Someone on Facebook says, in connection with Romans 25-32 proscribing homosexual acts, that we shouldn't take Scripture literally. She too quotes St Paul:
“Who also hath made us fit ministers of the new testament,
not in the letter, but in the spirit. For the letter killeth, but the spirit
quickeneth”.
Absolutely. As the Douay Rheims Bible - the only one used in the Church for hundreds of years - says: “ ‘the letter’ means
not rightly understood, and taken without the spirit.”
The basic
reason why Scripture (I’m referring to the New Testament) isn’t taken literally
is, people find it too hard, too difficult. And Jesus Christ knew they would. That's why he said,
“strait is the way and narrow is the door which leads to eternal life, and few there are who find it.”
People often
think genuinely they’re being led by the Spirit when in fact they’re led by
their own ego. You have to put in the hard yards of prayer and practice of the
virtues before you can reasonably rely on what you think is ‘the Spirit’.
Fortunately
Catholics have not only Scripture and the Eucharist but also the teaching authority of the Church down
through the ages (the Magisterium and the Deposit of Faith) to guide them. And they
have that by virtue of the fact that Jesus Christ said to his apostles, “Who
hears you, hears Me”.
And fortunately also, people who sincerely try to pray and try to practise the virtues are guaranteed the Spirit who will 'quickeneth' them along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment