Sin does not grow sweet by majority practice; truth is not altered by a vote. The Church is not a political party.
A few weeks ago, The New York Times spoke about “Pope Francis’s agenda for the Church.” It was no doubt oblivious to the fact that, unless we are talking about governance, reform of abuses, and missionary work, an agenda for the Church is the last thing a pope has. That is because the Church is not a nation, a business concern, a philanthropic society, or a big social club. Francis himself has said so. She is the Bride of Christ, and she is to follow Him and Him alone, bringing everyone to Him: This is the agenda of the Church.
Christ says He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and that no man comes to the Father but through Him. He does not say He is “one way among several.” He does not say that He is “one method of looking at reality.” He does not say He offers “a lifestyle” that some people may find amenable.
Rather, He knows very well He is that sign of contradiction that the aged Simeon foretold. He says things He knows will cause many to turn away. “Will you also leave?” He asks Peter, who answers, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”
St. Paul likewise rebuked those men of Corinth who were all too accustomed to the strife of the Greek political arena. “I am for Paul,” said some, and “I am for Cephas,” “I am for Apollos,” and “I am for Christ.” What sense can that make? Christ cannot be divided from Himself, as Paul admonishes us.
That impossibility of division extends beyond the present moment. The eternal Word of God cannot be held to say one thing on Monday and the contrary on Tuesday.
Sin does not grow sweet by majority practice. If we believe that God is real and not a figment of our imagination, if we believe that whatever reality anything possesses is merely derivative from God, a wavering shadow to His solid rock, then sin, which at its heart says with the fool that there is no God, or that God is not around to see, or that God does not care about it one way or the other, is a lie, an emptying, a turn toward unreality; and mortal sin is a leap from the rock into the void. Nothing we say about it can alter the matter.
In the end, each of us would do well to pray to see the truth and to hold to it, even when all the world would say otherwise. Fidelity is to say to Christ upon the Cross, “Keep me near you, Lord, and let me never be ashamed to be alone.” Nor will you be alone.
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