Continuing to Grow

September 4, 2012.  My 32nd birthday, and the day that Matt asked me to do him the highest honor, and be his wife.  Matt agreed to being married in a church BY the beach, even though he would rather have been married ON the beach.  We compromised and he got to wear leather flip flops instead of real shoes.  (I mean, really, it's the beach!)  

 

During our planning, we made the decision to go to Pre-Cana through the Catholic Church, and also do pre-marital counseling through Matt's church, Port City Community Church, aka PC3.  I was very nervous about who our marriage mentors would be, and prayed that God would assign us the perfect couple for our "situation".  I was nervous I would be shunned for being Catholic.   

In keeping with God's constant faithfulness, our mentors were perfect for us.  They never once made me feel uncomfortable for being Catholic.  They were supportive, and helped us talk through our faith differences.  I'll never forget a particular meeting where we were discussing our concerns, and "Mr. Marriage Mentor" was earnestly trying to help us get to the bottom of it.  Finally he looked at Matt and asked, "Does it really bother you that she confesses her sins to Jesus through the priest?  She's still seeking Jesus' forgiveness."  

I think the most awesome moment for me, was being able to share my relationship with Our Lady, aka Mary the Mother of God.  I think she is one of the most misunderstood aspects of Catholic teaching.  I was able to share that she is our Mother, because she is Jesus' Mother, and He is our Brother.  In keeping with the commandments, Jesus honored her, and so should we.  There is a difference between honor and worship.  They had never heard that explanation before, and they didn't judge me for it.  They showed me nothing but Love.    

They gave us the permission to "place in common what we have received from our respective communities, and learn from each other the way in which we each live in fidelity to Christ."

We know that God never intended for His Church to be so divided, I think any Christian would admit to that.  The division is a result of humans being left to their own devices.  Jesus never said that the "Catholic Church" is the only way to get to Heaven.  On the same token, he doesn't ever say that the "Baptist Church" is the only way to get to Heaven.  (Insert any Christian denomination into that equation.)  He says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me."  

Please don't misunderstand me, there is always a time and a place for discussion and debate regarding doctrine.  Listening to Catholic and Protestant leaders debate has actually helped me understand both sides better.  (If you would be interested in these debates, any discussions with Dr. Scott Hahn representing the Catholic perspective would be a trustworthy resource.)

Someone once asked Mother Theresa "What has to change in the Church?"   Her response was  "You and I".  We all need to turn our hearts towards Jesus, so that we may more fully understand the way we each worship Him.  This isn't an easy task, but it is necessary.  

St. John Paul II wrote in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint:

"Christ calls all his disciples to unity. My earnest desire is to renew this call today, to propose it once more with determination, repeating what I said at the Roman Colosseum on Good Friday 1994, at the end of the meditation on the Via Crucis prepared by my Venerable Brother Bartholomew, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople. There I stated that believers in Christ, united in following in the footsteps of the martyrs, cannot remain divided. If they wish truly and effectively to oppose the world's tendency to reduce to powerlessness the Mystery of Redemption, they must profess together the same truth about the Cross.¹ The Cross! An anti-Christian outlook seeks to minimize the Cross, to empty it of its meaning, and to deny that in it man has the source of his new life. It claims that the Cross is unable to provide either vision or hope. Man, it says, is nothing but an earthly being, who must live as if God did not exist.

No one is unaware of the challenge which all this poses to believers. They cannot fail to meet this challenge. Indeed, how could they refuse to do everything possible, with God's help, to break down the walls of division and distrust, to overcome obstacles and prejudices which thwart the proclamation of the Gospel of salvation in the Cross of Jesus, the one Redeemer of man, of every individual?"

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25051995_ut-unum-sint_en.html

This last week, I realized that not everyone is going to come around.  There will always be people on the Catholic side and on the Protestant side who choose to focus on what separates us, rather than what brings us together.  That is unfortunate... but I am not going to let that stop me.  We must "respond with generosity and holiness to the calls and challenges of our time." ~St. John Paul II