Catholic Homily

A GROUNDLESS DIVORCE?

Readings: Tit 1:1-9; Lk 17:1-6

The modern cry “Less doctrine and more liberty” is degeneration from the vertebrate to the jellyfish. Liberty without doctrine is like a sword in the hand of a lunatic. Every Christian needs to have an insatiable appetite for sound doctrine. A doctrine is sound if it leads us to Jesus Christ. When St Paul writes that a bishop should “hold firm to the sure word as taught” (Tit 1:9), he means that’ all presbyters must see to it that the authenticity of the teachings of Christ are preserved. Jesus, of course, warns that “temptations to sin are sure to come” (Lk 17:1). That is, scandals of false doctrine and erroneous practice would inevitably come upon the Church and we have to be on guard against them. As Catholics, we ought to recognise that the sources of sound doctrines are the Bible and the traditions of the Church. Why traditions? It is because the doctrines are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who were really in touch with God. Therefore, our faith is rooted in the Bible as it had been understood and lived for thousands of years. To separate doctrine from its lived tradition is to sue for a groundless divorce. God has joined them together, and what he has joined, we can not put asunder.

Catholic Homily A GROUNDLESS DIVORCE?  MONDAY-WEEK 32/ YEAR-B Readings: Tit 1:1-9; Lk 17:1-6