This bit of writing was originally posted to my personal FB feed on May 10th. Decided today that I wanted to add this to my collection of writing.
Our faith in Christ should not be based on our faith in humans. Or what they do or don't do in our eyes. God gave us free will and we make some major missteps in judgement. Leaders tend to fail us. They often make choices that at times we question. If we belong to the faith on the understanding of what humans do. Then we will never be happy in our walk. We will become discouraged and disillusioned. We will always see the flaws and mistakes that we feel are being made. Never seeing the good going on around us. Instead we become bitter and angry. To the point that at every Priest, Bishop, or Pope that sneezes wrong we will spend our days grumbling about it.
We have to have a deeper faith than that. It has to be about Christ and the Eucharist. Which for all who say they are Catholic should be the source and summit of our faith. We should know in our hearts what God has done for us. Even in our own missteps. Which for some can feel like an epic mountain to move past. God gave us this amazing gift of free will. Some times we abuse it in ways that are purely evil. You look though out history and you see what has taken place. In each generation we have had great leaders and then we've also had our share of rotten trees. The church has had to content with many scandals, heresies, and even a schism or two. Some of them recent. We've seen in our history great leaders. We've also seen some vile ones. But our faith in Christ should not be based on that. If it is then we are going to be broken and hurt.
The challenge is riding out these storms and remaining faithful to God. It is not always easy, even for me, when it seems that news keeps getting worse and we feel that leadership isn't doing anything. More so with some of the more recent controversies. For me, personally, I've follow the path of Pause, Reflect, and Pray.
By stepping back from social media (Pause) for a bit. So that my anxiety and anger is not being fueled. So that I can have a better handle of what it is that I am seeing. Which then leads me into reflecting on God's blessings in my own life. That no matter what evil or injustice that we see. Christ has already won the victory. To open my heart deeply as to why I remain Catholic. Then lastly to spend time in deep spiritual prayer. Praying that our leaders would be guided by the Holy Spirit. That they would uphold the teachings of the faith with Mercy and compassion. That we ourselves would also uphold those same teachings. More so in this current world.
History can teach us a lot of things. We know the kinds of crisis we see with in the church are not anything new. It is how we chose to deal with them that makes the difference. Do we stand with Christ. Or do we turn our backs. The choice has always been ours to make. For me, I have trust in God. Even when things look bad.
