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August 20, 2023: Incredible Things to Believe in our Faith
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I had a nice elderly lady blurt out to me a couple years back, “I don’t believe in the Assumption” (of Mary, of course). As she sat in the rectory that day because she wanted to address another issue that was important to her, I looked up behind her on the wall and saw a beautiful painting directly above her head of, yes, you guessed, the Assumption of Blessed Mary. I doubt very much she knew the painting was hanging over her head. But, as I like to say, God has a great sense of humor. So does his Mother, who has been assumed into heaven body and soul by the power, grace, and favor of God.
Sadly, the moment Mary of Nazareth died in her earthly body, which we never seem to refer to in our faith, unlike the death of her Son, it would have been very nice if this nice woman sitting in front of me that day had been 2000 years old and been a dear friend of Mary, there at her bedside as Our Lady was taken up. It would have been much easier to believe in the Assumption if we all were there when Blessed Mary was assumed by the hand of God at the moment of her death. Most of us have been present for the deaths of family members and maybe friends too, witnessing their death and subsequent burial. But we have not been present for the death of any of our ancestors who lived two millennia ago. I suspect that the nice elderly woman who made an appointment that day a couple years ago has an extremely hard time believing other parts of our faith that requires heartfelt, internal acceptance without seeing the actual event or evidence before our eyes. I also suspect this may be a struggle for too many Catholics who do internal battle with belief of the amazing things God has won for our benefit. And that of others.
What are some of those things that are hard to believe on faith alone? Wow! There’s a long list. Do you really believe, without seeing his face, hands, feet, and eyes, that Jesus is truly present in the Eucharist every time you receive the holy, consecrated host at the holy liturgy? I suspect that someone who rejects, for whatever reason, our Catholic teaching that Mary was not assumed into heaven body and soul, and that our Dear Lady lies in an unmarked grave or tomb somewhere in ancient Palestine (for we do not know the exact place of her death), well, such a person – even a good person – will struggle with internal acceptance and assent of the Lord Jesus’ presence, body, soul, and Divinity, in the Eucharist that feeds us our very Savior on the very same day of the week he walked out of his tomb. Common sense tells us that it’s much harder to believe Someone’s real divine body and soul is contained in a piece of bread after certain prayers are prayed by a validly ordained priest, than it is for God to assume Blessed Mary’s body and soul sky high to the highest heaven. This is why, I suspect, the Church of Christ is presently celebrating a “Eucharistic Revival…” Because, supposedly, there happens to be a very large number of us who see the host as symbolic of the presence of Jesus, rather than his actual and real presence. Which makes for a not-so-nice Protestant belief. It’s strange to yours truly how such lack of belief in the truth of the Eucharist seems to touch every generation to some degree when we have so much unfettered Eucharistic devotion from many, many Saints for 20 centuries. Personally, I prefer to listen to the Saints in heaven over and above a culture-effected nonbeliever who blurts out things for the sake of rebelling.
To continue the list, is it not hard to believe that Jesus is raised from the dead? When’s the last time you witnessed or heard of a long-dead body (not just a few minutes, but more like days and days dead) receive back its life-breathe and return to its normal, daily routine? If you’ve witnessed such a thing, I’m all ears. It appears it may be a slight bit easier than believing the same Jesus is present in the Holy Eucharist, body, soul, and Divinity. You may disagree with me, all 5 of you readers, of the level of difficulty that exists between belief in the Eucharist when placed aside belief in the Lord’s resurrection. But either way, both of these fundamental Catholic beliefs are off the charts unbelievable, meaning hard to believe on the surface. But, we don’t live on the surface with our Catholic faith. If you do, then you’re going to make an appointment with a priest to inform him you don’t believe in the Assumption of Mary as a painting of Mary’s Assumption hangs over your head and God is laughing at you. Then, when you stand up from the couch on which you’re sitting and happen to turn around (it’s really the Holy Spirit turning you around) and see Mary’s painting that was above your head, you’re going feel like a fool. As you should.
But back to the Resurrection: is it possible for any man, woman, or child to walk out of a tomb after 3 days of death, or 30 days of death, or 3 years after dying, or 3 billion years after death? Any amount of time in days and months? As St. Paul likes to write: “Of course not!” We know it’s not possible for any person to return from real death and pick up where they left off. We know it’s final. No one needs to teach us what we’ve learned from experience. Sometimes through hard experience. But there he supposedly was, Jesus in all his resurrected glory appearing to his fearful Apostles in an Upper Room, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and God knows where else. How hard is it to accept the fullness of this belief that, as Jesus walked out of his tomb after three days, we too will be raised by him, given a body that will not die, look perfect in every way, know complete joy, never die again, and live in a forever condition where you will never have to give your spouse or child a hard time for anything? Well, without this belief, we cannot be Christian. As St. Paul writes so realistically in 1st Corinthians, “If Christ has not been raised, then empty too is our preaching; empty, too, your faith.” (As an aside, if you wish to read of your future hope, then please read 1st Corinthians, chapter 15). Yet, with large crowds attending Church on Easter Sunday, there must be something true about more Catholics believing in the Lord’s resurrection than the number who believe in the truth of the Eucharist. Otherwise, I suspect, they would be present every Sunday for the rest of their lives.
To continue on the line of incredible things to believe in our faith, how about God’s word being infallible. Meaning, divinely revealed? The world is on a roll on this issue. So many changes have been made to the Scriptures that God’s printing press in heaven is working overtime to correct all the mistakes we’ve made since the original edition was put forth. I pray we understand that God’s holy word and meaning does not change. I mentioned this absolute fact in a homily a couple weeks back. God’s word and teachings for the good of humanity cannot be altered or recolored. Have you ever tried to recolor something you already colored to perfection? What happens is the picture is no longer in its original state. The recoloring has made it something it was not originally meant to be. Sadly, as stated above with our world on a wayward roll on this topic, there is much “recoloring of Scripture” occurring before our eyes. This is why God’s Church has a Magisterium, a body of priests God has entrusted for the express purpose of passing on His truth from one generation to the next. It seems like there is a multitude of folks (many good-hearted, but on the wrong side of truth) who fail the test when it comes to believing the holy words of Scripture as given by God, through the writers, to his Church. It seems like there is an overabundance of people who call themselves believers (not only politicians by any means) who wish to be Thomas Jefferson. How so? Well, Thomas Jefferson removed this belief and that belief about who Jesus truly is, and by the time he took away everything he wished to take away about who Jesus really is, Jesus looked exactly like Thomas Jefferson. It’s not by coincidence Jefferson’s first name is Thomas, which means “twin.” Jefferson wanted Jesus for his twin, so he turned Jesus into one. In case you don’t know, this is backwards. We are to be Jesus’s twin. It’s also the sin of pride. Jefferson wrote a great Constitution, but he failed miserably in his attempts to re-write the Bible.
Questioning the truths of our faith, and not believing God’s word to be full proof in truth, I suspect this lack of belief affects just as many Catholics as does lack of belief in the great, holy truth of the Eucharist, the Resurrection, or the Assumption of Mary.
I give thanks and praise to God that such unbelief does not find space in human hearts at St. Anne’s Parish in Shrewsbury. If it happens to, I truly understand that we live at a time when powerful cultural forces are upon us, affecting how we think and act, and what we believe, as well as our desire to see all people happy in this world. As well as a few other reasons, I suspect. Our faith’s goal, however, is not to attain complete joy here, but joy in heaven.
I pray those who do struggle - like the nice, elderly lady in the opening paragraph - with a teaching we are called to adhere to in the beauty of our Catholic faith, that we will arrive at a better place of belief through the grace of God. Which is far better than having a painting of Mary’s Assumption, or Jesus with his Apostles at the Last Supper, or that of a Holy Bible opened to the verse, “Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying,” hanging over our heads. God has a good sense of humor, but may it not shine forth when it concerns some of the more unbelievable teachings of our faith which Christ has won for us.