I have a flip page calendar on my desk that is good forever. It just has the day of the month, and a quote from John Paul II on each page. Today's quote has stuck with me all morning:
Christianity is not an opinion, nor does it consist of empty words. Christianity is a person, a living person! To meet Jesus, to love him and make him loved: This is the Christian vocation. --Message for the 18th World Youth Day, March 8, 2003.
It's staggering in it's implications.
If you don't believe me, think about Albert Einstein, and his famous thought experiment that led to the theory of relativity. That experiment was important, not only for the theory, but for it's validation of though experiments as a starting point for understanding. So let's do a thought experiment of our own.
Imagine that you are married, and speaking to an acquaintance. You say to your acquaintance "I love my spouse, but I loath my spouses body! I want nothing to do with it, I don't even like to be around it. It's disgusting and old fashioned and filled with imperfections!" Now imagine you spouse overheard you.
Well, that wouldn't go over well.
The thing is, the Church is the Body of Christ. When someone says they love Jesus, but hate the Church, they are in the position of the speaker in our imaginary experiment. You cannot hate the Church and Love Christ. That's like saying you have no use for your spouses body. Seriously. The deep intimacy that occurs between a married couple is rooted in their bodies as well as their emotions. And the Church is also the Bride of Christ, to claim to be a Christian and yet to hate the Church is like claiming to married, yet refusing the bodily aspects of marriage.
To profess a love of Christ, yet to harbor hatred or contempt for the Church is to deceptive. You lie to the world, to God, and possibly to your self. To be obstreperous, to instigate against love for the Church in others is to fail in your Christian vocation.
Christianity is not an opinion, nor does it consist of empty words. Christianity is a person, a living person! To meet Jesus, to love him and make him loved: This is the Christian vocation. --Message for the 18th World Youth Day, March 8, 2003.
It's staggering in it's implications.
If you don't believe me, think about Albert Einstein, and his famous thought experiment that led to the theory of relativity. That experiment was important, not only for the theory, but for it's validation of though experiments as a starting point for understanding. So let's do a thought experiment of our own.
Imagine that you are married, and speaking to an acquaintance. You say to your acquaintance "I love my spouse, but I loath my spouses body! I want nothing to do with it, I don't even like to be around it. It's disgusting and old fashioned and filled with imperfections!" Now imagine you spouse overheard you.
Well, that wouldn't go over well.
The thing is, the Church is the Body of Christ. When someone says they love Jesus, but hate the Church, they are in the position of the speaker in our imaginary experiment. You cannot hate the Church and Love Christ. That's like saying you have no use for your spouses body. Seriously. The deep intimacy that occurs between a married couple is rooted in their bodies as well as their emotions. And the Church is also the Bride of Christ, to claim to be a Christian and yet to hate the Church is like claiming to married, yet refusing the bodily aspects of marriage.
To profess a love of Christ, yet to harbor hatred or contempt for the Church is to deceptive. You lie to the world, to God, and possibly to your self. To be obstreperous, to instigate against love for the Church in others is to fail in your Christian vocation.
No comments:
Post a Comment