Eternal Relevance

by David Lins  |  01/22/2023  |  (Being) Catholic Matters

I am so happy to be back. My spine still has a bit of healing to go, but I’m headed in the right direction. Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

And I am so happy to be back just in time for this weekend’s second reading from 1 Corinthians 1:10-13, 17! It could have been written yesterday. But isn’t that the beautiful nature of Sacred Scripture? Eternal relevance.

“I urge you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and in the same purpose.”

This certainly can (and should) be applied to all of Christianity. Jesus never intended for six churches that profess to follow him, within a few miles of one another, to proclaim very different doctrines—doctrines that have often drifted further apart every decade. (A great example would be Martin Luther’s love and veneration of the Blessed Mother: “God did not derive his divinity from Mary; but it does not follow that it is therefore wrong to say that God was born of Mary, that God is Mary’s Son, and that Mary is God’s mother . . . She is the true mother of God and bearer of God . . . Mary suckled God, rocked God to sleep, prepared broth and soup for God…” He wrote this 22 years after leaving the Catholic Church.)

But the implications of this reading doesn’t stop there. It applies within our Church, as well. Do any of us actually think the Lord is pleased when Franciscans and Jesuits argue over who is “more Catholic?” Or when some of you reading that last line thought, “neither of them?” What has happened to congenial dialogue within the Church?

What has happened to legitimate digging into and building upon teachings of the great doctors of the Faith? What happened to the humility that recognizes we, as individuals, might not have all the answers and someone we might least expect might be able to plunge our faith to radical new depths? When did our primary goal shift from knowing, loving, and serving the Lord to winning arguments and looking intelligent?

We are called by Sacred Scripture to be of the same mind and purpose. The second reading makes it clear.

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