Thursday, June 15, 2006
AN INTERVIEW WITH FR. CANTALAMESSA
the Pontifical household preacher, speaking on the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. From the interview:
Q: In John's Gospel, Jesus answers Nicodemus' question affirming that the Spirit "blows where it wills." In your judgment, is it possible to interpret in what direction the Holy Spirit is blowing in his continuous irruption in history?
Father Cantalamessa: In the homily of the vigil of Pentecost, the Pope said something very beautiful when commenting on these words of John's Gospel. He did say that the Spirit "blows where he wills," but he clarified that he never blows in a disordered, contradictory way.
Therefore, we have behind us the whole tradition of the Church, the doctrine of the doctors, the teaching of the Church to discern which charisms are valid and which are not.
It might be that at the beginning some charisms make much noise, attract more attention, but that later, over time, reveal themselves instead to be unfounded.
The Church is like water: It receives all bodies, but the true, solid ones it engulfs, whereas it leaves the others on the surface. Empty charisms, which have only exterior manifestation, remain outside the Church.
"A disordered contradictory way." Isn't enthusiasm for what has come out of the Protestant heresy "a disordered contradictory way"?
That "whole tradition of the Church" of which Fr. Cantalamessa speaks would include the teachings against heresy. Yet now comes the pope's preacher who says that the way to the future can be found in something coming out of that heresy, while at the same time he promotes tradition which is clearly opposed to ecumenism.
What happened to the principle of non-contradiction? Has it simply been abandoned by our leaders in Rome?
I have often gotten the impression that JPII could hold two contradictory beliefs in tandem, in spite of the priciple of non-contradiction.
But non-contradiction is Thomistic, isn't it? And apparently that little cadre of liberal theologians who were able to have their way with the Council have rejected Thomism. Hence we no longer are to worry about non-contradiction, apparently. And hence the papal household preacher can make a statement like the one in the linked interview, and everyone will simply nod their heads in agreement.
If that isn't "disordered and contradictory", I don't know what is!
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
