I was reading the Weekly Message from Bud Macfarlane of Catholicity.com and when he got down to point three, there were some thoughts I'd never considered before:
3. Warning: what follows might blow your mind. I recently heard a talk by my friend Steve Habisohn (who started the Gift Foundation) in which he pointed out something that I had never heard before and you probably haven't heard either. He asked himself: What three things distinguish the Catholic Church from all other Christian faiths? Surprisingly, he had to reject his initial reaction that the list would include Mary and the Eucharist because the schismatic Eastern rites accept both, and even Anglicans and Lutherans believe that Christ is present in the Eucharist (although they do not fully accept Catholic definitions of these dogmatic truths and reject the apostolic succession necessary for valid liturgical consecration).Yesterday was a long day. Michelle called at 3:45 and said Claire just told her we were to go to an IJS spring concert at 6:15. Oh.... OK. It's amazing how she never mentioned an iota about the concert for the past week. I tried to wrap up work quickly and got home around 5:30. We took separate cars to the school because after the concert I had to attend an RCIA team wrapup meeting at the rectory next door. I got home around 9PM and was hungry from the lack of dinner. I ate some takeout from Wendy's while Michelle and I discussed school for Claire next year.THREE UNIONS
Steve eventually came up with three answers: The Pope, No Divorce, and No Contraception. Steve had an additional insight regarding what all three truths have in common, and it has electrified me ever since. Steve pointed out that all three teachings are fundamentally about UNION. The Pope unifies the Body of Christ in authority and teaching. The indissolubility of marriage ensures the union of man and woman in "one flesh" and is the foundation for all family life and civilization itself. Openness to the transmission of life in the marriage bed ensures that the biological and supernatural union between man and wife will bring new life. The fruit of this last union is literally awesome: the marital act may bring forth a unique child who is eternally ensouled. I beg you: ponder these realities. Write down UNION=LIFE on a post-it note and put it on your mirror. There is no "life" without "union." There is no salvation without union. There is no authority or truth without bishops who teach and govern in union with the Holy Father.CONCEPTION
Conversely, the evil one will always try to destroy supernatural unions by tempting us to divide from each other; by tempting us to divide from the truth and tempting us to divide from the Church. He will even try to divide us from our wives and our husbands and children. He will try to drive a wedge between Christ's bishops and their flock. Beware of dis-union. Another word for "union" is "conception." Contra-ception is literally a dis-union between love and life. Conception, on the other hand is life-from-love. The Immaculate Conception, Our Lady, is the fruit of the Holy Trinity's love for us which bore Jesus into history, and gave the world both the hope and means for eternal life and eternal union with His Father. The Holy Trinity is a union. Even unto Himself, God is both One and a Union of Persons.MYSTERY
Wow. I don't claim to fully comprehend these mysteries which I nevertheless believe, but I wanted to present Steve's insights to you as a theological gift today, even if I expressed them poorly. There is power in the truth. There is power in union. ...
OK, one last awesome quote from St. Ignatius Loyola:
"There are very few people who realise what God would make of them if they abandoned themselves into his hands, and let themselves be formed by his grace."That is our struggle, isn't it?