Thoughts and opinions from a Priest in the PNCC
In light of my post below, I offer the following image compliments of Traditional Catholic Designs.
Note, do not take this seriously beyond the fact that our active evangelization must be a crusade. Time to take seriously the command to put on the armor of Christ.
A profound bow to Fr. Martin Fox over at Bonfire of the Vanities for his article “The Islamic Threat: same as it ever was”
The words of Paul to Timothy are not ‘more’ true today, but just as true, because the human heart becomes blinded to its desire for the one true God and covers that desire with words that sound sweet but will taste bitter.
To wit:
I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingly power: proclaim the word; be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient; convince, reprimand, encourage through all patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine but, following their own desires and insatiable curiosity, will accumulate teachers and will stop listening to the truth and will be diverted to myths.
We all want to believe in the good motives of people and want them to be able to relate to us. In doing this we often try to morph others into the person we think they should be. They become a ‘kind of Christian’. An examination of the basic facts often destroys that fallacy.
The basic fact is there is no alternate Christianity. There is only one Jesus Christ who is not Buddha, Mohammed, Siddhartha, or Lao-Tse. None of these are God, but Jesus Christ. None provides us with salvation, but Jesus Christ.
To be true to truth, to bear it and proclaim it, we are required to proclaim Christ as true God and true man who purchased for all, by his blood, eternal life in heaven. Of this we are certain, of this we are required to preach and baptize.
From today’s BBC:
Abortion ‘leaves mental legacy’
Some find abortion difficult to cope with An abortion can cause five years of mental anguish, anxiety, guilt and even shame, a BMC Medicine study suggests.
See the entire article by clicking here…
And from the ‘can’t see the forest for the trees’ department, the abortion (death) providers are astonished because very few people come back to them for counseling.
In their land of make believe women would normally say: “Look, I feel bad because I killed my child, so why don’t I go back to the scene of the crime so I can feel better about myself.”
I was scanning the front page of the Evangelist, the official newspaper of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese and was struck by the picture found there.
The picture featured a group of Buddhist monks creating a mandala – an ‘artwork’ made of grains of sand individually placed. These works are very intricate and once they are completed and viewed they are blown away, ‘dust in the wind’ so to speak. The creation and destruction of the mandala are supposed to represent the Buddhist concept that “the world is an impermanent place.”
OK, so they have their mandala. The irony of the whole thing was that the mandala was in the shape of a Jerusalem Cross. In addition it was being created in the chapel of the Doane-Stuart School, a joint Roman Catholic – Episcopal private school (that has a Buddhist meditation center in it).
I thought, wow, the Buddhists get it. Symbols – what many Roman Catholics and Episcopalians have forgotten. Symbols stand for something and invoke meaning. The Buddhists got it. In the middle of an institution founded in the name of two great Christian faith traditions they created and blew away the Cross.
In today’s Times Union, the Inter-religious Affairs Coordinator of Albany’s Roman Catholic Diocese noted this event in his Religion Page ‘Voices of Faith‘ article on Nostra Aetate’s 40th Anniversary.
Now Doane-Stuart is no longer a sectarian institution, has disavowed its Christian foundations, and is basically a public school with high tuition and two chapels, but never-the-less, should not the Christians there, the editorial board of the Evangelist, and the Roman Catholic Diocese’s Inter-religious Affairs coordinator have taken a bye on lauding this event. Can’t they see that by giving attention to the event they implicitly condone its message and its irony.
Nostra Aetate was indeed a pivotal document for the Roman Catholic Church. It discussed the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and other religions (Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism). In a positive sense it set aside perceived doctrines of hatred. It stated that all humanity is created in God’s image and that each person has within him/herself the Divine calling to unity with God.
Indeed the PNCC said the same thing almost a century before Nostra Aetate in its Confession of Faith, especially in Principals 9, 10, and 12:
I BELIEVE that all peoples as children of one Father, God, are equal in themselves; that privileges arising from differences in rank, from possession of immense riches or from differences of faith, sex and race, are a great wrong, for they are a violation of the rights of man which he possess by his nature and the dignity of his divine origin, and are a barrier to the purposeful development of man.
I BELIEVE that all people have an equal right to life, happiness and those ways and means which lead to the preservation of existence, to advancement and salvation, but I also believe that all people have sacred obligations toward God, themselves, their nation, state and all of humanity.
I BELIEVE in immortality and everlasting happiness in eternity in union with God of all people, races and ages, because I believe in the Divine power of love, mercy and justice and for nothing else do I yearn, but that it may be to me according to my faith.
The Principals of the PNCC and Nostra Aetate created an environment of respect between Catholic Christians and members of other religions. What it did not create, at least in my estimation, is a license to disavow the Christian faith or to find salvation in other religions. They do not allow us to stand by as others take the stage to blow away the cross as a symbol of impermanence.
The great Christian Saints, the contemplatives and mystics, did not need labyrinths, yoga, tai-chi, a mandala, reiki, energy fields, or crystals. They had the great prayers of the Church, the Divine Office, the Rosary, and most importantly the Eucharist and the Gospels. They had Jesus Christ, the God-man within them. They spent hours, days, months, and years meditating on him long before the yogis and Buddhists were known.
The thought that the East has taught us something is a canard. Thomas Merton brought nothing back from the East that was not already present in the Church. People just had to look for it within the Deposit of Faith.
On the 40th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, let us pray that Catholic Christians renew their own self respect and stand up to proclaim the truth of Jesus Christ crucified, the everlasting symbol of our salvation. Let us also pray that we remember that Principald 9, 10, and 12 must be seen in light of Principal 7:
I BELIEVE that the Church of Christ is the true teacher of both individual man as well as of all human society, that it is a steward of Divine Graces, a guide and a light in man’s temporal pilgrimage to God and salvation; in so far as the followers and members of this Church, both lay and clerical, are united with the Divine Founder through faith and life proceeding from this faith.
Someday, in God’s good time and through His graces we will be united as one flock under one shepherd, Christ the Lord.
As Christians and as members of the PNCC we must be about bringing the Kingdom of God to reality. Church does not end when you pass the driveway on the way out of the parking lot. When you pass the end of the driveway after church you become the —light of the world—. You are Christ’s messenger to all people.
Your action in building God’s Kingdom starts with yourself and how you exemplify your faith. It is in your actions towards yourself and others. It is in the way you treat your spouse, loved ones, children, neighbors —“ even those who have hurt you. Do you live a life of Christian service?
Faith is more than a nice idea for Sunday. If we are reborn, we come to a true understanding of our relationship with God, and it is part of our everyday life.
When we are in love the grass is greener, the sky bluer. The rain is soft and gentle and the snow dazzlingly white. We no longer believe in —luck— or —coincidence—, we believe in miracles and love.
The first words Jesus spoke to the crowd contain the heart of his Gospel of hope and salvation, the proclamation of God’s kingdom:
“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’” Mk 1:14-15
From that moment on, Jesus
“went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every infirmity among the people” Mt 4:23
We are called to work with our hands, mind, and heart for the coming of God’s kingdom into the world. We are called to build the Kingdom of God by working with the Lord.
Trust the Spirit to bring people to you. Live the Christian life. Read and study God’s word. Worship with the Church. Renew and strengthen yourself through the grace received in the sacraments, especially through the Eucharist. Place a Bible next to your computer at work. Wear the cross of Christ with pride, give generously, and speak openly about the good God has accomplished in your life through Jesus Christ. Tell your neighbors, friends, co-workers. Take the first step to add to the Kingdom. Then you can call yourself a Christian —“ a disciple of Christ.