Probably the most depressing thought that anyone can think is, “I do not believe in Jesus Christ and His Church. I think that I’ve come to that conclusion on my own because I am smart and enlightened. But, it’s possible that The Church is the Body of Christ on earth and that God has not called me to be in it. Maybe, He doesn’t want me. It could be that I’m stuck in a rut here and things will only get worse in the hereafter.”
Maybe, no lapsed Catholic has that thought occur, sometimes accompanied by a deep shudder as its meaning washes over them. That might mean that they have not been called.
On the other hand, if they do have that thought and ignore it, they may not have been called.
But, it’s possible that not having that thought means that God is only waiting for it to come to them so that the process of salvation may begin.
Or, if they do have that thought and ignore it, maybe it will sink in and impel them toward God when they are more accepting of Him.
So, having that thought or not having that thought may prompt them to get their own vanity in check, realizing that they can get closer to God using the “humility ticket” to open the door.
Stranger things have happened.
And, how are lapsed Catholics to be made aware of such thinking? “God has no hands or voice but ours.”
In it’s own small way, Catholic Fundamentalism tries to let people know that simply translating the Iron Age words of Holy Scripture into terms made familiar by current technology helps. If we think of God The Father as The Loving Programmer Who has the power to program particles and energies that He downloads into systems and beings, He seems, somehow, easier to comprehend. Likewise, we think of His Holy Son as the Living Program, Who came to earth in perfect, obedient, human form. The Holy Spirit that joins Programmer and Program and all of us believers with them is more easily understood as The Holy Wireless Connector.
You may may have an acquaintance, depressed from being farther from God than is good for him or her who’s would benefit from knowing about a better way to grow closer to Him.
P.S. (From Monday, March 28, 2011) We don’t want to forget, especially in this time of economic and political turmoil, that countries, like individuals, also go into depression when separated from Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church. The cure is the same for nations as for those within them.
