Mr. Hunt begins this chapter with the story of finding a trunk in his grandmother's "basement" full of old pictures of his family long past... but no way to find out who they were, when they lived or what they had done in their lives. My grandparents have a picture in their home of my great-great-great grandfather who fought in the Civil War... but I can't remember his name at all. I also have pictures from when I went to camp 25 years ago... and for the life of me, I can't remember the names of most of the people in them. They must have been important to me at one time because I desired to keep an image of them to remind me of our good times in the future...
How easily we can forget.
And how long before our pictures are the ones future generations are puzzling over?
It wasn't until Mr. Hunt met John Fisher and Thomas More who stood up for the Truth to a king in the face of certain death that it finally began to sink in who the saints were, that they were Catholic, and that theirs was a faith much, much deeper than his own. I, too, am a protestant convert, and it really was a bit scary to start learning about the Catholic faith because I knew where it could lead... to the Church herself... and I knew the consequences that could ensue with loss of friends, loss of family, and loss of what I have known regarding Christianity my whole life. But it was well worth it all.
One of my favorite things that I learned after coming to the Church is discussed in this chapter... the saints. I was always taught that the "great cloud of witnesses" was just the angels... not the saints. Sure, we knew that our beloved dead were "in heaven" provided they had "got saved", but that's where it ended. They no longer had anything to do with us here on earth, their job was done. We were taught that we would all have "jobs" in heaven, none of this nonsense about sitting on a cloud playing a harp for eternity - but no one ever really had a good explanation of what those "jobs" were. I don't know enough adjectives to describe the jubilation and satisfaction I had when I learned what the Catholic Church teaches about the saints - that they are with us NOW, that they work with us HERE, that they pray for us WITHOUT CEASING. We have a whole family of believers out there praying for us, working with God on our behalf, pricking our conscience and encouraging us - our spiritual cheerleaders. We have names to go with the faces, statues and paintings of their images preserved over centuries to remind us of their lives and how they lived for Christ. It really is amazing to me that the Church has kept so much information for us to know about our brothers and sisters in the faith over so many centuries, and I can't even remember the names of friends from 25 years ago. It's actually pretty awesome to know that my grandfather (a very godly man and an incredible example to me growing up) is praying for me, can listen when I talk to him, and is engaged in my life right now, even though he died over 10 years ago... now THAT'S comforting!
Like Allen, I have also encountered the accusation of worshiping the saints. To answer that, I reply with what I read a blog recently that had said something to the effect that, "Whatever you worship will decorate the walls of your home." Now, while I do have statues of Mary and a couple of saints, I also have some crucifixes... and a picture from my wedding, pictures of my son, pictures of my husband, pictures of my siblings, my parents and my in-laws... Now, I don't worship my husband or my son or my siblings, parents or my in-laws... but I love them and I appreciate them, I love to be reminded of them and the times we've been together, I also know that they love me and are praying for me even though they are not with me right then. It's the same with the saints. We honor war heroes with statues... why not spiritual heroes with statues? We honor great politicians with statues... why not great theologians with statues? Once you point out the hypocrisy of those making the accusations, they usually stop!
I also completely identify with Allen's frustration with the sense that pervades protestantism of it's just "me and Jesus trying to run the race". There was always this mantra that "Jesus is all I need".... but if it was not good for Adam to be "alone" even though he was with God, have things really changed? I always felt as if I was floundering in the sea without a life-vest, just flying by the seat of my pants and blown about by whatever whim sounded the most "spiritual" at the time, hoping against hope that I had it right this time. Hence the reason Mr. Hunt also points out that the basement is also the foundation for the house. I am so glad to have my house truly built on the Rock of the Catholic Church now... I'm 100% sure I have it right this time.
St. Frances of Rome
Ahh.. "the split P's". You have to love them! Each new church or movement, borne of some conflict or personal opinion stakes out its own claim to truth. I can assure you that many - if not most - of our protestant friends at some point in their lives question the origin and authority of their church. That is when they usually fall back into their ..."justification by faith" universal defense. Those of us who had the courage, conviction and, in some cases, desperation to seek out the Truth can readily identify with Allen Hunt’s “Heat on a Bridge Post” presentation.
ReplyDeleteI was thirteen years old when I attended my first Mass in, of all places, in the Bronx of Brooklyn, in the City of New York. I was young, I was impressionable, I was ignorant, but I was not so insulated by my Protestant up bring as to be totally numbed from the wonderful spirit that I felt and experienced during that Mass. As Allen encourages us to do, I looked around the niches and chapels of that church. I saw the statures, stained glass windows and icons of the believers and saints of our Church that have gone before us. During the Latin Mass, I had no idea what the Liturgy of the Word being said was, but I felt the presence of Christ, of the Saints, and of the spirit of the parishioners in that church. It was the catalysis that would lead to my conversion to Catholicism.
St. Anthony of Padua
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny and kind of sad that after the Protestant church protested against the Catholic church, it started protesting against itself basically (or should I say "itselves")?
ReplyDeleteNow we have churches that call them-selves "nondenominational" or churches, such as the Unitarian Church, where it seems like "anything goes". That is one of the reasons I am glad to be a member of a church that stands for something and has standards and does require sacrifice. We should be so grateful to the handful of people who have chosen to be priests and nuns and monks for dedicating their lives to us! They are sacrificing for our sakes and so much good is being done with their help. I am so glad my children have had these examples before them as they grew up so that they can see the power of sacrifice for what you believe in instead of the wishy-washy moral relativism that is destroying so many lives today. Thank you to Monsignor Herbert, Father Adam, the nuns who have come to Notre Dame, the priests who lead the Newman Center, and the other priests in Chattanooga who have touched our lives and forged a path for my children to be enlightened with. Their sacrifice is a daily blessing to my family.
One of my favorite devotions is to sing the litany of saints (when no one can hear...). There are a couple of versions on iTunes. Most of the saints named I know about but some not, and it's my goal to be familiar with all of them for they each have lessons to teach. If you haven't tried that particular devotion, give it a whirl. Martha (who is in the Litany...)
ReplyDeleteOh, I love this! What a great idea! I can just visualize someone singing this in their car as they go down the road and everyone thinking some rock music is on! I love to put "The Prayer" by Charlotte Church and Josh Groban on the car CD and play it over and over (to the chagrin of my family at times), but this sounds even better! Also, playing "Ave Maria" by Perry Como over and over and over is so calming and inspiring. When you just feel like you can't take anymore, any of these will help! I love that in "The Prayer" the lyrics are for God to guide us when we don't know what to do just like He would guide a child....so we are following his wishes for us, not our own! (As if I ever know exactly what to do!) I drive so far into work, now I will be singing saint names as I go!
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