THE TRINITY
BY TADDEO CRIVELLI
(From a manuscript created about 1460-1470)
Social Media is an opportunity to evangelize:
A non-Catholic on Facebook says that, although she is not Catholic, she has been reading the Bible, reciting the rosary, praying, and doing other very "Catholic" things, yet still feels empty. As I wrote my response to her, I realized that I was explaining to her not only the reason for my becoming Catholic, but some of the significance of the supernatural and mystical nature of our faith which is accessed by contemplative practices.
My response to her gives a strong explanation of why I became Catholic.
This is what I told her:
"The Catholic faith is not an intellectual exercise. What do I mean by this? I will give you one example. In John 20:19-23, Jesus appears to the Apostles after the Resurrection, satisfies them that it is, indeed HE who stands before them, and then tells them that, just as God has sent Him to them, Jesus is sending the Apostles out to mankind. Jesus has the POWER, as well as the AUTHORITY, to do things under God the Father's power, authority, and direction. Then He does something very significant.
He breathes upon them. What is the significance of this? It is the TRANSMISSION of the power to do those things that God, the Father has directed.
It was not enough to simply HEAR from Jesus that the Apostles have permission and authority to do those things that the Jews always taught that only God, the Father, could do (forgiveness and healing, among them.)
Power was transmitted to the Apostles
Jesus had to transmit POWER to them in order for the Apostles to have the ability to do what Jesus instructed. This is why He BREATHES on them. If simply telling them were enough, He would not have BREATHED on them as a dramatic action.
The POWER is an actual "THING" (for want of a better word.) It is not an intellectual assent or an expression of PERMISSION. It would not have been enough to give them PERMISSION to forgive sins. He had to give them the POWER to do it!
Upon breathing upon them, Jesus announces to them what He has done, "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." The spiritual gift, the spiritual power, of The Holy Spirit has been transmitted to them by Jesus, whereupon He tells them what they are to do with this power that was transmitted to them.
"Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them: and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained."
Apostolic Succession:
Down through the ages, the priests of The Holy Catholic Church have received this Holy Spirit, this POWER, in an unbroken line from those early days. This unbroken line is "Apostolic Succession." From God the Father, to Jesus the Son, to the Apostles, and then down through the long line of bishops (our modern "apostles"), the power of the Holy Spirit travels.
This power was not transmitted to other churches
There is no other Church that has had this power transmitted to it directly by Jesus.
Only the Apostles who formed the Catholic Church were breathed upon by Jesus. The Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah, and they did not receive it.
The "Eastern Orthodox" Church started out as the Eastern arm of The Catholic Church, but they would argue that we broke off from them. The Eastern Patriarch excommunicated our Pope and our Pope excommunicated the Patriarch of the Eastern part of the faith. The great Schism between the two halves occurred in 1034, and our territories are divided, East and West. I believe they are considered to have apostolic succession.
(When I became disabled and home-bound, I decided to dedicate my prayers, in general, to the reunion of all Christians, especially the Catholic with the Orthodox churches, so I have a heightened interest in my Orthodox brothers and sisters.)
The so-called "Protestant" churches would not exist for another 500 years after the schism, and they did not receive the breath of the Holy Spirit. They rejected the Church that Jesus started and decided to start their own.
In 1517, Martin Luther posted his objections to the Catholic faith on the Church door, in Wittenberg, Germany, and by 1521, he had left the Church entirely, and that was the beginning of the Lutheran faith in the Germanic countries.
I read something the other day about him taking up with a nun. They fell in love and decided to violate their vows. Instead of admitting what they had actually done, Martin Luther found fault with the Church instead. Not a great pretense on which to abandon the true faith of Christ.
Thanks to Henry VIII, King of England, the English abandoned the Catholic faith for "The Church of England," which was created so that King Henry could marry multiple wives. He issued his Act of Supremacy in 1534, claiming headship of the Church in England.
It is sin and ego that separated out these movements from The Church that cradled them from infancy. We often think we can do better than our Leaders and our betters, thanks to egotism.
Ours is a profoundly supernatural, relational, mystical faith. It administers the intersection of the supernatural with the natural, to beings who are both "body and soul."
A meal you have not eaten cannot feed you.
So far, you have been watching a meal being created, cooked and eaten by others. You see the benefit of it. But you will not receive any of the nutrients, vitamins and minerals from that meal you have not eaten. You can agree that eating that meal is a good thing to do. You can give assent to the goodness of it all you like. But until you eat the meal yourself, none of the vitamins or minerals of that meal will sustain you.
Your soul will be starving until you join the Catholic Church."
The error of human beings does not adulterate The Faith.
All my life, I had searched for the mystical connection with God. I knew, instinctively, that there was such a thing, and I felt, at times, that I was experiencing a hint of it within my soul. Throughout my childhood, I had heard nothing but bad things attributed to the Catholic Church. Everything I had heard about it in popular culture painted a picture of an institution that was staid, rulebound, judgmental, and (at times) cruel and militant.
The Catholic Church is the repository of the supernatural, mystical gift of Jesus Christ.
It wasn't until I was a nun in a Hindu convent, where I EXPECTED to find the mystical heart of God and the universe, that I actually found it in the numerous books I read about the Catholic mystics. Saints Theresa of Avila, John of the Cross, Jane de Chantal, Francis de Sales, and many others opened that world to me. Eventually, I left to get baptized and be accepted into the Catholic Church.
I HAVE found some people who were staid, rulebound, judgmental and, at times, cruel and militant - but The Faith is never thus. Human beings are flawed, and people are limited in their ability to express The Faith, according to their own temperaments, gifts and deficits. Their interpretations of The Bible, or The Catechism, as they relate to the faith, can be limited to only what their temperament will allow. But The Lord, true to His Word, has kept The Faith intact, down through the ages. He promised that "The Gates of Hell" would never prevail against it.
Some people emphasize the Temporal while others focus on the Mystical:
There are some people who reject the metaphysical aspects of the faith, while others reject the practical and temporal. But, just as human beings are "body and soul," so is the faith comprised of both these aspects. We are expected to perform certain actions in and for "the world," while at the same time being informed by and operating within The Spirit. When we do not properly incorporate the world with the spirit, we can develop a mania for one or the other.
There are people who are so transported by stories of the supernatural, that they lose all sense of the practical and worldly altogether. They seem to be gullible to every so-called "apparition" that is advertised, no matter how outlandish it seems to most of us. This is not helpful to the faith and can cause charlatans to take advantage of well-meaning folks. Some of the Catholics who are focused on the supernatural can be dismissive of the practical aspects of the faith. The allurements of the mystical consolations captures their attention so much that they will pursue the entertainments of it and will follow "seers" whose monetization of the faith will appear as if the circus has come to town.
Sometimes, in pursuit of the mystical attractions, the plight of suffering neighbors will be ignored, and we will fail to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and do all the other things we have been commanded to do in order to love our neighbor properly.
On the other hand, folks who are focused on the worldly aspects will be very good at the practical matters. Unfortunately, some of these folks will eschew anything metaphysical. It makes them uncomfortable. They are afraid they will not be taken seriously if they even talk about such things in relation to The Church. For instance, the apparitions of our Blessed Mother can make these kind of people very uncomfortable, even though there is very solid evidence for them. The apparitions at Fatima, Portugal, for instance, were reported in newspapers around the world, complete with photographs of the Miracle of the Sun. Skeptical reporters had gone to that location to debunk the miraculous, only to return absolutely converted, and bring home the proofs of the miraculous they had witnessed. Many thousands of people were eye witnesses.
The current trend:
In the last three decades or so, it seems to me that many parishes have rather more of the latter type of person running them. It feels as if the secular expectations of how to run a business have taken over, and the mystical is regarded with suspicion. This does not mean that "The Faith" or "The Catholic Church" is anti-mystical. It only means that the people administering many parishes, at the moment, have generally more of this tendency. It is my hope that, gradually, it will move to the center position, where both aspects - spiritual and temporal - are blended equally.
Humans are not perfect, but it is my belief that most everyone is doing the best they can, given their personal interpretation of the light that has been given them by the Holy Spirit. That does not mean there is no room for improvement, and one of my prayers, lately, is that the spiritual and temporal be interfaced with one another in the way in which Father, Son and Holy Spirit want them to be. "The Trinity" itself is a perfect example of this Divine, Blessed Balance!
Pray for your parish and your leaders!
If you find any deficit with the parish in which you find yourself, let it be a reminder to pray for the leaders of our faith. When you are praying, don't forget to mention your parish and fellow Catholics. In addition, I offer the following prayer:
Loving God, author of creation,
your spirit pervades and enriches our
world.
Through your Son, who shares our humanity,
You have called us to participate in your divine creativity
and to build the kingdom of God here on earth.
Form us, we pray, as one community
under the leadership of our bishop
to serve all the people of this region in your name.
Inspire us to discover new ways
and structures to spread your Gospel.
Open our eyes to see Christ in others,
especially the poor, the sick and the marginalized.
Empower us to be the hands and feet of Christ
in our parishes and communities.
Help us to welcome all into His embrace.
Guide us in our discernment,
as we pray with Pope Francis
for the vision to see new paths of possibility;
for a spirit of mission that invigorates our every effort;
and for the strength to be unafraid of what is new.
We ask this through Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
Imprimatur: July 25, 2014
The Most Reverend Lawrence T. Persico JCL
Bishop of Erie
I hope you will take advantage of this beautiful prayer and pray it often! Also, that my blog may be of some help to you for yourself and for the enlightenment of those you teach, lead, and inspire in the faith, including your family and your children.
May God bless us all. May the Holy Spirit enlighten us, and May our Guardian Angels guide us!
Silver Rose
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