WCR Letters to the Editor

Revelation helps us share in God's life

From the stream of letters to the WCR (April 9) it is clear that many readers misunderstood Therese Jelinski's report on my Vita Nova lecture to the people of Prince Albert.

Make no mistake about it, truth cannot be separated from love. What happened between the Enlightenment and Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum) is that truth had been stressed to the detriment of love.

One need but give a cursory glance at the Dogmatic Constitution on the Catholic Faith of 1870 to see that the main concern of the Church fathers was to counter those who claimed that it was impossible to have knowledge of God.

Chapter two insists that supernatural revelation (the Incarnation of God in Jesus) is knowable. In chapter three we are told that we believe this to be true "not because we perceive its intrinsic truth by the natural light of reason, but because of the authority of God himself, who makes the revelation and can never deceive or be deceived."

Not until Dei Verbum did the Church shift the emphasis from the possibility of knowing God's revelation to its content and goal. The first sentence of Dei Verbum trumpets the change - "This most sacred synod takes its direction from these words of St. John: 'We announce to you the eternal life which was with the Father and has appeared to us. What we have seen and have heard we announce to you, in order that you also may have fellowship with us, and that our fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ' (1 John 1:2-3)."

There is no mention of truth. The accent is not on whether one can know the supernatural revelation of God; it is on the Incarnate Son who has appeared. This is what Christian revelation is all about.

The second conclusion we can draw from the passage from 1 John is that the Son has been seen. And if he has been seen, it is so that those who have seen him may have fellowship with him and with the Father.

What Jesus does is reestablish our relationship with God. In chapter one we are told that God willed this renewed fellowship. The Father wanted us to have access to the love that the Father and Son experience in the Holy Spirit.

In other words, the whole purpose of revelation, the goal of God's plan of salvation, is that we be given a share in the Godhead, that through the Incarnate Son we become one with the Father and the Holy Spirit. This is the deepest truth about Jesus and his mission.

And the way we come to know it is through his self-sacrificing love, his death on the cross and his resurrection into glory. We can and we must proclaim the truth of God's love.

But that truth will never sink home unless love accompanies our preaching and teaching. There is no one who knows the truth about love who has not first received love.

Yes, love comes before truth and we have the full revelation of God's love in Jesus to thank for it. On the cross, the Incarnate One loved the world; the world's response was to reject the truth of that love. Only after the resurrection could Jesus ignite the flame of love that would lead to true fellowship.

David Norman, ofm
Edmonton

Eucharist perpetuates real presence

He writes "What the Eucharist makes present is not an iconic Christ to be adored or even consumed, but the reality of Christ's dying and rising as an event to be participated."

The Eucharist is exactly what he says it is not. Now let's examine his stories: "One day his pupil wanted God's presence so he searched for the place in the woods but couldn't find it. And he did not know how to light the fire and say the prayers or do the dance. All he knew was how to tell the story.

"But it worked. He discovered that whenever he told the story of how the others had found God, God would appear."

The fact is that Christ instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper. He told this not to any disciple or pupil but to his Apostles, his priests and their successors, and gave only them the power to bring down the Christ on the altar, not any disciple or pupil who wishes God's presence.

The Catholic Church was established and organized as an institution right from the beginning. They changed the Sabbath to Sunday.

The purpose of the Eucharist is to perpetuate Christ's presence and salvific powers among us till the end of time. Protestants believe in the symbolic presence of Christ in the Eucharist; Catholics believe in the real presence.

Johann Sacher
Morinville

WCR should provide light of truth

The Catholic Church and only the Catholic Church is the Body of Christ on earth. It teaches the whole truth, the "fullness" of that truth. It is not helpful to cloud the issue with such articles. Although it may help the other faiths feel less alienated we miss the opportunity to tell them here, here is the way!

Please be faithful to Peter, the vicar of Christ, Pope John Paul. Your humility is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Pope John Paul has more Holy Spirit than you or I will probably ever have. That's scriptural!

Mother Teresa taught her nuns "Obedience is holier than sacrifice." Please I beg of you as a fellow Catholic and follower of Christ please support the truth. Please don't scandalize the Church with cloudy ideas from "theologians" that may or may not be in schism.

My wish is that you quote John Paul more and far-out theologians less. Thank you.

I will pray for you, as well as for the North American and German Catholic Church which greatly need our prayers, as they have little faith and have strayed far.

John Schleinich
Calgary

Disabled children bring blessings

Like many others Mr. Little is either uninformed or is in denial about who is having abortions. A recent study done in the U.S. indicates it is not teenagers, rape victims or women who have been diagnosed with an unhealthy fetus. Over 30 per cent of women having abortions are healthy, affluent career women, some are married and many are repeaters.

Taxpayers resent being forced to finance irresponsible women's behaviour. The rest of us planned our families according to our income and commitment, with some sacrifices.

The sad story of the mother who had a handicapped baby now says had she known before birth, she would have considered an abortion.

If the same mother had the good fortune to have a perfect baby who later met with an accident leaving the child permanently disabled, would she agree to terminate the child's life?

Many parents of disabled children remark on the blessing of these children that have enhanced their lives. We all have crosses to bear, usually no more than we and God can handle.

Rose Ruth
Edmonton

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