And Jesus Wept

There's been no shortage of heated debates found in the blogosphere lately (Remind me to tell you the story of Disco Jesus another day...). The most recent, however, has touched a nerve with women on both sides of the issue--including yours truly.

Now, not that anyone in cyberspace cares one iota about what this mom thinks, but for my own mental health...in the confines of my own corner of the web...I've got something to say.

I had the privilege of hearing Fr. Larry Richards speak at our parish earlier this year. With several non-practicing Catholic Christians and many separated brethren in our extended family, one thing he said firmly implanted itself in my most plebeian mind. He said, "We do better to welcome people into the Church by loving them than by arguing with them." I might add, even if we know they are misguided--or just plain wrong. Another great mom, whose company I miss very much, was fond of saying, "Jesus will reveal that to them Himself." And, as regardless of the issue, she didn't force herself on the person, but continued to love them and pray for them...right where they were and wouldn't you know it if Jesus didn't do just that.

He's like that, isn't He?

And, I think about Him a great deal when we attack and tear down one another all in His name. Oh, the great sorrow Our Lord must feel. But you know who gets the last laugh, don't you? It's not the one with the best documented response or the most cutting retort or even the one who gets the final say. Oh no, for those people have been played by the Lord's most cunning rival.

The Devil.

You don't believe me? Go and read some of the *charitable* comments that were left in response to the multitude of posts linked here. If the Devil wasn't already dancing as Christ's Church splintered off into tens of thousands of different denominations, he's surely looked upon our latest means of self-destruction and began a cha-cha to envy Fred Astaire.

Even the Catholic Church, in all of her wisdom, acknowledges that while the faithful are still called to lovingly evangelize, that God--in ways known only to Him--can lead those ignorant of His message to Him and to "a faith without which it is impossible to please Him." (CCC, 848)

Doesn't this all really come down to a matter of humility?

If we were humble, nothing would change us--neither praise nor discouragement.
If someone were to criticize us, we would not feel discouraged.
If someone would praise us, we also would not feel proud.
--Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

Try as I might to live in God's friendship and follow Him faithfully--at the end of the day, I am still painfully human--a walking disaster of weakness and flaws. And God is, was and always will be, well, God--full of mercy and forgiveness and an unconditional love so powerful we can't begin to comprehend or interpret it. And we would be arrogant to try. But God knows this and so He doesn't ask this of us. What He does ask is that we share His love with others. And with His help and much grace, He knows we can.

"Love one another as I have loved you." John 13:34
"Love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37-39