Catholicism: Faith in Action
I heard someone today say that Catholicism is faith in action. I thought about that for quite awhile, and I think it’s pretty insightful. Throughout history, Catholics have brought the gospels to life through their works.
Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta started an entire order of women within the Church, with the primary focus of caring for the poorest of the poor. Catholics have shaped education throughout the world, starting grade schools, high schools, and universities. Most, at least in the United States, are recognized for their high quality. Catholics have also created great hospitals throughout the world to heal and comfort the suffering.
So many of the canonized Saints have spread the gospel message through the way that they lived their own lives. St. Francis started an order of men who embraced gospel poverty and simplicity, sacrificing worldly goods for heavenly treasures.
Catholicism at its best is definitely faith in action…at least it should be.
Action
I’ve heard it said that you can’t think your way into feeling good. Instead, you have to act your way into right thinking. I’ve had a miserable couple of weeks at work, doing some tasks that I absolutely abhor — tasks that really hurt my pride (and build humility). Yet I’ve managed, for the most part, to maintain a positive attitude — to try and live the gospel for the sake of others. Today though, I was pretty close to just letting go with my emotions. What stopped me? The same thing that has kept me going for the past couple of weeks. Action.
Today after work, I wanted to come home and go into seclusion. I wanted to lay on the couch, turn on the television, and pout. Rather than go for my scheduled jog and make the dinner that I had committed to, I wanted to go out and grab some Subway sandwiches so that I didn’t have to do anything. These feelings lasted for about 15 minutes, when I realized that the path that I was heading down was one where I was going to try to think myself happy. And experience has shown me that thinking myself happy is something that never happens. I have to get up and do something — preferably for someone else!
I’ve been working hard to lose the vices in my life and grow in virtue. I’m finally starting to see that the simple acts of penance that I do on a daily basis — the simple things that I can offer up to God — along with a more consistent prayer life, have really begun to help me grow. Life isn’t perfect, but it sure feels pretty close most of the time. The times that I’m feeling down don’t last nearly as long as they once did.
So the next time that you’re feeling down, go do something for someone else. You have to act your way into right thinking.
Don’t Lose Hope
This Sunday’s Gospel reading, Matthew 16:13-19, is one that is often pointed to by Catholic apologists as proof that Jesus did indeed establish His Church on Earth, with Peter as its head.
“And so I say to you, you are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my Church,
and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.
Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven;
and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Jesus was pretty explicit here, and Peter’s front-line role in many other parts of the New Testament make the Catholic teaching that Peter was the first Pope pretty clear. Rather than defend this point, I feel inclined to point to another facet of this reading — the existence of great hope.
Christ is building His Church — our Church — on Peter. Peter! This is the same man who would react to the glorious transfiguration of Christ by recommending that three tents should be built (Matthew 17:1-4). What? This is the same man who would draw his sword, lash out in anger, and cut off the right ear of Malchus (John 18:10). This is the same man who would deny his knowledge of Jesus three times during Our Lord’s passion (John 18:17-27). Yet this humble and sinful fisherman was good enough to be the first leader of our Church!
Jesus came for us — sinners (Luke 5:32). If a man who has shown extreme anger and disloyalty at the worst of times can become the Pope, then what can we hope to achieve? Anything! While we may make mistakes and choose sinful and selfish things over Christ on occasion, if we show the great faith of St. Peter, we can repent, get back on track, and accomplish anything through Christ.
Just as Pope Benedict XVI has reminded us of the virtue of Christian hope through his encyclical, Spe Salvi, our first Holy Father, St. Peter brought us great hope. We must remember in times of great trial not to lose sight of the tremendous hope brought to us by Jesus. A faithful life based upon this redemptive hope will lead us to salvation. What more can we hope for?
A Potential Convert
I read here that President Bush is considering conversion to Catholicism. I don’t know how reliable it is, but I would certainly welcome it just as I would welcome anyone else who felt the desire for true conversion. If you think about it, with the war being the exception (and it’s a big one for many people), President Bush seems fairly Catholic in his political views.
He is very much pro-life. He’s anti-abortion, and against stem cell research and gay marriage. He also has some very compassionate views on immigration, which are much more Catholic than they are Republican. I think that one could make the case that he’s much more Catholic than say…John Kerry.
I normally try to keep politics out of this, but the President Bush story was just too interesting to avoid.
I’m Busy
Busyness. I just read the definition for busyness at dictionary.com, and it was kind of a slap in the face. One of the definitions is:
lively but meaningless activity
Ouch. I’ve been noticing lately how often I say the word, busy. Whenever I run into someone that I haven’t seen for awhile or talk to a family member on the phone, we always ask each other what we’ve been up to. My answer always involves the word, busy.
Recently I posted my reflection about our culture’s obsession with worldly goods and our failure to store up our treasure in heaven. But I think the same is true where our time is concerned. We are focused so heavily on filling each moment with some sort of diversion that most of us have probably forgotten who we are.
We are constantly on the go and constantly in communication with someone — so much so that we have forgotten the importance of stopping, reflecting, and praying. When we get home we have television programs that we just have to watch and Internet sites that we just have to check up on.
We’re too busy to make dinner much of the time, and when we do make dinner a lot of the work has been done for us by preprocessing, prepackaging, and precooking. To make more time for ourselves, the only thing we need is something to eat the food for us!
How much time do we really need for ourselves? How many places do we really need to go to each day? I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to sit down.
As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary (who) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.”
The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)
Stored Treasures
Oh, how hard I have worked for the sake of the dollar. I’ve called it different things at different times. Financial independence. Job security. Freedom. A house with enough room. A bigger car. Much of my adult life can be reduced to one objective, the pursuit of the dollar…and more always means better…right?
For some reason, my generation of Americans feels a sense of entitlement when it comes to luxury items. We “need” houses that are 50 percent larger than anything our grandparents could have dreamed of. We need a vehicle for every occasion. We need to eat multiple meals out at restaurants every week. We’ve definitely got to accessorize our lives with boats, motorcycles, and travel trailers.
If our total [visible] net worth isn’t as good as our neighbors then we feel as though we have failed. Our work schedules don’t allow time for each other, and yet many of us still have trouble making ends meet. Marriages are failing, children are overweight, and many suffer chronic depression. Where have we gone wrong?
We’re storing our treasures on earth, and here on earth is where our hearts lie. We are consumed by greed, lust, and gluttony, and we’ve forgotten about faith, hope, and love.
In Matthew 6:19-21, Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth,
where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal.
But store up treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be.”
Several years ago, some self-inflicted financial troubles forced us to sacrifice a couple of the larger material items in our household. We were required to live by a very strict budget to get ourselves back on track, and it wasn’t always easy.
Slowly, we began to focus more on Christ and less on the world around us. We gained humility and discipline, and we became substantially more charitable. Now, several years later, we focus very little on the material things in our lives. It’s been years since we’ve even considered a new car. We’re in the same house, and we’re content with it. We’ve got money in the bank, but we’re really not that concerned about it.
The Catholic Church has led our family to Jesus, and we are working hard to become more virtuous so that we might do a better job of storing up our treasures in heaven. We’re nowhere near perfect and we never will be, but we better understand what perfection is, and we’ve got it in our sights.
This is conversion at its finest.
National Catholic Register
I recently became a subscriber to the National Catholic Register. I’ve been becoming progressively more and more disenchanted with the standard media outlets over the past few years. I canceled my local newspaper about two years ago, and I got rid of cable television about six months ago. Lately, my only news sources have been online.
While I appreciate online news, there’s just something nice about holding a print publication in your hands. The National Catholic Register fulfills that need, and a heck of a lot more. The Register is a weekly newspaper about everything Catholic. It’s got everything that you would expect from a newspaper: a big front page article, interesting special interest stories, editorials — and all from a Catholic perspective. It’s both professional and faithful.
While the Register won’t suffice as my only news source, it is definitely my new favorite. You can get a free trial subscription here.
Life Teen
I remember when our pastor first talked about the new Life Teen program that our parish was forming several years ago. At the time it sounded very exciting — just what was needed to draw more youth into the church. Since then, I’ve been to probably three or four Life Teen Masses. I attend about once a year out of necessity.
The one thought that I have almost continuously during this Mass is, how can this possibly be okay with the Church? The kids dress as if they were going out to dinner at McDonalds, and they clap and dance to music that is totally inappropriate for a Mass.
What about reverence? Well, there are certainly some pious, reverent people that attend Life Teen services for the sake of their children, or because they just like the music. But I like the music too, just not at Mass! At our parish, the Life Teen band consists of all the typical rock instruments: electric guitar, bass, and drums, in addition to a piano. They play some decent contemporary music, but they are far too loud for church!
Why is it that we have to offer a special Mass just for teenagers? I understand sending the little ones off to the nursery, but why aren’t high school kids mature enough to handle the traditional Mass? Is this what we have to do to ensure that they will come? Where do we draw the line? Why don’t we offer a hip-hop Mass? How about a little Glory to God in the Highest rap?
I’m not too keen on bringing back the Tridentine Mass, but after attending a few Life Teen Masses, I understand where the Tridentine supporters are coming from. Mass is about Jesus. We should be focused on the sacrifice that is taking place, not on our dance moves. Hearing the same twelve words shouted over and over does not help anyone focus on the altar.
If the music is drawing focus away from the main attraction, doesn’t that signify a problem?
Discipline
Why is it that I am so affected by other people’s lack of discipline?
I always notice when children misbehave, but I often forget to notice when they’re behaving kindly. I never fail to recognize when people are talking disruptively (no matter how quiet) in a situation that is best suited for quiet. Yet the people who sit attentively go completely unnoticed.
Did I get old all of a sudden? Have my standards changed, or are people changing?
When I was a child if I was making noise in church (on the rare occasion that I was actually in a church of some kind), I’m very confident that some sort of corrective action would have taken place to silence me. (Note: That’s not a good thing.) When my children were younger, we treated them similarly. We never would have accepted unruly behavior in a quiet environment. It’s just disrespectful.
Am I just overly sensitive to the feelings of others? From my perspective, it seems like most people are concerned with only themselves. They give no thought to how their behavior (or the behavior of their children) might affect others.
While I may be hypersensitive, I think we Americans could use a good dose of discipline! So many people seem to be completely incapable of sacrifice. We eat too much. We spend too much. We talk too much. We sit on the couch too much. In today’s society, can you imagine if you were to ask a Catholic to abstain from meat on a Friday (outside of Lent)? We have this sense of entitlement that comes from — well, I don’t know where — but it seems to come from the devil!
Paragraph 1438 of the Catechism tells us that we should include penitential practices on Fridays. What a wonderful way for us to embrace the discipline that we are called to. So why don’t we? Instead of practicing discipline with an eye on Christ, we practice excess with an eye on the world.
There are numerous scriptural references to fasting and prayer, and I suggest that we could all benefit by taking them seriously. Why not start some sort of Friday tradition in your family?
Pacifism
Jesus tell us, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, offer no resistance to one who is evil. When someone strikes you on (your) right cheek, turn the other one to him as well.” (Matthew 5:38-39)
This is a tough verse for me. It’s quite obvious that Jesus is calling us to live peacefully with one another, without exception. But…turn the other one to him as well? That’s just…well, crazy…isn’t it?
I find it very easy to talk about peace, and so far it’s been fairly easy to practice. But what would I do if someone struck me on my right cheek? I’m not positive how I’d react, but I’m fairly certain that it wouldn’t be in accordance with the passage above.
So I know how Jesus would react, but what about his followers? Well, it turns out that most of them (us) ignore this little passage. Is it because I’m taking it out of context, or is it because we’re falling short of God’s expectations for us?
Whenever I stumble into a conflict like this, I do a few things to try and resolve it. First, I pray, asking for guidance. Secondly, I try and look at what the Catholic Church teaches on the subject. After all, a hundred individuals could come up with a hundred different interpretations of the verse in question. In this case, the answer seems kind of complicated. Things like “just war” have to be considered. Whew. Confusing.
Another test that I use to determine right from wrong is to think about how a model Christian would react. How would St. Francis of Assisi interpret this verse? I’m fairly certain that St. Francis would be very Christ-like in a conflict situation.
I’m pretty confident that I know the right answer here, but for some reason I don’t like it. This is how conversion always goes for me. God challenges me. I resist. Pain or discomfort ensues. I give in and do it God’s way. I’m happy. I imagine that this situation will be no different.
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