Responses to "Conversation with a Catholic"

I just wanted to take a few moments to respond to some of the comments that a few of you had left on my last post. First, let me begin with how happy I am that some of you are taking the time to comment on my blogs. This is my whole purpose, to let you all know some of the things that run through my head and how I try to find answers and discussing them with you all. Your comments help me to grow and learn and question, and these are all amazing things. Secondly, I am also so very grateful that even those who may have differing views, comment in a way that enables us to have open, peaceful discussion. God wants us to question, it is how we learn, and by respecting eachother's views enough to allow for this discussion to take place is only pleasing to him.

Now lets get to the good stuff, responses. First, to J.H. I am so happy that you got something so positive from my blog. Remember, that we all struggle day-to-day with questions of faith, am I doing the right thing, am I wrong because I don't practice this, that or the other. What is important to remember is that there is no wrong way to worship, praise or love God. In living a centered around Christ, our guidelines are simple, 1. Love one another, as He has loved us. 2. Remember that what we do unto the least of our brothers, we do unto Him. 3. Live a life centered on Faith, Hope and Love. After accepting Christ as our Savior, it truly is impossible for us to live any other existence. Just remember, all things for God, for his glory, live according to this and God will accept your praise, the rest...is details.

Finally, to C.L. Thank you so much for your comment. I love that you had the courage to write what you believe and feel, and as I said earlier, your comments force me to reflect and pray, which allows me to grow more in my faith and in my own personal relationship with God. However, with your indulgence I would like to respond to you with a bit more detail. Know that while I do not consider myself Catholic, I do still very much accept the Eucharist, or Communion as the true body and blood of Christ. However, to me this is not a means nor a necessity for salvation. It is rather an opportunity for us as Christians to share in the Lord's supper and remember His great sacrifice together, as a family. I believe that it fills us with the grace and peace of Christ, and as such should be received in a similar fashion. I believe that we as recipients should be at peace and with God's grace, we can do this by acknowledging our sins and confessing them to God, however, this does not need to occur with a priest. To base salvation on confession to a priest, this is where I have the main issue. If you as a human need to speak with a priest for guidance, or because you need human, external validation on your forgiveness, then do so, but remember that no one speaks for God, he has proven that he is fully capable of doing that on his own, and second that it is not necessary for salvation, you are already saved and forgiveness is already bought, Christ's words in the gospel of Matthew should be validation enough. I am a firm believer that Christ has already bought forgiveness and salvation for us and therefore, none should be denied the joy of taking the Eucharist or sharing in this act of communion with fellow believers.

This poses another issue. The act of denial. I truly believe that the Catholic church is not fulfilling God's will when it denies believers the right to take communion. And by that I mean non-Catholic Christians. In Matthew 26:26-28

" 26 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, 'Take and eat; this is my body.' 27 Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins..."

In this passage Christ tells us very clearly what to do and what we are doing. He tells us that we are to share in his body and blood. He does not say to do it if we are of a particular faith, or because we are sinless. He tells us that we are to do it to remember that we are forgiven, that the cup in which we share as a community of believers, has already bought our forgiveness, has paid the price for our salvation. The Catholic church is wrong to deny to any Christian, based solely on their practice of faith, what Christ himself commanded of us. They are keeping believers from following the will of Jesus, and that alone, in my eyes, is the worst possible offense.

As a final tidbit, for the first 1,000 years of the church after the resurrection of Christ, the church did not deny any the cup. In fact, when churches began to deny the cup to protestants, two consecutive Popes, Pope Leo being one, condemned the churches for doing so. It wasn't until later that it was decided to make it common practice to only allow practicing Catholics to partake in the gifts. This to me says that time has corrupted the true institution left on this earth by Christ, we must return to it, we must become one faith again, a faith of believers, a church of truly "catholic" Christians.