It’s possible that the previous Popes hoped that the Orthodox would change their positions. Who knows?
Had a great homily today but could not remember some of the terminology relating to how scripture can be sensed. So I asked in an email to be reminded. This was the reply; “The senses of scripture are the literal, then the three spiritual senses are the analogical/typological which is the promises of God being fulfilled in the life of Christ, even events of his life being fulfilled at the cross...then the moral, which is how the scripture is being fulfilled in the life of the Christian, the Church... Then the anagogical/eschatalogical which is the way it is fulfilled in the beatific vision” I was thus taught a lesson in the best possible way. In the gospel the questionable guest did not take his chance to answer the Host and explain himself. He kept silent and did not admit his sin. It was suggested that mortal sin consists of taking off the wedding garment thus deliberately excluding ourselves from the Heavenly Banquet. We were told clearly and repeatedly that Confession and absolution are absolute prerequisites for reception of Holy Communion at the Table of The Lord if we are in mortal sin. Like the Wedding Host, God will see those who should not be there. And they will be thrown out.
I use the term 'Truth' to represent what is. The absolute truth, not what is opined as truth or is the narrative that is generally accepted. It is meant as a distinction between what is divine truth and that truth that is held to various degrees of human standard. In essence, the only Truth can be found in Revelation, that which is directly given from God, via Himself or His Mother, or His angels. No matter how sincere and well-intended, human discovery via history, science, philosophy, or any other faculty, is necessarily imperfect and limited. As, ultimately, God created all that is (obviously apart from Himself), He is the source of the Truth and can be defined as the Truth, ruling out any pantheistic notions that some derive from this. The Truth is in Him, the Truth that is external to Him cannot be without Him and can only be known through Him (through Him, with Him, in Him). That's how I see it, anyway.
There is one issue that I feel strongly about: the unity in diversity of everything that does not affect the Catholic faith. In part, I think that it would bring some fruits of rapprochement with the traditionalist wing of the Church if the Byzantine liturgy were celebrated in our parishes in the name of rapprochement with the Orthodox. I don't know what it's like throughout the West, but if Catholics were to impose the sacrament of confirmation in early childhood again (as the Orthodox still do), this would prevent many people from dying without this sacrament, since, here in Brazil, many people do not receive him of their own free will and only seek him out when they need to get married in church. I consider this problem very serious because even a dying person who reaches initial contrition for his sins needs sacramental fullness.
