THE PROBLEMS PASTORAL CARE OF THE DIVORCED AND REMARRIED

.

At this juncture so severe for the life of the Church and society, It is necessary to avoid the two extremes opposed, the first, a small but minority biting, of ultra conservatism, with his doomsday scaremongering and its legalism rigorista, who fears that the Pope will move away from the Gospel or from Tradition, if it has not already done so; and the second, far more widespread and arrogant, what the modernists, worldly spirits, unrepentant relativists, preachers of gooders misercordista, who would like to exploit the Pope with false flattery.

.

.

.We are awaiting the decision of the Holy Father based on the proposals of the Synod of Bishops on the Family, that will, among other topics, also that of divorced and remarried. We expect from this gathering of our pastors, enlightening and encouraging directives for the purpose of strengthening the family institution in the light of faith, so as to help families to live better and with greater conviction the gift received from God, defenses from the wiles and temptations that come from the contemporary world.

Among the issues to be addressed There will be to prepare for the shepherds and for all those who care about the value of family, a new pastoral and educational methodology, helping to clarify the ideas and behavior contrary to the good of the family, and then to correct fraternally and generously help those couples, that, or ill will or ignorance or bad upbringing or bad examples or influences suffered or objective difficulties, They not observed in various ways and measures in this critical sector of the Christian life, the commands of the Gospel and the Church's laws. In fact there are not only, as they say, families "wounds", in need of understanding, help and mercy, but also families who wound, that give the bad example, that upset or scandalize, families or couples who throw havoc or cause suffering, conflicts and troubles in other families or in other pairs, perhaps seduced by the world or victims of misconceptions or rebel to family ethics standards, famiglie ill or corrotte, which tend to corrupt the healthy ones, but instead it should be the reverse, namely that healthy heal the sick.

It is essential to reverse that trend nefarious and solvent, which for decades it is spreading in the Church and in society, for which diminish the legitimate and normal marriages, increase divorces, separations and marriages null and increase illegal or unions, increase the broken homes or in crisis, with huge damage to the education of children, and decrease the united and serene and devoted to the good of the Church and society.

A sensitive issue to address It will also be to some regulation of so-called "cohabitation", otherwise called "civil unions", as well as the even more delicate coexistence of homosexual couples. But here I set aside these issues to stop only to that of divorced and remarried or cohabiting.

Under this category now entered into use we can and must put, for greater precision, even those couples who have started a new union, with or without civil marriage, with or without divorce from the previous ecclesiastical marriage, but remained tied to the legitimate spouse the sacramental plane. On the other hand it is clear that, whatever may be the Holy Father's decisions, the fears of some that he puts in doubt the indissolubility of marriage and therefore admits the divorce with remarriage have no sense. Of one thing we must be fully convinced: that the Synod will keep, confirm and strengthen, as always he has done and will do the Church, the absolute values, perennial and indispensable, moral and dogmatic, based on the natural and divine law, but it reserves the right to change, when it deems appropriate, in the field of pastoral care, that is, the ecclesiastical law and canon law, like for example, and this is the case, in the discipline - not in substance! - The sacraments (Marriage and the Eucharist). The judgment of the Holy Father non it will be infallible nor immutable, and yet it will be appropriate to the current circumstances, because it will not be the kind of doctrinal truths of faith. Instead, it will simply prudential judgment, where the Church can err and then reform and correct - very rare - and mutate, but that is confidently accepted and put into practice with religious submission of will.

Then the Church will prepare a new pastoral legislation for couples of which we speak, This obviously will not mean that it will admit, as some alarmists fear of little faith, the possibility of the dissolution of the previous legitimate sacramental bond, nor that it can, for these pairs, as some are fantasizing, set up a kind of new "marriage", maybe second-class. It can instead be recognized a certain type of "civil union" in accordance with the State.

Some, kind of canonical environments, believe that the current legislation (exclusion from the sacraments) It is so closely linked to the divine law on marriage, that the Church could not change it, without offending the same divine right. Therefore, hope with all our strength the preservation of the current rules, almost imploring the pope to keep unchanged the current legislation. To them we must reply that, though of course the current ecclesiastical law is an application of divine law, there is a connection between the two logically necessary, as a consequence to premise, or as if it were a deductive syllogism. In reality, without prejudice to the divine right, and indeed, in view of its best application, according to the needs and opportunities of today, It is entitled to make changes to the Church canon law according to his prudent, though not irrevocable or unalterable judgment.

What if anything is to be feared is not what will Pope, But what will the reaction of the modernists to certainly reaffirmed the value of indissolubility of marriage on the part of the Synod. Indeed they, Infected by a historicist and relativist mentality, misinterpreting ecumenism, pluralism, freedom of conscience and intercultural and interreligious dialogue, They took over indifferentist and liberal mentality of modern states, they believe that the part of the Church to reaffirm the indissolubility as a universal value and unchanging, mandatory for all, is a sign of a spirit not evangelical, not "reconcile" and not pastoral, but doctrinaire, taxation and old fashioned illiberal, that does not respect the different choices of each, dictated by his conscience.

What they criticize the Church It is to focus unreasonably, with outdated mentality, a special union between two people - the indissoluble union between man and woman - on all other, including same sex, whereas in their view all the choices are good, legitimate and should be put on the same level as conscientious choices.

It is evident that the Church, while meeting the situations that require it, It will never accept such a subjectivism and relativism, who forgets the degrees of dignity and human perfection and above all ends up legitimizing sin with the excuse of the choice of conscience or mercy.

For a good discussion on the subject, you must call to mind a few things about the notion of sin and its cancellation due to divine forgiveness. That is, we must first distinguish between sin as an act by the inclination to sin, called the Council of Trent "lust" (Denz.1515). Some confuse the two things.

The inclination is in fact a matter of fact inevitable and permanent psychological for all earthly life and is present in all state, Also in the Saints, excluded, of course, the Blessed Virgin Mary, independently of the will, as a consequence of original sin. The sin, instead, in the proper sense, is an evil act - evil action, Cicero called him - conscious and free ("Full awareness and deliberate consent"), the result of the will. Indeed, the will, who it is deemed good, every now and again, for different reasons, It is perverted and become bad.

Power of our free will, Relief from grace, It is to correct our own will, able to straighten herself with repentance, putting itself on the right path. This is the conversion, favored by the sacrament of penance. The sin, so, It is a "hiccup", which should not be taken lightly under the pretense of divine mercy, but it should be and can be remedied whenever. Committing sins even "seventy times seven" day, God is always ready to forgive, but we must do our part with the seriousness and sense of responsibility.

The act of sin can last or last in time or by its nature or because voluntarily be maintained in, for which act by turns in state, but then it is better to speak of "guilt", for which it determines a real been: being guilty. The sin, as it is caused by an act of will, like this, made the sinful act, It ends the act of sin. It remains the blame, which it is a state of inner turmoil and opposition or enmity with God, more or less relevant, that is the will of the subject to keep with the stubbornness, until the '' hardening of the heart "or cancel, for the intervention of grace, with repentance and with a "contrite heart".

So there are not inherently sinful situations as some believe, or state inherently sinful. However, there are situations, more or less permanent, hazardous or dangerous, real temptations, where it is very easy or almost inevitable sinning, because the subject is in immediate opportunity, avoidable or unavoidable, It may be guilty of no fault or permanent, of sin. But the subject, at least in principle, always remains free to sell or not to give in to temptation. If the temptation is too strong, The blame diminishes, especially if the will is weak. The guilt increases, instead, if there is a real deliberate will and a full awareness, and evil passion or lust is easily winnable. But sin is involved, if previously the subject did not have the warning or caution, being able to, to avoid the occasion.

It is clear that adultery is always, at least for the matter, intrinsically evil, mortal sin, just as it is unthinkable to the disappearance of the indissolubility of marriage. The efforts of certain moralists, or shepherds to find the positive in adulterous or concubinarie unions, obviously not as such, but because they involve people, that maintain the dignity of the person and may in other respects possess high quality, in themselves they are not in vain and dishonest, but no sign of pastoral wisdom. Certainly a good work, but not performed in a state of grace, It is not saving. But those who judge from the outside (only God knows the heart) It must still be able to recognize the good work and the good quality and maybe bet on them to urge the sinner to repentance. In fact, it is evident that, apart from the sin that the couple commits, That, for other aspects, You can own values, that must be recognized and increased, if only as a counterweight to the irregular situation. But it is equally clear that you should not be drawn from these values ​​pretext to diminish or even excusing or coonestare sin.

grave mistake just a few to confuse sin with imperfection and give an appearance of legitimacy or tolerability to sin by linking it to the category of imperfection. The similar operation is evident dishonesty, if we reflect that, while the imperfect is already good, albeit minor and that needs improvement, sin belongs to the sphere of evil, unless we are not so foolish as to confuse good with evil.

On cohabitation there are shadows and lights, because even these unions, as some think, They are treated as non-Catholics conditions laid down by the conciliar decrees. It is in fact in this case of Christians, that do not meet for establishment and historical reasons Catholic morality. They may very well be in good faith. And then the case is very different. I our case, instead, it is assumed that we Catholics, who know their duty. The Church does not however rightly expects that non-Catholics engage short Catholic morality. This would be a form of fundamentalism indiscreet. The Church certainly hopes in the entrance of these brothers, by the help of grace, in full communion with her, but in the meantime and now it asks for nothing more wisely to them that the exercise of ecumenism according to their conscience. Instead he calls sinners, especially those living in its midst, you convert, even if it knows how to wait for the "God's time" and, if necessary, also excuse.

As for the divorced and remarried, they are in a situation certainly irregular and offensive earlier marriage, supposed invalid. It is a situation that makes up for their immediate and permanent opportunity of mortal sin. In fact you can imagine that they often commit these sins. Given this situation scandalous, the Church still does not grant them the appropriate sacraments of confession and communion. However, the church, as is known, at the time it gave some provisions to promote their participation, although imperfect, in ecclesial life. They are not excommunicated, and if they manage to refrain from sexual intercourse, They are admitted to the Sacraments. Anyhow, it is good that they participate in the Mass and, if they have grace, something difficult but not impossible, They can make a spiritual communion. Though in fact they live in a situation that objectively leads them strongly to sin, we are not authorized, as some think, to believe that the two may live permanently and inevitably in a state of sin or mortal sin, devoid of grace, as if they were lost souls, because instead, on the basis of free will, always have the possibility, when they want, repentance whenever they sin, and to make every time the intention to do everything possible to correct, compatibly with the situation in which they find themselves, and so to regain the lost grace, so that, if they were to die, can be saved. Even if they can not access the Sacrament of Penance, They can still receive directly from God the grace of forgiveness.

If they can return to the previous spouse, They must do so. But there may be cases in which it is virtually impossible, even with the best will, create such a good purpose, for the existence of insurmountable obstacles occurred, or objective data, from which they can not be separated. It demonstrates a careless oversimplification the sentencing categorically, in these cases, as some do: "They must go back to how they were before!”. It would be absurd, however, believe that they, while he is failing or not being able to get rid of an unavoidable situation, They are still in a state of mortal sin. No one can be guilty against his will, or forced or necessitated to sin. An act that we have to do can be sin outwardly, but the soul remains innocent, such as the act of a woman raped by a man without her consent. It would then even blasphemous to believe that God would allow situations or conditions, from which they can not break free, but which will inevitably lead to sin, as to deserve eternal perdition.

One of these irremediable situations without fault may be as follows: the spouse of the first remarried with another and perhaps had children by this other. Or the new couple has children and is linked to serious obligations, constraints or civil interests, legal or economic. In these cases, the two, Also not wanting, they face inevitable occasion of sin. Si badi: on occasion, not the sin itself. The occasion is not yet sin. The occasion may be inevitable; sin can be avoided. The occasion or temptation is not necessarily sought and may be unanticipated or unintended. Some confess temptations, but wrong. Anthony also had the temptations in the desert, but he resisted. One sins when one gives willingly to temptation. Sin is essentially an act wanted. That being the case and in the case of a non-full consent to sin, under the pressure almost irresistible passion, it is indeed possible that the fault is lowered from mortal to venial. And if the passionate impulse even lose freedom, guilt can be totally absent, even if the act is objectively sin (for the matter), as in certain cases of suicide or panic or mental illness.

This serious problem is a strong call to the shepherds, to moralists, educators and faithful to a greater and more convinced commitment to the promotion and protection of "non-negotiable values" of the true meaning of sexuality, the right relationship between man and woman, of marriage and the family, in a visual more attentive to the individual problem situations, their positive and negative sides, in order to give to each situation that solution, and that orientation, that arise from the Gospel and the natural law, justice and mercy, in full communion with the Church.

At this juncture so severe for the life of the Church and society, It is necessary to avoid the two extremes opposed, the first, a small but minority biting, of ultra conservatism, with his doomsday scaremongering and its legalism rigorista, who fears that the Pope will move away from the Gospel or from Tradition, if it has not already done so; and the second, far more widespread and arrogant, what the modernists, worldly spirits, unrepentant relativists, preachers of gooders misercordista, who would like to exploit the Pope with false flattery.

For the first, The Pope has a special surveillance; for seconds, It is the good buddy, the permissiveness that satisfied all their cravings. The former preach a false justice, the latter a false mercy. But the one and the other are only good if they are together.

Even today there are the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Jesus, while offering salvation to all, is not neither with each other nor with, but only the Father's will, He has entrusted to the apostles under the guidance of Peter, to let the world know.

.
Varazze, 13 October 2015

.

__________________________________________

Dear readers,

Please note that occasionally The Island of Patmos and all the work and care that it requires for site maintenance, needs your support. Grant us a little, but give us something to support us, using the convenient and secure Paypal system.

Thank you.