On Heresy
The crowning disloyalty to God is heresy.
It is the sin of sins, the very loathsomest of things which God looks down upon in this malignant world.
Yet how little do we understand of its excessive hatefulness!
It is the polluting of God’s truth, which is the worst of all impurities.
Yet how light we make of it!
We look at it, and are calm. We touch it and do not shudder.
We mix with it, and have no fear.
We see it touch holy things, and we have no sense of sacrilege.
We breathe its odour, and show no signs of detestation or disgust.
Some of us affect its friendship; and some even extenuate its guilt.
We do not love God enough to be angry for His glory.
We do not love men enough to be charitably truthful for their souls.
~Father Frederick Faber
It is the sin of sins, the very loathsomest of things which God looks down upon in this malignant world.
Yet how little do we understand of its excessive hatefulness!
It is the polluting of God’s truth, which is the worst of all impurities.
Yet how light we make of it!
We look at it, and are calm. We touch it and do not shudder.
We mix with it, and have no fear.
We see it touch holy things, and we have no sense of sacrilege.
We breathe its odour, and show no signs of detestation or disgust.
Some of us affect its friendship; and some even extenuate its guilt.
We do not love God enough to be angry for His glory.
We do not love men enough to be charitably truthful for their souls.
~Father Frederick Faber
Read more about Fr. Faber, HERE.
Hi JMJ - I wrote a post about going to my first Latin mass on Sunday. Looking for more feedback than I've received so that I can become more educated and understand more. Hoping you can offer in your two cents - although I'm also scared that maybe I'm being misunderstood? I don't know, but I respect your opinions. (Oh, and go ahead and delete this comment if you want, since it has nothing to do with the subject of your entry. Sorry about that.)
ReplyDeleteWhat comes to your mind when you think about heresy today?
ReplyDeleteAtheists that don't simply ignore God but persecute him with their hatred?
Apathetic "Catholics" that pick and choose pieces of their faith?
Our religious authorities that teach an easy religion in which there is no Hell and we can discern God's will by simply doing what we feel is right?
And what of our Catholic schools and their idea of catechesis? Is this where all of the above stemmed from in the first place?
Do any of them rise to the level of heresy?
Or perhaps forces like them have always been since the beginning of the Church in one form or another. It is a perpetual struggle, and we should be neither shocked nor disheartened by them.
Rather we strengthen our resolve, teach our children, and pray they do not succomb to them. Oh come, Holy Spirit, that we may be "charitably truthful" to all of the above that we encounter.