May 21, 2012

• A People and a Nation All His Own

  

  In the last several years on Xanga I’ve had many, many fascinating discussions with all sorts of people about the Catholic faith, with Catholics, non-Catholic Christians, and non-Christians alike. Such discussions have helped me to learn a lot about my own faith and to help me better explain and articulate it to others, especially those who have a hard time understanding Catholicism. It can, after all, be a daunting subject: 2000 years of ancient tradition, unparalleled diversity, a world-wide presence, 23 different rites…even the Pope would probably admit that he’s only scratched the surface! Not that I presume to speak for him; he does well enough speaking for himself.

   

  One thing that I’ve realized is so different from any Christian denomination I can think of is that Catholic Christianity is not merely a religion, nor merely a spirituality; it is almost more like a nationality. I think this quality makes it somewhat difficult for people to grasp because even if you understood the religious aspect of Catholicism, or if you understood one aspect of its spirituality, you still might not get “it.” 

  Why do I say that being Catholic is like being part of a nation? Firstly, I think that is what Christ intended: to call out of the world (this is what the word “church” originally meant in the Greek) a people uniquely His own, a people that would live their whole life with Him. Like the Jewish people were uniquely God’s people, so the Christian people would be the People of God, the difference being that all people are invited to be a member of this new nation, not merely people born into it. Being Christian should be different from being anything else; someone should be able to look at you or get to know you and realize you are different somehow. 

  Catholics really do stick out; we tend to be fairly visible Christians. Whether it is our clergy in their black clothes and white collars, our sisters, nuns, brothers and monks in their habits, our little First Communicants in their little white dresses, or our Pope all in white, or even our knights in their various attire, not to mention our laity in their splendid diversity, some women wearing mantillas of black or white, people from all cultures wearing their various raiment; goodness I could go on! Ash Wednesday is a visible day for Catholics; granted we aren’t the only Christians who observe this ancient ritual but it tends to be seen as a very “Catholic” thing. We have our rosaries, our pictures of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, statues of Mary in the front yard, holy cards, scapulars and all sorts of devotionals. He have processions, Eucharistic Adoration, we have cathedrals and churches, chapels and basilicas, shrines and other places of pilgrimage. There’s just something “different” about being Catholic that isn’t necessarily true about Lutherans or Methodists for example. 

  The thing about the Catholic “nation” if you will is that we don’t have a home here on Earth; we are sort of passing through. But we are very much a nation! For example, we have a King. And a Queen Mother to boot!

     

  We don’t have a capitol city, but we do have an embassy. It is located in Vatican City, which is an insular country located within the great city of Rome.

   You see the great curved colonnades? They are meant to symbolize the “arms” of the Church, which embrace all people and all nations.

  We also have a prime minister; our first one was appointed by our King nearly 2000 years ago and his name was Peter. He last held office in Rome but was executed, so a successor was named until he, too, was executed and so on until today. Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th prime minister of the Catholic nation. When he passes away (hopefully we are past having our popes executed but, who knows) his successor will be elected and so on until our King returns.

  

  Our prime minister labors alongside his brother ministers, the bishops, in governing the Catholic nation throughout the world. They pray and serve with their whole life to preserve the unity of our nation and to help all its citizens to remain faithful to and in love with our King. Generally our prime minister allows his brother ministers to care for their own territory (a diocese) but on occasion the whole ministerial body must gather, as they did in the 1960s in what was known as the Second Vatican Council. It is an impressive sight:

  

  All these ministers of the Catholic nation help keep our people together throughout the world, each facing the particular challenges present in different parts of the world. The challenges a bishop faces in China are very different from those faced in America, for example! Sometimes a bishop is the minister not of a particular region, but a group of people; for example there is an archbishop who is the pastor for all Catholics serving in the United States military.

  The bishops also have local representatives in neighborhoods and communities all over the world who are in charge of nourishing and sustaining our nationality in this foreign world. You’ve probably met one yourself:

  

  They are in charge of caring for and ministering directly to God’s people, wherever they are. Some are pastors at a local parish, some are teachers, doctors, lawyers, artists, authors, some work as hospital chaplains, military chaplains; wherever citizens of the Catholic nation are living, there are probably priests there somehow!

  We have many public servants as well, people who give their whole lives to the service of their “country” and the people in it. I couldn’t begin to list all they they do, be it an active life of service doing just about everything you can imagine, to a quiet, invisible life of intense prayer for the whole world.

  

  And of course we have our citizens! Over a billion, and counting, from every race and language, every corner of the world.

  

  We even have our own knights and soldiers, though they play a very different role that their counterparts do “in the world.”

  

  We of course have a long history–2000 years–whether you’d like to study it through archaeology, literature, religion, tradition or countless other ways. We have our heroes; thousands of them:

  

  and our villains:

  

  We have our own traditional languages including Aramaic (still used today in the Maronite Rite), Greek (the Byzantine Rite and in the “Kyrie” of the Latin Mass), Latin (Roman Rite), and more.

  We have our own Pledge of Allegiance, formulated at least 1600 years ago:

  I believe in God,the Father almighty,Creator of heaven and earth,and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,born of the Virgin Mary,suffered under Pontius Pilate,was crucified, died and was buried;he descended into hell;on the third day he rose again from the dead;he ascended into heaven,and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty;from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.I believe in the Holy Spirit,the holy catholic Church,the communion of saints,the forgiveness of sins,the resurrection of the body,and life everlasting. Amen.

   

  We have natural-born citizens:

  

  and immigrants:

  

   

  These are just some of the many ways I could think of that makes Catholicism more like a “nation” than simply a “religion.” We really are a people of God, passing through Earth on our way to our Heavenly homeland. There are simply a lot of things that are just “Catholic” and a part of who we are as a people, and some of those things seem pretty strange to other folk. But I for one am so grateful to belong to such a beautiful nation; it certainly makes my faith life interesting!

   

  For my Catholic readers, what are some things you can think of that are “uniquely Catholic?” What are some of your favorite Catholic attributes?

  For my non-Catholic readers, what are some things you notice about Catholicism that makes it so different? What are some things that make it similar to your own religion or denomination?

  • 5:51 pm
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