Say, to Authority, in Love, Speak

Catholicism, or dare I say any religion, is not a matter of picking one’s spots. One does not simply choose this and that and let the rest subside; or, to put it another way, one commits to one’s religion if one is capable of committing to anything at all. Less than that, and we are searching,  a noble task, a necessary precursor to belief, of course, but neither praising utterly, nor asking for help, completely.

And, as one believes, one is in the midst of practice, its rituals, history, its ethical ramifications. I do not put aside the world to pray, attend Mass, or partake of the Host. I do all this in the middle of my life. The Lord made no distinction. Neither, upon pain of separation from He who is life, and His purpose, shall I.

An aspect of scripture in the New Testament that continually interests me is the assertion that Jesus taught as one with authority, not at the scribes taught, but as one with full knowledge of God, and with love. That notion puts me in mind of the manner of St. Paul, who also writes as one with authority, with love, in the name of Jesus Christ. What does this mean? Well, for now, or at this juncture, I say what I believe and know in the exact words that I choose to communicate, which is this: it means that one should write from one’s life in the full knowledge that one’s life is the Lord’s. What can I assert otherwise, in any part of my life, if I believe that I am in Christ, and that He is in me?

But, we are taken up with demonstrations of proof, from which we hope to derive authority. This is weak stuff, appealing to human terms of authority on matters pertaining to the Spirit. Certainly, we are all familiar with demonstrations of "authority" wherein one would be hard-pressed to detect the sort of perfect love shown by Jesus, time and time again; and certainly there are few if any human authorities who can make the same claims to knowledge of perfect love made by St. Paul. No, we settle - if that's the word - for proofs and arguments, such as might settle a court case, or put someone in their place. Weak stuff, indeed.

Rather than this, rather than "settling," we should say what we know, and everything we know or feel, in the confidence that we are in Christ. And - this is key - we should stop there. We who are saved...how can we fail to do otherwise? Well, to be fair, there are numerous factors governing other manners of speech. Our personal doubts and insecurities, the claims made upon our time, on our emotional and intellectual lives. And, there are the authorities of our Church – and Church, any religious practice, really – these educated, convincing, seemingly complete authorities. They are duty-bound, I suppose, to try and "convince" others of what they know by argument. This, they appear or pretend to imagine, is how one shows one's authority.

But, what is authority? God is the only true authority; and God is with us. He is in us and we are in Him. And we have the help of the Holy Spirit to guide us, to strengthen us, as He did the prophets of old. The authority to speak and speak confidently, and truly, is with you now.

But, as I said to start out, one cannot merely pick and choose. One’s life in faith, no matter how strong or notable or story-worthy, no matter how saintly, is itself undertaken and experienced in the midst of a life with a beginning and an end. The cloistered or ordained life is in part a response to this context, to choose to experience one’s faith apart from distractions, lures, etc. But even so, that does not remove oneself from historical or ethical contexts, it is only a particular form of response to context as perceived by oneself.

 

This is why I assert that I experience my faith and its practices in the midst of my life, not apart from it. If anything, I have seen my experience of the every day colored and changed by my religious practices. I am in Christ, and He is in me, at Mass, at work, as I write and as I sleep, in practice, in truth, in love. This is an incontrovertible article of faith. It goes beyond the nature of a mere fact, even as it is located in the here and now. It is a fact forever, for all time. It preceded me and it will outlive me in this mortal life. It is a truth, one that will come into full flower in the world to come.

 

And it is in full appreciation of this truth of one’s existence that one can, should, and perhaps must speak with authority and love. Not as one who merely studies and recites scripture, but as one who lives it. As did Jesus Christ, as did St. Paul, following the example of the Lord. In full knowledge of God and His love; and therefore, incontrovertibly, in and with love for all.