I never thought much of my spirituality and how it affected the people around me. Especially my family, relatives and friends. I always thought it was strictly between myself and God; at least that is what I was taught in a Baptist Church, that is: My belief in God was between me and God, it didn't involve anyone else. Growing up as a young boy no one ever called me a name, or degraded me in any way because of my "religion" or my "religious practices." I never had to defend myself against harsh religious comments. I can't say that we all "respected" each other's religion; about sixth grade and below, we didn't really understand things such as respect and religion; Seventh grade and above; guys were more interested in girls and cars and girls were more interested in guys and their cars. Religion wasn't one of the personal characteristics we were interested in. As an adult however, it seams to be just the opposite. Religion and the religious practices of a person are very important to that person's family. Sometimes a change in a person's religion or religious practices causes such an outrage in that person's family that the person becomes ostracized from his or her family. I guess some families toss out Matthew 5:43-48:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
I grew up in a Baptist world, where Sunday mornings were devoted to Sunday School. An hour of stories about floods, seas parting, prisoners in cells with lions, and a young boy who killed a giant with a sling-shot and a rock. It was my imagination that let me visualize those stories in ways that helped me to understand and even visualize the unseen ‘God’ that my Sunday School teacher always talked about. As I grew from a boy to a man the US Navy helped me to explore not only the society and culture that I was a part of but also societies and cultures of the world around me. That and the wonderful woman I married, caused me to want to discover more about myself and how I fit into God’s grand scheme of things.
Much of that discovery and learning about myself and the Lord came after my retirement. Although I joked about sitting on the front porch drinking beer all day, I joined the Knights of Columbus. Through the fellowship with other Catholic men and their families, I was able to see Catholicism through many different eyes and circumstances. Through Knights of Columbus, I also had a chance to work in our local community along with men from other religions and walks of life. That opened my eyes to the importance of ‘love your neighbor’ and just being respectful of others. Unlike many Protestants who ‘converted’ I came to see Catholicism as a continuation of the beliefs of my childhood. I came to see the Mass as bringing back the ancient traditions of the Old Testament, the beginning of the Church and the works and actions of our beloved Saints. I did not start following Catholicism as a replacement to Baptist practices and traditions but as a fulfillment of those practices and traditions. The core beliefs of both Catholics and Protestants are the same. No part of Catholicism is outside of the Word of God. The Bible I read is the same Bible that my parents bought for me when at the age of 18, I was Baptized into the Baptist Church.
My beliefs are the same as they were when I left home at the age of 18. The only difference is that I became a Catholic and follow the ancient traditions as laid out in the Bible. I worship the same God today as I did when I was 18. But because I changed "religion," Words such as "idol worshiper" and "Mary worshiper" have been used by those who I hold in very high esteem.
Nothing, could be further from the truth. Catholics do not worship idols. We worship the way Jesus did, through prayer and living life according to the law as set down in the 10 Commandments. The “Mass” began when early Christians gathered together in their homes to share a meal in memory of Jesus, as he had asked them to do on the night before he died (“The Last Supper”). There is no "obligation," we attend Mass because we love God. We Catholics get together to pray, read the Scriptures, and share the meal as it is written in Acts 2:42-47:
"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
There is is nothing in the Catholic Mass that is not in the Holy Scriptures. There is nothing in the Catholic Mass that is used out of the context that it was used in the Holy Scriptures.
The life values I have now, have been born out of war, predigest, destruction, love, kindness and sharing. I respect everyone and their view of how I live and worship, even if I don't agree with their assessment. when I was very young, patience was one of the things I lacked and a temper was something I had in abundance. Today I have an abundance of patients and the strength and guidance from God to use it wisely against the temper I once had. So, bring on your judgements of me but also know that I leave judgement to God. I will continue to live the religious practices, traditions and spiritual mannerisms I have learned from the Catholic Church, prayer and research. I leave it to the Lord to defend His religious practices, traditions and spiritual mannerisms as they are lived out in my life.
Is it wrong to sit down and gaze upon a picture of someone long past, say, a parent? Someone you might have loved very much, and yearn for them to come back? Is it wrong to look at that picture and talk to that person as if he or she was there with you and tell him or her how much you miss him or her? Is it wrong for you to believe the person in that picture is in Heaven looking after you? Is it wrong to ask the person in the picture for help and believe that he or she is praying with you to God for an answer? Is it wrong to go to the grave-site of someone you love and discuss a problem with them? Is it wrong to ask that loved one to help you pray or to pray with you to God?
Through the Catholic Church, it's architecture, art, history and philosophy; I have come to know and believe in two families; my earthly one, consisting of my parents, sisters, my wife's family, friends and my spiritual family, consisting of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Pictures of my earthly family come from cameras, pictures of my spiritual family were made by Master carvers and artists. Both are made by humans.
The Rosary - nothing seems to say Catholic more than the Rosary. I've heard many say that it isn't found in the Bible. That's true, very true, the word Rosary is in fact not found in any Christian Bible. But, the Bible is in fact in the Rosary. Again, artwork created for those who could not read or write. The Rosary contains the New Testament, from the birth of Jesus to his death, resurrection and beyond. I use it every day as an aid in prayer, it helps to "make the world around me go away", so that I can speak and listen more reverently and clearly to God. If non-Catholics would just listen to the words or read the Rosary, especially the last sentence of the "Hail Mary," they would know that we are not praying to Mary or anyone else, we are in-fact praying only to God.
My commitment to God did not happen over night. It happened over many years of searching self and soul; searching the earthly world and the spiritual world; searching various religions, cultures and ways of life. I have called on St. Peter, St. Paul and a few other saints who were once as human as I am now, in just the same way I still call on my Dad and Mom who have both passed away for advice. Catholicism as I know it, is not a religion, it's a way of life. A way of life defined not by anything earthly, but by a God that is open to everyone, a God who is compassionate but demanding unquestioned faith and belief.
My self and soul search goes on and will keep going on; the earthly world tries to pull me in one direction, the spiritual world tries to pull me in another direction. I put no boundaries between my worlds, I try my best not to judge anyone in either world. I do my best to leave judgement to God.
It doesn't matter what we label ourselves as, Protestant, Catholic, Jehovah Witness, Methodist, ... What matters, to God, is how we live. Do we follow Jesus and his disciples? Or do we judge each other on how we go about our daily lives, how we as individuals worship? Do we throw away the Bible and peck at each other over "our" individual interpretation of individual passages of a very large book?
God made us all different, maybe we should accept the differences and accept each other as brothers and sisters the way Jesus accepted his disciples and all those who believed and had faith in him. "Catholic" is only a label, how and what I believe and have faith in along with how I worship is my way of life. It is between me and God and wrong for me to judge others on their way of life and wrong for them to judge me on how I live my life.
Lastly, through my research, Catholicism teaches me that I should not only "love" all of humanity, but that I should also respect everyone's race, age, sex, career, culture, customs, traditions, character, religion and their points of view. Essentially, as a Catholic, I should respect every aspect of every person's life. "Catholic" means universal. It is OK to respectfully disagree with someone but not OK to disrespect them or any part of their being.
So, bring on your criticisms of how I live my life. I'll just pass them on to the Lord and let Him deal with them.
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