It comes as no surprise that the recent guidelines issued by our local bishops, undoubtedly a conscientious task to clarify Chapter eight of Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia dealing with divorced and remarried Catholics, have stirred the ire of conservatives.
For conservatives “tend to look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all” – Alex de Tocqueville.
The clarifications make it clear that the Pope’s stand to allow divorced Catholics and other cohabiting couples to receive Holy Communion is far from a ‘one size fits all’. It is only after a period of spiritual discernment and a faithful examination of the individual’s conscience formed through a process of reflection that consent is reached and that every case is meant to be treated on its own merits.
For God’s mercy and compassion is greater than our sin. Christ cited the hypocrisy of the Pharisees for laying heavy burdens upon the people but would not do anything to make their load lighter. Christ never ruled out a reasonable recognition of the scribes and Pharisees’ authority in Israel or in the Church, just as much as Pope Francis has in no way departed from sharing a commitment to the Catholic tradition as established in the history and life of the Catholic Church.
But the law was made for man, not man for the law. The law is only a shadow of good things to come, of establishing order, but not the realities themselves. The law is not a goal in itself and is not drawn up to enslave us but to set us free, to make us God’s children.
The law is not a goal in itself and is not drawn up to enslave us
We are told that when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36). It is no different in our turbulent times.
We need a compassionate Church with compassionate leadership. The key to spiritual growth is passing from the law of prohibitions into the influences of the Beatitudes. “Compassion is the radicalism of our time” (Dalai Lama).
Compassion goes beyond feelings of empathy or altruism. It calls for a concrete stepping forward to alleviate the suffering in our midst. It calls for a disposition of compassionate deep listening to work through another person’s perceptions and help them find resolution and healing. It is at that point that transformational growth can take place.
In Amoris Laetitia, on love in the family, Pope Francis prescribes compassion in conversation and pastoral dealings with individuals, especially in the face of multiple complex situations and challenges facing families. He acknowledges the struggle of Catholics to articulate their faith in the face of new challenges brought about by cultural change.
He far from denies existing realities but rather, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, asserts the practicality of the gospel message to the surfacing realities of our time.
Pope Francis contemplates a justice that is superior to that of the scribes and Pharisees, that goes beyond the strict parameters of theological dogma. He contemplates a justice that is animated by love, mercy and, therefore, capable of realising the substance of the commandments, avoiding the risk of formalism.
The Pope repeatedly returns to the need to focus on faces when thinking of family and responding to people and not to hammer them with abstract ideals and rules.
As Pope Gregory VII put it: “It is the custom of the Roman Church which I unworthily serve with the help of God, to tolerate some things, to turn a blind eye to some, following the spirit of discretion rather than the rigid letter of the law.”
“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive” – Dalai Lama.
gordon@atomserve.net
Gordon Vassallo is an accredited spiritual guide at the Centre for Ignatian Spirituality.