Our Faith is Embodied

 

The Catholic Faith is based upon the Crucifix, the Cross with Our Lord nailed to it.

We are called to pick up our crosses on a daily basis, be present 

with them, and we all have many, we should make use of them, 

and not waste any, because they are fundamental and necessary 

for our hope of salvation. 

 

I remember a married couple of extreme modernists 

(supposedly Catholics, but protestants in all but the technicalities), 

when we spoke about crosses, 

the man said, almost regrettably  that he had never really had any, 

his wife then said; yes you did, remember that time when you were 

young and your mother said/did something that hurt you....

His wife was the bullish domineering type, and he was so spiritually 

(and emotionally!) asleep, that he couldn't even see that he was 

married to a cross...

 

We are not just talking about big tragedies and illness, 

our daily life are full of crosses; anything difficult, unfair, painful, 

testing, annoying, boring, sadness, loneliness, being forgotten, 

feeling useless, monotony, mental fatigue; they are all crosses.

 

Being fully present, accepting the things the way they are, offering 

them up to God, is what we are meant to do.

Sometimes solutions emerges, but the principal thing is being present 

with it, not to revolt, resist or avoid. 

Because we are thus being purified and strengthened in those fires. 

 

Our faith is not one where there is separation between internal and 

external, between prayer life, observance of obligations, and the rest 

of our life.

The Catholic Faith, to prove that it is authentic and true, integrates 

everything in us, what we say is what we do.

 

It is not about ticking boxes, it is not even first and foremost about 

exterior acts of love, what comes first is our own sanctification, our 

focus has to be on ourselves, in order that we continually convert our 

sinful nature to the nature of God, who is ALL Holy. 

This is the object; to become holy. The external acts of love flows from

there. 

 

Self awareness: what am I thinking, what am I saying, what am 

I doing, what am I not doing that I ought to be doing...

 

Frequent Confession is necessary. it is not a pleasure,

but necessary.

 

Sometimes priests at Mass reminds the congregation just before 

Holy Communion, of the necessity of being in a state of grace in 

order to present ourselves for it, to receive worthily,

in other words, free from mortal sin. (Having confessed them)

 

Given that the 7 main mortal sins are  Pride, Envy, Anger, Greed,

Gluttony, Laziness and Lust, you would imagine that the queue for 

Confession would be the same length as the queue for Holy Communion, 

but this is sadly not the case.

 

Receiving Holy Communion unworthily is not only a waste of time, it 

contributes to, and reinforces the deception in those who receives in 

this manner, they "eat their own condemnation"; they mock God, it 

stagnates them in the spiritual journey.

 

Even if the requirements have been publicly announced by the priest, 

and respected at that particular Mass, they go ahead receiving at 

subsequent Masses if the priest does not make a clear announcement 

of it every time, which reveals a complete ignorance of not only the 

Mass, but of the faith in general. 

No, it is not about technicalities; external signs, they obtain nothing 

unless your heart, your mind and your willpower is involved and 

integrated. 

 

Some time back I made an acquaintance with a woman, a daily 

Mass goer, apparently very religious and involved in the parish. 

We went for a coffee together and she kept saying to me: 

"well there are some things that just cannot be forgiven!"

I felt that she really wanted to tell me something, so I made sure not 

to ask, but the irony of her praying the Our Father publicly at Mass 

every day, where we ask the Father to forgive us all our own sins, as 

we forgive all those who have sinned against us, because this is the way 

Our Father operates. 

If we hold grudges against anyone at all, no matter how well founded

and understandable they are, we are not free to be redeemed by Him.

And if we have as much as an ounce of hate in our hearts, we will not 

be allowed into heaven. 

 

The Catholic Faith is not just to be believed, it must be lived, integrated 

bodily and mentally, acted out in our lives, embodied. 

 

The protestants have an empty cross as their symbol, no Jesus, they claim 

that it is sufficient to just believe in order to be saved, and the communion 

at their religious service is purely symbolic.

 

Well, I ask you, who wants a symbolic God?

 

At Catholic Mass God is Really and Fully Present, Alive, 

in Holy Communion, it truly is the Body and Blood of 

Our Lord Jesus Christ. 

For anyone who truly seeks God, it shouldn't be difficult to 

choose.