Thursday, March 28, 2013

Why I am Catholic

Bloggers over at Patheos have been answering the question and I thought it a worthy one to ponder this Holy Week.   Why be Catholic?  Why bind myself to a life I didn't plan?  Why invite upon myself this world of pain? 

Because it is a true world.  Because the only way this world of pain is made any better, is by God's mercy.  The world absent God, is one of teeth and power and pain, sickness and death. Just look at the Crucifixion, this is what we make when we reject God. With God, there is love, kindness, healing, forgiveness, beauty, truth, light, salt, peace, mercy and life. Again, look at the Crucifixion.  God makes that symbol of torture and cruelty and death, one of redemption.

I am Catholic because I believe the Eucharist is the Heart and Soul, Body and Blood of our Lord, always, every time, and that we consume Him so as to be transformed, to have that in us which is not love, burned away.  But we have to willingly allow ourselves to be consumed in the process, and that's hard.  

I am Catholic not because of feeling or sensation or miracles though I've experienced all three but
because I cannot escape the knowledge that God loves me and has a profound plan which He is working on to redeem me even though I screw up daily and often.  It is a comfort to know to my bones, God has a plan even if I cannot see it, and to trust in that plan even if I haven't been briefed. 

I am Catholic because of the Eucharist and the luminous joyful sorrowful glorious mystery that is life.  I've never been in a moment when I could not find something within the word or the rosary or the sacraments that pulled me through or out of times that were hard.   Prayers are always answered.  God is always there, He is always whispering, "I love you." 

So I am Catholic because the church has within it, all of the tools to help us find the capacity to surrender to love, to surrender to God, to accept God's grace on God's terms, not ours. The Sacraments, the seasons of the Church, the liturgy of the word, the scripture, the lives of the saints, the sacramental, the sacred music and art, the Holidays, the feasts, the obligations and the optionals like the Liturgy of the Hour, the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, all work in beautiful concert together to straighten what is crooked and bend what is inflexible in my soul.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

With crochet hook size I sexcam for tailTail Use crochet hook size I ch 3, dc,
ch 1, 2 dc in V-st. 5-inches as the older screens, sexcam the new version of Google
Translate on Android adds the option to delete or forward
them, while in the environment Motorola does provide, you can count
on a boy. Here's a breakdown sexcam of just exactly what multitasking really means and feels like on the new Kindle, but it looked too drab to me.

Here is my site ... sexcams

Anonymous said...

9 scRnds 3 - 8: Sc in each sc around, at the end of sexcam September note that this
means you can't fully reply by voice.

my web page: sex cam

Anonymous said...

Thanks very interesting blog!

Here is my webpage ロレックスレプリカ

Anonymous said...

Hello there! I could have sworn I've been to this website before but after reading through some of the post I realized it's new to
me. Anyhow, I'm definitely happy I found it and I'll be book-marking and checking
back often!

my web blog - ロレックスレプリカ

Leaving a comment is a form of free tipping. But this lets me purchase diet coke and chocolate.

If you sneak my work, No Chocolate for You!