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April 30, 2009
Fourth Sunday of Easter - [May 3, 2009]
I have always had a secret respect for the members of those religious groups, Mormons, Seven Day Adventists and others that have the courage and the patience to go door to door and invite the householder to accept a piece of literature or sit and listen to a description of their religious beliefs. Actually, I have never allowed them beyond my doorstep even in winter’s chill. For sure at this point in my Catholic life I’m not thinking about changing sides, no matter how attractive that religion may sound.
Father Andrew Greeley, writer and sociologist, once said that it is rare that Catholics will give up their faith and practice. They simply love their church and its unique sacramental “system”, that is, the signs and symbols that speak of the sacred: Bread, wine, oil, salt, palms, ashes, foot washing, anointing at baptism laying on of hands at confirmation and priesthood and all the rest. These natural signs are literally ground into our very Catholic being from the moment of our baptism. We love natural things, he says, and we will refuse to do without them.
I have often thought about how I would feel if I were to switch religions. I’m sure I would never be comfortable with that. There would be something missing that has kept me happy all of my 84 years.
Now, this is not to say that other Christian religions are second rate to our Catholic faith. I’m sure such folks are truly dedicated people. It’s just that I could never abandon something so precious that was handed on to me by my parents and ancestors going back more years than I can count. No one is going to take that away from me. Without it, life would have no meaning.
Think about all that for a moment as you read Peter’s words in this Sunday’s first reading. Here he is, Peter, a faithful Jew his entire life, even after he met Jesus. He is giving a homily and telling a gathering of Jews Greeks and others: “There is no salvation in anyone else nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” I wonder how all that came down for those folks.
What seems obvious is that Peter is saying: “Folks, we can all be a blended family, Jesus Christ has made us one.”
Interestingly, of course, that is precisely what happened: It was t this moment in history that at least some Jews and many non-Jews began to follow the disciples of Jesus, began to build the church upon the Corner Stone we name the Christ.
It is interesting to note the body of the faithful that gathers in Catholic churches each Lord’s Day and see a cross section of humanity, people of all cultures. Could it be true that Jesus’ wish that there be one flock and one shepherd was finally coming to be?
A Catholic theologian recently commented on the “one flock, one shepherd” phrase by saying: “Christ laid down his life for all God’s sheep and every member of the human community without regard for their ethnicity, age, gender or worthiness. Jesus envisioned a blended family for which he gave his life as one flock and one shepherd.”
True enough, not all folks on the face of the earth are Catholic today, but they are all believers nonetheless, each in their own way, all under the “safety net “of Christ whether they know it to be true or not.
Speaking for myself only, I have always felt safe in Christ’s church, the faith my ancestors passed on to me. And, by the way, I promise to be nice to all those good Mormons or Seven Day Adventists when they come to my door. Christ is their shepherd too. I truly hope they know that.
Posted by Cindy Lentine on April 30, 2009 09:25 AM.
