I'm not a saint, nor do I talk about my faith nearly as much as I used to. These two statements are interrelated. This year, I made a simple new year's resolution: don't look outward for accomplishments. Look inward. For instance, instead of looking to qualify for a club, it might be better to see if I qualify for a healthy diet (NO!).
For anyone who knows me or has known me in the past, introspection means God is going to come in somewhere.
It's not something I talk or write about much because it's inevitably a touchy topic. I think that part of it has to do with sounding "preachy." It is very, very hard to talk about religion, which is seen by many as the doctrine of what you should and shouldn't do, without making subtle implications about such topics. To some, it's just a word some people identify with to prove they're better than others; however, if I may take a step into the controversial (because I never have before), I'd like to make a personal observation about religion today and how it's often treated. Before I say this, let me make it clear that I have the utmost respect for religious doctrine and identify as a Roman Catholic myself.
"Religiousness" doesn't make you any better than anyone else.
There, I said it, and presumably a few people stopped reading. For those of you who are still with me, that's nice. Thanks for that. Now time to do some explaining behind that statement.
Sins and Vegetables
Faith is, in my opinion, good for you, like eating your vegetables, or like doing well in school; it's an integral part of a good life. Grace is meant to assist in making you who God made you to be, and you'll be a fuller, happier person as a result of humbling yourself to it.
That said, would you actively declare yourself superior to another person for not eating their vegetables? It's unhealthy, sure, but would you take a pedestal and talk down to them, devalue them as a human being, for choosing a tasty fillet-o'-fish over some carrots?
Or, to put it in another perspective, would you actively praise someone for eating their vegetables? Would you do any of the above, for that matter, if the person you were putting down had been taught from youth not to eat their vegetables?
Of course not!
Heal the wounds...and find out what causes them.
This year, Pope Francis declared, will be recognized by the Roman Catholic Church as a year of mercy. That's not a coincidence. When we think of pride, we usually put it into the perspective of "I'm too proud to practice abstinence" or "I'm too proud to worship a God." Those are bad things, but so is saying "I don't think you're worth my time because you're not as religious as I am" or "I think you're going to Hell for your regular, daily lifestyle."
If a person is sinning and actually doesn't know it, there's nothing wrong with talking to them as a friend. But there's a pretty massive difference between saying "I think what you're doing is unhealthy" and "you're going to burn in Hell." It's God's job to decide who is going where and why, so unless you can claim to know God through and through, don't do his job for him.
Pope Francis once put it like this:
The thing the church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful; it needs nearness, proximity. I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars! You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else. Heal the wounds, heal the wounds. ... And you have to start from the ground up.
You are Christ's hands, feet...and face.
In today's society, I find that the "wounds" I encounter, more and more often, are wounds of disillusionment. It's said that you're Jesus' hands and feet on Earth. If the metaphor follows, you're also his face and his mouth. And if that mouth is telling people that you are their enemy...imagine what that does to their image of Christ!
You're causing the wounds-not healing them!
Being a Christian is not easy. Being a perfect Christian is harder. Jesus was born as a carpenter, not as a king, and he died nailed to a piece of wood, practically naked, as people auctioned off his clothes in front of his mom. The honest truth is that Christianity is not supposed to get you anything more than a good conscience in this world. If you claim it does, that it makes you somehow superior to everyone else, not only are you lying but you're actively sinning. You are not God. It's our Church, not your church or my church.
"Then why should I even be religious?"
Because God's revelation is beautiful, true, and can assure eternal life.
Not sure if you're one of the people described in this article? Here's a good test. Next time you kneel down to pray, stop yourself and check. Are there people around? Are you in a public place? Does somebody know that you're praying? Do you think someone might hear you? If so, stop. Don't tell anyone when you're going to do it, but find a quiet, private area and shut the door. Pray by meditating, or repeating words mentally.
Do you still want to pray?
