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Doers of the Word, by Francis X. Maier – Brown Pelican Society of Lousiana

Doers of the Word, by Francis X. Maier

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St. James the Less by El Greco, c. 1610-14 [Museo del Greco, Toledo, Spain]

By Francis X. Maier, The Catholic Thing, December 4, 2024

Francis X. Maier is a senior fellow in Catholic studies at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He is the author of True Confessions: Voices of Faith from a Life in the Church.

Note: As Fran Maier makes clear today, one of the principles that distinguishes Catholics from many Protestants is a theological point with practical consequences. All Christians should know that our salvation is a free gift from God. None of us earns Heaven. But Catholics believe that accepting God’s grace should also lead us to become doers of the word as well as hearers. It’s like being a reader of The Catholic Thing but. . .well, best not to draw a humble parallel with the greatness of the Faith. Still, we need those of you who can do something to do so. We welcome readers who cannot contribute financial support, but those of us who can give to make up for those who cannot help others to the Way as well. But you know all this. So what are you waiting for? If you haven’t already, please do what you can for The Catholic Thing right away. – Robert Royal

Words matter.  They express but also shape our thoughts, which in turn frame the way we live.  Here’s an example:  The words of the Nicene Creed are crucial to Christian belief.  They’ve summarized and guided the Christian faith for 1,700 years.  We recite them routinely every Sunday at Mass, but there was nothing routine in their origin.  Good people argued, fought, and died in formulating them, and their influence over the centuries has been massive.  Simply put, words matter for two reasons.  They convey or distort reality, and they enrich or mislead both the persons who hear them, and the persons who use them.

As a result, if words become corrupted, wrote the philosopher Josef Pieper (in Abuse of Language, Abuse of Power), “human existence itself will not remain unaffected and untainted.”  He described the intentional abuse of language – so common in modern politics – as “an instrument of rape” because it violates the human right to truth.  But sloppiness, inaccuracy, and well-intended compromise in the use of language can be just as damaging as deceit in their effects.  We can gradually lose our convictions by draining away the strength of the words we use to express them. ….

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