CCCXLIII – The Scourging At The Pillar

This week, there has been a lively, not entirely productive conversation at the Orthosphere. The conversation has centered around some combination of Church structures, human consciousness, and the faults of the Roman Catholic Church.

This has been a difficult conversation for me to sit on the sidelines for, and at first I did not. I got in the fray and started throwing punches in defense of Holy Mother Church. For all her faults, she is my Holy Mother, and I love her. It can be frustrating to see the Church belittled, ridiculed, trivialized, innovated into nothingness. It can be frustrating to stand by and see her bear injuries and injustices at the hands of strange men who claim to know better than she does.

This is a difficult conversation too because I know without a trace of doubt that the Roman Catholic Church is the only true Church put in place by God. All this discussion about the “model for religion” and rage against “religious authority” is like listening to people arguing about what color the sky is. If Ecumenism means Roman Catholics must be the only party to turn the other cheek, that sucks, but it’s not without precedent. Imagine how Mary and John felt watching Christ be crucified, knowing in truth that He was God? Imagine how Peter felt watching Christ scourged at the pillar, knowing in truth that He was Truth incarnate?

At the end of the day, all the heretics, apostates, schismatics, and earnestly jaded people can do is shout into the wind. The Truth is the unshakeable ground they stand on, as they proclaim falsehoods. It is our task as Catholics to bear these stripes and unite them to Christ; it is our task as Catholics to rebuff these stripes where charity and fraternal correction allows, as Christ rebuked his Apostles; it is our task as Catholics to stand idly by while the Church is scourged and crucified, wrongfully, because we are called to pick up our cross and follow Him. If you think this antagonism will not, one day, be turned against us as individuals, rather than being reserved philosophically for the Church, you are sadly mistaken. It is a short leap from “The Church is wrong” to “The people who proclaim the truth of this Church are wrong”. Even the people on “our side” politically, can one day be the first in line to crack the whip over our backs for our spiritual differences.

I’ve been trying to process this whole dialogue and this is what I’ve come to. Christ says we must pick up our cross and follow Him. Sometimes the Cross is given to us by our enemies. Sometimes the Cross is given to us by our friends. Sometimes the Cross is given to us by people we respect and admire. Pick it up! All we can do is follow. All roads lead to Calvary.

AMDG

(f) – St. Justin Martyr

I have seen no less than two references to St. Justin Martyr in the last 24 hours. St Justin’s feast day is my birthday, and so I have a special reverence for him.

St. Justin was a philosopher, one could argue before his conversion he was a shaman of “scientism”. From the above link:

The Scriptures and the constancy of the Christian martyrs led Justin from the darkness of human reason to the light of faith. In his zeal for the faith he travelled to Greece, Egypt, and Italy, gaining many to Christ. At Rome he sealed his testimony with his blood, surrounded by his disciples.

St. Justin learned that reason alone was not enough. Faith alone is like lamp oil, reason alone is like a wick–faith united to reason is like a lamp that can burn forever. St. Justin earned the martyr’s crown and did so boldly:

“Do you think,” the prefect said to Justin, “that by dying you will enter heaven and be rewarded by God?” “I do not think,” was the Saint’s answer; “I know.”

St. Justin, pray that I may be worthy to share my birth into this world with your birth into the next; pray that I may, like you, illuminate the hearts of many with the light of faith. Pray that, should the martyrs crown be offered to me, I may accept it with the same boldness and confidence.

St. Justin Martyr, pray for us.

AMDG

(t) – The Test

Then going out he went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. When he arrived at the place he said to them, “Pray that you may not undergo the test.” – Luke 22:39-40

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It is easy to talk about suffering, and much harder to suffer. You may view other people’s suffering as a just rebuke of what surely must be a sinful life. You may view your own suffering as an unjust chastisement. It is impossible to know–what we do know is that Christ tells us we must pick up our crosses and follow Him.

This is the test, it comes in two varieties, and sometimes we can choose which one we want to take: We can choose to endure a lifetime of little sufferings, or we can choose the Martyrs Crown and take all our sufferings at once, in glorious devotion to God?

Both involve suffering. Most people think that the lifetime of little sufferings is the easier path. Personally, I think the Martyrs might be the lucky ones: They know Heaven is their reward, and they didn’t have to wait to find out.

AMDG