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I love being Catholic

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Why am I Catholic? Because Catholicism rings true to me; it makes sense. I agree that the cross doesn't have much meaning until Jesus got crucified on it and hence the crucifix upon which we gaze. It may be a surprise to Protestants, but yes, we Catholics are well aware that Jesus is risen. (Are Protestants aware that time is not linear for God?) It is of considerable value for me to gaze upon our Lord's suffering and sacrifice.

I believe that Jesus himself heads our Church, that we've an unbroken heritage all the way back to the apostles. It makes sense to me that we don't follow just the Bible, but tradition as well. Jesus didn't start a church by handing them a bible; neither did he say to his disciples, "Go forth and write a book." The printing press didn't arrive until much later in history; the people were generally uneducated, few were literate, and books were rare. Thus comes forth the rich Catholic art for telling the stories of the bible. (Though unfortunately, our exposure to such art is largely of a european bent giving the false impression that Christianity was a "white man's" religion.)

I love the richness of the variety of devotions, the stories of Saints, and love for Jesus' mother. I love that our priests are educated before they can become priests. I love that the order of the mass is relatively universal; that I can be out of town and yet still find a surrogate church home where I belong. I love that the church is not built around a priest, that another priest can come in take over the pastorship and we'd still be Catholic. I love that we don't sugar-coat life, that we can accept suffering and still gaze heavenward.

There is so much more I can say, but I think I'll stop here and go to bed.

2 comments:

Sr.Nicole Trahan said...

Hi,

Thanks for your visit to my blog. When you ask for a hotel on the West Side of SA, where specifically are you thinking? I've learned that people mean really different things when speaking about a particular side of town.

Also, I know several religious communities on this side of town (we live on what's considered to be the West Side). If you'd like, I could ask around for you.

When will you be in town?

Many blessings on your continued discernment!
Sr. Nicole

Anonymous said...

Thanks for visiting my blog....here's a random thought based on your post...the part about the crucifix.

I was part of a faith-sharing group while in grad school at Notre Dame about 12 years ago, and a friend in the group posed the following question:

If Jesus lived, died and rose from the dead in the 20th century, would Christians be wearing little replicas of the electric chair instead of crosses? Something to ponder...