Prove All Things - Hold Fast What is Good

Gospel Reflection for December 17, 2023, Gaudete Sunday - John 1:6-8, 19-28

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

This man came for a witness, to give testimony of the light, that all men might believe through him.

He was not the light, but was to give testimony of the light.

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent from Jerusalem priests and Levites to him, to ask him: Who art thou?

And he confessed, and did not deny: and he confessed: I am not the Christ.

And they asked him: What then? Art thou Elias? And he said: I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered: No.

They said therefore unto him: Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself?

He said: I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaias.

And they that were sent, were of the Pharisees.

And they asked him, and said to him: Why then dost thou baptize, if thou be not Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet?

John answered them, saying: I baptize with water; but there hath stood one in the midst of you, whom you know not.

The same is he that shall come after me, who is preferred before me: the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to loose.

These things were done in Bethania, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. (Jn 1:6-8, 19-28 DRA)

The readings for this third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete (meaning “Rejoice”) Sunday, are some of the most beautiful in all of Scripture, from the transcendent and prophetic hymn of Isaias to the Magnificat of the Blessed Virgin Mary used as the Psalm, to the Epistle from St. Paul which is the foundation of Christian humanism and concluding with the powerful testimony of St. John the Baptist. This last reading from the Gospel concludes and follows from what in the Extraordinary Form and Ordinariate liturgies is called the Last Gospel, the Prologue of St. John which is a new Genesis, revealing in power and beauty the divinity of Christ as the Word of God. After His mother, St. John is the first witness to this great truth, the highest mystery of revelation and the eucatastrophe of history.

Last Sunday, I wrote about St. John the Baptist and his exemplary role as evangelist. Today, however, I would like to focus especially on the Epistle from St. Paul. I said previously that it is the foundation of Christian humanism – by this I mean that his central statement, “But prove all things; hold fast that which is good. From all appearance of evil refrain yourselves”, is the surest principle and guideline by which Christians can engage with culture and bring the City of Man into the City of God. Throughout history, from the time of the apostles to today, the Church has evangelized the world by revealing how the truth, goodness and beauty already present in human religion, art, philosophy and science point to and are fulfilled in Christ. The goal of Catholic missionaries has never been to destroy culture but to sanctify it, to purify it of errors and corruptions and enlighten it with the clarity of the Gospel. Nothing is rejected offhand – this is why St. Paul says to “prove all things”, but to keep only “that which is good” and to avoid “all appearance of evil.” Elsewhere Paul also wrote that we cannot entirely refrain from interacting with the non-Christian world, since if we tried to avoid all sinners we would have to go out of the world entirely. (1 Cor 5:9-13) The Second Vatican Council had this in mind when it sought to engage with the modern world, to examine its novelties, to keep what was true, good or beautiful and to purify it of error, showing how that only in Christ are the aspirations of men truly satisfied. Dominicans also have a helpful adage parallel to St. Paul’s: “Never deny, rarely affirm, always distinguish.”

The purpose of this Christian humanism is to create an authentically Christian culture, not simply for practical benefits, since sin is often an easier and less inhibited means of acquiring power over the world, but in order to help fulfill Christ’s promise that “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to myself.” (Jn 12:32) The mission of Christ is not only to save humanity but to free the whole world from sin and death, to reveal Himself as the source and summit of Creation. This is why, in St. John’s Prologue, he wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (Jn 1:1-4) Christian humanism seeks to reveal this light of Christ within the darkness of human yearnings; by creating a culture centered on Christ, men are enabled to incarnate their faith, to express it with one another in the uniqueness of time and place and to pass on these gifts to their children, thus facilitating a more intimate and communal participation in the Church and providing a means of evangelization which is often more accessible and unbiased than more explicit teaching. When men use reason to discover truth, or follow the natural law to live righteously, or admire the beauty of Creation and made works of art to imitate it, they are in fact longing for the truth, goodness and beauty of Christ. By connecting these things to Christ, evangelists help to preview the complete fulfillment of Christ’s mission which will occur when He returns (connecting with the eschatological theme of Advent):

For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that made it subject, in hope: Because the creature also itself shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption, into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain, even till now. And not only it, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body. (Rom 8:19-23)

In modern times, culture has become degraded. Fake news, heresies and distortions of reality are forced on us from public education, social media and popular culture while truth is called oppressive and superstitious. Vulgarity, sexual exploitation and the culture of death are celebrated while goodness is called elitist, judgmental and hypocritical. Ugliness and banality are loved while beauty is called superficial and antiquated. Sadly, this ruination of culture is even perpetrated by many Christians, often in the name of “mercy” or “moving with the times.” But this is not merciful, nor is it the correct way for Christians to address contemporary culture and lead it to Christ. Instead, we must follow the guidance of St. Paul, as the Church has throughout history, not wholly abandoning modern culture, as many Christians do out of a misguided puritanism, but participating in it with prudence and care, particularly for our children. We should not accept anything in culture without examining it, both to know its errors and to see how it can help us better to follow Christ. We do not want to fall prey to the subtle falsehoods and temptations prevalent in modern culture, but it would also be a mistake to miss out on the genuine good that it has to offer.

People today remain as human as ever, for better or worse – they still long for truth, goodness and beauty as they always have, for the hope of salvation from sin, death and despair, and the filth that passes as high art today, or the persecutions many Christians now face, should not prevent us from recognizing and celebrating what good people still have to offer, just as Christians in ancient Rome, in the midst of martyrdom, were able to sanctify pagan philosophy, religion and art and use them to build the foundation of Christendom. Imagine St. Augustine, church architecture, scholastic philosophy, the poetry of Dante, the sculptures of Michelangelo or the epics of J.R.R. Tolkien without the vast riches of non-Catholic culture they mined and reforged in the fires of the Holy Spirit, removing all impurities and making them resplendent in the light of Christ. There is still much to be redeemed in culture today, and though it requires much effort, if we keep St. Paul’s principle in mind, we can sift through the dirt to find the gold hidden within.

St. John the Baptist is an ideal representative of this spirit of Christian humanism. Despite his highly specific mission and life shortened by martyrdom, he came, as St. John writes, “to give testimony of the light.” This is the mission of every Christian. Today, just as when Christ first came into the world, “He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” (Jn 1:10-11) The light of Christ, “which enlighteneth every man that cometh into this world” and which “the darkness did not comprehend” (Jn 1:9, 5) shines even now in the heart of the baptized and is offered to all people through the Gospel. Even in the darkness of the modern world which can seem so far from Christ, when millions of our fellow men do not know Him or even hate Him for what they think He represents, the light is never extinguished. Like St. John the Baptist, may we also be messengers of the light, heralds of the Word who is the hope of the world and the joy of man’s desiring.

“All the darkness of the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” (St. Francis of Assisi)

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