“My longing for truth was a single prayer.”
A part is not greater than or equal to the whole.
This may sound like a simple truth, but often even those who accept it are too readily mislead into believing that a “part” – be it even a very good part – is greater than or equal to the “whole” it belongs to and is taken from. Many people lead others astray by insisting that a “good part” is complete on its own, dismissing the whole entirely, missing the full picture and significance.
Merely believing that a part can serve as a replacement of the whole does not make it true, nor does it spare one the consequences.
Demanding the part be the replacement of the whole, this now insisted upon incomplete truth leaves room for error to come in unrecognized. The truth in its fullness being protested, darkness may be perceived as light.
Neglect of knowledge leaves love into error. Love, not merely being a feeling, is an act of the will, involving the intellect. Neglecting the whole, refusing it, demands rewards the part cannot possibly provide on its own, leaving the individual confused and frustrated.
The virtue of humility, a reverence for the truth, introduces the remedy for our souls. Like many a medicine it may taste bitter, and healing often involves tears, but what victory is there without trial, and in the fullness of truth we have hope of a great promise in which we can trust.
Catholic: The Greek roots of the term come from καθόλου (katholou), kata meaning “according to” and holos meaning “whole.” It means “according to the whole”
(Humility and love of the fullness of Truth; to be Catholic is to seek the fullness of truth. Deep, not shallow; full and satisfying. Christ-centered according to Christ, not ego-centered in the name of Christ). To be Catholic is to be in love with the Truth, for He is Truth and the Truth will set you free. Love is a participation, we are called to true intimacy with Him, Love and Truth Himself. We shall never succeed in knowing ourselves unless we seek to know GOD.
Religion: The word “religion” comes from the Latin religio which means to bind oneself, to constrain, or to be tied to another. As such, the virtue of religion calls us to look outside of ourselves, both upward to God, and outward to the great accumulated wisdom of our revealed faith. Religion is rooted in the humility that there is something and someone bigger than what I think. It is a humility that says I should not necessarily believe everything I think.
True religion is ultimately a communal summons by God for people to walk with Him, not just individuals living in separate stovepipes, but in communion with others. Religion, both the word and practice, is a magnificent description of what faith really is.
This is true faith (cannot have true faith without religion).
Our personal response to God’s loving invitation to believe in him. Faith means giving yourself completely — heart, mind, and will — to a loving relationship with God.
We accept the fullness of truth, even when it is difficult because we believe it is true, right, and just. It doesn’t mean picking and choosing the things we want to believe. We believe in everything God reveals.
The Catholic Church is the original church founded by Christ after His Resurrection, is the only church with an unbroken connection with the original Apostles, and is the only church which passes on God’s Revelation, complete and unchanging.
Many have wished that Our Blessed Lord had remained on earth, that we might have heard His voice, seen His compassionate eyes, and brought our children to be blessed by His hands. But He said, “I can say truly that it is better for you that I should go away; He who is to befriend you will not come to you unless I do go, but if only I make my way there, I will send Him to you.”
If our Lord had remained on earth, He would have been only a symbol to be copied – not a life to be lived. By returning to His heavenly Father, He could then send both from the Father and Himself the Holy Spirit that would make Him live on earth in His new Body, which is the Church.
The human body is made up of millions of cells, and yet is one because vivified by one soul, presided over by a visible head, and governed by an invisible mind. So on Pentecost, the Apostles, who were like the cells of a body, became Christ’s Mystical Body, because vivified by His Holy Spirit, governed by one visible head, Peter, and presided over by one invisible head, Christ in heaven. Our glorious Church is not an organization, but an organism. As our Lord once thought, governed, and sanctified through a human body, which He took from the womb of His blessed Mother, so now He teaches, governs, and sanctifies through His Mystical Body, the Church, which He took from the womb of humanity overshadowed by His Holy Spirit.
Christ was infallible when He talked through a human body; He is still infallible when He teaches through a mystical Body. Christ sanctified when He forgave sins with human lips; He sanctifies still when He forgives sins through the power of His priests. Christ governed through His human Body, and He governs still. “He that heareth you, heareth Me.”
As a drop of blood can live in the body, but cannot live apart from the body, so neither can any of us live the fullness of the Christ Life except in His Mystical Body, the Church.