Thanks! I don't drink

"Thanks! I don't drink" is more than a polite refusal of an offer of something nice. It is rather a churlish way of saying "Thank you, I want none of your rubbish."

I am reminded of this expression when I read certain letters from people born Catholic, who reject the Church and Her teachings, and seem to expect praise from the readers for doing so.

Most of them assert that studying the Bible and conforming to its principles is sufficient for salvation. The Bible, they say, is the infallible, inspired word of God. The rest is superfluous.

Of course, the Bible is not just the Old Testament, but the old and the new. The New Testament is as infallibly inspired as the old. The old prepares us for the new. The climax in the story of salvation is the arrival of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the Cross, was buried, and rose on the third day.

We read in the Gospel that Jesus broke bread and told the Apostles to eat it, "for this is my body" and "drink, for this is my blood". He added, and this is most important, the words "do this in memory of me". On another occasion he told the Apostles that the sins they forgave, in his name, of course, would be forgiven in Heaven. And he enjoined Peter, repeatedly, to feed his lambs. If that is not clear proof that Christ wanted the Sacraments and appointed the Apostles to administer them, I don't know what is. "Do this in the memory of me." And again "I will be with you until the end of time." With whom? Naturally with the Apostles and their successors.

The Bible is the true word of God, and any believer who does not study it misses the source of all truth. But why not enjoy in addition the divine bonus of the Sacraments, the daily bread needed to strengthen and console us along the stony path of life? And why do away with the service and the guidance of the priesthood?

Sorry, my Bible-only friend, but I can't fail to hark back to the old Maltese saying and seeing your stance as one of "thank you, dear Jesus, but we want none of your gifts".