Dear Father,
I write to you today from my heart because I don’t understand what you are doing or why. You are not
my biological father, and yet you are my Father (“For though
you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became
your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” 1 Cor. 4:15). I look at you as a daughter watching her father…watching to see the work you do, recalling
Christ’s commission to his priests through our Holy Mother Church to …
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold, I am with
you all days, even unto the consummation of the world.” [Matt. 28:19-20]
I also recall the beloved words of my
Savior to Saint Peter… [When I read this,
I can almost hear Jesus’ voice TRYING to convey more to Peter than His words
might have sounded to the others.]
“When, therefore, they had breakfasted,
Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, dost
thou love me more than these do?”
He [Simon Peter] said to Him, “Yes, Lord,
thou knowest that I love thee.”
He [Jesus] said to him, “Feed my lambs”.
He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, dost thou love me?”
He said to Him, “Yes, Lord, thou knowest
that I love thee.”
He said to him, “Feed
my lambs.”
A third time he said to him, “Simon, son of John, dost thou love me?”
Peter was a grieved because he said to him
for the third time, “Doust thou love me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, thou knowest all
things, thou knowest that I love thee.
He said to him, “Feed
my sheep.” [John 21:15-17 Challoner-Rheims Catholic Bible Version]
What an amazing commission our Beloved Lord
has given to you my Father in Christ. A
commission I am sure is not an easy task in our corrupt world. The cross of our clergy is indeed a heavy
cross to carry as you follow Christ.
Please know, in my plea to you here today, I do not for a moment forget
the weight you are under to follow Jesus while carrying that heavy cross. Yet still I must bring my concerns to your
ears because only you can answer them.
Our Holy Mother Church is what to the
world, Father? Is She not the Ark upon
the earth which mankind finds salvation in the Sacraments and graces our Lord
gives through Her? Salvation from Christ
through His Holy Catholic Church, is that not so, dear Father?
Catechism:
#845 To reunite all his children, scattered
and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together
into his Son’s Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover
its unity and salvation. The Church is “the world reconciled.” She is that bark
which “in the full sail of the Lord’s cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit,
navigates safely in this world.” According to another image dear to the Church
Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah’s ark, which alone saves from the flood.334 (30, 953, 1219)
845 To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by
sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son’s
Church. The Church is the place where
humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is “the
world reconciled.” She is that bark which “in the full sail of the Lord’s
cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world.” According
to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah’s ark,
which alone saves from the flood.334 (30, 953, 1219)
“Outside
the Church there is no salvation”
846 How are we to understand this
affirmation, often repeated by the Church Fathers?335 Re-formulated positively, it means
that all salvation comes from Christ the Head through the Church which is
his Body: (161, 1257)
Basing
itself on Scripture and Tradition, the Council teaches that the Church, a
pilgrim now on earth, is necessary for salvation: the one Christ is the
mediator and the way of salvation; he is present to us in his body which is the
Church. He himself explicitly asserted the necessity of faith and Baptism,
and thereby affirmed at the same time the necessity of the Church which men
enter through Baptism as through a door. Hence they could not be saved who,
knowing that the Catholic Church was founded as necessary by God through
Christ, would refuse either to enter it or to remain in it.336
You Father, know our Church, and matters of salvation and Jesus Christ’s
commission to you as a priest to teach and bring salvation to others far better
than I, so please forgive me for asking you, “Have you forgotten your
priorities?”
You see,
I watch you closely, not to criticize, but to learn from you. To see how you handle situations, events and
most of all to see your salvational work in progress. Not just when you stand behind the pulpit,
but also when you are out in the world.
I see you Father and I hear what you say.
My
confusion comes, when I hear you talk constantly about social issues, like
immigration reform or when you take photo ops with political figures or even
other 'liberal' clergy who publicly reject Christ and Holy Mother Church’s official
teachings by saying they support gay 'marriages' and unions.
I am
well aware that our Lord ate with sinners.
I am also well aware that when He met with such sinners He told them to
their face “Now go, and stop sinning.” I
don’t mind you dining with sinners Father, but I truly wish you would pass
along Christ’s message to them after dessert.
You see
Father, the words of Jesus to His priests are very clear to my simple mind, “…teaching
them to observe all that I commanded you…”(Matt.28:20) I don’t see Jesus commissioning his priests
to work out immigration issues or sort out which political party is best. To my simple mind, Jesus’ focus was always on
helping people reach eternity in heaven. Salvation. Am I wrong Father?
I don’t
understand why my Fathers, be they parish priest or Bishop, spend so much time,
money and energy working on immigration when souls are being lost. Why are you so worried with our temporary life, instead of our eternal life?
Please tell me how you justify it Father, because I honestly do not understand and I honestly do not want to think badly of my
Fathers who answered Jesus’ call to the priesthood. Jesus chose you all for a reason, and I can’t
think it was immigration reform.
Jesus
said over and over “Feed my lambs.” And “Feed my sheep.” He knew we would be starving for Spiritual
guidance and help on our journeys to eternity.
All of us, are going to end up in either Heaven or Hell and a lot of
that responsibility falls on the cross you my Father picked up when you became my Father through the Gospel. You chose that cross and with it comes the priority of saving souls. Let the politicians and people work out immigration, they can do it Father, but what the laity cannot do is what you were called to do.
1564 “Whilst not
having the supreme degree of the pontifical office, and notwithstanding the fact
that they depend on the bishops in the exercise of their own proper power, the
priests are for all that associated with them by reason of their sacerdotal
dignity; and in virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, after the image of
Christ, the supreme and eternal priest, they are consecrated in order to preach
the Gospel and shepherd the faithful as well as to celebrate divine worship
as true priests of the New Testament.”46 (611)
1565 Through the
sacrament of Holy Orders priests share in the universal dimensions of the
mission that Christ entrusted to the apostles. The spiritual gift they have
received in ordination prepares them, not for a limited and restricted mission,
“but for the fullest, in fact the universal mission of salvation ‘to the end of
the earth,’”47 “prepared in
spirit to preach the Gospel everywhere.”48 (849)
Yes, we
all work out our salvation in “fear and trembling”, but you Father were
commissioned to “teach” us and our Holy Mother Church was given the commission
to bring the Sacraments and graces to us from our Savior. That’s the entire reason She exists and you
have become a Father through the Gospel.
If we, the laity didn’t need Holy Mother Church or the priesthood Jesus
wouldn’t have created and commissioned either.
But we
do need you Father and our Church. We
need you to TEACH. We need you to GUIDE
us to salvation, not political reforms.
We THIRST for spiritual direction, not political dinners and photo ops. Where are the Church's priorities in the United States? Is salvation still the priority for the Church here? Please tell me Father, because I don't know any more.
Has the
Church in the United States forgotten Her mission?
Catechism:
Mission—a requirement of the Church’s catholicity
849 The missionary mandate. “Having
been divinely sent to the nations that she might be ‘the universal sacrament of
salvation,’ the Church, in obedience to the command of her founder and
because it is demanded by her own essential universality, strives to preach the
Gospel to all men”:339 “Go therefore and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and
Lo, I am with you always, until the close of the age.”340 (738, 767)
850 The origin and purpose of mission.
The Lord’s missionary mandate is ultimately grounded in the eternal love of the
Most Holy Trinity: “The Church on earth is by her nature missionary since,
according to the plan of the Father, she has as her origin the mission of the
Son and the Holy Spirit.”341 The ultimate purpose of mission is
none other than to make men share in the communion between the Father and the
Son in their Spirit of love.342 (257, 730)
851 Missionary motivation. It is
from God’s love for all men that the Church in every age receives both the
obligation and the vigor of her missionary dynamism, “for the love of Christ
urges us on.”343 Indeed, God “desires all men to be
saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth”;344 that is, God wills the salvation of
everyone through the knowledge of the truth. Salvation is found in the truth.
Those who obey the prompting of the Spirit of truth are already on the way of
salvation. But the Church, to whom this truth has been entrusted, must go out
to meet their desire, so as to bring them the truth. Because she believes in
God’s universal plan of salvation, the Church must be missionary. (221, 429, 74, 217, 2104, 890)
Father,
I love my Catholic Faith, I love my Holy Mother Church and I love my Fathers
who answered the Call to become priest, but far too often I do not understand
what I see happening today. I honestly
ask you Father, has our Church forgotten Her mission? Have her priests forgotten Christ’s
commission to them to bring salvation to nations?
I
understanding wanting to help the plight of the less fortunate in our world,
our Church has always been a beacon of light to the poor and suffering. I am not saying we should not help others in
their sufferings on earth, I am saying what are our priorities? Is it more important to help people find a
temporary home on earth or an eternal home with our God?
And
what about correction? Is it not the
obligation and duty of our Fathers and Mother Church to correct us in our
errors?
890 The mission of the Magisterium is linked to the
definitive nature of the covenant established by God with his people in Christ.
It is this Magisterium’s task to preserve God’s people from deviations and
defections and to guarantee them the objective possibility of professing the
true faith without error. Thus, the pastoral duty of the Magisterium is
aimed at seeing to it that the People of God abides in the truth that liberates.
To fulfill this service, Christ endowed the Church’s shepherds with the charism
of infallibility in matters of faith and morals. The exercise of this
charism takes several forms: (851, 1785)
What’s happening
to Christ’s Church and the priesthood that He commissioned to teach and guide
for the salvation of souls? We are
STARVING Father, because there are too few Fathers left to “feed Christ’s sheep”.
Denying the Eucharist to ANYONE IN mortal sin is an act of GREAT LOVE. To allow someone in mortal sin (gay sexual relationships are of course grave mortal sin) to have Holy Communion is HELPING in the DAMNATION to a person! [1 Cor.11:29] Priests must NEVER participate in anyway with a person's soul being damned. Priests are to correct and help guide the person away from sin and to repentance. We need these things... our souls depend on them.
Christ’s
lambs are starving for guidance, correction and instruction…why aren't our Father's working harder to FEED us as Christ instructed?
Please tell me Father, what is going on?
In Christ,
Julie, one of our Lord's Lambs
