It would be good to ask God why.
God’s
People has Historically Stumbled Consistently
The Israelites worshipped a golden cow
immediately after being freed from slavery and being fed in both extremely
unreal ways. Then they married those who God strictly forbade them to. In fact,
God was really close to having destroyed them. Thankfully the prophets seeked
mercy in their behalf. Yet no Bible student would question they were God's
chosen people.
And no, Jesus didn't set the Jews aside
despite these not-so-favorable events. Instead He came to be the fulfillment
and completion of God's promises to mankind through the Jews. So why were they
still God's people despite being a disappointment so many times?
Moving forward, we have Judas who betrayed
Jesus and never really understood Him. He could’ve been “allowed as a quiet
disciple”, yet Jesus still chose him as an Apostle despite knowing this fully.
Then there's Peter who denied Him three times! We tend to oversimplify his
denial a lot, but if you find someone you can really call a friend yet was not
even brave enough to be there for you when needed, that's really painful. John
was there. Why couldn't he? And yet He was still given the distinction of
having primacy amongst all others. Why?
Or let's go back to early Genesis. Adam
and Eve really screwed it up big time. All they had to do was not eat a fruit
and they'd have it made. How easy was that?! But they wanted to be gods. That's
basically telling God they don't need Him even after everything He's done. Yet
instead of starting fresh with a completely new sets of men and women, He chose
to continue building His family with them. Why?
I honestly don't know. It's one of the
mysteries of God's love we shouldn't question, and should just be grateful for.
He did say He came to call not the righteous, but the sinners to repentance. So
expect a lot of work in progress members of the Church.
More importantly, I know that God keeps
His promises, and He promised to build His church on Peter and the Apostles. If
that Church was gone at any point in time, Jesus was lying when He said the
gates of hell will not prevail against it. It may get wounded but it will not
be defeated.
Of course, Jesus didn't lie, but the
question remains, where is that Church? Let’s consider the facts.
The
Historical Church That Prevails
Which church can be traced way back to the
the early church? If you study the early church fathers, which church today
teaches and practices the same things as they did? We’re talking about those
who lived during the time of the Apostles, instructed by them, and lead the
church the early years. In the same way, which Church can be traced way back to
Peter?
The answers to these questions are the
same... the Catholic Church!
History clearly shows that the doctrines
and morals of the early Church are in line with the Catholic church, from the
way to worship to how Christians are to behave. In fact, the format of the Mass
is exactly how the early Church celebrated their identities, also having the
Eucharist at the center of their faith knowing fully that it is Jesus Himself,
and not a mere symbol.
All the popes can be traced from the
current pope way back to Peter. Yes, there have been bad popes but they have
not definitively taught anything against God, because of God's gift of
infallibility to us (and I encourage you to learn more about that). Again, if
the lineage got broken, or if there was ever a time anyone absolutely had to
"rebuild a new church", than Jesus was lying.
Finally, it is the Catholic church that
shaped and defined the books of the Bible. There were multitudes of literature
flying around when Christianity was still young. Some were bad, some were good,
and some were confusing. How can a Christian know which to follow? It was only
after the Church spoke that everyone knew which books are divinely inspired and
which are not. No one questioned it afterwards until the 16th century. The
Bible didn’t fall from heaven. God gave it to us through the Catholic church.
The next question I'm sure is, "Okay, so it is the Catholic Church,
but how can one possibly be a happy Catholic with its empty practices? Does God
condemn all of us to be in a boring, ignorant and non-personal church? Sunday
masses are bad enough, but we’re not even being fed outside the Mass. Is that
how God’s church functions?"
Boredom
Doesn’t Really Matter
Let’s look at the Bible again. The
Israelites surely had a challenge keeping it for God, continuously going back
to the golden cow though it was clearly Yahweh who is God. They were bored and
doubtful of how things were going for them and wanted something else. Their
solution? Cow! Here was God bringing them miracles after miracles, and yet
Moses climbed up the mountain, and a cow emerged immediately!
Yet we all know, and so did they after
being reprimanded, that it is Yahweh who is God. They may not see God with
their eyes, and He may be asking them to sacrifice a lot, but nothing beats the
real thing. A cow, even if made of gold, will never spell G-O-D. It will never
love them and care for them as God would. But if God is the source of happiness
and love, how come the Israelites still weren’t content, and were even bold
enough to mock God?
First, following God meant letting go of
their comfort zones. They didn’t have food and shelter, and the Egyptians were
at their tail. How could God have brought them to that situation?
Afterwards, Moses left them to climb Mt.
Sinai. They felt abandoned and lost, and missed the pagan ways they were used
to. They wanted something instant and something that fits their way of
thinking. It started to get boring, so
they decided to make gods of their own.
But God did provide to them. Their lack of
faith just prevented them from knowing that. It probably did feel like their
long walk was not leading them anywhere, and the desert doesn’t really show
much of food and refreshment options. But they should’ve trusted that God had a
plan and was already working on them. Faith demands more from us, and we should
continue to trust God even if things doesn’t make sense for us.
God also didn’t leave them alone when
Moses went up. Aaron was left to care for them. He wasn’t Moses, but that
shouldn’t have mattered. It is not Moses nor was it Aaron alone who brought
them there. God brought them there. God asked them to wait while Moses was
away, but they let their impatience get the best of them.
Boredom is not a measure of God’s Church,
since it’s possible that we just missed or misunderstood something, or that we
are looking for the wrong things from what’s given. The problem with the
Israelites was that they shaped God in the image they made themselves. Instead
of listening to Him and His words through the prophets, they defined “god”
based on what made sense to them and what made them happy. But God’s ways are
not our ways, and the only way we can know Him--truly and fully--is by listening
to Him through His Church. Many will claim the Bible alone is the ultimate
guide, but the BIble itself tells us that interpreting the Bible is not a
private business (2 Pt 1:20). Just look at how many churches there are right
now claiming to be God’s church yet speaking of completely different things.
Looking at it from another angle, would
you give a loved one a gift based on what he said would make him happy, or
based on what you only assumed would make him happy? God gave instructions to
the Church on how we can grow nearer Him, and how we can love Him more. Why
assume something else? Why think that the Mass is not how God wants to be
worshipped, or that the times dictate how we should act? God taught us through
His Church. It doesn’t make sense to insist following otherwise.
But again, even if we’ve established that
God’s Church is Catholic, and boredom isn’t a measure of things, that probably
tells you that God has decreed boredom for all of us. I disagree.
Is
It Really Boring?
To paraphrase Fulton Sheen, “there are a few people who hate the Catholic
Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly believe to be the
Catholic Church.”
Ignorance translates to sadness, and lack
of understanding translates to boredom. However beautiful something is, if it
doesn’t make sense to us, it naturally won’t mean anything to us too. The
Catholic faith is very rich, but if we don’t understand them or don’t even know
what they really are from all the conflicting views we’ve heard, it’s natural
for us to immediately label it as “not my cup of tea”.
Unfortunately, it’s not a “whatever floats your boat” sort of
thing. Jesus did say, “I am the Way, the
Truth, and the Life”. He is the only way, and there is no truth and life
apart from Him. But He also said that those who follow Him will have their joy
complete (Jn 15:10-11). So what are we missing?
It isn’t a lie because Jesus said it. In
fact, we just need to look at the saints who loved Jesus and His Church so much
they still found peace and happiness even while being tortured to death. They’d
rather choose death than deny God and His Church. St. Tarcisius died protecting
“a piece of bread”. Heck, even Tolkien said his primary source of inspiration
to write the Lord of the Rings was his Catholic faith. Why? What did they see
to find joy in it?
I was born and baptized a Catholic, raised
a Catholic, and attended Catholic schools from grade school to college.
However, I’ll be the first to tell you that more than half of what I know about
my faith didn’t come from my parents and from school. I learned them reading
books and Church documents. But before learning more about my faith, I also
found it boring and meaningless.
For one, I grew up thinking the Eucharist
was a mere symbol of our faith. I’d tell myself, “of course, it’s cool to
imitate Jesus during the last supper during Mass” and that’s it. I would
eventually learn that there’s significantly more to the Eucharist (and the
“boring” Mass) than I ever imagined. It’s no exaggeration to say that things
were never the same after that realization. The Mass has since then always
exciting even if the priest is boring.
How about you? How much of the Catholic
Church do you really know? Have you read the Catechism of the Catholic Church?
Have you read the works of people like Frank Sheed? How about the works of
Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI? Have you tried Scott Hahn or Peter Kreeft?
Whatever you know about the Catholic Church, it’s worth asking where you got
them. Did they come from those who truly understand the Catholic faith and love
it, for a different perspective? When was the last time you asked yourself what
the Catholic Church truly believes?
Will
the Real Catholic Church Please Stand Up?
Unfortunately, it is not easy to know the
Truth nowadays. Not only are there many anti-Catholics spreading the wrong
information, there are also a lot of Catholics who are not exactly a beauty to
behold. We have a lot of Catholics who themselves don’t know their own faith.
Even worse, we have Catholics who don’t act as Catholics should.
However, God’s Church is not defined by
those who are not “real followers”. The authenticity of a medicine is not
measured by the health of those who don’t drink it or those who don’t drink it
properly. A game’s excitement can’t be measured when the only ones we’ve seen
are players who don’t know how to play the game.
Of course it will take more than a few
pages to even summarize what the Church teaches. But I challenge you to find
out what the Church is really about. What does the Church itself say about its
belief on the Eucharist? Why do Catholics say they don’t worship Mary and the
saints, despite insistence by anti-Catholics that they do? What does the
Purgatory really mean? Or why is the Holy Rosary not a repetitive prayer even
when it’s filled with very few formula prayers? Why confess your sins to a
priest?
Read the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Read Frank Sheed, Peter Kreeft, John Paul II and Ratzinger/Benedict XVI. Go to
catholicanswers.com. Go to a reputable priest. There’s a lot you can do, and
you owe it to God and yourself to do so.
Remember, if you love or want to fall in
love with God, getting to know Him and His Church comes with the package. The
more you know about Him, the more you’ll fall in love. And the more you love
Him, the more you’ll want to know about Him. There’s just no other way around
that. Anything else is just selfish and meaningless.
We
Need to Push as Well
Admittedly, some people will complain why
they didn’t hear about this before, or why no one challenged them to really
understand Catholicism. It is quite frustrating to realize you’ve not been fed
properly by the Church God entrusted. It’s fair to ask why your priest didn’t
give good and meaningful sermons, or why your Catholic teacher didn’t teach you
the Faith properly. Don’t worry. The Church is aware of that and the good men
in it are doing their best to build His Church. But remember, we are also a
part of that Church. That means we also need to do our part. Once we found the
Truth, it is our responsibility to tell the world of His love.
