Good morning, Digital Neighbors!
One of the most difficult things to do is walk with the Church as a Catholic. Most individuals in the States identifying as Catholics have either a dormant faith or a discarded faith. They probably haven’t stopped believing, it just doesn’t matter to them anymore. There is no judgment in that statement from me, just an observation as a shepherd of souls and a striving spiritual father. In past ages indifference was not the main threat to the faith, people were more challenged with walking with the church in communion of faith and practice.
In our world of sin, and it is a world of sin, division is the most powerful dynamic in the lives of individuals until they turn to God and remain with Him. You don’t need the church to be in relationship with Him, but it is given to us to precisely help with that. There are gifts from God found only in the church. The gifts are meant to draw us into the life of Christ. Encounters with the Divine are made explicit in church, the Living Christ comes to us in His sacraments, you simply won’t find that in nature, the arts or some sort of meditation. Sadly, between you and Christ is a whole lot of humanity, and all of it broken in various degrees. Some are earnestly on the path of conversion; others are serving their own agendas, and a fair number are following the flock but without a lot of engagement.
God’s grace is not confined to the Church, God operates in subtle ways in the hearts of all people, even the deafest and most harden of hearts are being called by God. God never gives up on an individual until he or she hands Him the verdict of judgement and the ultimate NO on the day judgment. The waters of mercy can only bear fruit in hearts that are contrite. Hardened and obstinate hearts are as receptive to the waters of mercy as a rock. It is the greatest tragedy for a person to experience.
The challenge in most ages is to walk with the Church, not ahead of it in a desire to embrace the new or behind it clinging so fervently to the past that we don’t trust the direction she is going. The only person who embodies the fullness of the Church is Jesus, it is His body after all. As I often admonish our parishioners, no pedestals for the living. Draw inspiration from others, but don’t let their goodness blind you to their need for grace and their potential to sin and disappoint. Our faith is not in individuals of the church but in God. Good people and fellow disciples are a blessing, and cultivating communion is essential to the work of the Gospel.
God will never disappoint you. But you must make certain your trust in Him and live a life of faith without tailor-made and self-justified expectations of how He is to act in your life. There is never a promise of a life free of hardship, challenges, pain, or loss. There is the promise of the Father that He will be our God and we will be His people, adopted children of Abraham. There is the promise of the Son, I will be with you always. There is the promise of the Spirit, poured out on Pentecost to begin the work of conversion and communion, the Spirit is breathed upon the Apostles on Easter morning to bring mercy to the world. Walk with the Church, not ahead of it, not behind it, not away from it. Remain with her as the surest way to encounter God’s hidden movements and surprising Prescence.
Peace
