Sometimes God puts a desire deep into our heart as a means of increasing our faith, teaching us to wait patiently for the blessing He always had planned for us.
Undoubtedly, financial struggles present the greatest challenge and difficulty for most people today. Families are particularly burdened with this trial. Nevertheless, these Divine words constitute a very consoling, beautiful invitation. If we prioritise God, striving to know, love and serve Him above everything, we will more readily dispose ourselves to His Merciful Goodness.
By Marc J de Castella
Cold grey clouds enveloped the bleak, late afternoon sun. The feeble light was distant, aloof and uninviting above the rain-sodden grasslands. Extending to the lush, undulating foothills in the far distance, they finally met the dark rugged mountain range. There winter snows covered the utmost peaks and would remain, no doubt, until the increasing warmth of late spring.
The field across which I walked was a combination of red clover and rye grass, creating a knee-deep, dark green blanket covering the entire expanse of the fertile plain. Perhaps two hundred metres ahead, a large black Arabian stallion grazed the thick pasture, accompanied by two beautiful white mares. Both were little more than half his size and apparently, heavily pregnant. High in the north-western sky, towards the mountains, a wedge-tail eagle was in full flight. It’s enormous wing-span fully extended, it soared with regal majesty through the heavens; an untrammelled, swooping glide, perfectly rehearsed; astoundingly executed.
Freedom and tranquillity could not be more eloquently expressed nor more tangibly evoked, I wistfully mused. I could almost envy the blissful ignorance of these creatures in never experiencing the burden of self-awareness; the acute realisation suffering is an inevitable aspect of rational thought, that capricious, often self-destructive emotions cannot easily be abstracted from some human experiences.
The sombre, awe-inspiring ambience of this land reflected my forlorn, bitter mood. I was, in fact, profoundly depressed. As I paused, motionless, before this winter panorama, I reluctantly accepted my long cherished goal of acquiring land in this area was hopelessly unattainable…
I was, in fact, in the Upper Yarra Valley, situated some sixty-five kilometres south-east of the CBD of Melbourne, in the south-eastern Australian State of Victoria, Australia.
Renowned for the natural beauty of its streams and rivers, precipitous mountain peaks, lush dense forests boasting the tallest and thickest species in the world, the Yarra Valley is universally acknowledged as one of the most attractive parts of Australia. But more than simply a haven of tranquillity and enchantment for the ecotourist or weekend visitor, the Yarra Valley offers an assortment of vineyards and wineries, restaurants and “bed and breakfast” accommodation.
This ranges from the very modest to the most exclusive and luxurious on the planet. Some of Hollywood’s celebrities, various world leaders and other obscenely rich individuals have been known to occasionally stay here. Visit anywhere in Australia, mention you live in the Yarra Valley, or have recently visited there, and the response is almost invariably one of spontaneous, unwavering endorsement. Yes, the Yarra Valley is an intriguing and delightful place to explore. But if you desire to purchase a reasonable sized property and are not moderately wealthy, the experience may prove exasperating, if not downright disheartening…
Much of that day and throughout the previous months of 1995, I had visited a number of fifteen to twenty-five acre properties for sale in the Upper Yarra Valley. Without exception, those which attracted my interest were priced somewhere between six hundred and fifty thousand and one million! Even if I somehow managed to raise a few hundred thousand dollars, I told myself, I could never afford to borrow the half million required for the balance…
Standing motionless, immersed in melancholy meditation for several minutes, I began to inwardly pray. Although now ashamed to admit this, I spoke to God in a bitter, despairing manner: “I’ll never end up with land in this area!”, I mournfully told Him. Of course, I did not expect a response, but within a lapse of perhaps two seconds, something truly remarkable happened.
Undoubtedly, I will never forget this experience in either time or eternity. A strong thought entered my mind: “Live by faith!” At that precise moment, I was immersed in a profound sense of peace, a spiritual consolation which instantaneously evaporated my despair and filled my soul with an intense and almost overwhelming joy. The full realisation of this revelation dawned upon me with unimpeachable certainty. Intuitively, I knew God had spoken to me! There is hope, I told myself joyfully. He, for Whom nothing is impossible, clearly had a plan to help me acquire land, presumably in the Upper Yarra Valley.
As usual that Sunday, I attended the SSPX Missa Cantata (High mass,) at Our Lady’s Church in Hampton, Melbourne. Feeling intensely grateful and overjoyed by the Lord’s comforting inspiration, I told Him in thanksgiving, I would endeavour to find some means of raising a large deposit, to facilitate acquiring a property. Mindful of my limitations, I asked for help in this important quest. I promised the Lord Jesus my practical efforts would be augmented by fervent, ongoing prayer. Above all, I would devoutly offer a daily Rosary.
Explorations in viticulture
In the ensuing months of 1995, I analysed innumerable money-making ventures. Unfortunately, each scheme appeared to present insurmountable obstacles. The main problem confronting me was a total lack of capital. Nevertheless, one idea persistently resurfaced in my mind: why not investigate the possibility of establishing a wine-plant nursery? Having been employed as a supervisor for “Hoddles Creek Vineyards” in the Upper Yarra Valley some seven years before, I had a comprehensive knowledge of viticulture. I was also aware the wine industry was undergoing an explosive growth throughout several Australian States. I knew there was a great demand and indeed, an acute under-supply of many cool-climate vine rootling varieties.
At that time, I was a student at Monash University, Melbourne. I was, like most students, very short of money. Having borrowed seven hundred dollars from my parents at one point for car maintenance, I presented them with the option of either repaying the seven hundred dollars that year or alternatively, plant eight to ten thousand Pinot Noir MV6 vine plants, in the hope of selling them for one dollar each the following spring. To my relief, they agreed the vine growing experiment was worthwhile.
The manager of the nearby vineyard, “Hoddles Creek Vineyards” allowed me to take cuttings of Pinot Noir MV6 from the dormant canes that winter. After a week of arduous work, more than the intended eight thousand had been cut. Tied into bundles of one hundred, each bundle was buried in trenches with only the tips of the cuttings exposed to the weather. In August, four earth beds, heavily fertilised with fowl manure, were prepared. In mid September, when the frost season had ended, the cuttings were planted in these beds.
To my great satisfaction, I found virtually all the plants were beginning to burst into leaf. Six weeks later, in mid October, each bed was a sea of green leaves. Throughout the summer, the plants were well weeded, irrigated and regularly sprayed with anti-mildew treatments to prevent “Downy Mildew” or “Powdery Mildew” from defoliating the plants-a common problem with wine–vine plants.
In July the following year, (1996), a lecturer in viticulture at a Melbourne TAFE College placed an order for six thousand five hundred Pinot Noir MV6 vine rootlings. The saleable yield from the small crop was just enough to meet this order. My parents received the nice little sum of six thousand five hundred! I now had the incentive to propagate vine rootlings as a serious venture.
St Benedict’s
In all my deliberations concerning the thorny dilemma of acquiring land, there were two adjoining properties I had long dreamt of purchasing.
Nestled in the foothills of Mt. Beenak, in the Upper Yarra Valley, approximately half an hours drive from the nearest Melbourne suburb of Lilydale, the former site of a Catholic community, “St Benedict’s” resides.
Purchased by a rather eccentric itinerant priest and a semi-religious woman, (who was a former member of his Catholic settlement in Whitlands, northern Victoria,) “St Benedict’s” was to be a Benedictine community. This idealistic and rather charismatic priest, Reverend Heffey, was the former Dean of the large Melbourne parish of Werribee.
Deciding parish life was stifling, Rev, Heffey obtained permission from Archbishop Daniel Mannix to pursue his Benedictine dream. In 1962, Rev. Heffey and Rita Flipo purchased approximately one hundred and thirty acres. Retaining joint ownership of almost twenty one acres (which was later subdivided by Rita),they sold the remainder to several Catholic families who shared, (in varying degrees), Rev. Heffey’s aspiration of forming a loose-knit Catholic settlement.
It is not pertinent to this narrative to recount the entire history of this Catholic settlement. It suffices merely to state that it was virtually a complete disaster. In essence, the liturgical revolution ensuing from Vatican 11 and the introduction of the Novus Ordo Missae in 1969, culminated in an intensely polemical atmosphere within this community.
Although initially Rev, Heffey had a relatively conservative approach towards the liturgical innovations by offering the 1965 version of the Novus Ordo in Latin, steadfastly preserved all sacramental rites and hymns in Latin and taught traditional catechetics, by 1976, he was a shadow of his former self.
In accordance with the radical pastoral initiatives of the post-conciliar era, Archbishop Little (privately pejoratively nick-named “Precious Little” by the late, great Cardinal Pell…!), compelled all priests in the Melbourne Archdiocese to undergo an extremely progressive re-education program. Over several months, Rev. Heffey and his confreres were forced (largely against their better judgement,) to disavow all attachment to pre-conciliar views and practices, (most notably the Latin liturgy), and embrace all aspects of the new conciliar ecclesiology. 1
This re-education program was so confronting, radically progressive and deeply upsetting to many middle-aged priests like Rev. Heffey and many elderly priests, that several literally died of grief through the onset of stress-induced strokes, heart attacks and terminal cancers etc.
In Rev. Heffey’s case, it was obvious to all who knew him that his re-education in the new Church conciliar ecclesiology was psychologically devastating. Within weeks of the program’s completion, he had succumbed to a deep depression, accompanied by an uncharacteristic repudiation of his former conservatism. His new cynicism and disenchantment with the traditional Latin liturgy even extended to burning all missals and hymnals in the community chapel. He actually intended to burn two sets of antique Catholic encyclopedias as well. Mercifully, his gardener rescued both sets in the nick of time, hid one set (which was subsequently given to me,) and gave the other to my parents.
In the post-conciliar turmoil of the late 1970’s, under the influence of the transformed Rev. Heffey, the majority of his flock readily embraced neo-modernism with unquestioning, passive acceptance. Sadly, and without exception, their children readily renounced Catholicism by age eighteen, in the pursuit of unfettered, post-modern hedonism. Again, predictably, these brazen neo-modernists became extremely intolerant towards the two families who repudiated the sacrilegious aberrations now commonplace in the Novus Ordo liturgies.
Guided by the Holy Spirit, these two families successfully found four itinerant, truly Catholic priests: Rev, Cummins, Monsignor Hodgeson, Rev. Crocker and later – Rev. Opie. Without exception, all were solidly traditional.
Offering the traditional Roman Rite of 1962 in Latin and possessing a fervent, deeply edifying attachment to this sacred liturgy, these truly Catholic priests were entirely responsible for nurturing the embryonic growth of traditional Catholicism in Melbourne. Owing to their unstinting efforts, the foundations were laid for the phenomenal and sustained growth which later occurred under the auspices of the SSPX.
But let us return from this digression to the main focus at hand, namely, “St. Benedict’s”.
With the realisation that propagating vine rootlings was a viable venture, I employed three people to help me collect thirty thousand Pinot Noir MV6 vine cuttings in mid–winter of 1996. At that time (until 2005 when they sold it), my parents had a second a second five acre property which I cleared and fenced (approximately one quarter was stunted regrowth).
It was here the thirty thousand cuttings were planted that year. Every year thereafter, I planted crops of eighty thousand, (which were usually ordered on deposit by established or prospective vineyards throughout Victoria and sometimes, New South Wales.) My father grew a small amount as well and gave indispensable help throughout the propagation process.
It was in the winter of 1996, during this period of establishing my first crop, that my second epiphany occurred.
One cold misty July day, I gazed upon the bleak, sterile winter landscape. The leafless twisted branches of deciduous shrubs and trees jutted outwards and upwards like desperate, clawing fingers; the sky, a leaden grey, threatened another violent downpour. In a flash of inspiration, I suddenly realised I would be able to afford the two remaining properties of “St Benedict’s” if I grew and sold vine rootlings as a serious venture. This revelation of Grace was imparted as a clear, cogent thought. I was immediately aware this certitude was not generated by my own cognitive processes. Rather, it was super- imposed on my consciousness by another being, whom again, I intuitively knew to be God. A thrill of exhilaration swept through me as I now began to grasp the astounding magnitude of His providential plan.
Although, as I earlier remarked, I had long dreamt of eventually owning “St Benedict’s” I had, up to this moment, virtually lost all hope of this ever coming to fruition. To elaborate, I must digress once more…
Disenchanted with the turmoil and ongoing contentions among those families who had rejected the Latin liturgy and all Marian devotions in their enthusiastic, undiscerning embrace of post-conciliar neo-Modernism, Rev. Heffey sold his half share in “St. Benedict’s” to Rita Flipo in 1977. Accompanied by a few of his semi–religious, loyal followers, he moved to Cygnet in Tasmania. There, he lived out his remaining days in peace and seclusion until his death in 1999, at the age of eighty four.
Rita, meanwhile, devoted herself wholeheartedly to renovating the two–storey timber house, situated on one of the two properties of “St Benedict’s”. She also enhanced the already well established garden which surrounds it. With characteristic generosity (and perhaps naivety), she allowed a succession of separated wives, unmarried mothers, families and single people of both sexes to live, successively, in the three rundown houses the second property. Meanwhile, a certain single, elderly man who had been closely involved with the Catholic settlement since its inception, was permitted to dump his extensive horde of disused mechanical parts, vintage trucks, tractors etc. on the lower field of this property. Joining several dilapidated old Nissan huts to an equally dilapidated horse shed, old Pat created an unsightly mess which Rita charitably tolerated. In return of this imposition, old Pat did various “odd jobs” and minor maintenance tasks on both properties.
Comprising almost twenty one acres on two titles in the heart of the wine producing estates of the Upper Yarra Valley, I knew “St Benedict’s” was a “diamond in the rough”. If the four houses were properly renovated, the lawns creatively landscaped, the dilapidated sheds and machinery removed, “St Benedict’s” could become an estate of breathtaking magnificence.
But would Rita ever sell to me? Although my thriving vine nursery was generating extremely lucrative profits, something had happened which had ill–disposed her towards me.
At that time, I had letters and articles published in various conservative journals in which I deplored the parlous state of Australian Catholicism (liturgical abuses, indifferentism, syncretism, moral relativism posing as Catholic education and rampant heresy.)
Although I believed that as a committed neo–modernist, Rita would conscientiously avoid these conservative journals and hence, would never be privy to my disgust for post–conciliar, aberrant “Catholicism”, I was sorely mistaken. Unfortunately various mutual friends acquainted her with my views and it soon became clear I was now “beyond the Pale.” In fact, judging by certain comments she made, it was patently clear Rita regarded me as a schismatic and a vexatious one, at that.
A surprising offer
It was then 2001. I had the largest plantation of vine rootlings yet. Continuing to maintain a commitment of trustful surrender to Divine Providence, the capital for land steadily accrued. Aside from farming, I worked full time as a relieving teacher at a large secondary college in the nearby town of Yarra Junction.
Driving home from this school one day, I noticed Rita’s car approaching. To my surprise, she hailed me to stop with an outstretched arm. Since we were both driving slowly on an unstable gravel road, we easily stopped on opposite sides of the road.
Without preamble, Rita bluntly asked, “Would you be interested in buying the Chapel block?” (one of the two “St Benedict’s” properties.) Stunned, I could not believe what I was hearing. But instinctively, I knew I should not respond too eagerly. If slightly hesitant, Rita would be more inclined to offer a reasonable price, I reasoned. “Well, I’ll have to think about it,” I responded, determined to hide my excitement. “Come over on Saturday and we’ll talk,” Rita returned.
That Thursday evening, I analysed the tantalising question of price. I decided Rita would probably want no less than $ X, although I knew the property would easily sell for considerably more on the open market at that time. Nevertheless, I was absolutely sure of one thing – depending on price, of course, I would only buy the Chapel property on the condition I was given first option to purchase the second remaining property of “St Benedict’s” as well.
When Saturday morning finally arrived, I was rather nervous. With “butterflies in my stomach”, I arrived at the two-storey timber house on the second property where Rita lived. After a few minutes of “small talk” in which we assiduously avoided the principal topic at hand, I finally asked Rita whether she intended to sell both properties and not merely the Chapel property.
She cautiously confirmed she did indeed wish to sell both, stipulating she would accept no less than $ X. I was stunned… This was considerably less than I had expected.
“You mean $X per property?”, I immediately asked.
To my utter amazement and delight, Rita responded, “No, $ X, in total for both.”
Obviously, amazement showed on my face, but Rita misconstrued my response. “I suppose you think the price is too steep?”, she enquired, an unmistakable hint of sarcasm in her tone.
“No, I’ll certainly accept that. But in all fairness, are you truly happy to offer that price?”, I asked, acutely aware it would be gravely immoral to exploit her naivety.
My foremost consideration was to confirm, with absolute certainty, I was not exploiting her. As a single woman of seventy, possessed of sound Christian ethics, I knew Rita wanted a relatively young, former member of “St Benedict’s” Catholic community to purchase these two properties. Obviously, she had set the price to accommodate that outcome. Whilst there were several men and women in my age group who had, in recent years, expressed an interest in purchasing either property, I alone, had the capital to realise the dream of purchasing both. However, I would not proceed until fully satisfied Rita was aware of the current market value.
Rita assuaged my conscience, reassuring me she realised a considerably higher price could be obtained if she sold either or both properties on the open market. Nevertheless, it was important to her that someone who was part of the Catholic settlement’s history became the new owner.
The following week, Rita informed me she would sell the Chapel property (with the three old houses), for $ X and the second property (with the two storey timber house set among a beautiful, well established garden) for $ X. Settlement on the Chapel property was to be May 15 and December 15, for the second property.
It was, of course, critically important I sold the entire vine crop that year. Purchasing one property alone included a myriad of additional costs such as Victorian Government Stamp Duty, Mortgage establishment fees etc. Obviously, such costs were doubly compounded when purchasing two properties. Although I invariably sold each crop annually, this year could be no exception, I told myself.
To my immense satisfaction, the crop sold quickly. By late November, I finally sold the last ten thousand vines to a major vine company in Yarra Glen, forty kilometres north west of my area. The order comprised six thousand Pinot Noir MV6 rootlings and four thousand Chardonnay I 10 V 3 rootlings. Settlement on the second property was now less than a fortnight away. I was very pleased with the smooth course of events that year. Upon receiving this final order, I thanked God on bended knees for the immense blessings He was showering upon me, which I knew to be an expression of infinite Goodness and wholly undeserved.
Last minute act of faith
In His Infinite Wisdom, however, God knew my complacency and weak faith which obviously, He tested.
The manager of the wine company was actually a relative who despite earning an annual salary in excess of one hundred thousand dollars, was deeply envious of my vine propagation business. For several years he had bought vine stock from my competitors, only ordering from me when unable to secure rootlings from his usual suppliers. He also attempted in other ways to hinder my business success. His conduct was, in fact, so patently unjust it generated much gossip and criticism in the Victorian Wine Industry.
When I rang X some days later to finalise delivery details, he flatly announced he had cancelled the order and placed a new order with another supplier. Panic–stricken, I asked “Why?” “I got them cheaper from Tasmania”, he tersely replied. When I asked how much he had paid, he aggressively admitted the company had paid twelve thousand dollars for the ten thousand rootlings, rather than ten thousand dollars if he had retained the order with me…!
That evening, I went to his house. I naively attempted to ascertain the reason for his bad will. I even tried to uncover the truth from his wife but naturally, she refrained from becoming involved.
The following day, I attended the 6.15 pm. Thursday evening mass, some thirty eight kilometres distant from the Upper Yarra Valley. I was so distraught, I only managed to follow the mass with great effort. During thanksgiving, I pleaded with Our Lord to help me obtain another order…
After Mass, I described this vexed situation to Rev. Loschi. The handsome, deeply spiritual young Principal of the parish school, “St Thomas Aquinas College” listened sympathetically, simply advising me to place my confidence in St Joseph. “Pray to St. Joseph… I’ll pray as well. Don’t worry, he’ll look after you. You will get another order within the next few days,” he confidently predicted.
Although now ashamed to admit this, I was rather doubtful this would occur. The wine–vine industry was at that time an extremely niche market. Furthermore, it was very late in the planting season. The majority of vineyards would already have completed their planting schedules. The odds of selling the two varieties; the two specific amounts of each variety and the two specific clones of each variety within the next few days were extremely remote.
Indeed, within the red grape variety “Pinot Noir”, there are at least six clone variations. The same is true of the white grape variety, “Chardonnay”. The combination of all these variables meant the probability of obtaining an order was infinitesimally small–especially within a few days. Clearly, the intervention of Divine assistance was indispensable for Rev, Loschi’s prediction to unfold…
That Thursday night I began a novena to St. Joseph, fervently requesting his intercession in obtaining the desired order.
The following Tuesday, I received a phone call at 9.00 am. from the manager of Red Hill Estate Winery in Red Hill, on the Mornington Peninsula, eighty kilometres south east of the Upper Yarra Valley.
My initial reaction was one of considerable surprise since I had only briefly met Tyson Lewis, the tall, thirty-something, southern European-looking manager two years before. The amazing conversation which then unfolded was almost surreal.
“Hi, it’s Tyson from Red Hill Estate. You don’t have any rootlings left, do you?”
“Hello, Tyson! Good to hear from you. Yes, I do have rootlings available. What do you need?”, I asked.
“Well, you wouldn’t have this so late in the planting season, but I’m after six thousand Pinot Noir MV6 rootlings. You don’t have, that, do you?” Totally amazed, I affirmed that I did.
“Excellent. Now you wouldn’t have this, but I’m also after four thousand Chardonnay I10 V3 rootlings as well. You don’t have that, do you?”
Struck with utter amazement, I again gave confirmation. Naturally, Tyson was both surprised and delighted. “When would you like them?”, I then asked.
“Well, I’ve got a planting crew waiting, so could you deliver them before midday today?”
“I’ll leave within the next half hour, so I will certainly get them to you before noon today,” I reassured him.
“Great! How much are they per plant and what do you charge for delivery?” When I told him my price was only one dollar per rootling and the delivery charge would only be one hundred dollars, Tyson was both relieved and obviously pleased. “No worries. I’ll have a cheque for ten thousand, one hundred waiting for you.”
On Thursday, two weeks later, I realised my goal of purchasing the second property of “St Benedict’s”…
As I sit in a leather Chesterfield armchair in the very two storey house that was once Rita’s, writing the final lines of this narrative, it hardly seems that so many years have passed since I purchased “St Benedict’s”. The two adjoining properties have undergone a dramatic transformation. Indeed, a visiting friend from Corpus Christi parish in Tynong only last week remarked that “St Benedict’s” will truly be magnificent once the renovations have finally been completed.
In this narrative, I have provided an intimate, intensely personal disclosure of my faith journey from 1995 to 2001.
Reliance on Providence
What motivated me to recount this? Did I intend to provide a self-aggrandising “ego-trip”; a smug, misguided attempt to appear accomplished and successful? Nothing could be further from the truth… Rather, in presenting this narrative, my sole motivation was to inspire confidence and hope in Divine providence, irrespective of the adversity one faces.
We currently live in a particularly dark, uncertain time. The apparent social, political and economic stability enjoyed throughout the post WW2 period from 1950 to 2020, now seems evermore distant and fleeting. Formally affluent, Western democracies are in stark decline. Here in Australia, mortgage stress, rampant inflation and employment instability are dramatically intensifying on a daily basis. Many individuals, especially couples, are approaching despair or tragically, have succumbed to emotional, social and financial devastation.
But friends, I ask you to pause and meditate upon these consoling words of Our Lord: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you shall have distress: but have confidence, I have overcome the world.” 2
No matter what adversity one faces, he/she can find hope and ready assistance in turning to God and His Blessed Mother. If you have not already done so, I urge you to pray with fervour to the Child Jesus. Nothing is impossible to the infinitely loving, omnipotent and omniscient God.
Now consider these equally consoling words of Our Saviour: “Seek ye therefore the kingdom of God and His Justice, and all these things shall be added unto you.” 3
Undoubtedly, financial struggles present the greatest challenge and difficulty for most people today. Families are particularly burdened with this trial. Nevertheless, these Divine words constitute a very consoling, beautiful invitation. If we prioritise God, striving to know, love and serve Him above everything, we will more readily dispose ourselves to His Merciful Goodness.
This is not an apologia for the so-called “Gospel of prosperity”, a presumptuous distortion of Divine providence in which material prosperity is assumed to be an inevitable outcome of serving God. From this erroneous perspective, God is disrespectfully regarded as little more than a vending machine, a guaranteed source of financial blessings. Such a distorted mentality amounts to nothing more than a selfish, callous desire to cherish only what we can receive from Him. In other words, we would love the gift more than the Giver.
Rather, God is telling us something profoundly sublime and comforting. To the simple question: “Why did God create you?”, the child’s catechism answers with corresponding simplicity: “To know, love and serve Him in this life in order to be happy with Him eternally in Heaven.” In essence, God wants us to understand He will assist us in our daily struggles if our lives are truly orientated towards Him. This is expressed most eloquently and tangibly in the famous “Sermon on the Mount”:
“At that time, Jesus said to His disciples, No man can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will sustain the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Therefore I say to you, be not solicitous for your life, what you shall eat, nor for your body, what you shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body more than raiment?
Behold the birds of the air; for they neither sow, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not you of much more value than they? And which of you, by taking thought, can add to his stature one cubit? And for raiment, why are you solicitous? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they labour not, neither do they spin; but I say to you, that not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as one of these.
Now if God so clothe the grass of the field which is today, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more you, O ye of little faith! Be not solicitous therefore, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewith shall we be clothed? For after all these things do the heathen seek. For your Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. Seek ye therefore first the kingdom of God, and His justice; and all these things shall be added unto you.” 4
Let me offer this final reflection: a devout life which strives to know, love and serve God is certainly worth living. It is, indeed, ultimately salvific. As my old family motto so aptly and wisely asserts: “Servire Deo regnare est” – “To serve God is to reign.”
By Marc J de Castella
Marc de Castella holds an Honours Degree in academic Philosophy from Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. A former Secondary teacher, he lives on almost twenty-one acres near Yarra Junction, in the Upper Yarra Valley, Victoria, Australia. He is currently improving his property, establishing rental accommodation and a small-scale free range egg business. In his spare time, he writes creative fiction and occasional articles on contemporary Catholic issues.
ENDNOTES
- Catholic ecclesiology is best construed in terms of the fundamental structure and mission of the Church. Traditionally, Catholicism perceived itself as a hierarchical, visible structure; essentially a monarchical institution founded by Our Lord to continue His salvific mission. Predicated upon dogmas defined at the Council of Trent and the First Vatican Council (ie. the dogma of Papal Infallibility), it asserts the Catholic Church is the One True Church, outside of which there is no salvation. (Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus).
Traditional Catholic ecclesiology enshrines several fundamental principles:
(A) The Church is regarded as the living Mystical Body of Christ. Christ is the head and the baptised faithful are the members, united through the sacraments and the authentic profession of faith. (B) The Church perceives herself as the perfect society which possesses exclusive rights. These are both distinct from and superior to civil society. It possesses all necessary spiritual and juridical resources required to achieve the eternal salvation of souls. Thus, it is an independent, self-sufficient society. (C) The Church has a strict hierarchical structure. As the Vicar of Christ, the Pope is viewed as Christ’s representative on earth, essentially a monarch. Governance is strictly hierarchical and certainly, neither democratic nor parliamentary in nature. As successor to St. Peter, the Pope holds supreme, immediate and universal jurisdiction over the entire Church. (D) Catholicism is further defined by its four credal marks: (1) It is One (in faith and governance); (2) Holy (in its Head who is Christ with His sacraments); (3) Catholic (universal across time and geography); (4) Apostolic (can be traced back continuously to the original Apostles.)
However, the new Modernist ecclesiology introduced by the Second Vatican Council disavowals this hierarchical structure. The post-Vatican 11 Church no longer identifies itself as a visible structure, as the One, True Church of Christ; the sole means of salvation. Instead, Vatican 11 redefined the Church. It promotes an overtly democratic conception of the Church. It implicitly rejects the traditional, hierarchical structure by obscuring the Church’s unique claim to be the One, True Church of Christ.
The Vatican 11 document, Lumen Gentium, for example, advances new heterodox principles which radically undermine previous infallible dogmatic decrees (enunciated especially in the Council of Trent and Vatican 1). Lumen Gentium obscures the primacy and exclusivity of Catholicism as the only true Church and sole means of salvation. It states that the Church “subsists” in the truth, but is not the sole source of truth and salvation. In this way, it implies that Catholicism is merely one among other Church’s and faiths, which are mutually equal and inclusively efficacious means of salvation.
Novel, heterodox conceptions such as ‘the People of God” and the “Communion” model promote ideas which are totally antithetical and subversive to traditional ecclesiology. These new ecclesial notions are intrinsically anti-hierarchical, perniciously democratic and humanistic in orientation. The focus upon collegiality among bishops, active roles for the laity and a false ecumenism which adopts a heterodox, radically inclusive approach toward other religions, are illustrative of such aberrations. ↩︎ - John 16:33 ↩︎
- Matt 6:33 ↩︎
- Matt 6:24-33 ↩︎
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