01-06-2011 - Traces, n. 6

INSIDE AMERICA

TIME FOR A CHECKUP?
IF YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH PARTICULAR FORMS OF DEVOTION, IT MAY BE A BAD DAY, OR MORE: A WEAKENING OF FAITH IN THE INCARNATION. HERE, THREE SYMPTOMS ARE DESCRIBED. IF THEY PERSIST, THEY SHOULD BE CHECKED BY A STRONG WITNESS.

BY LORENZO ALBACETE

MANY YEARS AGO, A TAXI DRIVER IN MADRID TOLD ME THAT HE DID NOT BELIEVE IN GOD–AT MOST HE WAS AN AGNOSTIC, HE SAID–BUT THAT HE DID BELIEVE IN THE VIRGIN MARY. I TOLD HIM THAT I HAD AN UNCLE THAT TOLD ME THE SAME THING WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER AND HE ASKED ME TO DRIVE HIM TO A PARISH NAMED AFTER OUR LADY OF MOUNT CARMEL TO MAKE AN OFFERING TO OUR LADY. HE GAVE ME A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT OF MONEY TO GIVE TO THE PASTOR WHILE HE STAYED IN THE CAR, PRAYING. "DON'T FORGET TO BRING A RECEIPT," HE SAID.
Many years later, I was discussing this with my unforgettable bishop, Cardinal William Baum of Washington, DC, and we came to the conclusion that there were three Catholic "devotions" that seemed to replace devotion to God—they were so deeply embedded in the heart of certain Catholics that they would remain even when there was a decrease or even disappearance of faith. These three were: devotion to the Blessed Virgin, devotion to the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass, and devotion to the Pope.
On the other hand, there were those who claimed to be Catholics and believe in God, but who had problems–or were uncomfortable–with devotion to Our Lady, or the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass, or the authority of the Pope.
These three, we concluded, were possible symptoms of a disease—a headache could be due just to stress, or it may be a symptom of something quite serious, like a brain tumor. For this reason, if the symptom continues, it is wise to go to the doctor for a checkup. Let me put it this way: if you are happy to be a Catholic, but have "problems" with any or all of these three devotions, you should look into it, for it could signal a serious problem with faith in the Incarnation.

Consider devotion to Our Lady. If our faith in Jesus as true God and true Man is the amazing recognition that the Divine has entered human history in bodily form, doesn't it make sense to feel the attraction of the ongoing source of His bodiliness which is now forever part of Trinitarian life? Would we not be fascinated and attracted by the "place" where the union between the temporal bodiliness and infinite life (desired by the heart) takes place and remains thus forever? And when it is revealed that the place where the body of a human person becomes the body of a divine Person without ceasing to be human is the womb of a young Jewish girl who freely placed herself entirely in God's hands, is not a personal relationship with her part of our faith in the Incarnation—indeed, part of our personal relation with Him?

The Eucharist, in the words of Vatican II, is the source and summit of the life of the Church. It is the means through which the crucified and risen Christ becomes present to us "here and now." His contemporaneousness with us is irreversible: after the Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ does not go back to being simply bread and wine. Faith in the Real Presence of Christ through the consecrated Host is part of our faith in His contemporaneousness with us, in the irreversibility of the Incarnation for us and our salvation, in the eternal self-offering of Love that sets us free to go past the law of corruption and death due to our sins. In this case, too, a lack of devotion to the Blessed Sacrament outside the celebration of Mass is a symptom of a weakening of faith in the Incarnation.

Finally, custody of the historical thread that makes present to us today the events of 2,000 years ago, the thread that allows us to be sure that what happens to us today in the life of the Church is exactly what happened then to the Apostles, is at the heart of the charism given to St. Peter and his successor the Pope. Therefore, difficulties with the authority of the Pope may be a symptom of difficulties with the unity of the Church, upon which we depend to sustain our faith in the Incarnation.

Three symptoms, three danger signals. Maybe it is just a matter of a bad day, but if they persist, we should have it checked by friends who give witness of a strong faith.