However good, however all-embracing, however truthful, however up-to-date, however correct or incorrect, however complete or incomplete - the teaching of any church cannot tell me these things: how my personal relationship with Jesus is, and may develop; how scripture and tradition apply to my personal situation now, my present joys and sorrows and difficulties and my relationships with other people; what God's purpose is for me to fulfil in life to his glory; how the Holy Spirit in glorious freedom may lead me down paths unknown and reveal to me things both old and new as I work out my own salvation in fear and trembling.
This is a nicely written and heartfelt comment, but it reveals the heart of the difference between the Protestant mentality and the Catholic. At the foundation level the Protestant's faith is between him and Jesus. It is subjective. He is the final arbiter of how his relationship with Jesus is, how to interpret and apply the Scriptures, God's purpose for his life, how the Holy Spirit leads him as an individual.
This is almost exactly the opposite of Catholic understanding. The longer I am a Catholic the more I distrust my own judgement. The more I doubt my own perspective; the more I question my own motives and my own understanding of the faith. I do so for several very good reasons. First of all, my understanding and vision is limited. It is limited by my education, my biases, my experience and my emotions. Secondly, my experience of 'my relationship with Jesus' is unreliable. How do I know it is Jesus I am "experiencing" and not just a fabrication of my emotions or my preconceived ideas about who Jesus is? What evidence do I have that it really is the Holy Spirit leading me in "glorious freedom" and that I am not just doing what I want and then claiming divine authority to do so? Thirdly, I distrust my own experiences in all these things not only because I distrust my own judgement, but because my own private judgement has so often run contrary to the will of the Church--the teaching of the Church and the judgement of the Church. Put simply--why should I be right and the Pope and a billion Catholics be wrong?
I am increasingly, therefore, (and with great gratitude) happy to subject my own "personal relationship with Jesus" to the objective, historical teachings of the Catholic Church. So, for example, I ask the question, "Where do I encounter Christ?" The Catechism says I objectively encounter Christ in five ways: 1. in the Church--the Eucharistic Assembly which is the Body of Christ 2. In the person of the priest. 3. In the Eucharistic species 4. In the Sacred Scriptures 5. In the person of the poor. These five are good enough for me. I may feel that I experience Christ in other ways, but while I appreciate them, I do not rely on them.
Furthermore, I have found that by subjecting myself to the the Sacred Scriptures interpreted by the Church and lived out by the examples of the saints, that my own spiritual life has not been curtailed or constrained, but amplified and expanded beyond my furthest imaginings. By subjecting myself as much as I can to the teachings of Holy Mother Church my life has widened out, not narrowed down. By striving to be obedient--even when it is hard--especially when it is hard--my spiritual life has grown, not diminished.
I am therefore to be judged by the Church--I am not to judge the church. I listen to the voice of the Bishops--even when I don't like what they say. I strive to understand and comply with the teachings of Mother Church because she knows better than I do. I strive to subject my will to the will of my bishop in what I hope might be holy obedience because through that act of the will and subjugation of the will my spirit grows far more than my own feeble ideas of 'glorious freedom'. It is within this holy obedience that I learn far more than if I had imagined that I knew everything already.
This is, admittedly, very difficult. In an individualistic age in which every man is his own spiritual director, his own Biblical interpreter and his own Pope, to believe and act as if the Bishops of the Church are Christ's own apostles, operating under his own divine mandate--is to believe and act (in the world's eyes) as a fool. But so be it. Let me be a fool for Christ, and if I die with a foolish smile on my face because my foolishness has confounded the world and bankrupted me, then that is the way I wish to die.
My greatest fear is that I would walk outside the church--somehow imagining that I know best. The one area of my life which I know least and which is the greatest mystery to me is my own spiritual life and my own spiritual progress. Because of my self doubt and agnosticism about my own holiness or progress I rely increasingly on the secure rock of Peter. I want to be in the barque of Peter. Not at sea clinging to my own piece of personal flotsam.
I think perhaps they are alluding to the personal journey of faith thru the operation of the Holy Spirit is deeper than the ritualistic walk of many blind souls who have an absolute resolve to do whatever the Church says without going any further in a relationship with Christ Jesus.
ReplyDeleteWe need both, the personal journey and interaction with the Holy Spirit as well as the solid foundation and pillar of Truth of the Church who reconciles both together.
We cannot have one without the other...we need both. The faith in the Church and her Truth and her Guidance as well as the personal development of understanding and growth.
Priests are men, subject to sins of humanity; but are God-given and endowed with certain powers that we need. Yet we must be responsible to develop discernment so that we are not led away from the Church and her teachings thru however well-intentioned guides that are not in a relationship with Jesus but only have a position within the Church. There are good priests and bishops and there are some ...not so good.
Protestants needs to understand that we need both...and properly taught...the Church does encourage a personal relationship to Christ, not the contrary, within the framework of the authority of the Church for protection from heresy and distortions.
Thank you for reminding us of the five ways in which we encounter Christ! Am a cradle Catholic raised during the onslaught of the horrors of Vatican II misinterpretation and am now recovering nicely! (Thankfully I never left Holy MOther Church, but was obviously not properly catechized as a child!)
ReplyDeleteI love that 2012 will be "The Year of Faith" in the Catholic Church. It is time that Catholics stop thinking and acting as if "Obey" is a four letter word to avoid. And this lesson can only be learned through focus on Faith and Trust.
ReplyDeleteSometimes, Father, I feel that we are passing each other like ships (pieces of flotsam?) in the night... Are we, in fact, that different?
ReplyDeleteTo take your own position: of your own free will (and moved by the glorious freedom of the Holy Spirit?) you made a decision entirely for yourself and by the exercise of your own admittedly fallible judgement and according to the best lights and limited understanding at your disposal at that time, to commit yourself to the authority of the Church of Rome. I have no problem with that and pray God's blessing upon you.
To take my position: the decision is mine to stay in the Church of England, just as it was yours to move to the Church of Rome. Whether I am quite so entirely adrift as in your metaphor is open to question: I have, after all, two thousand years of wise Christians who have gone before me in many different traditions of the church and who offer their wisdom to all who seek. But however much I accept guidance and however much I imbibe wisdom and however much I pray that I may live according to God's will, when the moment of decision comes (whatever the task or the question at hand) I have to make that decision alone, simply trusting. I accept that I have no guarantee that I am 'right', that my understanding may be deficient, that my knowledge is incomplete. (Like many Protestants, I do not think I am quite as feckless and self-opinionated as you sometimes make out!) Whether or not you have a problem with that(!), I trust you to pray for me, not that I necessarily join you in the Church of Rome, but that I hear ever more clearly what it is that God wants me to do.
Vic,
ReplyDeleteI for one, hope you stay just the way you are, regardless which ship you decide to sail on. Fr L has his favorite saying, mine has always been 'When all think alike, no one thinks very much".
God does not need anything "Catholic" to bring us close to him. The Church exists, I believe, for those who need its help living the Good News on earth, and frankly I need all the help I can get!
Christmas Blessings.
My feelings exactly. Back when I was Protestant, there was a point when I felt that "I could master this". Yes, it may take a decade or two and a lot of study, but as a diligent and bookish sort of person, I knew it was within my grasp and I would only have myself to blame if I didn't.
ReplyDeleteWhen I became Catholic, I was overwhelmed. 2000 years of history in the lives of saints that lived lives so far beyond anything I could live.... I could never master this faith.... I had to be mastered by this faith. Oddly enough, Jesus repeatedly said this very thing, but I never saw it before I was humbled.
Sister Lori,
ReplyDeleteI think you are falling into a common error here: that there is a distinction between ritual and personal. The ritual of the Church is *very* personal. In fact, when you consider that the central ritual of the Church is the Eucharist, it is as personal as you can get .. encountering Jesus Body, Soul and Divinity. When the ritual ceases to be personal, it ceases to be Catholic.
However, there is another distinction that I think is valid: corporate and individual. Most corporate spirituality is ritual-based, since it must accommodate many people coming together. But it is not always. Individual spirituality can be either ritualistic (I often find it amazing how rote my non-Catholic friends are with their prayer while they simultaneously decry "rote prayer") or free-form. We do need both of these.
But the notion that Catholic ritual is not "personal" falls into that trap of the individual who must conform faith to themselves rather that conforming themselves to faith.
Not withstanding Fathers 'bulls eye' comments we are left with the question of why there is often no one to say :He's hit the Bull!St.Paul hit Bulls Eye too with the 'Unknown God' speech to the Athenians with no response from them of note. Blessed Cardinal Newman, Cardinal Manning et al were probably more aware and understanding of 'The English Soul' with its persistent prejudice against Catholicism in general and the irish in particular than Rome and God alone knows what the immigrant Irish Catholics made of the Catholic Church in England and Wales at the time.As Newman said it was basically :Heart speaks unto Heart and thank God for that.Is this not the basis for all missionary work -one to plant the seed,followed by the reapers.Nevertheless numerous Protestant Authors do give valuable insights into religious faith - C.S Lewis comes to mind!
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