A Homily for the Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

+ By giving us this month of November dedicated to praying for the holy souls passing through the purifying fires of purgatory, Holy Mother Church brings before our attention the reality that the Church is not composed merely of those still walking this earth. In keeping the great feast of All Saints which places before us the wondrous examples of virtue which has triumphed over all the trials which the world and the devil could assault them with, we recall that all thy are members of Christ’s Body just as are we who are baptised into Him and who are seeking to live by the faith which was infused our souls at the moment of our Baptism.

Yet, since their entrance into heaven the saints no longer have faith for they now see and know the realities in which we now believe. Getting to that point, however, has required them to persevere in the struggle to live for Christ alone. And it required a true struggle from all of them. No matter whether it arrived from threats and violence, flattery and worldly promises or commands made in the name of obedience that fall outside the limits of competence, and even against Divine Law.

How much more dangerous are such commands when they are given by duly appointed ecclesiastical superiors, or even a successor of the Apostles! For this is, as St Augustine warns, going to “foment schisms and tear apart the structure that binds us into unity” (Enn. in Ps. 71 n. 5 a paragraph we largely follow hereafter). Continuing from this warning to the bishops St Augustine immediately admonishes those under such bishops to “follow their leaders by imitation and obedience, but in such a way that Christ always comes first.” It is in this insistence that Christ always comes first that the danger of the “spurious authority of [bishops which tears us…] away from Christ’s unity” is made evident.

Founded upon the concern of confusing the servant and the Lord, or the representative of Christ with Christ Himself, the Doctor of Grace emphasises the gravity of any deviation in their teaching and practice from that of Our Lord. With the St Paul he asks “Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptised in Paul’s name?” (I Cor 1:13) St Augustine puts these words together with another text of the Apostle: “even if we ourselves, or even an angel from heaven, preach to you anything other than what you have received, let him be anathema!” (Gal 1:8). Rather a bishop is to say: “imitate me, as I imitate Christ” (I Cor 11:1).

By the placing of these verses together a clear lesson can be learnt: by teaching anything other than that which we have received from Christ is to arrogate to oneself divine authority. It was never the “Paul’s doctrine” which was taught by the Apostle, but rather Christ crucified. If we are to be saved, we must “belong to Christ” (I Cor 1:12) and in no sense “putting a servant above their Lord, or making them His equals” (Enn. in Ps. 71 n. 5). Certainly, St Augustine continues, we look up to those who have a responsibility over us for help, but it is “from the Lord Who made heaven and earth” that we hope it shall come.

In his rule, Our Holy Father Saint Benedict is equally clear that all are together under the authority of Christ, and the Abbot, as “the representative of Christ in the monastery” (RB 2), is placed over us to assure that we are all going to Him together. Whilst St Benedict admonishes all to “follow the rule as master” with nobody “rashly depart[ing] from it”, the abbot himself is given an extra reminder of this reality placing “fear of God” even before and over the “observance of the rule” as motivation for all his acts (RB 3). Yet the two are never truly separated.

One of the subjects on which St Benedict is clearest about the limits of the abbot’s authority, and thereby that of anybody else, is that of the Sacred Liturgy. The Holy Rule is most clear that the Psalter and customary canticles must be sung in their integrity every week (RB 18). Yet St Benedict nonetheless does not demand an absolute uniformity in questions of liturgy – the canticles of matins are subject to the discretion of the abbot (RB 11). St Benedict is the first to set the example of being obedient to the tradition as he found it in the question of liturgy, the canticles of Lauds are exactly those, he tells us, are those of the custom of the Roman Church, likewise the Laudate Psalms (148-150) found at the end of Lauds that were being sung at that hour even in the synagogue before the time of Christ.

Within the Church’s liturgy Christ is the only truly active participant, whether it be as Head, through the celebrant acting in His Person, or in the body with all others assisting through prayer and the theological virtues, most especially charity. In the psalmody we but give voice to the words of Christ, addressed to Christ, in such manner that it is really Christ who is speaking. In the Mass we are drawn into Christ as he hangs on the Cross, that we might rise with Him at the Resurrection.

Enjoying the beatific vision the saints have already risen with Christ and will be reunited with their bodies at the end of time. Undergoing the purification of the purgatory the holy souls are suffering their Cross of all their imperfections. This is how the Church shows forth her unity most perfectly. We, as we face all the trials, temptations and burdens of life in a world which has turned its back on Christ, form part of this body – united with the saints in glory and benefitting from their example and prayers just as we offer our prayers for those still in purgatory, ever seeking to be faithful to the teaching of Christ handed on to us by the Apostles, in which is to be found salvation. +