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<\/a><\/div>\nThis isn\u2019t the first post I\u2019ve written on paradoxes of the Catholic faith, nor will it be the last. Remember the one on the Church being paradoxically consistent (and vice versa)<\/a>? Or how about the one on the \u201cMaster of Paradoxes,\u201d\u00a0St. John of the Cross?<\/a>\u00a0Like a bull through a china shop, I\u2019ve again let the cat out of the bag with a title that says everything that I\u2019m about to share with you on the modern \u201cvirtue\u201d of tolerance.<\/p>\n As it turns out, the idea of tolerance may be modern, but it is not a virtue<\/a>. Not in the Catholic sense anyway. \u00a0Do a search for the word \u201ctolerance\u201d in the Catechism<\/em><\/a> and you will come up empty. Ditto in the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church.<\/a><\/em> Guess why that is? Because when searching for this word in the Bible, even through 18 different translations, it\u00a0only comes up twice, and interestingly these two verses are from the New Testament (in St. Paul\u2019s letters to the Romans and the Ephesians<\/a>).<\/p>\n But the word does not appear in Catholic \u00a0translations of the scriptures at all. Instead of tolerance<\/em>, see, the Church prefers the word forbearance<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0The gospel witness does claim Jesus uses the word \u201ctolerable,\u201d though not in a positive way. Take a look,<\/p>\n If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah\u00a0on the day of judgment than for that town<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n See? Where is \u201ctolerant Jesus?\u201d As for His Church, she\u2019s obviously intolerant! Some folks think this is great. Others think of this as yet another indictment against the Church. Neither are quite right.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s readings<\/a> point the way toward shedding light on this paradox. Monsignor Charles Pope shared thoughts on today\u2019s readings with a post entitled The Call to Compassionate Christian Correction<\/a>. Seriously, what more can I, a layman who sometimes goes by the pseudonym \u201cJoe Six-Pack,\u201d bring to the table that Monsignor Pope has not? Probably nothing, but here goes.<\/p>\n The Church is intolerant of sin and she is intolerant of error. Would you expect anything less from the pillar of truth?<\/a> Because truth, see, is what she proclaims. And where has she found this truth? Through the Triune God in the Persons of God the Father, His son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, who also happened to inspire the scriptures. This is where many have given up on her, because much as Pontius Pilate did when he was questioning Jesus, many ask (and some simply state) \u201cwhat is truth?\u201d And it isn\u2019t a stretch to say that \u201csin\u201d has fallen out of favor<\/a> with the world nowadays. For example, the Church\u2019s definition of sexual sins<\/a> are today just another idea of a normal lifestyle for \u00a0some folks<\/a>.<\/p>\n So the first reading from the profit Ezekiel likens the Church to a watchman, and we are the Church. As I can say from years of experience, standing watch is no fun. And as God makes known in the scripture passage in Ezekiel today,<\/p>\n If I tell the wicked, \u201cO wicked one, you shall surely die,\u201d and you do not speak out to dissuade the wicked from his way, the wicked shall die for his guilt, but I will hold you responsible for his death.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This sounds like the No-Win situation from the Star Trek<\/em> movie franchise. You know, the Kobayashi Maru<\/em> scenario<\/a>? And it is except for the following work-around,<\/p>\n But if you warn the wicked, trying to turn him from his way, and he refuses to turn from his way, he shall die for his guilt, but you shall save yourself.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Whew\u2014a way to beat the no-win scenario! But uh-oh, there is a catch. You\u2019ll be about as appreciated as the hall monitor was back from your days in school. \u00a0And if you\u2019re not careful, you\u2019ll have lost those who don\u2019t believe in God at all as well as those who do but who say \u201cwho are you calling wicked<\/em>?\u201d Pitch forks, torches, and signs waving the words \u201cjudge not\u201d will come a calling. They\u2019ll be circling the wagons around the perimeter, and then breaking out the battering rams in order to cleanse themselves of the pesky folks who bring this stuff to their attention<\/a>. You might as well tie a red meat necklace around your neck and walk through the lions cage at your local zoo holding a sign that says \u201cMartyrdom or Bust!\u201d<\/p>\n Gulp! That\u2019s where it led Christ and eleven of the Apostles, and hundreds \u00a0of saints.<\/a><\/p>\n Speaking of St. Paul\u2019s letter to the Romans, that\u2019s exactly where the second reading hails from. Therein, he is inspired to write,<\/p>\n Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, \u201cYou shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,\u201d and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, namely, \u201cYou shall love your neighbor as yourself.\u201d Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Monsignor Pope does a much better job than I could to explain this in his post on compassionate correction. Here\u2019s what I told my kids this morning though: your parents love you, and yet we don\u2019t allow you to just do whatever you like to do, whenever you like to do it, do we? No. That is what parents are for. We love you enough to teach you right from wrong and bring you up to know the difference between the two. And when you start dancing along the ragged edge, we\u2019ll reel you back in, sit you down, and set you straight. That is what the Church does as well, and why we call her Our Mother<\/a>.<\/p>\n Sliding on down the slippery slope of rookie scriptural reflections, this brings me to today\u2019s Gospel reading. As the good monsignor notes, this is one of the proof texts for the legitimacy of the process of excommunication. But it is more than that. It is a text on the importance of reconciling with one another. It is a realistic text, spoken with the knowledge that oftentimes personal reconciliation efforts will be repulsed.<\/p>\n But we also meet up with this paradox on the instruction on how to treat folks who will not reconcile themselves in the manner described, and we must juxtapose it with the way Jesus himself actually treated Gentiles and tax collectors: he sat down with them and ate with them, much to the consternation of the Pharisees. In the next chapter after today\u2019s reading, Jesus tells a little parable to the chief priests and elders at the temple,<\/p>\n \u201cWhat is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, \u2018Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.\u2019 He said in reply, \u2018I will not,\u2019 but afterwards he changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, \u2018Yes, sir,\u2019 but did not go. Which of the two did his father\u2019s will?\u201d They answered, \u201cThe first.\u201d Jesus said to them, \u201cAmen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a><\/div>\n