The late Father Richard Neuhaus put it this way when comparing the faith of a Catholic compared to that of a Protestant, “For the Protestant, the act of faith is an act of faith in Christ, and only then, if at all, is it an act of faith in the Church. They are two acts of faith. For the Catholic, the act of faith in Christ and His Church is one act of faith” (Catholic Matters, p. 75). This leads the Protestant to finding a Church that agrees with one’s own interpretation of the Bible, reducing the faith to the choice of the consumer.

The Church, when compared to such a reduction, begins to look like a labyrinth, with all its rules and traditions, its so-called accretions from the perceived simplicity of the early Church. If the Church is allowed to be reduced to nothing more than a community of like-minded people, then the Catholic Church, to borrow from the former Cardinal Ratzinger, “has nothing to do with faith or is perceived as an obstacle to it: ‘faith, yes; Church, no. Christ, yes; Church, no’” (Dogma and Preaching, p. 21).

However, the Church, if it really is the Church established by Jesus Christ, cannot be reduced. Rather, the Church is always “More” not “Mere” as it regards the faith (See Father Dwight Longenecker, More Christianity). What does it mean to say the Church is always “More”?  Take, for example, Christian hope. To the Protestant this means we will go to heaven when we die, we will be resurrected on the last day and spend eternity with God. The Catholic believes at least that, but more than that. Our hope is that we will share in the very life of God, beholding God as He is, participating in the divine nature. Take grace as another example. Protestants typically conceive of grace as primarily medicinal and restorative. The Church says grace is fundamentally participation in the divine life. What of the Sacraments? Protestants, by and large, accept but two, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Church teaches that there are seven Sacraments. Protestants believe that Scripture alone is the sole rule of faith. The Church recognizes the Sacred Tradition of the Church alongside Sacred Scripture as the rule of faith. The list could go on but you get the point: the Protestant faith is always “less” to the Catholic faith’s “more”.

Why is it that Protestantism is always “less” to the Catholic Church’s “more”? Pope Benedict XVI, writing as Cardinal Ratzinger, writes of a four-fold standard that provides the Church with the necessary vitality to be “more”, that is, to be more alive and open to the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. The four-fold standard of the Church’s preaching and teaching is: 1. The Scripture as the unique norm of the Church’s faith, 2. The Creeds of the Church as the expression of the Church’s faith, 3. The living Magisterium of the living Church as the rightful interpreter of the Church’s faith, and 4. The faith of the faithful in their particular context as the lived reality of the Church’s faith (Dogma and Preaching, p. 26-27).

The first of these standards is the Scripture’s unique importance in the Church because it alone is the sole book of the Church. The Scripture is the soul of sacred theology because sacred theology is dependent upon the Scripture (Dei Verbum, para. 24). Pope Benedict XVI explains that, “where theology is not essentially the interpretation of the Church’s Scripture, such a theology no longer has a foundation” (Verbum Domini, para. 35). Following St. Jerome, the Church maintains that “ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ,” because the Scripture testifies of Christ and bears witness of Him, as Jesus Himself states (John 5:39).

The second standard is the Creeds of the Church. The creeds of the Church express the Church’s faith in a binding way (Dogma and Preaching, p. 26). The creeds of the Church provide the grounding in which to understand the depth of the Scriptural revelation. While it is true that one could arrive at very important insights and understanding apart from the Church by studying Sacred Scripture, “one cannot ultimately understand the Bible as opposed to the Church” (Dogma and Preaching, p. 38). The binding authority of the Church as expressed in the creeds provides the necessary and sure anchor that prevents the Scripture from becoming the play thing of the academy and the weapon of choice for the fundamentalist. The creeds alone prevent the Scripture from being reduced to a subjective authoritarianism, to paraphrase the late Father Louis Bouyer. Such subjective authoritarianism explains the various sects and denominations that exist, all of whom claim the Bible for their various beliefs and practices. Pope Pius XI says of these various Christian groups that, “A good number of them, for example, deny that the Church of Christ must be visible and apparent, at least to such a degree that it appears as one body of faithful, agreeing in one and the same doctrine under one teaching authority and government; but, on the contrary, they understand a visible Church as nothing else than a Federation, composed of various communities of Christians, even though they adhere to different doctrines, which may even be incompatible one with another” (Mortalium animos, para. 6).

The third standard is the living Magisterium of the living Church. The Church is a living reality with a structure given to her by her Divine Founder, Christ Himself. The Magisterium serves the Universal Church providing the genuine interpretation of the Church’s faith. If there was no living Magisterium of the Church, the Church would be relegated to the past and stuck in it, unable to assist the faithful by shedding light, divine light, on matters of great urgency. The Church’s faith is always continually facing new challenges and unforeseen questions. The living Magisterium, as the rightful interpreter of the faith, provides the faithful with guidance and direction needed to address such moral issues as embryonic stem cell research, end of life issues (especially as it regards what is ordinary or extraordinary care), in vitro fertilization, contraception and so much more. Those who have cut themselves off from the guidance and direction of the living Magisterium of the living Church lack this necessary guidance in making such decisions concerning such matters.

The fourth standard of the Church is the concrete faith of her communities. The Church, who is one and universal, is also many and particular.  The Church’s universal faith is brought to life in its particular manifestations in the world. If this were not so, the Church’s faith would be an abstraction, an idea and not a lived and practical reality, “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (Deus Caritas Est, para. 1). The core of the Church’s faith remains in tact but its various manifestations can be and are diverse. Various devotional practices might be more popular in one place than another. The Liturgy, though having an internal reality, as it is practiced and experienced, is diverse, with various rites all having a home within the one Church. Because the Church is the Church, she is able to provide a place for diversity while retaining her unity.

Lastly, it behooves me to close with another significant difference between the “less” of Protestantism and the “more” of Catholicism. This difference has to do with the Church as “Mother.” The Catholic understands the Church not as a something, but as a someone, “Mother.” Thus, as Mother, the Church can and does guide the faithful, not as a tyrant, but as a Mother, with maternal concern for the eternal destiny of her children. Like any Mother, the Church never tires of introducing others to her Son, Jesus Christ, the Lord of the world and its only Savior. This conception of the Church as Mother is rooted in the fact of Mary, the Mother of Christ and Mother of the Church. The Church, like Mary, listens to and receives the word of God, meditates and reflects upon that word, cherishing it within her heart, telling herself and others to do whatever Jesus says. As we close the season of Advent and prepare to enter the season of Christmas, let us remember that the eternal and infinite God humbled Himself to share in our humanity, in order that we, though temporal and finite, might be exalted to share in His divinity.

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These categories of person flow out of an Incarnational ecclesiology. We see this duality in the life of our Lord. He is both the manifestation of God’s faithfulness to humanity and humanity’s faithfulness to God. Jesus Christ is God’s answer to man and He is man’s answer to God, as Pope John Paul II said, “Jesus Christ is the answer to the question that is every human life.” He is the good Shepherd (John 10), the way, the truth and life (John 14) and He is also the obedient Son who desires to do the Father’s will (John 4:34; 5:30). The implications of this participatory Christology are evidenced in the life of the Church. Christ is the one who received the promised Holy Spirit (Acts 2:33), thus, the Church receives the Holy Spirit (John 14; 16; Acts 2). Christ is the Chief Shepherd (1st Peter 5:4) thus, the Church has under-shepherds (1st Peter 5:2). Christ is the faithful, obedient and humble Son, thus, the Church is called to model His life (Phil 2:1-11). Christ is the King, thus, the Church has a Prime Minister (Is 22; Matt 16). The salvation that our Lord wrought came through suffering (Heb 2:10; 1st Pet 2:20-24) thus, the Church is called to share in and complete His suffering for (Acts 9; Rom 8:17; 1st Peter 2:20; 2nd Cor 4:10-11; Col 1:24).

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Becoming Catholic or in my case coming back home to the Church is so hard to explain to those who find such horror when they look in the face of the Church. They just do not get it, for whatever reason. For me being Catholic is so rich, so lively. I think of cannoli and ravioli, and red wine, laughter, piazzas, feast days, families (indeed large ones) all held together by the love of the living God made known in the face of Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit.

Being Catholic is sitting in the family room, praying the Rosary, as your three year old hits his eleven year old brother or one child prays his decade a bit faster. It’s daily mass, sitting with the young and old, who have a simple faith. They really believe that God is there, yes, the Lord of the Universe is there.

It is the 24/7 365 Adoration Chapel, that is even scheduled with the faithful during the Easter Triduum, as men just getting off their shift — still in their work clothes — come to spend an hour before Him who holds all things together. It is the mom, with her six kids at home, who takes that precious hour, when she could go shop or grab some coffee, and sits at the feet of the Master, her Lord, much like Mary of old. It is the old couple, who can barely walk, with shriveled bodies, who come to have some time with the Lord. It is the man, who has buried three kids and then his wife, who in the midst of it all clings to his Lord. It is the mom who, after losing her daughter and then her son, finds consolation for her heart in the Virgin at the Cross who hears the words, “and a sword will pierce your soul.” It is the man watching his father die an agonizing death who sees in this suffering the sufferings of Christ, that nothing, not even the last moments, are wasted, but in some way through this, all things will be made new. It is witnessing the man receive for his last bit of food not the bread of this world, but the bread of the angels. Oh to be Catholic…

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At the end of the day, the purpose of Theology is not to fill ourselves with lots of knowledge for knowledge’s sake, but to encounter and experience a deeper intimacy and love for the living God in the face of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. The prologue of the Catechism of the Catholic Church opens by quoting the high priestly prayer of Jesus Christ, “Father, … this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) One of the ways that we experience this deeper intimacy with God is through prayer. While it is a truth that prayer is imperfect in which one is aware that one is praying¹, it is helpful to know the different types of prayer that are available for the Christian to make use of in the living out of the faith.

The great spiritual doctor of the Church, St. Francis de Sales, writes, “The ancient Fathers note that there are three kinds of prayer, namely, vital prayer, mental prayer, and vocal prayer.” It is these three types of prayer that we shall briefly discuss. First, let us consider vocal prayer. Vocal prayer is the prayer that one prays with the mouth joined with the heart. St. Francis points out that this type of prayer is first conceived internally in the heart and then expressed with the lips. Just as there are three types of prayer, there are also three types of vocal prayer: Commanded, Recommended, and Optional. Commanded vocal prayers are the Our Father, the Creed and, if you are a priest or religious (a member of a religious order), the Divine Office. Recommended prayer is the Rosary, reciting of the Angelus and other spiritual devotions or, in the case of the laity, praying parts of the Divine Office. Optional prayer might be a prayer that you pray extemporaneously (e.g. I begin every class I teach with prayer, sometimes it might be a recommended prayer like the Our Father, Hail Mary or Glory Be, or it might be something that I express to God in the moment).

Next we turn our attention to Vital prayer. Vital prayer as the name suggests has to do with making our lives a prayer to God. It is very easy for us to compartmentalize our lives. We have our time for God, our time for work/study, for family, and for leisure. This breakdown of our day is unnecessary and can be disastrous. A priest once counseled me wisely in the confessional, “do not let your prayer become part of the ‘to do list’.” Father’s point: prayer is at the heart of who I am, not just some aspect or dimension of my life. Vital prayer is the making of everything we do, from work and study, to recreation with the family, household chores, changing diapers, yes, changing diapers, into a prayer to God. We need to heed the words of St. Paul, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1  Corinthians 10:31) For the Apostle it is possible to do such basic things and bring glory to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ tells us that if we give just a cup of water in his name we will not lose our reward (Mark 9:41).

The last kind of prayer that we will discuss is Mental prayer. Mental prayer flows forth from the wells of vocal and vital prayer. In fact, there is a connection between vital prayer and mental prayer in that both require us to be aware that we are always in the presence of God, as the Psalmist says, “where shall I flee from your presence?” (Psalm 139:7). Father William Most writes, “To set the stage for any mental prayer, it is highly desirable to first try to recall the fact that we are, even though we are not always aware of it, in the presence of God our Father. If we could live in the constant realization of that presence, what a difference it would make in our lives!” St. Paul tells us to “pray constantly.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) How can anyone pray constantly, or as the NASB puts it, “without ceasing”? We have things to do, chores to get done, people to see. I cannot pray without ceasing, or can I? Why does Paul say this and what does he mean? First, as we already stated concerning vital prayer, Paul believes such basic tasks as eating and drinking can bring glory to God because there is nothing hidden from God. Since God sees everything, he knows our thoughts as well, again it is the Psalmist who writes, “you discern my thoughts from afar.” (Psalm 139:2)

Mental prayer is the habit of engaging God with the mind. This type of prayer can be engaged in at all times. To give a concrete example of how this may work itself out in our lives, you might take a concept about God, for example, his holiness, and reflect on this throughout the day. St. Paul alludes to this practice when he writes, “be transformed by the renewal of your mind,” (Romans 12:2) and, “take every thought captive to obey Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5) Mental prayer is an active engagement with the reality of God in the very deepest core of our being. We see this at play in the life of Mary, the Mother of God. St. Luke records for us that Mary pondered the things said of her Son in her heart (Luke 2:19; 51). This pondering of the Virgin Mother is nothing but mental prayer.

As we sojourn toward the heavenly city, may we set our minds on the things above and not the things of earth (Colossians 3:1-2). May we rise each day uniting ourselves, in the words of the morning offering, with the holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. For the highest form of prayer that we can pray is the prayer of Christ as revealed in the Sacred Liturgy.

1. http://www.tanbooks.com/doct/francis_prayer.htm

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The scene shifts to a melancholy band of men. They are gathered in a home, finally out of harm’s way, pondering the last 12 hours or so. They have that ‘day after’ look on their faces, the feeling one gets when the adrenalin settles down and you begin to pick up the pieces, trying to sort out what is going on. They talk amongst themselves in hushed tones, the kind of talk one engages in when they are reflecting. They wrestle with the strange events that they have witnessed, not only from the night before, but the last three years of their lives. They are trying their best to make sense of it all. They shake their heads and say, “But we heard His words…We heard Him say He was the One…We saw Him heal many…He even calmed the seas…” A lonely voice in the room pipes in, “Yeah but what about last night…that was strange wasn’t it? I mean He started talking about His body being broken…and then, of all things, His blood being poured…Remember that time when He said for us to eat His flesh and drink His blood?” Another one of the group chimes in, “I should have listened to His relatives…remember when they came for Him because they thought He was out of His mind? It was then I should have said I am leaving Him…three years of my life for what? So my countrymen can mock me and the Romans kill me!!!” A voice from the back speaks up, “Yeah that might all be true…maybe we were wrong but we should not have abandoned Him. We made a vow and swore to stay with Him and we fled…every last one of us.”

The story shifts to another character…a mother…weeping as she sees her Son being bound and whipped…bloodied and beaten…His face is beyond recognition…she can hardly look but she can’t look away…this is her Son. Thoughts rush in her mind like a tidal wave…thinking back to promises made to her concerning her Child. He will be a king and receive the throne of His father David and He shall be called the Son of the Most High. Her soul is aching as she drops to her knees from the pain…another thought overwhelms her…”a sword will pierce through your own soul”, she remembers. This Mother now can only watch as the lifeless body of Her beloved Son is placed into her arms. In the midst of this moment she holds to the hope that had been promised to her.

As I ponder about Jesus’ path to and his eventual crucifixion and death cry, “My God My God why have You forsaken Me” I am struck by the hidden power of God. So often we (or at least I) run the risk of thinking that in order for God to be at work it must be something outwardly glorious and obvious, but the cross tells us that is not often the case.

Pope John Paul II wrote in reference to this cry of Jesus, “On Calvary it came natural to Jesus to make use of the psalmist’s question to God when he felt completely worn out by suffering. But on Jesus’ lips the “why” addressed to God was also more effective in expressing a pained bewilderment at that suffering which had no merely human explanation, but which the Father alone held the key. . . the question contained a theological significance in regards to the sacrifice whereby Christ, in full solidarity with sinful humanity, had to experience in himself abandonment by God. . . Jesus also established a new manner of solidarity with us who are so often moved to raise our eyes and words to heaven to express our complaint and even desperation. In hearing Jesus crying out “why,” we learn indeed that those who suffer can utter this same cry, but with those same dispositions of filial trust and abandonment of which Jesus is teacher and model. There is no semblance of a reproach to the Father, but the expression of the experience of weakness, of solitude, of abandonment to himself, made by Jesus in our place. . . Jesus’ human soul was reduced to a wasteland. He no longer felt the presence of the Father, but he underwent the tragic experience of the most complete desolation. . . If sin is separation from God, Jesus had to experience in the crisis of his union with the Father a suffering proportionate to that separation. On the other hand in quoting the beginning of Psalm 22, which he perhaps continued to recite mentally during the passion, Jesus did not forget the conclusion which becomes a hymn of liberation and an announcement of salvation granted to all by God. . . From this thought his soul took strength and joy in the knowledge that at the very height of the drama of the cross, the hour of victory was at hand” (Jesus Son and Savior pp. 471-473).

The hidden power of God at work…the hidden power of God defeating the principalities and powers through the dirty, painful, and bloody death of a 1st century Jewish man named Jesus of Nazareth. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, for the glorious work of redemption. Amen.

Is this not the sentiment expressed by the Preacher?

“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to happen among those who come after. (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3,11).

For of the wise man as of the fool there is no enduring remembrance, seeing that in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. How the wise man dies just like the fool! So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after wind. (2:16-17).

For the fate of the sons of men and the fate of beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts; for all is vanity. All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dust again (3:19-20).

Indeed all is vanity and all is pointless, at least from a purely materialistic perspective. There is great grief in this world because this world has been infected by a foreign invader, namely sin and death. Sin and death are enemies, not our friends (1st Cor 15). Sin and death are not “things” we come to grips with, they are realities that need to be defeated.

When we look at life from a purely materialistic perspective, in short, as if this world is all there is, there are two basic postures we can take. One is to try to indulge ourselves with every whim and desire and attempt to make the best of a bad situation to find happiness. The other is to prefer death and non-existence for life is intolerable.

It is so easy to beat up the Existentialist, especially in its nihilistic form, yet, is that fair? It seems to me that apart from the belief in the One True and ever living God who has made Himself known in this world through Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, the nihilist is brutally honest about life and the way things appear to be. Indeed, apart from the revelation of God in Christ by the Spirit, then all would be vanity, pure vanity. Indeed this God is not the god who creates a world and then sits back and watches, in the words of the popular song, “from a distance”. This God is not the god who “runs” the world as an absentee landlord. No, this God is not a tame god and He is not a god that fits into our neat little categories. This God is not ashamed to be brought to the condition of the crushed and lowly. This God is not ashamed to take up residence in the womb of a Virgin. This God is not ashamed to call us His friends. This God is not ashamed to have nowhere to lay His head. This God is not ashamed to shed tears at the death of His friend. This God is not ashamed to weep over the city He loves. This God is not ashamed to cry in the garden drops of blood. This God is not ashamed to identify with the sinner and the forsaken by dying the death of forsakeness on a Friday afternoon. This God is not ashamed to give of His flesh and His blood as our food and drink for the life of the world. Indeed this God, the God we worship as Christians, indeed as Catholics, is not ashamed to meet with us everyday especially in the liturgy and say, “This is My Body broken for you, Take and eat, this is My Blood poured out for you, take and drink.”

Indeed, time is chasing after all of us and eventually overtakes us and then we become food for the worms. And if that were the final word, “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die.” But there is something more real than that. Indeed this reality defines and makes sense of all other reality. The God who is outside of Time has entered into time and gave of His flesh and blood for the life of the world. He gave His flesh and blood to us to be our food, the food that is the medicine of immortality. Indeed this is the God we celebrate this Lenten Season. This is the God who comes to us. This is the God who desires, as Pope Benedict recently reminded us, that we rid ourselves of the illusion of self-sufficiency. This is the God who enters our humanity and redeems it from the inside out and dare we say, invites us, poor, pitiable and feeble sinners that we are, to participate in His suffering in order to complete it, to fill it out, that in my suffering, your suffering, He is carrying out His redemption, in and through us.

Nothing is in vain, nothing, not a drop of suffering, as hard as it is, is wasted! As the late Monsignor Luigi Giussani said, “God took pity on our nothingness.” Why? He adds, “That He might give us everything.” This is the God not ashamed to shed some tears!!! And this is the God, who on that day, shall wipe clean every tear, and behold, make all things new!