What I like most about being Catholic

[Muzhik]

This is taken from an essay by John C. Wright, that I saw on the OnePeterFive website. The author is a science fiction writer who had been a confirmed atheist, until he had a conversion experience during a heart attack. He is now a devout Catholic, and the essay talks about what his fan’s reactions have been once word of his conversion came out. I’ve used part of this essay as a tagline since I first read it, and I’m working on memorizing the part I’m posting now:

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Let me not be accused of being courageous. I am not. The only threat the enemies of Christ have so far brought to bear, despite the fact that I am as loud and clear-voiced about my faith as it is possible to be, has been a few weak-minded dribblers trying to voice witty insults. But their wits failed them, and they can only choke with hatred and humiliate themselves in public. They were not going to buy any books of mine in any case, no matter what. I could not write a story to please them — like their award-winning dino-porn about a homosexual child-murdering priest — even if I wanted to.

And their stories lack magic. I do not mean they cannot write a ripoff of the surface features of Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter . I mean that their stories are limited by their dull and claustrophobic world. They live in a coffin called Progressivism.

To them, life is a machine, and morality is caused by statically random mutations in the genes controlling the meat robot they call themselves. They are bodies without souls who live chasing vain pleasures, screaming at imaginary dangers, blind to real dangers, and who return to the elements at death like the beasts they think they are. There is no difference between male and female in their world, nothing is familiar because nothing is exotic, there is no justice and no injustice, there is only a meaningless struggle, a moment of disappointing pleasure-seeking, and death. Yes, it is a coffin. That is where they live. That is the kind of tale they tell. Coffin tales.

But I am a Catholic. In my world, every sunrise is the trumpet blast of Creation, more astonishing than the bomb burst, and every nightfall is the opening of a vast roof into the infinite dance of deep Heaven, where the stars and planets reel and waltz to the music of the spheres.

 

[Muzhik]

(cont.)

When I was in China, the tour guide saw me stop to give alms to beggars. He watched in wonder and asked me why I was ‘tipping’ the beggars. I told him our God walks the Earth in disguise dressed as a beggar, and any man who does not give alms with both hands is stricken with a curse and flung screaming into a lake of fire.

One might think that an odd reason to give alms, or even an impure or superstitious reason, but no one can say it is a prosaic reason. To see God in a beggar’s careworn and quotidian face is the very soul of romance.

Romance? Let me say something of the wild poetry that now rules my life.

I have a charm chalked on my front door to call a blessing down from wide Heaven. I carry a Rosary like a deadly weapon in my pocket and hang the medallion of Saint Justin Martyr, whose name I take as my true name, atop my computer monitor where he can stare at me.

Two angels follow me unseen as I walk, and I live in a world of exorcists and barefoot friars, muses and prophets, healers who lay on hands, mighty spiritual warriors hidden in crippled bodies, and fallen angels made of pure malicious spirit obeying their damned and darkened Sultan from his darkest throne in Hell. And I live in a world where a holy Child was born a secret king beneath a magic star, and the animals knelt and prayed. And from that dread lord, the small Child will save us.

You might think my world inane, or insane, or uncouth, or false, but by the beard of Saint Nicholas, by the Breastplate of Saint Patrick, and by the severed head of Saint Valentine, no one can say it is not romantic.

My life these days is a storybook story. If there were more romance in it, it would be enough to choke Jonah’s whale. Without Catholicism, there is no romance. Outside the Church, where are the miracles?

Should I hide this? Should I hide a world larger and more glorious than mortal worlds?

It is the only type of story worth a man’s time to tell or heed.

 

[mojoalthor]

Only having to attend church for 1 hour a week. During my protestant days.
3 to 4 hours on sunday morning.
2 to 3 hours on sunday night.
2 to 2 hours on wednesday or thursday night.
not to mention revival week - 3 hours each night for 7 days.

 

[runningdude]

Only having to attend church for 1 hour a week. During my protestant days…

I was an overachiever and went to a non-denominational worship group Thursday nights in college (in addition to Sunday mass), because the campus Catholic group was uninspiring. The members of the protestant group had vibrant faith, but the theology was lacking, and 45+ minutes of “worship” singing before the speaker drove me nuts!

My senior year, the campus ministry changed hands, and a group called “FOCUS” sent missionaries in their early 20’s to lead bible studies and other intellectually engaging activities. I will never forget the, “History of Salvation” study (that I was lead kicking and screaming to!). It highlighted the various covenants God made with his people through out scripture, and like the apostles on the road to Erasmus, I could feel my heart burning, learning how scripture clearly pointed towards the Catholic faith. My faith permanently changed for the better because of that Catholic-based bible study.

I was always close to Mary growing up, even in the darkest bleakest days when I felt I had no faith less. This study highlighted how Mary’s roll was prefigured throughout scripture. In particular, I remember a scene with Basheba, herself a reformed sinner, counseling her son Solomon. Apparently in ancient Israel, because the king would have many wives, his mother would be honored a queen, because only she could be trusted to have her son’s best interest at heart.

If Basheba, mother of Solomon - Son of David and King of Israel - were honored as Queen of Israel, what then do to we make of Mary, mother of Jesus - Son of David and King of Kings?

 

[mojoalthor]

I was an overachiever and went to a non-denominational worship group Thursday nights in college (in addition to Sunday mass), because the campus Catholic group was uninspiring. The members of the protestant group had vibrant faith, but the theology was lacking, and 45+ minutes of “worship” singing before the speaker drove me nuts!

I have a brother that is a Protestant Pastor. They have the same 45+ minutes of “worship” singing before he starts to preach. I once told him his service based solely on emotion. He said “what make you think that?” I said. “Prove me wrong, just one Sunday, give me a head’s up so I can attend, skip the singing and dive right into your sermon, your sermon is only as good to the listener as the singing primer”. He almost sprouted horns.

 

[JimG]

I like belonging to the one Church that Jesus founded, and having access to the sacraments he instituted.

 

[PennyinCanada]

When we read in the Old Testament that Moses came before the Burning Bush, we as Catholics know that we can have this image in our imagination when kneeling before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Our Prisoner of Love. That was written for us! Because Jesus was so humble He came as a little baby, so we wouldn’t be afraid to approach him. Here is the truth of what’s present for us on earth…

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[Donkey]

For me, it always boils down to…

Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." John 6:68

Ultimately, I can never attach a tangible value to my faith in Jesus Christ.

 

[runningdude]

Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." John 6:68

Way back when the Supreme Court made Same-sex Marriage legal in all 50 states, our priest spoke against it in the homily, and several people (most of whom I’d never seen before), stormed out noisily.

I could only think of this passage as the stunt was happening.

 

[Donkey]

I could only think of this passage as the stunt was happening.

Yes, always this quote by Simon Peter first and then often followed by thoughts of St. Stephen the first martyr.

St Stephen's Prayer | EWTN

Dear brothers and sisters, St Stephen’s witness gives us several instructions for our prayers and for our lives. Let us ask ourselves: where did this first Christian martyr find the strength to face his persecutors and to go so far as to give himself? The answer is simple: from his relationship with God, from his communion with Christ, from meditation on the history of salvation, from perceiving God’s action which reached its crowning point in Jesus Christ. Our prayers, too, must be nourished by listening to the word of God, in communion with Jesus and his Church.

A second element: St Stephen sees the figure and mission of Jesus foretold in the history of the loving relationship between God and man. He — the Son of God — is the temple that is not “made with hands” in which the presence of God the Father became so close as to enter our human flesh to bring us to God, to open the gates of heaven. Our prayer, therefore, must be the contemplation of Jesus at the right hand of God, of Jesus as the Lord of our, or my, daily life. In him, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we too can address God and be truly in touch with God, with the faith and abandonment of children who turn to a Father who loves them infinitely. ~ Pope Benedict XVI~