A lay preacher made this a topic of his talk one day, and it made me really think.
My wife and I attended the Kerygma Feast last Sunday. Though I was a bit distracted by my son who wanted me to carry him (he's 5 years old for goodness sake), the message of the priest during the mass, and the message of Bo Sanchez in his talk after the mass went through.
First, the Gospel. The gospel last Sunday was about the wheat and the weeds. What struck me in the priest's homily was that, today, or these days, indeed we ourselves have difficulty distinguishing whether one is wheat or weeds. We may be adoring someone who looks like wheat, when in fact he's a weed.
God has allowed that, for he said to the angels who proposed that they uproot the weeds, "No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, 'First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.'"
Then the priest made a point, which somehow surprised me: let's go slow in judging people. My previous conclusions about this gospel passage was the opposite! I thought the gospel passage was telling us to look very very carefully at people so we'll know if he's a wheat or weed. Shame on me :) The priest said, the person whom you dislike, may in fact be the one who'll bring you salvation.
The message was very timely. The issues raging in my own community, Couples for Christ, can literally split a hair in two. Who's right? Who's wrong? Difficult to tell. I have my own set of criteria to choose what course to take and I have thrown my full support to the present International Council led by Bro Joe Tale. I pray for the success of the new community.
Then, there came Bo's Talk on Why am I Catholic? I once talked to a group of people and I told them that at one point, I was a Catholic by default. I was born of Catholic parents in a very Catholic neighborhood. I was educated in very Catholic institutions and mentored by good Catholics. Then I said, I am now a Catholic by choice.
The reason why I said that was the inspiration I got from the book written by Dr. Scott Hahn and his wife Kimberly, entitled Rome Sweet Home. The book is available at the National Bookstore here in the Philippines, although someone must tell me why it doesn't appear in their online store.
Dr. Scott Hahn was a brilliant and staunchly anti-Catholic Presbyterian minister. In his quest to prove the Catholic Church wrong, he ended up embracing the Catholic Church through a painful and humiliating process of discovery using Scripture. It was his and his wife's testimonies in the book that really affirmed my allegiance to the Church. I highly recommend the book.
It was a different level of allegiance for me since then. It was an allegiance founded in Christ Himself. I found Christ in the Catholic Church. From then on, all the rituals in the Church became alive with meaning; most especially the Holy Mass. Furthermore, the book deepened my understanding of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and why we adore her; as well as respect for the unborn child.
Bo shared his own reasons for being Catholic and let me share them here:
1. Because the Catholic Faith says that it's all grace
2. Because the Catholic Faith says that everything is a Sacrament
3. The Catholic Church has made the most mistakes
I was able to relate with the first two reasons because of what I read in Scott and Kimberly Hahn's book. But I was caught off guard by the third reason. He said, many so-called Christians approach us with lines that connote black and white options for us: accept the Lord, or be doomed to hell.
Bo then said, those were the lines of the Church in the early times, but we have outgrown it. Our Church has made so many mistakes that led us to the notorious Inquisition, the deadly Crusades, the very bad Popes in middle ages, etc. Bo then said, "but the Church is still here, how could it be?" He said, it's because of grace.
Indeed, in my entire life, my experiences with the Church and my faith is that of grace. We own nothing in this world, except our ability to choose. Do we choose to glorify God? or do we choose to glorify ourselves? However we choose, God loves us and sent his only son of us so that "everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." (John 3:16).
That's grace, and we live in it, 24/7.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
