1. St. Matthew
St. Matthew was one of the future apostles to be become of the first bishops of the early Catholic Church. Someone asked the question; how come the apostles were told to leave all things, like Peter and Andrew, James and John. But Matthew was not asked to leave all things but to follow Christ directly.
Remember that Christ gave this condition to the young rich man, to the lawyer and generally to others; to give up all things and follow Christ.
2. A strange phenomenon.
There was an article in the newspaper about a ‘socialite who left all things to follow Christ.’ She was not part of a religious order. She was just a wealthy lady who had much but left all things and died with nothing, to follow Christ. Some years earlier there was another lady who did exactly the same thing. But the first lady was noticed by a crowd of ladies who begun asking the same question; ‘how can we leave all things.’
A very seemingly European royal couple was, also, featured in the news as having given up all things and were very happy in doing so. Strangely, a bishop friend asked me, ‘why do they do that?’
Having dinner with the late bishop of Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines, he was wondering how come this command of Christ given to the young rich man by Christ, to go home, sell all your things, give it to the poor and follow Me, is not followed by Catholics when Christ gave this command for all to follow. And he said that even bishops and priest do not follow this New Testament command; this comment coming from a bishop.
When a bishop questioned why these ladies are asking how to give up all things, he noted that diocesan bishops do not do that.
3. An explanation.
In answer to the bishops who believed that diocesan bishops do not have to do that, I remember that as a young religious Benedictine priest, we always had the impression that we, monks have four vows but the diocesan priests have only two. Of course, when we asked this question, nobody could give a convincing answer.
There are two Testaments, the Old and the New. The Old testament has ten commandments. The New Testament to which the Catholic Church fall under has many commands and the first command of the New Testament that enables a person to enter the Catholic Church is to give up all worldly possession.
This giving up of worldly possessions must be in the spiritual level, i.e. the true Christian soul must give all worldly thoughts and ideas and give up all worldly desires. It is not so much a physical giving up; it is more a giving up by the spiritual faculties of the soul. This is the first command of the New Testament, the first requisite to enter the Catholic Church. It is meant to enable the soul to follow Christ. The emphasis is not in the giving up but in being able to follow Christ, i.e. to follow Christ to the perfection of the Catholic Life, a soul must give up with his intellect and free will, worldly concerns and worldly desires, to be able to follow Christ towards the perfection of Faith and the beginnings of Charity that will enlivened the Faith.
All bishops and priest are supposed to obey this command; Peter and Andrew, James and John, were required by Christ to give up all things including their elderly Father. All the apostles, the first bishops were obliged to do so, otherwise they cannot have the Faith with which they will lead souls to heaven. All the bishops trained by Christ had to give up all things. Why do our present bishop think they don’t have to do the same?
Unable to give up all things, they are unable to follow Christ towards Faith enlivened by Charity. Without Faith, enlivened by Charity, they are not Catholics. This is the present crisis of the Church, according to Ratzinger….our priests and bishops do not have Faith because they are unable to obey the first command of the New Testament that will open the door of the Catholic Church for them.
4. How do you do that?
Today’s priests, cardinals, bishops and even Pope Francis never gave up all things. They left all their things with their families. And that is not the way to obey this command, according to the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. That is not the way to do it according to Christ who first did it. Absolutely no one has done it correctly. Because to know this command and obey it as taught by Christ, one needs the grace to know, understand and obey the command.
In fact, nobody can tell anybody to give up all things and follow Christ. It is not the giving up that matters, in fact this does not have to be done. What matter is to be able to follow Christ. Cornelius was not commanded to give up all things. He kept all things because he had given it up spiritually by using them to support the Church that lived in his house.
5. The socialite.
Nobody told the socialite to give up all things. It was because she repented perfectly, received the grace that accompanies the gift of supernatural Faith. Through Faith, God taught her that she will not be able to follow Christ unless she gives up all worldly possession.
A soul does not give up worldly possession to attain the virtue of Faith. No. It is the other way around. It is because the soul has attained the supernatural virtue of Faith, wherein this Faith informed her through the gift of the Holy Spirit, that she cannot enter the Catholic Church and follow Christ unless she gives up worldly things. The love of God and love of the things of the world are contradictory that cannot exist side by side. One has to give up one to posses the other. And so, it is the lady who was convinced by her own supernatural virtue of Faith that informed her that she must give up all things to follow Christ.
This answers the question on St. Matthew; how come Christ did not tell Matthew to give up all things as He did to Andrew, Peter, James and John. Christ simply told Matthew to follow Him. Because Matthew had perfect Faith that informed him that to follow Christ deep into the Catholic Church and be a good bishops, he must give up all things. And he immediately did it without being told to do so.
6. Why is there hardly anyone inside the Catholic Church. Not even the priests, bishops, cardinals and Pope Francis.
Because no one have entered the Catholic Church through obedience to the first commandment of the New Testament; to give up all things to be able to follow Christ to heaven. Nobody is even a true Catholic since obedience to this first command is essential for entrance into the true Church. Pope John Paul II said so brilliantly in his ‘Veritatis Splendor’, addressed exclusively to all bishops. They never taught this to their constituency because they, themselves, could not do it.
7. The way of heaven.
During the last three weeks, the Liturgy had been teaching us how to go to haven…..to have perfect Faith enlivened by Charity. To the question ‘what must I do to have everlasting life.’ An answer all man is interested in. Christ answered; if you wish to have everlasting life, go home, sell all your possession, give it to the poor and follow Me.
Christ, one day was describing how to go to heaven. All the listeners found it impossible for all to go to heaven. So the apostles asked; ‘if it is this difficult to go to heaven, who will go to heaven?’
Peter asked Christ directly, how about us? We followed you and stayed with you. What will happen to us. Christ said; ‘To you who have left all things, mansions are reserved for you in heaven.
To give up all things to follow Christ is one statement to which Christ, always, attached the attainment of everlasting life in heaven.
8. How do you give up all things?
You cannot! Unless you have perfect Faith enlivened with Charity. Without perfect Faith you will mess up your giving up and could end up a sad beggar. Don’t do it. Perfect Faith enlivened with Charity will tell you when to do it and how to do it properly. After giving up all things then Christ promises He will give you all things. You will never lack anything, as He had promised to those who have perfect Faith.
It is this perfect Faith wherein a soul believes in Christ’s promise ‘To seek first the Kingdom of God and everything else will be given to you’ that makes souls give up all things. It is an act of Faith in God enlivened with Charity; which is the guarantee that the soul will surely go to heaven.
The soul that gives up all things because He believes God’s promise that He will provide all things, is the man of Faith that is inside the kingdom of God, the Catholic Church.
The soul who do not give up all things but merely leave them behind to their families, as all religious and seminarians have done, does not believe in God’s promise ‘He will provide him with all the things he need. He has no Faith and outside the New Testament gate . He is not a true Catholic because he is outside the realm of the New Testament, the door of which is the command of Christ to the young rich man; ‘to go home, sell all your things, give it to the poor and come follow Me.’ The love of the things of the world that he possess will stop him from loving God. St. Augustine wrote.
9. The inability to obey this command.
The refusal of mankind, especially of priests, bishops, cardinals and Pope Francis who, even, refused to give up his Argentine passport, is the reason the world today has ‘decayed Faith’ and the ‘waxing cold of Charity,’ as Christ, Himself, prophesied. They could not obey the one very important first command of Christ to enable anyone to enter inside the Catholic Church.
Disobedience to this first one command of Christ, wrote St. James, is disobedience to all the commands of Christ. A world who disobeyed all the command of Christ is a world that have descended back to paganism.