It is unfortunate that this expression has become in too many cases a shibboleth used to divide Catholics.  It seems to imply that while we know that we are real Catholics, we are not at all sure about you.

When we consider the history of the Church, we see that the understanding of fidelity as unquestioning docility is contrary to Catholic tradition.  Respectful challenge has been a part of Christian faithfulness to authority beginning as early as the Saint Paul’s challenge to the first pope, Saint Peter, as recounted in Galatians 2.  Paul writes that he opposed Peter “to his face,” as Peter appeared to be wobbling regarding the decision not to require Christians to become Jews according to the law.

The fact is that saints can tend to be troublesome to Church authorities.

• Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) carried on a lively correspondence with Pope Gregory XVI.  Her letters were both respectful and affectionate, but at times very challenging.  She urged him to return the papacy to Rome from Avignon.  Not long before his departure, however, he received a warning that he would be poisoned in Rome.  Catherine would not accept even the threat of death as a reason for remaining in Avignon.  She wrote, “I beg you in the name of Christ crucified not to be a timid child but a courageous man.”

See The Letters of Catherine of Siena,
translated with introduction and notes by Suzanne Noffke
(Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2000).

Today Catherine might well be accused of not being faithful to the magisterium.  But for her, fidelity was not the same thing as agreement with everything the pope said or did.  In her case, fidelity to Pope Gregory meant challenging him to do the right thing for the people of God.

• Saint Joan of Arc, we remember, was tried for heresy and burned at the stake in 1431.  It didn’t help her case that she was considered a cross-dresser.
• Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) was imprisoned by the Inquisition.
• It was announced in December that Mary Ward (1585-1645) is declared venerable, a step in the process toward being officially named a saint.   Mary Ward founded the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM), but her apostolic vision was ahead of its time and not in accord with the subservient role of women in her day.  She was charged with heresy and imprisoned.
• Mary MacKillop (1842 – 1909) is to be the first canonized Australian saint.  She founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, who established many schools for poor children.  Mary was  excommunicated for a period of several months, supposedly for insubordination.

That Mary Ward and Mary MacKillop are on the way to canonization is a heartening development, considering the events of their lives, but it is not really surprising, for many saints were considered difficult – and sometimes even heretical – in their day.

Did this mean that they and the other vexatious saints just did whatever they wanted and called it God’s will?

No, they would not be called venerable and blessed and saint today if that were the case.  On the other hand, having carefully discerned, it is also unlikely that they would be canonized if they had yielded to the pressure put upon them to act in a way contrary to God’s call.

Saints have to assume, as we also must, that our bishops and popes are men of good will, trying, like us, to be faithful to Christ and intent on proclaiming only the truth of God — just as they must assume that we are trying to be faithful.

Our presumption must also be that other ordinary Catholics are, like us, trying to be faithful.    To quote the “Presupposition” found at the beginning of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius of Loyola:

…it should be presupposed that every good Christian ought to be more eager to put a good interpretation on a neighbor’s statement than to condemn it.

The Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, A Translation and Commentary by George E. Ganss, S.J.
(Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1992).

One last word, this time from John Henry Newman (whose beatification has been approved by Pope Benedict XVI with the recognition of a miracle resulting from Newman’s intercession):

In On Consulting the Faithful in Matters of Doctrine, Newman pointed out that during the time of the Arian heresy, orthodoxy “was maintained during the greater part of the fourth century not by the unswerving firmness of the Holy See, Councils, or bishops [many of whom had been swayed by Arianism], but by the consensus fidelium,” that is, primarily by the laity.

In the case of the Arian heresy, much of the magisterium was in error.  More often in the history of the Church, it has not been a question of the magisterium straying, rather of occasionally needing a nudge in order to recognize the movement of the Holy Spirit.  To acknowledge this is not to denigrate either the authority or the holiness of bishops and popes.  It is simply to accept the fact that God often works through unexpected people and in unexpected ways.  And sometimes, so we learn from our history, one generation is not sufficient for the action of God to become clear to the whole Church.

We are called to be faithful to Christ along with the magisterium who are called to teach us.  The surest way to be faithful to the magisterium, then as now, is to grow in union with Christ in his divinity and in his humanity.

We honor best the teaching authority of the Church when our whole being joins in that wondrous prayer which is said quietly in our name by the priest or deacon at Mass as he adds a small amount of water to the wine:

By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity.

This prayer expresses both the path of fidelity and the ultimate purpose of our lives.

____________________

Icon of Saint Paul from Holy Stavronikita Monastery
Painting of Joan of Arc, Miniature, 1450-1500, Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris
Portrait of John Henry Newman by Sir John Everett Millais, 1829-1886, London, National Portrait Gallery

“Would your religious background make you rigid?”

Disregarding the fact that this was not only an improper question, but probably also an illegal one in a job interview, I replied,

“No, I believe that my religious background makes me less rigid.”

But yes, some Christians are indeed rigid, and, beyond rigid, even harsh toward those who disagree with them. This is a puzzle to me, for the spiritual journey leads us nowhere if not into the broad graciousness of God.  Consequently the most deeply spiritual people I know are also some of the most open-minded, loving, and welcoming of heart.

On the other hand, I have encountered unbelievers who, while priding themselves on being open-minded, seem to be closed to anything pointing toward the reality of God.

“Josh,” the ex-Christian with whom I have been having an on-again, off-again e-mail correspondence (see “Answered Prayer” and “Heroic Faith“), provides an illustration.  A recent message sent out to his mailing list concerns the end of brain activity, bringing about, as he sees it, the end of human awareness and existence. He concludes by expressing sorrow for us poor benighted Christians who need to believe in life after death. But with a magnanimous flourish he adds:

If they need it, then I suppose it doesn’t hurt for them to believe it. It is like children who need to believe in the Easter Bunny. It does give them a certain amount of comfort.

I decide to overlook the condescension.  I write back:

On the question of the difference between brain activity and mind activity, you might want to read The Spiritual Brain by the neuroscientist Mario Beauregard.

Josh responds,

I suppose the author believes in the spiritual, so what he writes is influenced by that.

Never one to give up a good argument easily, I reply:

If you reject the intelligence and knowledge of everyone who believes in God, your sources of information will be very limited. I wouldn’t refuse a knowledgeable resource just because the author is an atheist.

Now granted, I would not rely on a confirmed atheist for wisdom concerning experience of God, any more than I would rely on someone who had never been out of Florida to describe for me the experience of walking through fresh snow. But I do respect the knowledge of anyone who is an expert in his or her field.

And in his own way, Josh has taught me a great deal:

• about the failure of Christians to witness adequately to the beauty and love of Christ
• about how mysterious faith is: why do some believe and not others?
• about the hold religion can have on a person, as it does on Josh, even when it has been renounced.

Whether or not he has learned anything from me, I can’t say. But I remember the words of Jesus:

Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. (Matthew 7:1)

…and of Paul:

Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.  (Romans 15:7)

So I pray to be led with the saints into God’s broad graciousness.

. . . . . . . . . .

P.S. During the interview mentioned above, the dean posed another unusual question.

“Looking at my office,” he said, “what do you notice about me?”

I paused for a moment.

“That you are organizationally challenged,” I answered.

He laughed.  I got the job.

Shortly afterwards Stalin sent Yudina twenty thousand rubles. Her thank-you note read something like this:

I thank you Iosef Vissarionovich for your help. I will pray for you day and night and ask God to forgive you your sins against the people and the country. God is merciful and will forgive. I gave the money to the church I attend.

Of course Stalin had killed people for lesser offenses than this, and it is said that a warrant was indeed made out, but never signed. When Stalin died, the recording of Maria Yudina playing Mozart’s 23rd piano concerto was found on his record player — evidently the last music he heard.Once again we are near the end of the Liturgical Year. The last Sunday of the year — the Feast of Christ the King — reminds us that although the earth seems filled with rulers and those who desire to rule, no one but God can be truly sovereign. It is only to the Divine that we bend our knee and our will.

Living out of this truth requires us to stand for what Christ stands for. In practice this is sometimes as simple as disagreeing kindly with a friend or writing letters to our senators or representatives urging them to vote for justice and peace. In more extreme cases it may mean putting our lives, our fortunes, or our reputations at risk, as did Maria Yudina. And it always means living so as to witness to the love and goodness of Jesus and the peace of the reign of God.

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?
(Psalm 27:1)

So the man came back later and changed his name to “I Am Who I Am” (see Exodus 3:13-15).All the practical problems associated with a name change would of course be multiplied if you took the name God, or even “I Am Who I Am.” Imagine getting a drivers license or a passport. Imagine your credit cards.

While considering the ramifications of such a name change, I remembered how the Hebrew prophets sometimes spoke of being called by God’s name. Jeremiah makes a plea to God for the people:

…you, O Lord, are in the midst of us, and we are called by your name; do not forsake us! (14:9).

In the next chapter, he speaks of himself as called by God’s name:

Your words were found, and I ate them,
and your words became to me a joy
and the delight of my heart;
for I am called by your name,
O Lord, God of hosts.
(15:16)

This didn’t mean that Jeremiah went around saying that he was God, but it did indicate an intimacy and a sense of being under God’s protection.

The early followers of Jesus weren’t at first called by the name of Christ — that is, “Christians.” That happened first in Antioch, and it is likely that when first used, the term was derogatory.

As for us, we can rejoice in being called by the divine name without having to go before a judge or change our passports and credit cards. After all, we are made in God’s image, God dwells in us, we have been made children of God (and children usually carry the name of their parents). We also, therefore, have the responsibility to act as God acts, with compassion and tenderness, with forgiveness and mercy, with love for those who love us and for those who don’t. People should be able to look at our lives and be reminded of the goodness of God.

O God, may I live
as one called by your name
and made in your image.
May I be so transparent
that others may glimpse you
through my words and actions.
Amen.