The Twenty-second Sunday of the Year, B

            It’s amazing, sometimes, what one hears that the Second Vatican Council did away with or invented.  Often in complete break with Tradition, certain Vatican II “experts” claim that this is no longer allowed, and that is now required, and so forth, and for nearly forty years many Catholics have become rather confused and even alienated.  A bit more troubling was an assertion I once overheard that Vatican II did away with the Church’s dogmatic stances in order to be more open to the world.  That’s a very strange assertion in the light of the fact that two of the pivotal documents of the Council include in their titles the word “dogmatic.”

            The source, I have a hunch, to much of this confusion can be traced to something somewhat different about Vatican II from all other councils:  it was called by Pope John XXIII, not to clarify any dogmatic or doctrinal dispute in the Church (the reason councils are normally convened), but for the main purpose of re-presenting the Catholic Faith to the faithful and to the world in a way that would be engaging, challenging, and relevant.  The pope openly declared that this time where the Church differed from the world in her doctrine, rather than pronounce “anathema” (meaning to be cursed), the Church would endeavor all the more to explain herself, to show forth openly the great treasury of Christian doctrine and practice, to present the coherency and credibility of Catholic faith to a world always in need of hearing and responding to the teachings and demands of Jesus Christ.

            In today’s Gospel we see Christ doing exactly what He commissioned His Church to do throughout the ages – from the days of His ministry on earth all the way up until and beyond Vatican II:  our Lord is rebuking error and teaching right doctrine.  Here in today’s Gospel we have an example and model of what the Church continues to do in His name.  Listen to Him, as He gathers the people around Him, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.  Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.  From within people, from their hearts, come[s] evil…”  This, our Lord’s insistence on the real source of evil may not be very flattering to us, but if we really, and honestly, think about it, we know it to be true.  Here, if anywhere, people of every generation need to be instructed.  Here is how desperately important doctrine is, yes even dogma:  for to believe otherwise than what Christ has taught, and what His Church has always upheld, is to be caught up in all kinds of problems, even deadly problems.

            Evil is glaringly present to us in our lives upon this earth.  Where does it come from, if not as Jesus taught in today’s Gospel?  As a way of example, one group of people, in medieval, southern France, breaking ranks with the Church, began to think that evil finds its source in material reality.  Only the spiritual is good, these heretics claimed; the flesh, all matter is evil’s birthplace and residence.  Following upon this belief, this group began to doubt and then repudiate the good of marriage and procreation.  They eventually began to deny any real value or meaning to what we do with our bodies; and suicide ultimately became understood as an act of virtue, of courage and, of course, liberation.  (Strange, isn’t it, that this worldview is gaining ground in the modern world?)

            Much closer to our own times – and still present with us – is the Marxian idea that evil resides simply or merely in the structures of human society – in economic, political and social structures, especially in ranks of social class.  With class warfare, this structural evil must be destroyed by violent revolutionary, social upheaval.  Well, we’ve seen a lot of destruction, and nothing of the great socialist paradise predicted by Marx – such massive destruction just in the former Soviet Union alone that staggers the imagination.  And just as ferocious was the National Socialism of Hitler who located virtue in the Aryan race (instead of in ordered human nature) and evil in the Jewish race (instead of potentially in every human heart).  We all know the ghastly horror that flowed quite logically from the Nazi idea.

            This is how badly things can go with wrong or erroneous ideas.  It is a symptom of the sickness of the human heart to even try to blame anything and everything but ourselves for the moral evil around us.  To locate the source of evil other than where it really comes from means, then, the fruitless and destructive attacking of something – whether our own bodies, society, another race or group of people, etc.  And here is the beauty of Christian doctrine, of Catholic dogma:  even if, at first, it seems offensive, as the words of Jesus can be taken, we know that this is sheer realism; we know it’s true.  And that’s the first step toward real and lasting liberation: repentance, turning from what leads to a denial of God, to the abuse of neighbor, and to the ever-growing cancer of selfishness.   This turning toward truth and goodness begins the healing of the human heart, the human mind and heart that learns, over time and by God’s life-giving grace, to always chose the good in the right way. 

            So Christ – and following Him and having been commissioned by Him, the Church – rebukes error and teaches true doctrine.  Today’s Gospel gives us one instance of this, but oh how important this one is!  Even if the Church nowadays chooses not to pronounce “anathema” upon error and falsehood in the world, we know from history, from some of our own rather tragic experiences, that there still is a curse that follows upon not following the truth, not seeking the good, not getting to the real root of the problem of evil – our own inward potential turning to what is wrong, sinful, selfish.  Evil does not reside in us; but we can choose it.  Without God’s help, we can hardly do other than choose it.  But we have God’s help.  He’s name is Jesus Christ.  And He is still summoning us together and saying through His Church to us, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.”   That is, listen to true and right teaching, not to error.  Listen to Christ.