The Catholic Faith

I would say that the Catholic Faith is very similar to most Christian faiths in that its center is Christ. Blaise Pascal said, “The heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” And this is why it is hard to explain why I am Catholic. It is not something that can be totally communicated in words. The main reason is because it is true, but this can be expanded upon.

The Catholic faith is intricate and comprehensive. It is earthy but at the same time mystical. It uses the ordinary world and brings out the transcendent through it. It is one unified faith but it is large enough to live free, crazy, and creative within the limits of the faith. It is a personal faith but also a communal, family faith. It is a faith that is both religious and spiritual. It resides not only in the mind or soul but also the body. It is a faith that is in the world but not of the world. It is a faith that has roots in the old and historical but is also ever new and eternal. It is a faith that holds to both scripture and apostolic tradition. It is a faith that is authoritative but also freeing and forgiving. It is a faith that promotes the search for the beautiful, the good, the Truth, and Charity. The Catholic Church is a hospital for great sinners but also a home for great saints. It is a faith that produces a life that can make meaning out of great sorrow but it also has the ability to party it up with great joy. It is a faith that is universal enough to encompass all peoples and the good things in all cultures. It is a faith that is very challenging; it asks things that can only be done by supernatural Grace. It is a faith that requires great oaths through sacraments that helps me make commitments to God but it also gives me God’s grace to fulfill what God is asking of me because I can't do it by myself.

If there was one thing that I could point to that would encompass all that I am trying to say it would be Christ’s real presence: body, soul, and Divinity in the Eucharist. The Eucharist is the source and summit of the Catholic life. It is the “participation in the body of Christ” (1 Cor 10:16) and without it the Catholic Church would have no life (John 6:53). It is crazy that Jesus would give himself to me 2000 years ago on the Cross. But is beyond anything that I could hope for to be able to be physically and spiritually intimate with Jesus in a personally and ongoing way in the sacrament of Holy Communion. What Jesus does for us out of love is mind-blowing.