Have you ever lost your glasses, it’s frustrating beyond measure, and after retracing your steps, last place you saw them tactics, you find all the time they were on top of your head…..no ? Perhaps that’s just me… I discovered the church in a similar fashion.
I had my own Petrine lightbulb moment after coming out of a small group put on by the Catholic Parish Priest, it was an informal space to ask any questions you liked about the church. I had come with a list of negatives, the statues, Mary, the wealth of the Vatican, confession and more, yet for most of the meeting I just sat and listened. I came out and sat in my car preparing my usual solitary debrief of all I disagreed with. This time was annoyingly different though, I couldn’t actually form an objection to such reason and rationality. I literally sat laughing loudly for ten whole minutes, like a crazy woman alone in my parked car. “Finally” I felt the Lord sigh “Finally she gets it”
So this is where I found Jesus, but His church seemed a vehicle to Jesus rather than an encounter with Him personally. Until World Youth day 2016 as I watched hundreds and hundreds of priests process out for Mass, a sea of white, just like you imagine the scene from revelation. It took my breath away, I was moved to tears at the beauty of all these men given over to Christ and His body. How beautiful the bride looked that day.
I studied the faces of those close enough to clearly see, some deeply engrossed, some looking far off, others distracted. No doubt each of them flawed in some way, their leanings too far right or too far left or maybe too apathetic to make a decision either way. But old, young, black, white, faithful or dissident each could trace their ordination back to that first flawed and floundering apostle. A church built on the called and equipped, not the equipped and called.
It’s become too easy to see just a corporate body and miss the mystical body. Yes it’s flawed my friends because we are flawed. It’s constructed out of thousands of imperfect wilful humans, how utterly beautiful I find that. Even more so that its perfect head,Jesus remains faithful to it.
The gates of hades will not prevail, God himself has told us this. This means a Masonic infiltration will not bring it down, communion in the hand will not bring it down, suspension of masses will not bring it down, squabbling Bishops will not bring it down. Just as the Romans, the reformation, countless persecutions, scandals and dodgy Popes have not in 2000 years managed to either. Who do we say He is ? Has it not been revealed to us too that he’s An all seeing, all knowing, all powerful God? If it hasn’t I don’t blame you for running to the hills, but if perhaps you stay a while you’ll see we have nothing to fear.
However bleak things might look with our scaled down liturgies, empty pews and praises muffled by masks right now this battle has already been won. Disillusionment is a lack of faith, I beg you to pray for more. To place your bets anywhere but on the man riding the donkey and a colt is foolish. You see it is no longer a secret …He is truly the Christ.
