12th Week OT (T)
It doesn't really matter what religion you follow as long as you are a good person. I'm spiritual but not religious b/c organized religion is too limiting. There is only one mountain but many paths to the top. Besides, in the end, everyone goes to heaven. So, who cares what faith you follow? OK. Jesus says, “How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” As good Catholics, we know that universalism and religious indifferentism are heresies. Long condemned heresies that pop up regularly like mushrooms on a cow patty – pretty but poisonous. That these dangerous bits of bumper sticker theology still appear is obvious. But why do they continue to plague us? What is it about the human person that needs to believe them? Part of it is pride – making myself into my own god. If I'm my own god, then I get to write my own scripture and invent my own theology. Another part of it has to do a failure to understand the nature of truth. Two contradictory statements claiming to be true cannot both be true. Jesus says that his is the only name given under heaven for the salvation of mankind. If we believe this to be true, we cannot at the same time hold that the name of some other god is also salvific. Another part of the motivation for heresies like indifferentism and universalism is the laudable desire not to cause offense. It's just not polite to tell people they're going to hell b/c they don't follow Christ. No socially well-adjusted person wants to defend that claim at the Sunday barbecue! But I think the deeper problem is that we've made religious belief into an intensely private, intensely emotive, highly personalized way of being right about something. When it comes to religious belief, you cannot tell me I'm wrong; therefore, I am always right. Politics used to be like that. No longer. Everything personal is political nowadays. All we have left to always be right about is religion. But as Christians, as Catholics, we aren't allowed to fall back quietly on the motto the “Your truth, my truth” nonsense and relax. Our faith is rational; that is, it is explicable, defensible, demonstrably true, and comprehensive. Our faith isn't a boutique filled with carefully curated, handcrafted treasures designed to please and delight. It's a total worldview. An all-encompassing mindset that informs and guides every thought, word, and deed. It's The Way to think about, talk to, and walk back towards God. Does our faith provide us with knowledge of every truth? No. Nothing in the Tradition tells us which interpretation of quantum physics is the right one. Nothing in revelation or Church teaching tells us whether Whitman or Dickinson is the better poet. Tradition, revelation, Church teaching are all bent toward helping us to respond to God's salvific love and mercy. So, what we know about that response is that it must come through Christ. It must come freely. It reveals our trust in God through our words and our deeds. And on the Last Day, what gets us through that narrow gate is a face shining like a mirror, reflecting Christ's own face back to him. Not the Buddha's face. Or Mohammad's. Or Vishnu's. Christ's. His is the only name and the only face that saves.
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