I had been doing a fair amount of musing about being the
salt of the earth, lukewarmness, and making sure that my "yes" really means "yes" which came up in the readings the other day.
Not to mention, mulling over that whole idea about how to quickly get to the essence of an
explanation of my faith.
I did not do a very good job the other day when I was asked, "What the heck is Pentecost?" by a blog reader who isn't Christian and had seen it mentioned repeatedly here as of late. Some of that, admittedly was due to the fact that the idea of God's spirit "coming upon" someone doesn't make any sense to someone who doesn't believe in God in the first place. At any rate, moving on ...
Lo and behold, I wound up hearing a tale from a friend yesterday which exemplified the reason we always need to be prepared. My friend was in a conversation with an old pal that suddenly morphed beyond a casual chat into a serious discussion of Old Pal's falling away from Catholicism into a view of God as "watchmaker" and a sincere admiration of nihilism.
At one point it dawned upon my friend that Old Pal is using the Church purely as a social club. Old Pal still attends Mass regularly, is a lector and ...
Friend: Do you still take communion?
Old Pal: Sure.
Friend: Even though you don't believe it is the real presence of Jesus?
Old Pal: Yep.
Friend: That's an insult to me and every Catholic who believes in the real presence!
I was in awe of my friend. This person is soft spoken and, although perfectly willing to answer questions, does not go around parading faith other than living it. My friend says it was an instinctive reaction, especially as there was a true effort made from the beginning to avoid confrontation about religion. That instinctive reaction is one that I probably would have quailed at expressing so forcefully. Would that I have such a definite, instinctive expression of my faith when someone else shows complete disrespect.
But wait, it gets more interesting. The conversation continued and soon was running along these lines.
Friend: If you don't believe what the Church believes then go find a church where you can believe.
Old Pal: There's no point. No church has the whole truth. Every single one is wrong about something.
Friend: I believe everything that the Catholic Church teaches is true.
[pause]
Old Pal: Even the social teachings?
Friend: Yes. Everything. I believe all the teachings are true.
[pause ... which grows into silence]
These are simple truths but which among us ever states them to anyone so simply?
Notice the fact that these are put forward as statements, not as attacks.
A mutual friend of these two had come upon them in conversation about halfway through and silently listened. This newcomer was Catholic but became theist in her beliefs and left the Church. Newcomer later went up to my friend and murmured that Old Pal was wrong ... that if you don't believe then you should leave. Which, as we all should know, is exactly what
St. Thomas Aquinas said also.
Not only did my friend love Old Pal enough to tell the truth, but Newcomer got a full dose of an authentic Catholic witness as well.
It is fairly obvious that my friend's old pal is in serious denial and also not thinking clearly by practically any definition. I pray for Old Pal.
Once again, I think about
the questions I was turning over about being the salt of the earth.
Are we really living our faith? Offering a witness that flows from real love and relationship with God? Jesus did it through personal witness. The first Christians followed his example. They couldn't even vote but they showed their true love with their unflinching actions in daily life. They changed the world.
My friend has this quality. I hope that I do too, that we all do.
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Let your 'Yes' mean 'Yes,' and your 'No' mean 'No.' Anything more is from the evil one.
Matt. 5:37
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Always be prepared to give an explanation to he who asks for a reason for your hope, yet do it with gentleness and reverence, keeping your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who defame your good conduct in Christ may themselves be put to shame.
Peter 3:15-17
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The only honest reason to be a Christian is because you believe in Christ's claim to be God incarnate. The only honest reason to be a Catholic is because you believe the Church's claim to be the divinely authorized Body of this Christ.
Peter Kreeft, Catholic Christianity
