By RAYMOND DE SOUZA, KM
Part 14
When Jesus our Redeemer ascended into Heaven, His visible mission here on Earth came to an end. The work of redemption was complete, once and for all. But He did not call Martin Luther to teach the people how to be “saved,” as a cartoon on Facebook depicted Christ saying to him: “You are Luther, and upon this Luther I will build my Church 1,500 years from now.”
No, He founded the Church, His Mystical Body, upon the Rock of Peter, in order to distribute the fruits of His redemption among men across the centuries until the Parousia, when He would come again to judge the living and the dead. And here is where you find a major and impassable divide between Catholicism and the many religions and sects and churches and affiliations that have emerged from the Lutheran revolution.
On Calvary, nailed to the cross, shortly after Jesus said, “consummatum est,” that is, “it is consummated,” it is finished, and “Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum,” that is, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,” Our Divine Redeemer completed the work of our salvation at the instant of His death. From that moment onward His work for us has been a work of application, that is, the work of applying or giving to men’s souls the fruits of the redemption.
But He does not act on an individual basis, as many have claimed, that is, “all you’ve got to do is to accept Jesus in your heart as your personal Lord and Savior, and you are saved, the fruits of redemption have been applied to you. You are saved.”
But is it really that simple?
No, it is not. Christ on the cross gained for us every grace we need for our justification and salvation. “He always lives to make intercession for them” (Heb. 7:25), but that continued intercession is identical with the intercession which He made for us on the cross, and which is ever continuing to produce its effects in us.
The fact is that He requires our cooperation with Him. He saved us without our cooperation, but He will not save us in the same way. The great St. Augustine taught, “God made you without your help; but, without your help, He does not make you holy: He made you, unknown to you; but, without your consent, He does not make you righteous.”
Christ redeemed us, but not in such a way that we can be saved without our cooperation. It is not a press-this-button, here-to-be-saved kind of operation, as in the elevator of a building. Luther believed in a kind of “salvation” that was so gratuitous that he did not have to do anything to be saved, except “accepting the salvation” supposedly offered by Christ.
But that was not the way Jesus did it. He places the fruits of the redemption within our reach, but we must stretch forth our hand and take them, or else they will be of no profit to us. He invites us to the great banquet, as in the Gospel parables, but he does not force feed us. If we close our mouth and sit on our hands at the table, the food placed before us will be wasted. And we will starve. Period.
Luther and his followers ignored the role of the Church, which Christ established precisely to distribute the fruits of His redemption. Luther wanted to stay outside of the banquet hall, expecting that the Bridegroom would come out to him and put the food in his mouth, as it were. All he would have to do was to accept the Bridegroom’s offer and eat.
Beautiful, eh? Yes, but it is false.
The fruits of the redemption are found in the Church which Christ has founded, not in the streets to be picked up by any founder of a new sect. The Church herself may be called the first fruit of the redemption. St. Paul says: “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her, that He might . . . present the Church to Himself in splendor” — “gave Himself up for her,” i.e., He delivered Himself unto death for her, to found her and to endow her with all the gifts she possesses (Eph. 5:25, 27). Salvation is inseparably linked to the Church.
Yes, this is another reality that must be proclaimed at this time when the Protestant world is about to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran revolution. The Church is the dispenser of the treasures of the redemption, and Christ in a mysterious and awesome fashion has made Himself dependent on us, so to speak:
“This is truly a tremendous mystery and one which can never be sufficiently meditated: namely, that the salvation of many souls depends upon the prayers and voluntary mortifications offered for that intention by the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ” (Pius XII, Mystici Corporis, 1943).
The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, and Christ operates through His Mystical Body, never through individual wishful thinking or private opinion. Christ at His Ascension passed from the sight of men, but He is still with us invisibly in His Church. He lives in her, and through her He exercises the threefold office of Priest, Teacher, and King.
As Priest, He is the principal Minister of each one of the seven sacraments, and is represented by the earthly ministers who act on behalf of the Church. Christ sanctifies us through the graces given through the sacraments and prayers. Church ministers fail in their mission when they allow the sacraments to be tampered with, especially the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. “Do this in memory of me,” He commanded the apostles. He did not give permission to individual priests to change the liturgy into a clown mass or a dancing hall.
As Teacher, He publishes through the voice of His infallible Church the truths which He has revealed, and which we must believe in order to be saved. The Church of Christ is missionary, aims to convert the whole world by imparting to the people the teachings of Christ. Church ministers fail in their mission when they refuse of decline or omit to teach what Christ taught, thus leaving the people ignorant of the Mind of Christ.
As King, He conveys His commands to us in the laws which the Church tells us we must observe on pain of forfeiting His grace. Church ministers fail in their mission when they do not lead the people in the right path, do not use their authority to guide the people, thus allowing them to go astray.
That is why He said He was the Way (as the King guides, leads the way, the Magisterium of the Church has the royal mission), the Truth (as the Teacher enlighten the minds with knowledge, the Magisterium of the Church has the Teaching Mission), and the Life (as the Priest imparts spiritual life through the sacraments, the Magisterium of the Church has the priestly mission par excellence).
Next article: The role of the cross in the process of salvation.
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(Raymond de Souza, KM, is available to speak at Catholic events anywhere in the free world in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese. Please email SacredHeartMedia@Outlook.com or visit www.RaymonddeSou-
za.com or phone 507-450-4196 in the United States.)
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