What is the Heart of Catholicism - Essay Example

“What is the Heart of Catholicism?” By Heart of Catholicism, we mean the in-depth mysteries and views of the catholic religion that is unique, diverse and most of all inspiring. The present race of Christians has long forgotten the real traditions, teachings, essence and reason of their religion and the preacher, the Jesus Christ. They no longer show interest in discovering the mystery of all the questions related to catholic faith. This study mainly offers the major questions to be answered by enlightening the mind and heart of the believers in a hope that they might be transformed by it and avoid following new false preaching of the society. This study throws light on Jesus Christ’s life and revelation, significance of bible, church’s on going rite of “Lord’s Supper” with an example and ending with the present scenario of emerging false religions in America. Jesus Christ is thought to be the incarnation of God i.e. when God became human. He was considered a God-man since hi manifested such miracles which are out of control of a simple human being. He cured the ills, controlled nature’s happenings, rebuked the dark powers, cured the blinds, deaf and pardoned the sinners etc. This made him as a Godly figure that could do anything at his will power. He invited people to question regarding his existence and showed them to his disciples by saying: “Come, and you will see”, (Jn 1:39). This here shows that the disciples of Jesus actually mean followers who stay with Jesus physically that time, and spiritually today. The Godly nature of Jesus is proved through many of his saying such as once he said: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away” (Mt 24:35). However, many scholars consider him mere a preacher but this is also proved by Jesus claiming his true worth by saying: “whoever is not with me is against me” (Lk 11:23), and that is how the Christians stick to this firm belief of Jesus. He is considered “Yahweh” as told in the old testaments who was ought to do four tasks and Jesus did all of them in his own way. This also makes him highest authority of all Christians (Catholicism 9-27). Now, moving toward the teachings of Jesus in black and white form i.e. bible and its canon. Bible is the holy book that includes all the manifestations and teachings of holy Jesus Christ thereby educating its believers spiritually and morally. The process of developing the “canon of bible” was started by combining old testaments with traditions of the past. With the passage of time, different cannons started emerging. But there was not a biblical canon that could be made a standard of measuring the authenticity of the Christian faith. Hence, in order to make a standard holy bible for preserving the faith of the believers, a “Christian canon” was made comprising of old testaments, four Gospels and Paul’s letters that were widely used in all churches (Gaillardetz 29-39). The church authority considers the Biblical as a set of historical accounts of God’s saving actions on behalf of humanity (Gaillardetz 29-39). It means that God preserved the eternal myths, the preaching of Jesus and the teachings in a manner that no ordinary man in future or scholar can change or disqualify it. This fact makes bible significance enough holding truths far greater then explained in it literally. But Catholicism says that authority of bible is not greater than that of church. They consider bible as the product of faith of Israel and the early Christian communities. Certain churches restrict the authority of bible to teachings of the pope and bishops (Gaillardetz 29-39). Now, moving toward another vital pillar in developing a Christian’s faith is the “Lord’s supper”. This feast is held in every church where bread and wine is presented considering them as flesh and blood of Jesus, respectively. According to Paul’s account, Jesus said: “For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes” (v. 26). It shows that the bread is considered as Jesus’s flesh and wine as his blood. This is considered by some scholars spiritually and some says that after the bishop commence the dining, the meal and drink is actually converted to blood and flesh. Through this, they consider themselves spiritually connected to the Jesus inside their bodies. However, the church considers the Lord’s Supper more as symbol of the gathering and fellowship of the believers than as a symbol of past death of Jesus. In Catholicism, it is believed that when only a catholic priest administers the supper, then the bread and wine is actually converted into flesh and blood. They have a view that this supper is an action of giving sacrifice and having been forgiven for the sins of the sinners. Their main idea revolves around the presence of a proper priest at the supper, for if any other common man or scholar officiates the supper, the bread and wine remain as they are (Erickson 1115-1128). The importance of eating this bread in Lord’s Supper in Catholics can be well judged by a story “the hint of an explanation” of Graham Greene (Greene 205-217). He explained well enough the fact that how far the Christians were attracted toward eating that sacramental bread, since Jesus said: “Amen, Amen I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the son of the man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you…..For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink.” (John6:53-55) (Greene 205-217). As the writer tells a story of a baker who hated Catholics and claimed that he can make sacramental bread himself and there would be no difference in it if matched to the one being offered in the church at Lord’s Supper. But the urge of getting and eating the actual sacramental bread of church supper aroused a lot in the baker later on. He asked the boy to bring him a piece of that bread for he wanted to taste it himself. He exposed himself as mere a person who wants to judge just that actual bread with his own made one. But it the end, when the boy refused to offer him and ate it, the poor baker started crying. His this reaction showed that even though he hated to attend the Catholics supper at church, he was dying to eat the piece of bread (flesh of Jesus) for he too had a belief that eating that would make him spiritually connected to Jesus Christ (Greene 205-217). Despite of all above beliefs, the present scenario of false religion in America named as “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism” is very disturbing. The Christians consider that their religion demands only feeling of happiness, peace and security. They have a different belief of God as the one who exists and created world, gave moral guidance to all but do not indulge in the personal deeds of the humans. The Christians have no knowledge of their past history and religion and mere know that they tie to a Christian identity only (Mohler). The need of the hour is to connect the Christians of the present era to the historic Christianity virtually. The people should be educated about the incarnation of Jesus Christ, his teachings and important rites going-on in churches. It is utmost duty of the churches to respond to this new emerging false religion by fighting back with this competitor of biblical Christianity or the new generation coming after is going to know less about what is the real heart of Catholicism. Works Cited Catholicism: “Amazed and afraid: the revelation of God becomes man”. N.d: 9-27. Print Gaillardetz, Richard R. “What is the canon of the Bible.” By what authority? Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Minnesota, n.d: 29-39. Print Erickson, Millard J. “The continuing rite of the church: the Lord’s Supper.” Christian Theology. N.d. 1115-1128. Print Greene, Graham. “The seven sacraments and their effects: the hint of an explanation.” The Catholic spirit. N.d. 205-217. Print. Mohler, R. Albert. “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism- the new American religion.” (2005): The Christian post. Web 20 Nov. 2012. Read More