My Friend Father Charlie

I have posted the content of a recent blog published by my friend on his Catholic Insights blogspot.

The blog started out with a reference to what I had encountered in my experience of conversations with many of our typical non-Catholic fellow Christian believers as a serious flaw in the Church's presentation of the Gospel message. It is the universal Catholic practice of referring to an ordained minister as "Father". The practice is judged as wrong based upon an inaccurate interpretation of a few Biblical passages and at its worst is seen as an arrogant and haughty contradiction of the entire message of the Bible as an assumption on the part of a man of a title and identity that belongs to God alone. This is not true of course, but for anyone who thinks it is true it can be a definitive obstacle for that person in considering seriously the claims of the Catholic Church that are actually true.

There is one such claim based upon a distinctive Catholic practice that to my surprise does not seem to be offensive to our non-Catholic friends. It is the practice of identifying ordained ministers as priests. There is an apparent parallel in our Catholic practice of referring to a man as Father seen by some of our non-Catholic friends as an assumption of an identity and title on the part of a mere human creature that belongs to God alone, and in our Catholic practice of referring to a man as priest if this is seen as an assumption of an identity and title on the part of a mere human creature that belongs to Jesus alone as the sole Redeemer of the entire human race and the sole fulfillment of the promise made to Adam and Eve that a Redeemer would come who would atone for sin.

An essential difference in these two Catholic practices lies in the fact our reference to ordained ministers as Father is not an assumption of the sole identity and title we profess in reference to our sole Creator, but rather a reminder and proclamation of our heavenly Fathers love, whereas the reference to an ordained priest is proclaimed by us as giving the ordained person a new real supernatural identity AS SHARING THE IDENTITY OF JESUS THE PRIEST. As in the case of calling a man Father, this practice is not a contradiction of or in competition with the identity and title of Jesus as Redeemer. Rather in God's design and with God's authority it identifies and proclaims such a close union with Jesus and the ordained human priest we see at the altar during Mass, that the ordained priest not just guides a worshiping community in memory of what Jesus said and did at the Last Supper, quoting Jesus as it were: "Jesus said This is My Body...", but actually takes the offered bread in his human hands and proclaims "This is My Body...", referring now to the Sacramental Body of Jesus. Our Catholic practice also recognizes the ordained priest as officially identified and authorized in union with Jesus to represent the people offering the sacrifice of the Mass, one of the conditions required in the definition of an official act of sacrifice.

Underlying all that I have been saying about Calvary, the Last Supper, and the Mass is the identity of Jesus as priest and the experiences of Calvary, the Last Supper, and the Mass as experiences of sacrifice, with Jesus exercising the role of priest in all three experiences. The unconditional trust and total love that is expressed in sacrifice is referred to as worship. The definition of sacrifice is: an offering to God alone by an official representative of the people of some material gift, with the change or destruction of what is offered in recognition of God's supreme dominion and our complete dependence upon God.

We know by faith it was God's design and plan from the very first sin that was ever committed down to the last, that Jesus was is and will be the fulfillment of the Father's promise to Adam and Eve in the third Chapter of Genesis. Jesus is the sole redeemer and His the only name in whom sins are forgiven and the love of God is restored to the sinful soul. That is solid secure Catholic theology.

Sin is a turning away from God, a separation from God, a betrayal of God's love. Love that is lost by sin is restored by the love of Jesus. Since Jesus the Man and the Eternal Word of God are two names for a single person , anything Jesus said or did could be of infinite value before the Father and thus sufficient to atone for any and all sin. Yet, since there is no greater love a man can have than to lay down his life in love for another, it was most fitting that Jesus should lay down His life, once on Calvary and again at the Last Supper, and again and again and again, all around the world, every day until the end of the world in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass so that sinners need not be afraid of God but rather come to Him and receive the gift of forgiveness and a new love through the sacrificial worship of Jesus the Redeemer of all who are redeemed.

Some of this fundamental Catholic theology may seem strange and unfamiliar even to Catholics who are regular church-goers Sunday after Sunday. The music, the preaching, and the prayers we pray may be enough for them to satisfy their intention and desire to praise and thank God for His goodness to us and His merciful forgiveness in and though Jesus His Son. But if this, wonderful as it is, be so, they are missing the essence of what is going on before them at the altar during Mass.

Sarah

Two years ago tomorrow (July 7, 2010), Sarah left us in sorrow.    When I heard the news of her death from Bob,  I grabbed the Crucifix off my bedroom wall (while screaming Oh God!) and said to myself, Jesus know I understand more on why you prayed on your knees, cried, and suffered in Gethsemane.  

For months I cried, felt numb to the world, could not sleep, and had to force myself to eat.   The only hope I had was that God loved Sarah more than I did, and God is full of love and mercy.   Jesus "sat on the mercy seat" and we have benefited.  Unworthy creatures that we are. 

Our family dynamics have changed.   Cruel words have been spoken and many lies told.   Family life is shallow and shattered.  Sarah was so good to me, such  a wonderful sister and listener.  We talked on the phone just about every day sharing everything, or so I thought.   Some days  we called several times throughout the day.   I knew she was sad, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever think she would end things tragically.  I called her several times on the day she died...the last call at 11:11 a.m.  The line was busy...was she going through her death ritual then???   So senseless...so many questions...no answers!!!   I still cry in my heart and every now and then the cries come out in tears.   Dearest Sarah I miss you so much.   My vision of Sarah in my mind is beautiful.   What she was in this life to me and so many others was priceless.   Surely Sarah has  to be in the presence of God with all the Angels and Saints....surely she does.   FOREVER missing my  dear Princess....forever