Help me, fellow Catholics, please...

There is no dire personal emergency, just to allay any fears about the title of this post. I do, however, sincerely request help from my brothers and sisters in Christ. 

For some time now, it has bothered me whenever anyone chooses to label anyone or anything in our faith liberal or conservative, progressive or regressive. These terms, for good or bad, will always be linked to political viewpoints. As a political viewpoint, they carry some serious baggage when also applied to the Christian faith and faithful. They invite us to look at our faith with political lenses, which in many cases, can be seen as putting a false god before our God. They are also instantly divisive. When you posit one you instantly posit the opposite as well, even unintentionally. As opposite poles they are tangental at best or parallel at least. Either way, they do not meet. As our faith is unitive (we are united in Christ through the Holy Spirit) these terms can never accurately portray the faithful nor the faith. 

I toyed with the terms orthodox and heterodox. While orthodox (meaning faithful to doctrine) is very accurate I had a problem with heterodox (meaning different from doctrine). Doctrine is comprised of the fullness of God's revelation. We believe that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide the church unerringly in matters of doctrine. If a group of people hold views different from doctrine, then they are not truly members of the church. Remember, at baptism, we proclaim that we agree with all the Catholic church teaches. 

Now, I'm not by any token suggesting we ignore or don't acknowledge that there are those within the church that hold different viewpoints on matters of doctrine. I think we all can agree there. What I've been seeking is a more accurate description of the entire body of Christ. A description that doesn't have us igniting politically tinged firestorms or words that posit the exclusion of any one group. 

I may have stumbled (or been led) to a better description. For the sake of brevity, I'll need to ask for some license in describing our faith. One way to view Catholic Christianity is the crucifix. The vertical view indicates our traditional or orthodox view of us at the foot of the cross, Jesus, the perfect sacrifice (and our priests acting in persona Christi), at the center and God, the Father, at the top, accepting the sacrifice. The horizontal view indicates the brotherhood of all nations being called to gather within Jesus' outstretched arms.  Many of those who like the progressive or liberal view tend to focus on the brotherhood and communal aspects of our faith. Likewise conservative elements seem to focus more on the traditional sacrificial aspect. I think true orthodox embrace both equally with the right focus on the union of the 2: Jesus Christ. The heterodox would be the ones who go completely off any end of the crucifix.

By using the terms verticalists and horizontalists to describe the different groups within the body of Christ, we stay away from divisive and politically charged terms. We are still united at the intersection of the 2 beams. Indeed, neither could be complete or exist without the other. These terms also allow the accurate use of the term orthodox as it completely encompasses both, with Jesus at the center. 

So, what do you think? Are verticalists and horizontalists better and more accurate terms for our brethren in Christ? Please, I truly would like some feedback on this.

As always, in Christ Jesus.

The Sign of the Cross

I've been struck recently just how much and how deep the symbolism is when making the sign of the cross. The subject came up when I was talking to my friend, Rebecca, who has asked me to be her sponsor in the Catholic faith. I had heard somewhere that no one is really sure exactly when making the sign of the cross began. Setting aside the when, as I began to reflect on the meaning, some flood gate opened and all of these popped into my head. The deeper symbolism, beyond affirming a Trinitarian God, is what I want to write down here. 

• We can look at it as a statement of faith, affirming our belief that God is 3 persons with one Divine nature.
• When we make the sign of the cross entering the church and bless ourselves with holy water, we recall our baptism and the promises we made to God.
• The sign of the cross reaffirms Salvation history beginning with the Father, the Creator, the Son, the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit, the Sanctifier.
• Are we not also reminded of God's revelation and how we are called to spread the Gospel? The vertical reminds us that God sent His only begotten Son, the Eternal Word, to show us the Way. The horizontal motion, the Holy Spirit, reminds us that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, to sanctify us and spread the Good News of salvation from East to West.
• St. Paul exhorts us to preach Christ, and Him crucified. His sacrifice is the source and summit of our faith, made present at Mass. It is Christ who hangs at the center of the vertical and horizontal beams of the cross. When we make the sign of the cross, it is we who are at the center of the cross, reminding us that we too are called to sacrifice.
• As members of the body of Christ, we also offer ourselves to the Father at every Mass.
• As Christ's body hangs at the center of the cross, we are reminded that, through baptism, we become members of Jesus' mystical body, the church, with Jesus as the head.
• The vertical motion reminds us of the Holy sacrifice of the Mass while the horizontal motion reminds of the communal nature of the church, which is the body of Christ.
• It reminds us we are made in the image and likeness of God - the Son, eternally begotten of the Father and the Holy Spirit, the eternal expression of their Love. We are called to imitate that community of love in the sacrament of marriage where the expression of conjugal love between a man and woman is a child.

The sign of the cross isn't just a gesture to splash some holy water around us! Nor is it something to be done hurriedly, sloppily and without thought. This incredibly simple gesture reveals the nature of God, the nature of our Faith and the nature of our Mission! It is Divinely inspired. Let's treat it that way.