Childhood Memories and Moments of Grace

The memory is a wispy one. My sister and I had memorized the books of the Old Testament, and we could recite them in order. As a reward, we were invited to the district-wide awards ceremony where we would each receive a new Protestant Bible.

It seemed like there were hundreds of children in attendance that night. Tons of kids, all dressed in their best. We waited for our names to be called. And then the award was in my hands. My very own King James Version of the Bible, with the words of Jesus in red print and thee and thou and thus saith on almost every page.

We ended the evening with the song “We are One in the Spirit.” It was the first time I had heard the song. I immediate loved it. The sound of the minor chords. The theme of unity. The sense of camaraderie as hundreds of children sang their hearts out in the dimly lit auditorium. It was kind of like singing around a gigantic campfire, with the stage lights holding our attention like the mesmerizing flames of a bonfire.

As I grew older, I realized that we really weren’t all one in the spirit. We came from many different denominations. I began to grasp the deeper meaning of the line: and we pray that all unity will one day be restored.

We weren’t one, and it wasn’t okay that we weren’t one.

On a really simplistic level, I understand that unity and the Eucharist are profoundly connected. You cannot love one without loving and longing for the other. You cannot have one without wanting and needing the other.

And maybe that is why it seemed like my whole world was turned right-side-up when I became Catholic. Unity now seemed possible.

As Catholics, we know that unity is attainable. Sometimes, though, even faithful Catholics work against the effort to be one in the Spirit. I feel a sense of disappointment when I hear people throw around labels like cafeteria Catholics and more-Catholic-than-the-Pope Catholics. The judging doesn’t stop there. Too many American Catholics consider it their duty to criticize and publicly reprimand our bishops, especially when they feel the bishops aren’t advancing their cause quite as zealously as they should. And they let their thoughts be known at family dinners, in parish parking lots, and in blog comment boxes.

I cannot imagine that God is pleased when we are critical of our Apostles in public venues. The responsibility of apostolic leadership belongs almost solely to the Holy Father. That’s the beauty of Apostolic Succession and the role of Peter. Oh sure, there have been times in history when God has led a lay person to admonish the Shepherds, but that person is always a really holy person. I don’t know about you, but I’m just not there yet.

We have one job and that is to build up the Church Jesus Christ founded. We must work toward unity and not division. We must pray for our Church and publicly support her shepherds. We are called to stand with them as they stand with the Holy Father. And together, we pray that all unity will one day be restored . . .