"Loving your Faith"

[Rahn]

I know more than a few Catholics that have told me how much they “love their faith”. As you talk to them, they usually end up at “we all need to defend the faith”.

This always struck me as being wrong in some way, but it really hit home after hearing the Gospel reading on Sunday. Jesus said “Love God, and love your neighbour”. He never said anything about loving your faith.

The way I look at it, I need to love God. My faith is the vehicle I use to get to that goal. I can’t love or hate my faith, it’s not a person that can be loved or hated. I can love it in the sense that I love pizza but hate liver, but when you talk to these people, it’s as though they are putting their faith where God should be in Jesus’s statement.

I would welcome your opinion. If you have said you love your faith, can you explain what you mean by that? And, does loving your faith help you love God, or does it get in the way of that?

 

[Tis_Bearself]

I don’t go around saying I “love my faith”, but I think what these folks mean is that being Catholic is a strong and important part of their identity and they have an emotional attachment to it in the same way a patriot might love his country. If somebody trashes your country, your faith or your important principles and values, you may well feel hurt and emotional and defend what you love.

This to me is a pretty simple concept to understand. It’s not so much theological as it is human and emotional. No one is putting their faith above God’s commandments, unless perhaps they are using “defending my faith” as an excuse to go around doing harm to non-Catholic neighbors.

 

[ontheway1]

Some of us are somewhat sentimental about he traditional ways in which the church celebrated the Mass, the various religious holy days (not holidays) , celebrated her saints, retained decorum and solemnity it her rituals. Most of this has bee brushed aside long ago. I am assuming that this is what is meant by “loving their faith”.

All these ceremonies and rituals do not constitute faith, so you are correct to state that one can’t love faith.

Of course, our mission is to love God first and foremost, and for some folks, the old traditional ceremonies and rituals seemed to help see the face of God through the clouds of incense and the ringing of bells.

All this is gone, and we now stare at the bare walls of our modern churches , listen to inane sermons that are designed not to offend us and to the horrible music that does offend us.

There is room for some nostalgia here.

 

[Duckling]

Hmmm. Well. I used to be a protestant before being introduced to my faith by a few Catholic friends of mine. So, I think I can relate to people who “love their faith” because it’s not something I’ve always had. I mean, of course there are some truths in Protestantism, but even before I decided to be Catholic I always had a great respect for the Church and I always thought that my Catholic friends were more humble, wise, and loving than the crowd I was in.

That being said, I suppose I respect the faith, I adore the people of the faith, and I love that I chose to be Catholic. I love the ideas that Catholicism puts forward.

I think the thing that seems off-putting to you about this is that these people separate their faith from God, when really, as Christians we should probably present them as inseparable. You don’t go evangelizing saying “I love my faith, I love my God.” you go evangelizing saying “I love my faith in God.”