And what if we DO have the answer, and the answer is "that's another lie about Catholicism." What then?
Should we just live with lies about what we believe?
Should we just live with lies about what we believe?
Well, IF we are right to be Catholic, as of course I think we are, we should expect that there will be lies and that until the Lord comes again we will not be able to eradicate them.
And until He comes again, His orders are to go and make disciples of all nations ... .
We are to be an apostolic and evangelical people. And the Evangel which we are to proclaim and to represent is a Gospel of Love.
As the psalmist says, God is wily with the crooked (cum perverso perverteris.) We think that we teach the true Gospel, but our teaching is useless if we present it offensively or incredibly. We think that to enter into full communion in the Catholic Church is to enter into the lushest pastures by the purest and most refreshing streams.
One of the first things I learned as a shepherd was that it didn't help a thing if I got angry with my sheep. Worst case, they'd just keel over and croak. But the object of the game was to get them into the good paddock or into the chutes for treatment or into the barn out of the sleet. It didn't matter whose fault it was if they didn't go where it was good for them to go. They were just as sick or dead if it was their fault as they were if it was mine.
So I get angry and snotty, and it's a disgrace, and our brothers and sisters miss just as much of the joy as if I'd stayed calm, only now they know one Catholic who makes NOT being Catholic seem like a good idea. Not exactly what I had in mind ...
'Scuse the oozing piety. As I said, I'm not as good as I need to be.