BY WHAT AUTHORITY ARE YOU DOING THESE THINGS?23

Jdg 17.20b-25; Ps 62; Mk 11,27-33
2 JUNE

There are authorities that God has given to man and authorities that have been denied to him. What has been granted to him is in his power to do it, what he has been denied, he must refrain from doing it even at the price of his life. One of the authorities that has never been given to man and never will it be given to him is that of establishing him what good is and what bad is. This authority is of God, but not of a God conceived by man, but by God the Creator and Lord of the universe and of what is in it. Today this sin is universal. Everyone takes the authority to establish what good is and what bad is, not only for himself, but also for others, not as seduction, temptation or simple proposal, but as a true imposition. The idolaters of yesterday at least respected some laws of nature. Today these laws are also violated, declared subculture of man. The post-religious and also post-idolatrous man has established that it is good what he wants to be good and bad all that he decides it is bad. What is evil for man today? Everything that the Lord, his Creator, has established as good. What is the good instead? All that God, his Creator and Lord, has established as evil.

Then there are the authorities that come directly from God. For us disciples of Jesus, the authorities that come from the Lord are those that spring from the sacraments. Every sacrament confers a particular authority that obliges to its exercise. Baptism gives us the authority to act as adoptive sons of God. Confirmation makes us witnesses of Lord Jesus. Our life has the authority to manifest Him in everything. The diaconate confers the authority to serve the poor in the name of Christ the Lord. The sacred order of the presbyterate and of the episcopate, in their difference in degree, confer the authority to graze Christ’s flock with the same authority as Christ, in the service of truth and grace. The Pope has the authority to be a pastor of the whole Church together with the charisma of infallibly teaching truths concerning faith and morality. Whoever has not received a sacrament is also without the authority that it confers. But even those who do not possess a gift of the Holy Spirit do not even possess the authority to act according to the virtue that is proper to that gift or charisma. Woe when a layman were to assume the authority that belongs to a bishop or the bishop were to assume the authority that belongs to a lay faithful. It would be the end of everything. The Church would enter into a confusion, she would become a Tower of Babel.

They returned once more to Jerusalem. As he was walking in the temple area, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders approached him and said to him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?” Jesus said to them, “I shall ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was John’s baptism of heavenly or of human origin? Answer me.” They discussed this among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘Of heavenly origin,’ he will say, ‘(Then) why did you not believe him?’ But shall we say, ‘Of human origin’?” – they feared the crowd, for they all thought John really was a prophet. So they said to Jesus in reply, “We do not know.” Then Jesus said to them, “Neither shall I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Purifying the temple, Jesus reveals to his people that he is a true prophet. He is a prophet greater than Jeremiah and even more so than Malachi and Isaiah himself. These shouted to the people against the falsity of the cult, but they stopped at the words. Jesus cleanses the temple, driving all the profaners away from it. His is the authority of the true prophet and it comes directly from God. The true prophet never puts anything of his own either in the signs or gestures or in words. It is proper to the authority of the chief priests, scribes and elders to discern a true from a false prophet. It is not up to Jesus to attest to the origin of his truth, also because his testimony is worthless. But he can do nothing but answer. The Holy Spirit puts the right words in his mouth and He can subtract with divine elegance from this insidious question. They do not answer and He does not answer.

Most Prudent Virgin, Angels and Saints lead us from wisdom to wisdom.