There are a few interesting lines in the beautiful Sequence for Pentecost today that read, “Heal our wounds, our strength renew, ... Bend the stubborn heart and will; ... Guide the steps that go astray, Give them virtue’s sure reward, Give them your salvation, Lord.” Let’s look at these important words. When we ask that our wounds be healed, we begin with our own brokenness and sins. With God’s mercy, every single person can be whole again. Everyone can live with that Divine Spirit we call the Holy Spirit. We should also pray as fervently for healing within the body of believers called “the Church”. We should pray for the healing of the wounds that have cause pain and division among Christians in general and Catholics in particular. The Spirit guides our steps when we open our hearts and minds to His truth. We increase our virtues when we cooperate with His healing touch, His power to illuminate our minds, our consciences.

To appreciate more our deep need for the Holy Spirit, let us compare these ideas with the following quotation. “We are like a beast. If God gets on our back and rides us, he’ll ride us to salvation. If the devil gets on our back and rides us, he’ll ride us to hell. But the beast has no choice as to who rides him.” That of course is the founder of Protestantism, Martin Luther. Luther famously, or maybe not so famously denied the will in his book On the Bondage of the Will. His theological error of “sola fide” lead to the philosophical error we call “determinism”. I imagine that most of the readers of this article are Catholics, who probably imagine that because they are Catholic, they do not concern themselves with the errors of Protestant Christians. However, on this feast of the Holy Spirit, it is wise for all of us to take another look at this crucial trap of modern Christianity. The reason I sound this warning follows yet another discussion I overheard about the same sex marriage debate. Most of us have heard this, some of us have probably said it. What I refer to is the fact that no matter what approach one takes on trying to defend the traditional concept of marriage the debate usually ends when a person says, “Well, I just don’t think we should be judging anyone or telling anyone that what they’re doing is wrong.” This, in essence is the logical conclusion of accepting what Luther taught long ago. If we truly believe that Christians shouldn’t declare any action wrong, we deny the fundamental concept of the human will. If being a good Christian requires being nice to everyone and being nice means to never guide the formation of their conscience, it presupposes that the will is impotent. It has no power. When we take moral neutrality seriously, when we consider moral positions like “marriage is between a man and woman” are enemies of Christian love, we embrace the doctrine of Luther’s “sola fide”.

A beautiful phrase made popular with Vatican II declares “Catholicism is the fullness of the faith”. Two major parts of the faith are, Christology, with is connected liturgical ramifications and morality. Luther’s denial of will negated morality. Todays’ “anything goes” morality is just the modern renewal of this 500-year error. We still need the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth.