Don’t Throw the Baby Out…
Many of my nearest and dearest friends have left the Catholic
Church, either in rejection of its doctrine, or in pain from personal injury
sustained by the ineptness or the “sins” of the leaders of the Church, or just
from increasing realization that they no longer “get anything” out of continued
attendance at Mass or from the Sacrament
of Penance because they “feel” like they can’t continue to lie in the confessional or to avoid it
altogether so as to be able to continue to participate in the holy Eucharist.
To continue to be such a “practicing”
Catholic is to them the kind of hypocrisy that even Jesus condemns. They at least do not
apparently reject the teachings of Jesus, just those of the Church.
Other friends of mine reject the Church because they consider
themselves to be agnostic [Do not know whether there is a God or not] or
atheists [Know that there is no such being as God], and they consider Jesus to
have been a genuine historical person, but not in any way to be considered God.
In the world today, people are saturated with media, much of
it advertising some product or other which if one buys it, it will solve some
or many of the problems of living. Either it will eliminate pain, or bring you
success either in business or with the opposite sex or by affording comfort and
security which everyone deserves. The media daily also bombards us with gory
details of every act of violence occurring throughout the entire world with
video. Most of the ads on the news are for upcoming stories on the news, so as
to keep you from changing channels, or (God) forbid, turn off the TV and plunge
yourself into one of the worst situations in which one can find oneself,
silence and being solitary.
Money, food and drink, sex, lifestyle in comparison with others
less fortunate have become the measuring stick for success in this life. Many
of us never rest from the chase after such success, wearing ourselves out in the
process and never realizing that life is not meant to be such a chase for “happiness”
of that sort.
Some, when they get fired, or get seriously ill, or when
tragedy strikes causing the loss of someone near and dear, they often begin to
appreciate that we “can’t take it with us when we go”, or that we should take
more care with each moment of time we have now, to be with and express our love
to those closest to us, and perhaps to consider doing random acts of kindness
for others in need. Some even consider changing their whole lives around by
focusing on performing charitable works for hospitals, social services and
through greater altruistic gifts.
Some even consider being priests, nuns, ministers,
rabbis, or lay missionaries in service to their fellow man. Some just make a
conversion of life and dedicate themselves to being better sons and daughters,
husbands and wives, fathers and mothers in the vocation they have been in, but
previously failed to appreciate their opportunities.
Whatever your situation, it might begin to dawn on you that your
dedication to following the truths about which Jesus spoke should take precedence
over your reluctance to follow the false witness of others by whom you may have been scarred in your past life
experiences.
After all, one of the most common expressions put on the lips
of Jesus by those who wrote the Gospels and Epistles, were words of
disappointment in their failure “to get it.” So often they asked Jesus to show
them a sign that he was who apparently they were expecting him to be. And
repeatedly, he failed to give them a sign they could accept, but rather he spoke
of things for which many considered him to be a nut. The history of the
early Church was anything but a history of faithful disciples, but rather a
history of repeated failures to get Jesus’ good news right. It’s understandable
to get it wrong. What is unacceptable is to harden one’s disbelief into a
rejection of Jesus’ good news.
And what exactly was Jesus’ “good news”? It is not really what
we often consider to be the “good news”. We consider it to be the news about God
becoming a human named Jesus and saving mankind from their sins through his
entire life, death and Resurrection. In other words the entirety of Salvation
History and the teachings of the Church.
Jesus’ “good news”, however, is not about himself and what he is doing, but rather about the Kingdom of God and where it is to be found. This is expressed to us in the first Gospel
written, Mark, in the first words put on the lips of Jesus[Mk. 1:14-16]:
“(Jesus) came from Galilee proclaiming
the good news from God saying ‘The present moment is the right time,
change the way you think about reality for the Kingdom of God is within you.
Believe this good news’ ”
As Paul said in one of
his earliest letters (50’s AD):
“…for the
Jews look for a sign, and the Gentiles look for wisdom but we proclaim Christ
crucified; to the Jews a scandal and to the Gentiles folly.” (1Cor. 1:22-23)
Why should we, in the Twenty First Century AD, with all our
current knowledge and sophistication believe such a statement of Jesus that the
Kingdom of God is within us? Because Jesus told us to and I believe that
Jesus does not lie! Reason and scientific knowledge cannot prove this, nor can
any sign be made which will prove it to be true, no matter how hard even the
Church may try to do so. It is solely because Jesus is a trustworthy witness.
Since I now believe his words to be true, I can proceed to
accept his other teaching that when we pray we do not have to use a lot of
words, nor make a lot of signs, but rather:
“ When you pray, enter into your private room and shut
the door and pray to your father in secret.” (Mt. 6:6)
It’s only when you want to express to others anything about
this interior kingdom and the importance of interiority of prayer are we forced
to use words, i.e., “signs” to convey it. No matter how carefully you select
the words to use, the transmission is hoppled by the need for conceptual
understanding which generally demands an effort using imagery from 3-dimensions
and time, and interiority, like God, is not capturable within three dimensions
and time. Only in the Incarnation of God become a man is God captured thereby.
But in so doing, Jesus is limited by three dimensions and time to express his
reality. Thus he uses parables, miracles and human communication to convey his
reality. For many, it fails to satisfy. If God truly dwells within us, then is not this the greatest treasure that any of us, and all of us, can possess.
Only belief satisfies. And Faith is a gift to pray for and be
totally grateful for it when it has come.
Thus, focus on the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels, that is the “baby”.
Recognize that some of the examples (not all, thank God) and some of the
teachings through Church history should be perhaps be taken “with a grain of
salt” or perhaps sometimes as “bathwater”,
and can be thrown out. The treasure remains within.
Charlie Mc
