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Learning to Live with Mystery

By Amanda Woodiel

The Christian worldview is chock full of mystery.  How Jesus is both true God and true Man; how God is Three Persons but One Substance; how Jesus comes to us–body, blood, soul, and divinity–under the appearances of bread and wine: these are some of the great mysteries of our faith.  We are steeped in these mysteries, and we are comfortable (for the most part) that our finite minds cannot fully comprehend the greatness of God.  After all, some say, how much of a god is a God who is completely understood?

The mysteries of each other, however–those mysteries engender more discomfort.  Whenever we hear of a tragedy intentionally perpetrated, the first question is usually “Why?”  Why would someone do that?  We seek to understand, because somehow understanding brings with it some measure of comfort.

But what if we can’t understand?  And what if the mystery is closer to our own hearts: someone close to us who has hurt us unimaginably?  When we try to sort out “why?” or “how could he?”–well, that mystery is almost unbearable.

I had always held closely a hope that when my father died, the mystery of his activities and his intentions would be solved.  He passed away recently, and along with the grief of losing a parent and the shock of its suddenness, comes the grief that the mystery–instead of being revealed–has instead become more clouded and more strange.

What do we do when we must live with the mysteries of a human soul that we cannot penetrate?  Clearly, I will not know more about my father’s thoughts, motivations, or activities in this life.  The pieces simply don’t fit together no matter how many times I have turned them over in my mind.

When a painful mystery of life so presses upon our minds and hearts that it feels like murky waters poised to engulf us, it seems to me that we have two options.  We can struggle against it, flailing our limbs in an attempt to stay upright.  We can try to analyze the mystery and expend untold energy and time trying to unravel events, sort out truth, and understand the motivations of another’s heart.

Sometimes, though, we simply can’t fathom the answer.  In that event, not all is lost, for we can learn to float.  We can submit to our human nature.  The fact is, we were not made to know all–certainly not the workings that lie at the bottom of another’s soul.  We can adopt a posture of humility and lie peacefully atop the surface of the water.  One way saps strength; the other preserves it.  One keeps our eyes fixed on the sphere below; the other trains our eyes toward heaven.

Fortunately, truth isn’t only a set of facts but is a Person.  I can choose to rest in Truth, who is Jesus Christ.  Here I accept the finite nature of my human mind and yield to the God who is infinite but who loves me so completely that he came to me in history and comes to me in the Mass.  I don’t understand the mystery of my father, but He does.  Furthermore, if it were to my soul’s good that I unravel the mystery surrounding my dad, He would show it to me.  He hasn’t yet.  He might one day, but today and all days, I can rest in utter assurance that not knowing must be for my best.

When you encounter a mystery in life that cannot be solved–learn to float. You might catch a glimpse of heaven.

Text copyright 2018 Amanda Woodiel.  Photo by Pexels (2016) via Pixabay, CCO Public Domain.

Read all posts by Amanda Woodiel Filed Under: Catholic Spirituality, Family Life, Featured, Grief Resources, Prayer, Therapeutic Tagged With: faith, Forgiveness, grief, loss, mystery

You and Me and the CCC

By Pat Gohn

The CCC is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and it is one of the handiest reference tools available to the catechist, clergy, and laity for reviewing the tenets of the Faith.
Why read the Catechism?  The Catechism of the Catholic Church is one of the greatest gifts to the Church from John Paul II’s pontificate.  It is the definitive reference resource on faith and morals for Catholic Christians; a comprehensive summary of all the Church believes, celebrates, lives, and prays. This explains the Deposit of Faith—what has been handed down since the time of the Apostles—and it is part of our divine inheritance as believers!

Let’s face it, the Catechism is a textbook in size and scope. But I prefer to think of it as a deep treasure chest of gems and nuggets that that will enrich our faith and our love of God and the Church.

The first question I’m usually asked is: Can I read the Catechism on my own? The short answer is yes. The longer answer is, at times you may feel daunted by the dense language of the Catechism, depending on the depth of your religious education regarding terms and doctrines. While the Catechism is suited for those who formally teach the Faith in the Church and in the classroom, John Paul II declared it is for all who wish to deepen their knowledge of salvation.

I recommend applying the same prayerful trust to the Catechism that we bring to reading the Bible. Even though the Catechismis not Holy Scripture, ask the Holy Spirit to lead and guide you as you read. (And remember it doesn’t hurt to look up unfamiliar words in the glossary or a dictionary!)

This space is designed to be a friendly introduction to topics within the Catechism in an easy-reader style. We’ll define terms as needed, and apply real life examples to what we read.

It is important to note that many books cover the Catechism in greater depth and with more excellent scholarship than a short article can provide. Again, the column will introduce and explore topics that I hope will draw you into deeper study.

This column stands on three principles:  first, that God, in the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, is the source of all Truth and communicates by Divine Revelation in the form of Tradition and the Scriptures. Second, our task as believers is to respond to God in faith in the fullest way we can.  Third, the Magisterium (the teaching authority) of the Church, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is to be trusted as a worthy guide as to how we make that response in faith.

Therefore, as we better embrace the Catechism, Church teaching becomes an avenue for our Christian growth.  And all of us are called to on-going conversion.

It is my hope that as you open the CCC more and more, you’ll begin to embrace its teachings in an ever-deeper way. As Catholics, we all need to “get our arms around” what the Church teaches, so that we can live it more faithfully.  This is essential for every Christian, and vital for catechists. But, we must acknowledge that such growth is a process for each person. Some of us are ready to devour chapters of the Catechism at a time, or may have already. Some may have heard of it, but have never had a reason to open the book.  All are welcomed here!

Even the Catechism itself declares that we should seek to embrace the truths of our Faith as we find in paragraph 2104 (also known as CCC 2104):

“All… are bound to seek the truth, especially in what concerns God and his Church, and to embrace it and hold on to it as they come to know it.” [Emphasis mine.] 

The embrace of God

Now, human persons, we all know about the power of an embrace.  When you love someone, it leads to a loving embrace. The love between spouses, or parents and children, or family members and friends, all find validation in a loving, warm, embrace.

An embrace presumes knowledge of one another. And there are degrees of that knowledge. The marital embrace, for example, represents the deepest of unions and the most complete knowledge of the other person. Such an embrace in a marriage presupposes a longer process preceding the embrace.

There was the first look and notice of each other. Becoming acquainted led to the first conversation, the first mutual understanding, and eventually, the first kiss.  Slowly, as love builds, more is revealed… what the person believes, how they live, what they celebrate, and yes, perhaps even what they pray about.

When love leads to marriage, two people join as one. Yet they also join families. When I married, as I embraced the one I loved, I also embraced by extension his entire family.

A similar process took place in my relationship with Jesus Christ. I was baptized as an infant into the family of God, but it took me many years to grow up and get acquainted with Christ. As I teenager, I experienced a deep conversion to Christ. From there, a friendship grew—a meeting of minds and hearts—until finally, my life with Christ became an ongoing committed love relationship.

Over the course of my life, my love for Christ compelled me to know “more” of him. Like a lover wooed, I wanted to experience the “breadth and length and height and depth” of the love of Christ. (See Eph. 3:17-19.)

What I discovered was that, over time, I embraced not only Jesus Christ as Lord, but I also embraced his family—the Holy Trinity, his mother Mary, his foster father Joseph and all the saints in heaven, and his Church here on earth. My embrace of Christ and his family—and especially the Church and what she teaches—grew slowly by degrees.

The Catechism states that “a person discloses himself in his actions, and the better we know a person, the better we understand his actions.” (CCC 236.)

Therefore, where Christ is concerned, it is best that we closely examine his actions. And let us be imitators of who and what He embraces…

As noted earlier, God revealed Himself to the world through Divine Revelation. As we read the story of God’s Revelation from the Old Testament to the New, we come to understand God’s deep and devoted love for humankind. God is most perfectly revealed in his Son, Jesus. When Christ took on flesh, he took on a form that, as a Bridegroom, he is permanently wedded to the Bride, the Church, the People of God. We find this imagery in the Catechism, paragraph 796 (CCC 796):

The theme of Christ as Bridegroom of the Church was prepared for by the prophets and announced by John the Baptist. The Lord referred to himself as the “bridegroom.” The Apostle [Paul] speaks of the whole Church and of each of the faithful, members of his Body, as a bride “betrothed” to Christ the Lord so as to become but one spirit with him. The Church is the spotless bride of the spotless Lamb. “Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her.” He has joined her with himself in an everlasting covenant and never stops caring for her… 

Returning to the image of the nuptial embrace of the marital union… we find that it images for us, if somewhat imperfectly, the union the Holy Trinity longs to have with us.  Check out CCC 772:

It is in the Church that Christ fulfills and reveals his own mystery as the purpose of God’s plan: “to unite all things in him.” St. Paul calls the nuptial union of Christ and the Church “a great mystery.” Because she is united to Christ as to her bridegroom, she becomes a mystery in her turn. 

Christ’s actions of loving the Bride (the Church) are worthy of our imitation. We are called to love all the Church believes, celebrates, lives, and prays.  We are to embrace the Bride as we embrace the Bridegroom, Jesus. As we progress in our union with Christ, we will naturally desire to more perfectly align ourselves with His Bride (the Church) and what she teaches. And what she teaches is found most succinctly in the Catechism.

Embracing the Catechism means learning it, understanding it, and living it. Our sole motivation for doing so is love: that we may respond in faith and better embrace Christ and His Church in all its fullness.  So that, one day, we may be embraced at last, by the Holy Trinity itself in heaven, as we find in CCC 260:
The ultimate end of the whole divine economy [God’s creation of the world and his salvation of the world through Christ] is the entry of God’s creatures into the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity. But even now we are called to be a dwelling for the Most Holy Trinity: “If a man loves me”, says the Lord, “he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.” [See John 14:23.]

©2010 Patricia W. Gohn

This article was adapted from a previous released article at Catholic Exchange. 

Read all posts by Pat Gohn Filed Under: Catechetics, Catechism, General Tagged With: Catechism of the Catholic Church, Catholic Church, Christ, faith, mystery, Pat Gohn, truth

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