Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
January 17, 2016
Spiritual Ponderings
Loving The Church

Perhaps one of the reasons why it is so hard to love the Church is because it is so familiar. The phrase “familiarity breeds contempt” comes to mind. When we first get something we see that something as special and unique but over time though it becomes just another part of our lives. Moving into a new house is exciting but the same house will eventually become mundane. Going to a new school can be scary but eventually you get the routine down. I almost wish people would have to change parishes once every five years so that could be shaken out of their complacency. Let us continue looking at our 10 ways to love the Church.

5. Stonewalling
One of the worst things that can happen in a marriage is when an argument ends with what some counselors call stonewalling. Stonewalling refers to the moment when one person withdraws from an argument because they are too hurt to continue on. Sometimes people do this when it comes to Church teaching because it is easier to live in their error than to change their lifestyle in order to avoid sin. The best way to avoid stonewalling personally is to stay engaged in learning more about the Church’s teachings that you do not understand. I have found it helpful to talk to teachers from the local university and the seminary about things that I struggle with. I often walk away amazed at the wisdom behind the Church’s teaching that I could not see before.

“The more knowledgeable we become, the more we realize our limitations. Only ignorant people believe their knowledge is unlimited.” – Cardinal Van Thuan.

The God we worship as Catholics is the Deus Absconditus (The God who is hidden or unknowable) and the Deus Revelatus (the God who reveals himself to us). As I come to know others the more I spend time with them the more I get to know God the more I practice and study my faith. Part of the joy of faith is knowing that God is more than I can ever imagine.

6. Being Honest With God
Characters like Job, “curse the day that I was born…” (Job 3) and Jeremiah, “you duped me O Lord, and I allowed myself to be duped,” (Jeremiah 20:7) have shown me the power of being honest with God. The more that I am honest with God about my frustrations with His Church, the more I walk away with a sense that God’s wisdom is beyond me. In addition, I discover that a lot of my frustration with the Church often comes from wounds that I need God to heal. The more that I am honest with God, the more that I can ask him for healing.

“A spirituality of imperfection suggests that the first prayer is a scream, a cry for help. “O God, come to my assistance / O lord, make haste to help me,” reads Psalm 70, sung for over a millennium and a half at the beginning of each monastic hour.” From: The Spirituality of Imperfection: Storytelling and the Search for Meaning. By Ernest Kurtz & Katherine Ketcham.

It is nice to know that God will not leave me no matter how angry I get. God’s love is unconditional. The more honest I am in my relationship with God the more we grow closer together.

7. Praying the Old Testament
Following the story of David and his dealing with Saul or praying over the passages of Moses and Joshua leading the Israelites into the Promise land has become a fruitful part of my prayer when I am growing angry with the Church because I can see from the very beginning that God has never chosen perfect people to be his followers or to be the leaders of His people.

Reading the Old Testament we learn just how faithful God is and how much more awesome His plan is for us. We also learn though that life is not always easy for God’s chosen people. This is not because God is punishing the people in the Old Testament but because there turning away from God is them turning away from the source of life, light, and power. I can’t blame anyone else when I pull the chord out of the outlet because I have taken the vacuum cleaner to far from the outlet.