A Sunday Thought to Start the Week Off Right
Whew, that was close! It turns out last week's Sunday thought almost contained a serious error. You'll find it in the highlighted crossed-out sentence from this section of the post:
Pentecost is a really big deal.It's the birthday of our Holy Catholic Church. The Holy Spirit descended upon Our Lord's disciples to enlighten and inflame the minds and hearts. Immediately Peter preached and hundreds were converted.
Despite fairly common belief, it turns out Pentecost isn't the birthday of our Holy Church. Who knew? Well, it turns out some people who do know recently published a piece that straightens out the matter. "The Church was NOT born on Pentecost." So why do so many of us think it was?
It seems our thinking it is is based on the Protestant error of Sola Scriptura. Protestants reject the authority of tradition and rely - they claim - solely on the words of the Bible to define their beliefs. Catholics rely on tradition as well as Scripture. So we look back and find Church Fathers weighing in on this idea of when Church began. For example, Origen of Alexandria wrote "From the wound in Christ's side has come forth the Church, and He has made her His Bride." A similar view was expounded by many other Church Fathers. What this all means is that, the Church was already born when the Holy Spirit descended on Our Lord's disciples on Pentecost. Indeed, the tradition would say that if we need to designate a "birthday" for our Holy Catholic Church, it would be more appropriate to look to Good Friday. Quodvultdeus (d. 453), Bishop of Carthage and a disciple of St. Augustine beautifully expresses this:
“Now let our Bridegroom climb onto the Cross and sleep there in death, and let His side be opened and the Virgin Bride come forth. As once from the side of Adam Eve was formed, so let the Church be formed now from the side of the dying Christ, as He hangs on the Cross. Oh wonderful mystery! The Bride is born from the Bridegroom!”
None of this in any way takes away from the importance of Pentecost. It remains one of the great feasts in our Liturgical Year. We will continue to celebrate it with holy enthusiasm. It's just not the "birthday" of the Church.
So why does this matter? What's the big deal? Simple: because truth matters. And in an age when recognition of absolute truth has been minimized, even denigrated, by the relativism that Pope Benedict call a "Dictatorship of Relativism," we Catholics need to recognize and treat what is true as a treasure to be held and esteemed. And if we need any further motivation to , we need only remember the words of Our Blessed Savior Himself: "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Pentecost is a really big deal.
Despite fairly common belief, it turns out Pentecost isn't the birthday of our Holy Church. Who knew? Well, it turns out some people who do know recently published a piece that straightens out the matter. "The Church was NOT born on Pentecost." So why do so many of us think it was?
It seems our thinking it is is based on the Protestant error of Sola Scriptura. Protestants reject the authority of tradition and rely - they claim - solely on the words of the Bible to define their beliefs. Catholics rely on tradition as well as Scripture. So we look back and find Church Fathers weighing in on this idea of when Church began. For example, Origen of Alexandria wrote "From the wound in Christ's side has come forth the Church, and He has made her His Bride." A similar view was expounded by many other Church Fathers. What this all means is that, the Church was already born when the Holy Spirit descended on Our Lord's disciples on Pentecost. Indeed, the tradition would say that if we need to designate a "birthday" for our Holy Catholic Church, it would be more appropriate to look to Good Friday. Quodvultdeus (d. 453), Bishop of Carthage and a disciple of St. Augustine beautifully expresses this:
“Now let our Bridegroom climb onto the Cross and sleep there in death, and let His side be opened and the Virgin Bride come forth. As once from the side of Adam Eve was formed, so let the Church be formed now from the side of the dying Christ, as He hangs on the Cross. Oh wonderful mystery! The Bride is born from the Bridegroom!”
None of this in any way takes away from the importance of Pentecost. It remains one of the great feasts in our Liturgical Year. We will continue to celebrate it with holy enthusiasm. It's just not the "birthday" of the Church.
So why does this matter? What's the big deal? Simple: because truth matters. And in an age when recognition of absolute truth has been minimized, even denigrated, by the relativism that Pope Benedict call a "Dictatorship of Relativism," we Catholics need to recognize and treat what is true as a treasure to be held and esteemed. And if we need any further motivation to , we need only remember the words of Our Blessed Savior Himself: "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
Happy Sunday 4th Sunday after Pentecost!
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