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BOOK
V, CHAPTER TWO NO
ONE CAN BE SAVED WHO REFUSES
OBEDIENCE TO THE PASTORS
OF THE CHURCH He who will be proud and refuse to
obey the commandment of the priest, that man shall die. (Deuteronomy 17:12) Just as no man can enter any place
without the help of him who has the keys, so no one is admitted to Heaven
unless its gates be unlocked by the priests to whose
custody the Lord gave the keys. (Catechism of Trent) 1 Look at the heathens. What has it
availed them that Our Lord has died? Alas! They can have no share in the
blessing of redemption while they have no priests to apply His blood to their
souls (St. John Mary Vianney) 2 Without priests, we cannot be
saved. (St. John Chrysostom) 3 We ought to keep our minds ready
to obey in all things our Holy Mother, the hierarchical Church. We ought always believe that what seems to us white to be
black if the hierarchical Church so defines it. I ought to be like a corpse,
which does not have either free will or understanding; or like a staff in the
hands of an old man who uses it as may please him. (St. Ignatius Loyola) 4 With all thy soul, fear the Lord,
and reverence His priests. Forsake not His ministers, and give honor to the
priests. (Ecclesiasticus 7:31-33) Do not let those who have refused
to obey the bishops and priests imagine that the way of salvation is still
open to them. Heresies and schisms all have their origin solely in the
refusal to obey the priest of God (St. Cyprian) 5 Obey your prelates, and be subject
to them! (Hebrews 13:17) The people united to the priest,
and the flock cleaving to the shepherd: this is the Church. The bishop is in
the Church and the Church is in the bishop; so that, if a man be not with the
bishop, he is not in the Church. (St. Cyprian) 7 There is no knowledge of God in
the land, for people are like those who contradict the priest. (Osee 4:1,4) After God, the priest. That sums up
everything. Leave a parish twenty years without a priest, and they will be
worshipping the animals. (St. John Mary Vianney) 8 Does a man think he is with Christ
when he acts in opposition to the bishops of Christ and cuts himself off from
the society of His clergy and people? An enemy of the altar, he gives up
faith for perfidy, religion for sacrilege; an undutiful son, despising the
bishops and deserting the priests of God, he tries to set up a new altar.
(St. Cyprian) 9 Therefore, follow the bishops and
priests. Apart from them, there is nothing that can be called a church.
Anyone outside is impure; he is worse than an infidel. In other words, anyone
who acts apart from the bishop and the priests and deacons does not have a clean conscience. For, all who belong to God and to Jesus
Christ are with the bishop. Make no mistake about it: no one who follows
another into schism inherits the kingdom of God. (St. Ignatius of Antioch) 11 REFERENCES BOOK
V, CHAPTER TWO 2. John Mary: SPIRIT OF THE CURE
D'ARS, Bowden, 1864 3. John: "On the
Priesthood," Bk.III, DDP p.60 4. Ignatius: TEXT OF THE SPIRITUAL
EXERCISES OF ST. IGNATIUS, 4th rev. ed., London: Burns, Oates & Washbourne, 1923; Catholic Treasures,
Monrovia, CA: September 1982, no.84, col.1; VOS 5. Cyprian: "To Pomponius," IV, JUR vol.I:568;
"To Pope Cornelius," PGW p.368 CAS p.52; FOC p.34 7. Cyprian: "Ad Pupianus," LXIX, CSL vol.III, p.732;
PTC:455 8. John Mary: THE CURE D'ARS,
Msgr. Francis Trochu, London: Burns & Oates, 1955,p.103 9. Cyprian: "Epistle To All
His People," XLIII:5; JUR vol.1: 573; CSL vol.III:2, Vienna: 1871 11. Ignatius:
"Epistle to the Romans," VII:2, TAF vol.I, p.82; FOC p.124; "Epistle
to the Philadelphians," ch.III, II:3; "Epistle to the Trallians," ch's.II &
VII; PG 5:643 ff. |