Should I Stay or Should I Go? (Part B-Helping Yourself)

Yesterday, I posted about keeping others from leaving the Church. With this post, I want to focus on keeping yourself in the Church.

I sometimes worry about myself. I love Christ, and the way He is revealed through the Eucharist, but sometimes I wonder if I'm always going to be this faithful. My friend tells me constantly that he is sure I'll be an atheist one day, to which I always reply, "And I'm sure you'll be Catholic." I pray I'm right.

I feel like there are two main reasons people leave the Church: their own doubt and the 'hypocrisy'  (every Christian's favorite word) of others. So, I'm focusing on those two reasons.

Keep in mind this is not an in-depth analysis. Questions about church teaching and problems with the 'hypocrisy' should always be brought to a priest. Or even better, 2-3.

In my short few years of life, I've experienced and seen doubt firsthand. Let me assure you, doubt is a natural human reaction that can be helpful. Particularly when you receive an email from an exiled Nigerian prince. We see these emails as ridiculous claims, partially because Nigeria isn't a monarchy, but mostly because a prince contacting you is too good to be true. Something else that is too good to be true? An all powerful being descending from paradise to our crappy planet, taking our form, living as a peasant, subjecting Himself to ridicule, and dying the most horrific death ever known to man so we can live with Him in paradise...but wait there's more. Then he RISES FROM THE DEAD, FLIES to heaven, makes Himself present in bread and wine, and establishes an indestructible Church so He can always be with us. Oh, and He left us with a vessel to be forgiven again and again because he KNEW we'd keep sinning.

Every sin we commit hurts God. All He had to do was turn His back. But He did all of this, created an ever-expanding universe, just to be with us.

It's more unbelievable than a Nigerian Prince, am I right.

So, what was the point of that insane monologue? Doubt is understandable. Christ knew we'd need proof of His divinity, which is why he performed so many miracles. So the glory of God could be shown through them. There's an entire section of the Gospel of John dedicated to these miracles called the "Book of Signs," these signs were written down to point to Christ's divinity.

"But don't just take my Word for it," then Jesus gives us His Body. Eucharists exists as a proof of Christ, and God's existence. Eucharist sets Catholicism apart from other Christian religions, and has been given to us as another sign.

The reason why I'm saying all of this is to give you an idea of where the truth in Catholicism lies. The Church wasn't founded on the idea of not letting gay people be married, or not letting people get abortions. The Church wasn't even founded on an idea, period. The Church was founded on a person; Jesus Christ. Her teachings stem from the teachings of Christ, and branch off in different directions, like a tree. Sometimes, one branch by itself can be confusing, but remember: that branch is connected to another, and another, and is ultimately rooted in Christ.

The Church has been around for 2000 years, which is 1900 years longer than the oldest person who could possibly be reading this. We so often say that the times have changed, but that idea conflicts with the fact that humans nature has never changed. Even though we have different technology and ideas, my human nature is the same as the twelve apostles. If you doubt a teaching of the Church, know that that teaching has been around for a VERY long time, and has been reviewed, contemplated, and studied. Nothing is there by accident and certainly not ignorance. So, study the reason behind the teaching and pray to understand it more clearly

But when all else fails remember: The teaching is rooted in Christ. And we should be as well.

Also, don't feel overly guilty about doubting. St. Thomas (the poster child of doubt) ended up traveling further than any of the other apostles, spreading the gospel as far as India. All because his doubts were satisfied.

Hypocrisy: the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform; pretense

Now that that definition is out of the way, let's talk about its usage. 'Hypocrite' comes from the Greek word  hupokrisis  thich means "to play a part." Christ used the term a lot to describe the 'devout' Jews that would pray on the street corners to make sure people saw them. Christ teaches us that our true measure of faith comes from what we do behind closed doors, or within ourselves.

Remember, Jesus said "Hypocrites pray on street corners," not "everyone who prays on a street corner is a hypocrite."

So many times in today's culture, people who are vocal about their faith are called hypocrite because they were caught *GASP* sinning. Everybody sins, guys. Everybody has their faults. You become a hypocrite when you act like you have no faults but indulge yourself in sinful behavior when no one is watching.

So, hypocrisy has to do with what happens when no one is watching. So how are we able to tell when someone is a hypocrite?! Hint: You can't.

The sad, yet comforting, truth is you will NEVER know everything about someone no matter how hard you try. Even if someone is swearing like a sailor, they could have a heart of gold. Noe, they need to fix that mouth...but who are you to judge?

In fact, judging is sometimes what makes the boy cry 'hypocrite!' Sometimes we feel judged by a Christian and we feel alienated (and rightly so.) But if you know who Christ is, you know He doesn't judge, and that person who is being judgmental needs more of Christ. So pray for them. Don't let it push you away from your faith and love for Christ. If you feel a push away from something, its not God. Christ never pushes. He leads.

I posted about the term "Quo Vadis" the other day. Peter was fleeing Rome, but Christ appeared and led Peter back. God was calling Peter to be a martyr, but Peter didn't hear this call because he was too bus giving in to the push. Christ never pushes us away from things, he leads us to greater things.

I have a friend who has said he is leaving my youth group, which isn't the same as leaving the Church. But when I asked him where he was going, he said he didn't know. That's how I knew his calling wasn't from God. He felt pushed because of the attitude of some people in the ministry, but like I said before, everyone is fighting their battles with sin. Don't let one person (or even thousands) dissuade you from following the path Christ has for you.

God bless,
Patrick