We often hear or read a word or phrase or we listen to a piece of music and we absorb it immediately without thinking. As Catholics, we have filters — defenses, really — that block or at least alert us to problematic messages. But some problematic messages slip through easily. I now realize that they were designed to make us think we know their meaning when in fact they mean considerably more or even something else entirely. Over time, the hidden meaning becomes our belief and our faith is eroded.
1. The Poor
Who does not want to help “the poor?” What Catholic does not understand that when you feed the hungry and clothe the naked you are doing it for God? (See, Matthew 25: 35-46.) Yet “concern” for the poor is an ancient deception.
Consider John 12: 1-5. Jesus is visiting with Martha, Mary and Lazarus in Bethania. At some point, Mary takes some very expensive spikenard ointment and anoints the feet of Jesus. A disciple speaks up: “why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence and given to the poor?” That disciple was Judas.
The phrase, “The Poor,” is often used by persons with an agenda as a reason or justification for your doing something that they have in mind. Who does not want to serve the poor? It sounds so Catholic. And so the idea slips through your filters.
That is how we got the “Catacombs Pact of November 16, 1965,” in which some 40 bishops attending the Second Vatican Council secretly met in the catacombs and vowed to create a “poor church for the poor.” It would be a humble church, where all are welcome, with none of the trappings of majesty. No one in this church would be worthy of spikenard.
2. The People of God
“The People of God.” That’s us Catholics, right? Well arguably, but the Second Vatican Council made it so much more inclusive. See, Chapter II of Lumen Gentium. In this chapter, the Council discusses who are included in “the People of God.”
The chapter starts out as one might expect: the people of God are the Jews (by virtue of their original covenant with God), Gentiles, and all those who believe in Christ. But then we come to Section 16, which states that “those who have not yet received the Gospel are related in various ways to the people of God.” And therefore “the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator. In the first place amongst these there are the Muslims, who, professing to hold the faith of Abraham, along with us adore the one and merciful God, who on the last day will judge mankind.” What exactly does it mean that the “plan of salvation” includes Muslims? It continues to say positive things about pagans and non-believers, implying they are part of the People of God, at least in some way.
True, this section includes a caveat that “men, deceived by the Evil One, have become vain in their reasonings and have exchanged the truth of God for a lie, serving the creature rather than the Creator. Or some there are who, living and dying in this world without God, are exposed to final despair.” And thus the final section of “the People of God” ends with an exhortation to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ so “that the entire world may become the People of God.” Nevertheless with Pope Francis and the Abrahamic Family House, these nuances have been lost since Vatican II in a wave of indifferentism utilizing the phrase “people of God,” while minimizing any threat of “final despair.”
So at least in practice, the “people of God” are all those who acknowledge the Creator. Or maybe a creator. But not necessarily “God the Father,” because that term implies the Trinity. In short, “God,” in the phrase “People of God,” has something to do with Jesus Christ but nothing to do with the Holy Ghost. By this reasoning then, the phrase would not include Catholics, who believe in a triune God. This phrase deserves scrutiny whenever it is encountered.
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