also, for God the father would declare, this is my son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him, a very
stern paternal command, and how do we listen to him? Well, the good disciples would go to the
Blessed Virgin Mary, and indeed, Saint Luke, one of them, gives us all these accounts in his gospels
because he went right to the source, as he tells us himself, and learned from the Blessed Virgin Mary
the account of the nativity,
the account of the nativity of both our Lord and of Saint John the Baptist. And so, it is to her that we must turn,
for she has that subtle guidance of a mother on every member of the mystical body. Often the mother's presence
is not seen or felt, but she exerts that influence, by which she is constantly exhorting and showing her children
how to carry out the commands of the father, and ultimately, this analogy applies in some sense to the church,
for she commands us,
and under the influence of the mother, we go forth.
We go forth in ancient times, we go forth in new times,
always with the same message, always with the same truth,
but according to the times in which we live.
And indeed, St. Zachariah in his canticle would further tell us
that the chosen people, that St. John the Baptist came
in order to give the chosen people knowledge
that was essential for their salvation,
that is, so that they may come to hope for and seek in Christ
the salvation of their souls, and that from him they were to receive
the remission of the sins, and so this in this alone
can be acquired through the good pastor, Christ the Lord.
And so it is ultimately the mission of St. John the Baptist
and the mission of every member of the mystical body
to proclaim what our Lord first proclaimed in his public ministry,
repent for the sins of the soul.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
It is an exaltation to turn from our sins
and to receive the mercy of God.
And so we must constantly strive to do this
for the account of St. John the Baptist
shows us and expresses and signifies
that which is most important to Christ,
that he is to give us inwardly the greatest of his gifts,
that is, his mercy.
And so we must constantly turn to him
in order to seek how we are to go about
with the mission of the church in our modern times.
Indeed, in his document, Misericordia Dei,
Pope John Paul II exhorts us,
by the mercy of God the Father,
who reconciles us to himself,
the word took flesh in the spotless womb
of the blessed Virgin Mary
to save his people from their sins
and to open for them the way of eternal salvation.
By identifying Jesus as the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world,
St. John the Baptist confirms this message,
and in his mission, in all his deeds and preaching,
the precursor issues are fervent
and energetic summons to repentance and to conversion.
And ultimately, we learn that is ultimately
by the example he gave, living that truth that he received.
He received through the visitation
of the blessed Virgin Mary who brought to him the Christ.
And so, in our day and in our age,
we have been given within the mystical body,
that great gift, the Second Vatican Council,
that calls us again to this new evangelization,
this new evangelization which is always ancient
and which is always new.
Many will complain that this council has no binding effect
on the mystical body of Christ
because it was a pastoral council.
And popes have taught from time immemorial
that the very nature of the church is pastoral.
Often times,
within her life, she has to condemn errors in a stern way.
That is for the members of the mystical body,
for it tells us what we can believe
and what we cannot believe.
And the Holy Fathers, especially in our modern times,
have constantly told us that we cannot disregard a gift
to the church, a gift of the Holy Spirit,
and hide under the admonition
that it is only a pastoral council, when often,
within the very common prayers we seek,
we pray each and every day of our lives,
we invoke Christ, the Good Shepherd,
Christ, the Buon Pastore, the Good Pastor,
because he came to shepherd us,
he came to pastor us to the lands of eternity.
And so, when the church calls a pastoral council,
she calls it for the good of the world,
so that the world may come to know Christ.
And she tells us,
precisely through a pastoral council,
how we are to go about and to give Christ to the world.
For as Pope Paul VI said,
the essence of the church is not the liturgy,
it is the salvation of souls.
The church is not for the liturgy.
The liturgy is for the salvation of souls,
because the liturgy is the saving act
of Christ the King on Mount Calvary.
That pastoral love that he showed to the whole human family
when he offered that sacred humanity received
from the Blessed Virgin Mary in reparation for our sins,
and then declared to the whole world
when all the suffering the Father required
was sufficient in his body,
it is consummated, Father.
The Good Pastor has fulfilled his mission,
and now he begs through his mother
that the whole world will receive Christ.
For she is the good shepherdess,
who received the Lamb of God, sacrificed for the salvation of the world,
offering him to the Father with the prayer, no doubt, on her lips.
Father, he has given his life for them.
And then as she beholds the face of her dead child, dead in his sacred humanity,
she sees each and every one of us dead to original and mortal sin
and begs the Father, now give them life in him.
And that is the mission of the Church.
And indeed, Blessed Pope John XXIII would declare in his address
before calling the Second Vatican Council that in these days,
which mark the beginning of this Second Vatican Council,
it is more obvious than ever before that the Lord's truth is indeed eternal.
Human ideologies change.
Successive generations give rise to varying errors,
and these often vanish as quickly.
As they came, like mist before the sun.
The Church has always opposed these errors
and often condemned them with the utmost severity.
Today, however, Christ's bride prefers the balm of mercy to the arm of severity.
She believes that present needs are best served by explaining more fully
the purport of her doctrines rather than by publishing condemnations.
And so, it is to the Pope that we turn.
In order to have the proper hermeneutics approach to the Second Vatican Council,
what he is simply saying is,
as members of the mystical body, we should not fear error.
Error is not our enemy.
Satan is our enemy.
The Church has no fear whatsoever of error.
And so she never retreats into an elitist mentality,
fearful of the errors of the world.
And so she must constantly beat them down.
And so she must constantly beat them down with her strong arm.
Christ came into a world that was dying on the brink of despair
because the error of pantheism had become rooted within the very bowels of his chosen people.
And he didn't drive it out by the hard arm of severity.
He drove it out by his mercy and his love.
And that is what Pope Blessed John XXIII has declared the Second Vatican Council was called for,
to return to the way of Christ in our modern times.
For people need to know of his mercy.
We can sit here and condemn and condemn and condemn.
That may help within the body of Christ,
but it will have no effect whatsoever on those outside the Church.
They will simply declare how arrogant they are
because they preach the love of Christ,
and yet they show it not.
It is no excuse for Mahatma Gandhi to have rejected Christ according to his words.
I speak not of his final disposition.
But he declared it was Christ he had no problem with.
It was the members of his Church.
And while that is never an excuse,
it indicates when we take a certain approach,
we have no effect.
Indeed, we can say in our own times that in light of this teaching,
Indeed, we can say in our own times, that in light of this teaching,
that in light of this teaching,
we can look at saints like St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe
and see that he anticipated the Second Vatican Council in a most extraordinary way.
For he talked that in the conversion of souls,
we can go with the hard arm and have souls converted out of fear.
But if we take the long path, the patient path,
by which we enter into dialogue, befriending, and then talking and persuading,
he says it may take longer, but in the end it is much more effective.
For the instant those who have been converted to the strong arm tactics convert,
the devil comes with that greatest of his temptations,
St. Maximilian would say.
You converted because you were forced.
But if we take the time, like Our Lady took the time,
to visit, to talk, as she did to the disciples,
and to the apostles, convincing them of the truth that was her Son,
then the minute the devil proposes that you converted out of fear,
he is driven away by the converted with the simple admonition,
St. Maximilian says, no, it was by love.
And it was by a love that I manifested,
it was by a love that was manifested to me according to the words of St. Paul.
See how they love one another.
They saw the mercy of God in the members of his body.
And so we must approach, we must approach it.
As Pope John Paul XXIII exhorts us,
there is no need to call a council merely to hold discussions of that nature.
What is needed at the present time is a new enthusiasm,
a new joy and serenity of mind,
an unreserved acceptance by all of the entire Christian faith.
Without forfeiting the accuracy and precision in its presentation
that characterized the proceedings of the Council of Trent
and the First Vatican Council,
what is needed and what everyone imbued with the truly Christian,
with truly Christian, Catholic and Apostolic spirit craves today,
let me repeat,
and what, and what everyone, and what,
that the accuracy and precision in its presentation,
which characterized the proceedings of the Council of Trent
and the First Vatican Council,
what is needed and what everyone imbued with the truly Christian,
Catholic and Apostolic spirit craves today,
is that this doctrine shall be more widely known,
more deeply penetrated,
more deeply understood and more penetrated
in its effects on men's moral lives.
What is needed is that this certain and immutable doctrine,
to which the faithful owe obedience,
be studied afresh and reformulated in contemporary terms.
For this deposit of faith or truths,
which are contained in our time-honored teaching,
is one thing.
The manner in which these truths are set forth,
with their meaning preserved intact,
is something else.
This, then, is what will require our careful,
and perhaps, too, our patient consideration.
And so,
it is that the ultimate root of the error
of both the modernist and the traditionalist
is impatience.
Both postulate the same thing.
The Second Vatican Council was a rupture,
a rupture in doctrine and in the pastoral care of Christ.
That is not what the popes teach,
and it is the popes who teach us in matters of faith and morals.
He continues,
This, then, is what will require our careful,
and perhaps, too, our patient consideration.
We must work out ways and means
of expounding these truths
in a manner more consistent
with the predominantly pastoral view
of the Church's teaching office.
And when we speak of a pastoral view,
don't ever make the mistake
that we are referring to some form of sentimentality.
Anyone who knows anything
about shepherding sheep knows the work,
for sheep are stupid.
They have to be watched and cared for
each and every moment of their lives.
The pastor cannot take his eyes off of them.
It is a vigilant, loving care
when we refer to a pastoral care.
We are not referring to some sentimental babble
that would make Christ simply our friend.
He is our God and our Lord,
and he is the bringer of mercy,
and he is the only hope of the world.
And it is precisely this
that St. John the Baptist came to preach
and to precurs.
And if we think
that there is no link between
the Second Vatican Council
and St. John the Baptist,
let us listen to the final prayer
of Pope John XXIII
before invoking this great council.
Almighty God,
we have no confidence in our own strength.
All our trust is in you.
Graciously look down on these pastors of your church.
Aid their councils and their legislation
with the light of your divine grace.
Be pleased to hear the prayers we offer you,
united in faith,
in voice, in mind.
Mary, help of Christians,
help of bishops,
recently in your church at Loretto,
where we venerated the mysteries of the Incarnation,
you gave us a special token of your love.
Prosper now this work of ours,
and by your kindly aid,
bring it to a happy, successful conclusion.
The Vicar of Christ is saying
that this grace was given to him
when he visited
the holy home
at Nazareth,
which now rests in Loretto.
Given to him,
according to his own words,
by the mother of God himself.
And so this council was rooted
in the family
because it was rooted and received
in the home of the Holy Family
as a special grace.
And so, when the council says
that we must reclaim the mission ad agentes,
it means the human family.
The universal mission of Christ
and his Holy Mother
to bring salvation to souls,
not hammers,
but salvation of souls.
Not a mentality
that approaches the church with suspicion.
That is the problem with the errors
and why it is so hard sometimes to get through.
When you approach the Second Vatican Council
with a mindset of suspicion,
then you have no hope
and no true confidence
or no real true belief
in the protection of the Holy Spirit,
and you cannot allow the popes
to err in the pastoral considerations
of the church either.
Because when we understand it
with the depth and profoundity
with which the church understands it,
we understand we are not talking here
of merely some sentimental tag
that accrues to our Lord.
But the very precise mission
to pass to the human family first
by offering his sacred humanity
in an act of profound love
and then commissioning
that which purchased our salvation
to the care of the pastors
who will guide the church
until the end of time.
And primary among those pastors
is the Vicar of Christ.
No one, in the end,
can claim authentic Catholicism
unless he has what is called
filial devotion to the Vicar of Christ.
That is, he is not to be suspected.
He is to be followed
when he exercises his role
as the Vicar of Christ.
And we must never fall into the error
of thinking that role only
is when he speaks ex cathere,
as if 99.9% of his papacy
has got to do with his own personal whims.
This is simply not the case.
It cannot be.
For if it were,
then the church is just adrift
in a sea
without a rudder.
That is why he has constantly exhorted
those who are in error on both sides
to stop,
because you both have a suspicion.
One has a suspicion of the past,
the other has a suspicion of the future.
The Lord understands our fear,
but we should not let our fear dictate to us
what we are to do as members of the body.
And how is this linked?
This mission to John the Baptist?
Prosper now this work of ours,
and by your kindly aid,
bring it to a happy, successful conclusion.
And do you,
with St. Joseph your spouse,
the holy apostles Peter and Paul,
St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist,
intercede for us before the throne of God,
to Jesus Christ, our most loving Redeemer,
and immortal King of all peoples
and all ages,
be love, power, glory,
for ever and ever.
Amen.
That is,
amongst the patron saints
of the Second Vatican Council
is St. John the Baptist.
And so,
we should constantly pray to him
to understand it and implement it
as the Church understands it
and implements it.
And listen to no one else.
For the time is now,
the times are ripe,
either for the destruction of the human family
or for its salvation.
As in the time of St. John the Baptist,
the world is on the brink
of falling into despair.
And it is the same message
that will save it in our modern age
that saved it in the age of St. John the Baptist.
Jesus Christ
is the Buon Pastore,
the Good Pastor.
He does not reign,
with that strong arm of tyranny
that ultimately both forms of errors fall into
because you have to control everything.
And as the ancient adage goes,
he who tries to control everything
controls nothing.
Only God is in control.
And God has established His Church
for the salvation of souls.
And it is that mission
that we must bring forth into the world,
showing them,
as Pope John XXIII apparently knew,
the proper understanding of the Council
would take patience.
Let us no longer
let the impatient
have our ears and our hearts,
whether they fall into the hermeneutics of rupture
by excess or defect,
let them have not your heart any longer.
Give your heart to the Vicar of Christ,
give your heart to the Church,
because that is how you give your heart
to Christ and Mary.
And let the Pope tell you,
as members of his body,
about the glorious springtime of the Church.
We do not fear error,
and that must be drilled into our heads.
We have the deposit of truth,
because truth is the second person
of the Blessed Trinity.
We fear not error.
Christ feared to go nowhere
for the salvation of souls,
nowhere.
He would have entered into the very bowels of hell
if someone could have been brought back from him.
He doesn't fear error,
and neither does the Church fear.
She cannot be governed by it,
because fear is the principle of Satan,
not of Christ.
And we must understand that,
because the very destruction
or salvation of the human family
is quite literally at stake.
Our Lord said to the Pharisees and scribes,
you see the sun and you can declare
good morning, bad morning.
Don't go out in the ocean today.
You can read the signs of nature,
but you fail to see the signs
that are more important.
We live in a world
that is on the brink,
one event away,
one misstep
by a prominent member of the Church
could unleash violence
that has the likes of which has never been seen
in the history of mankind.
And that violence will be unleashed
not by the vicar of Christ
and those who follow his hermeneutics,
but by those who follow
the hermeneutics of rupture,
either by excess or defect.
That's where the mistake will come,
and then the world will say,
see, it's the Church,
because the Satan is very clever
at disguising himself.
It will not be the Church
because it will be based
on an improper understanding
of a great gift
given to the Church
by the Mother of God.
And so let us know this gift.
Let us understand it
within the tradition
that we have received.
That tradition,
which tells us very clearly,
is something always ancient,
something always new,
because the word of God
is not a dead word,
but a living word.
And let us always remember,
the primary reason
for the Church's existence
is the salvation of souls.
And we learn how souls are saved
in the context of our times
according to the teachings
of Christ's vicar.
And he and he alone,
has the final word.
And he and he alone,
declares to us
the mission of Christ the Redeemer
and of his Most Holy Mother,
the co-redemptrix of the world.
You cannot separate
Christ and Mary
from the vicar of Christ.
An assault on one
is an assault on all.
So if you assault the Pope
and praise the Virgin Mary,
you are bringing her down
with Christ.
If you assault Christ
and praise the vicar of Christ
and the Virgin Mary,
you bring them all down.
If you assault Our Lady,
you bring Christ and the Pope down.
You cannot assault one
without necessarily
assaulting them all.
And then you simply do away
with God's mercy.
And so,
the Father has told us,
through the ministry of
St. John the Baptist,
that the Lord is my Son,
in whom I am well pleased.
Listen to him.
And when the disciples
wanted to understand
what that meant,
they went to Our Lady
and she gave them
the simple admonition,
do whatever he tells you,
whatever he shows you.
And so,
Our Lord showed us,
we have nothing to fear,
for truth is on our side.
And the final word,
will be that of a vicar of Christ.
Pope John Paul II
told the whole mystical body
to simply repeat truth
over and over
by your words and example.
For every truth repeated,
and he even meant
in the natural order,
that is,
two plus two equals four.
Every truth he said repeated
by a member of the mystical body
draws grace into the world.
Every error,
no matter how well formulated,
nada, nothing,
comes into the world
by way of grace.
And so,
it is the constant repetition
of truth
by word and example
that will overcome
the errors,
both within the body
and with outside the body,
for God does not wish
the condemnation of anyone,
inside or outside the body.
His mission
is the salvation of souls.
And so,
it was the mission of Our Lady,
it was the mission
of St. John the Baptist,
it is the mission
of St. Peter and his successors,
and it is the mission
of every member
of the mystical body
to do what is necessary
within the context
of our Church's teachings
to save souls.
But the verses also said
of the type of spirit
that ended up
in Christ's His body,
and that He krlaimed
the dead
and reawakened
and revived
the thankful
with wicked tears.