Thursday, October 8, 2009

Just Some Thoughts

I went to noon Mass at Our Lady of Mercy, Catholic Church in Baton Rouge today. As I was praying and contemplating the Wondrous Sacrament. I had a revelation - I feel that being at Mass is so comforting (like a home)and yet stimulating (even thought provoking). It is the place where philosophy(the how's and why's of life) meet theology (the how's and why's of God). It is fulfilling in that moment of God's grace yet I am always seeking more. The liturgy and all that surrounds me in this moment where I meet my Creator begs that I seek more of Him. In this mystery I am compelled to visit all the possibilities. Do I deserve to receive your graces, what can you do to me and for me and for all those whom I love and are blessed to be with?

After Mass I drove down Goodwood Blvd and passed by the Unitarian Church of Baton Rouge. They have one of those new fangled signs that scrolls messages to the public passerbyes. It read
MANY BELIEFS...ONE COMMUNITY...A BETTER WORLD... That is so much in tune with secular thinking especially relativism. It is not what Jesus Christ taught. Jesus said : "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through Me." Also what happens in this community when beliefs contradict each other or are mutually exclusive.? We'll just ignore it or grit our teeth and bear it. Is not the very definition of a community that it has commonality? Is one to believe that the common thing that bonds this community is that anybody can believe anything? That is a diluted form of faith which does not aspire to know anything. It is as wrong as faith without reason. There is nothing that is unifying in the "Unitarian". You may as well be members of a coffee club or the Red Hat Society. The paradox is that the multiple beliefs, in the spirit of "openness" stifles growth and does not in itself unite people. The Church that I belong to is catholic - it is universal. We span the globe, there are slight variations, but the liturgy of our worship is the same. There is unity because we believe that the magisterium, which through Sacred Scripture and the guidance of the Holy Spirit along with two thousand years of historicity teaches us our faith and it is true. The unity of our one belief is the common thing that binds us together.

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