Have you ever asked someone a
simple question and got a
complicated answer that doesn’t
seem to have anything to do with
the question you asked? That’s
what today’s gospel shows. Some Greeks just
wanted to see Jesus, and Jesus answers with his
long response about being “glorified” and “lifted
up.” Clearly Our Lord’s mind was miles from
where anyone else’s was. As I share another
insight into the condemnation of “Modernism” by
Pope Pius X, the same can easily apply to what the
modern world thinks about religion and what that
wise Pope was thinking.
Many today want to cheer and rejoice in
our modern society. Many today consider many
points of progress made in the church and in
government. These people are thinking about all
the new “freedoms” we enjoy. They are thinking
about radical changes in identity politics or the
potential with bitcoin.
Pius X warns us (the modern world) about
a new way of seeing “dogmas.” His concern was
the erosion of the essence of Jesus’ teachings.
Jesus, in the gospel, is overwhelmed with the
“heaviness” of his coming passion. The Greeks just
wanted to see a celebrity. Pius X’s warning should
be noted by everyone today. Sadly, such warnings
simply soar over the heads of most of us. One of
his biggest warnings has to do with the modernist
interpretation of dogmas. He says, “Modernists
teach that dogma is born of a sort of impulse or
necessity by virtue of which the believer elaborates
his thoughts so as to render it clearer to his own
conscience and that of others. This elaboration
consists entirely in the process of investigating and
refining the primitive mental formula.”
(The Popes Against Modern Errors, p 199). Allow
me to try to unpack this. He is condemning the all-
too-common view that sees things like the
Apostle’s Creed or the prohibition against abortion
or contraception as only belonging to times gone
by. In other words, modernists take almost
anything the church teaches throughout the
centuries and consider it a “primitive mental
formula.” They say it belongs only to ancient
times. Such teachings were concocted by the
minds of people who lived long ago and
understand nothing of our modern world.
Therefore, modernists hold that we today have the
right or even an obligation to update dogmas.
Afterall, they say, dogmas are formulas concocted
by humans so other humans can and should re-
formulate them to suit modern times.
So, as we approach Holy Week, I need to
ask, Do you get it? Do you see that we cannot
pretend to think ourselves wiser than God Himself,
than the Church He established along with its
Magisterium and Tradition. A modernist friend of
mine recently tried to convince me of this necessity
to re-write dogmas by sharing his insight that,
“Words are always inadequate to convey religious
truths.” I can only respond that many words may
be inadequate, but I will always follow “The Word
made flesh.” He is more than adequate. Don’t
waste your time looking for another.