Last year on
Reformation Day (October 31) one of my cousins mentioned the Protestant
“holiday” on Facebook. It was a celebratory post. “Happy Reformation Day!”
Reformation Day
marks the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. It highlights the Protestant
reformers who began new denominations rather than remaining within the Catholic
Church. I mention it in this month’s column because many fallen-away Catholics
have basically done the same thing. Some fallen-away Catholics just stop
practicing any kind of faith, but many go in search of something else. There is
something they don’t like, something they want to see changed, and they are
tired of tapping their feet, waiting for the Church to see it the way they see
it.
We are a people
who want change, we want it now, and we’d really like it if the Catholic Church
agreed with our point of view. When we realize that isn’t likely to happen, we
are out the door and on a mission to find the faith community that sees truth
as we see it.
Truth is
unchanging (Psalm 199:160). Sure, new things come up now and then, and Mother
Church knows that a definitive answer on the things the culture proposes must
be weighed carefully. She consults Sacred Scripture and Church Tradition and
faithful theologians. She gathers the input of bishops from all over the world.
She ponders the entire deposit of wisdom given to her by the Holy Spirit.
The frustrated one
doesn’t have time for all that waiting, pondering, and praying.
I’m a preacher’s
daughter and a convert to the Catholic faith. It provides an interesting point
of view. Christian division grieves me. I simply cannot celebrate the genesis
of denominationalism. I affirm the good I see in those of other faith
communities, of those who through no fault of their own find themselves outside
the Church (CCC #818 and #848). But Reformation Day? No, I see nothing to
celebrate in that.
Why celebrate
Christian division? Why delight in the fact that so many have gone a different
way and left the Sacraments behind - the Eucharist behind?
We know that
Christian division hurts. We know Our Lord prayed for Christian unity for His
apostles and for those who would come to believe through their words (John
17:20). So, what do we do when we see posts about Reformation Day or we hear
that someone else has left the Catholic Church for another faith community?
When we are
tempted to get irritated, frustrated or discouraged, let’s remake it into a day
in which we reform the inner man. We do a deep and thorough examination of
conscience. We do our own gut check.
What do I need to change? What is out of sorts in me?
When we are
frustrated by Christian division and a culture that still holds on to
anti-Catholic bias, let’s call for a day in which we make acts of true
reformation and reparation. Let us reform our attitudes toward the poor, the
unborn, the immigrant, those who can do absolutely nothing for us. Let’s figure
out what we can do for them.
Let us reform our
dreams and goals. Let’s put Christ and His Church at the top of our list. Let’s
reform our silent acceptance of another’s rejection of the faith. Let’s
determine to seek that one out and share the joy we have in our Catholic faith.
Let’s pray with Our Lord, “Father, make us one.”
For you see, the
faith does not need to be reformed. We need it. The teachings do not need to be
refabricated, recalibrated. We need it.
Let’s have a
little more renewing of the heart and mind. Reformation of the inner man. That
is the true reformation that leads to Christian unity.