My son and I have been discusssing some of the daily Mass readings from the Old Testament, concerning the reigns of King David and King Soloman. The general conclusion was that man, poor sinner that he is (and we all are, to varying degrees), can know the truth of right religion and still, in his sinful humanity, manage to do many things contrary to this truth. We marvelled at King David's heartfelt desire, at the end of his life, to exhort his son, Soloman, to goodness. We were astonished, like the Queen of Sheba, at Soloman's Kingdom, his wisdom and his justice. Since we now live in the full knowledge of God's Revealation to man through His Son, Christ Jesus, this -- often maddening -- reality still fills the pages of history.
In an interesting parallel, this afternoon, JB, J and I were talking about various English and U.S. histories and again this topic comes up. How so? First, I was trying to sort out for Jay why the father and the mother of the "Pilgrim boy" in his ABEKA (a Protestant educational company)reader had left Stuart England, as "Separatists," to journey to Holland then to what would become the American colonies. Later, in our school day, we were discussing the heresy of Islam and the unification of Europe under Charlesmagne.
Let's take the Tudor and Stuart Kings and Queens and make some sweeping generalizations. Everyone, in the main, is trying really hard to be good. But, what a bloody mess! To this day, Americans (of the US of A) and people, in general, are very confused about which history of England speaks the "...truth, the whole truth, so help me God..." It is hard to navigate through these people and events and really know, without a shadow of doubt, the deeper, and absolute, truth that shines beyond the events. I am speaking of Mother Church as the star of history, if I may. She is eternally resplendant, perfect and pure, no matter what her adherents think, speak or do. It confuses the Catholic student of history when persons and events outside of our holy religion appear concurrently to Catholic persons and events who are, in some way, less than noble, right and beautiful. At the same time, the history of humanity from the beginning to the present, is filled with the lives of Catholic saints. (Just because there were those outside Mother Church who did -- and still do -- live saintly lives, we must not assume the Catholic Church to be untrue.) As we research and study, we must work hard to look at what was going on in the world from the eyes of faith. Some would murmur that faith is always subjective -- for example, I am a Catholic, so I will look to rationalize ("ration-a-lies") my version of persons and events in a way that makes my religion the one, true religion. This is often the human view and, in my opinion, why we are bogged down in the relativistic, "multicultural" cultural quagmire of today.
Well, I have bitten off more than I can chew, so here is my imperfect wrap up: we came to the conclusion that just because people are not true to their religion does not mean that their religion is not true. We think this phrase is a bit catchy and worthy of our attention. We, as Catholic evangelists, must work harder, especially with all the blessings given to the citizens of the US of A, to prove the authenticity of the authority of the one, holy, Catholic, and apostolic church. Or, and I do fear this....or, we will end up throwing our inheritance in the garbage. I know God wants us all to clean up our acts, study harder, invite each other to meaningful dialogues and live as free and worthy subjects of Christ the King. God made his creation to be good, to think good thoughts and to be eternally inspired to actions that give glory to the one Son who was begotten and born of the Virgin Mother of God, she who is Queen of the Universe. God is one, but in His infinite mystery, God is three persons. In my opinion, there is no way to even come close to understanding the mystery of the Blessed Trinity without all seven Sacraments of holy Mother Church, as instituted by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us!
Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!
No comments:
Post a Comment