RELIGION PURE AND UNDEFILED

A MESSAGE FOR THE 5th SUNDAY AFTER EASTER

How many times have we sighed with exasperation at our traditional Catholic brethren, frustrated by their apparent inability to recognize what it truly means to be Catholic?  Certainly, there is no lack of traditional faithful who appear to exhibit a deep and penetrating understanding of the intricacies of dogmatic and moral theology, not to mention church history, canon law, and all the other details of our faith and culture which they have turned into their personal hobby.

There are two unfortunate conclusions to be drawn from our observations, as follows.  First of all, their apparent religious expertise is in fact nothing more than an illusion of something which they are far from possessing.  And worse yet, it is incontrovertible in many cases that their interest in the things of God is actually nothing more than a superficial fascination for things religious.  Like the legendary theologians of old who would argue ad nauseam about how many angels could dance on the head of a pin, our latter-day would-be moralists, canon lawyers and armchair theologians like nothing better than to bask in the imagined superiority of their own shallow knowledge, which, on a closer look, turns out to be based on a cursory reading of something they saw on the internet.

Beware these people.  They speak with an imagined authority that they are far from possessing, but which can often sound convincing.  “A little knowledge is a dangerous thing,” as the saying goes, and the twists and perversions that these self-made theologians invent have caused the spiritual demise of many.  Judge the words of others by their effect, as you would judge a tree by its fruit.  Do they bring you to a greater love of God?  Or do they distract you into trivial and obsessive arguments on issues over which they have no authority to pronounce?

In today’s Epistle, St. James reminds us that it is the love of God and neighbor that is the true, pure and undefiled expression of our religion.  By showing charity, mercy and loving kindness to our fellow man, we become true examples of what it means to be “religious.”  If there are people who love God but hate “religion”, it is, alas, because they have seen too many “religious” people who are anything but the religious souls they ought to be.