9781644135945

The Easter Cycle
the earth; and all men. . . . And Noe only remained and they that were with him in the ark”
(Gn 7:17 ff.). God will not be mocked. “But except you do penance, you shall all likewise
perish” (Lk 13:5).
Salvation can be found only in the Ark, in Christ. The normal approach to Christ is through
the Church, which is the body of Christ. Only if we associate ourselves with the Church can
we share in the redemption and obtain salvation. “No one can have God for his Father who
does not have the Church for his mother” (St. Cyprian). The same saint compares the Church
to the ark of Noe. Only he who enters the Church can be saved. Only those who are guided
by the infallible authority of the Church, who are submissive to her teachings, and who make
use of her sacraments with faith and humility, can escape eternal death. 10 “Amen I say to you,
whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall
loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven” (Mt 18:18). “He that heareth you heareth Me;
and he that despiseth you despiseth Me; and he that despiseth Me despiseth Him that sent Me”
(Lk 10:16). Salvation is only in the Ark, in the Church of God.
“And all the thought of their heart was bent upon evil at all times.” We all know from our own
past experiences how terrible and how persistent is the power of sin in man. With St. Paul we
may all say: “For I know that there dwelleth not in me, that is to say, in my flesh, that which is
good. For to will is present with me; but to accomplish that which is good, I find not. For the
good which I will, I do not; but the evil which I will not, that I do. Now if I do that which I will
not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that when I have a
will to do good, evil is present with me. . . . But I see another law in my members, fighting against
the law of my mind, and captivating me in the law of sin, that is in my members” (Rom 7:18 ff.).
We should acknowledge our inborn perversity with all humility and fight against the roots
of evil that are embedded in our soul. “Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? The grace of God, by Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 7:24 f.). We shall seek
this grace, then, in our Lord Jesus Christ, through His holy Church. In this Ark we shall find
salvation.
“Unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish” (Lk 13:3). The Deluge was a
punishment sent by God because of sin and man’s impenitence. “Delay not to be converted to
the Lord, and defer it not from day to day” (Ecclus 5:8). “Knowest thou not that the benignity
of God leadeth thee to penance? But according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou
treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation of the just judgment of
God” (Rom 2:4 f.). In the name of the whole sinful race we cry out in the Introit of today’s
Mass: “Arise and cast us not off to the end. Why turnest Thou Thy face away and forgettest our
trouble? . . . Arise, O Lord, help us and deliver us.” Let us not become the victims of sin. Give to
each of us the grace to perform sincere and adequate penance.
Today we thank God that he has called us, unworthy as we are, into His Ark, the Church,
in which we shall most certainly be saved.
10
However, the grace of God is not restricted. Pope Pius IX, while reiterating the traditional
teaching, “Outside the Roman Church no one can be saved,” nevertheless adds: “It
must likewise be held as certain that those who live in ignorance of the true religion, if it is
invincible, are guilty of no fault in this matter before the eyes of God” (Denzinger, no. 1647).
– Fr. Malone
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