Service is a central aspect of Christianity. In the words of Ed Hahnenberg, “God calls me through others for others.”
But, as Hahnenberg’s phrasing suggests, we can never lose sight of the fact that our service is in response to God’s call, which means our service must be connected to our faith.
I’ve been reading Matthew Kelly’s Rediscover Catholicism, given to all members of parishes in our archdiocese. On this issue Kelly writes:
When the practice and preaching of Christianity are not clearly focused on the universal call to holiness, the activities pursued in the name of Christianity disintegrate into little more than a collection of social welfare initiatives. As the Church becomes more and more separated from this call to holiness, whether locally, regionally, nationally, or universally, it very quickly begins to resemble a social welfare organization rather than the great spiritual entity it was established to be for every age.
I was reminded, when I read those lines, of something Archbishop Chaput said at the CCMA National Convention last week. Questioned about the service component of our faith, he said that we can never to doo much social ministry. But, he cautioned, our service must be connected to the Gospel, that service alone can never substitute for the fullness of the Gospel.
There are three legs to the stool, Archbishop Chaput suggested of an “honest Christianity”: preaching the Gospel with integrity, building a community where people are genuinely loved, and helping the poor. If any one of those three is missing, Christianity is absent. The Archbishop was clear that people err in different directions. So it is not enough, he said, to say, “I’m Orthodox” alone or “I’m helping the poor” alone. We need all three legs of the stool.
I think what Chaput and Kelly are really saying is that unless you are in lockstep with the Hierarchy, you cannot call yourself Roman Catholic. Freedom of conscience means nothing if you don’t agree with us.
I don’t read either of them saying that, Floyd. I agree that the conscience issues are important ones. But so is the reminder that our service must be connected to the Gospel; we are not secular social workers.
As a woman who grew up on a dairy farm once told us: 3 legged stools don’t wobble. They sit solid – they may tilt, but they don’t rock or wobble. Try it — you’ll see (and you need 3 legs, not 2 or 1 and 4 can certainly wobble and rock.)
I would borrow the description of the 3 legs of my stool from a different, but faithfully Christian source: Piety (Holiness), Study (Formation), Action (Evangelization) — all rooted in prayer. Prayer that opens the place for God to break through and for us to set aside time to recognize God in our lives (Holiness), Prayer when studying to learn more from books and situations to be formed more fully into what we are meant to be and Prayer when reaching out to share the Gospel and serve others so that this can be done in Love and therefore evangelize the world.
Like you, I did not pick up the thread that Floyd seems to have heard.
Might Floyd be saying that often the most difficult ‘yoke’ to shoulder are Gospel interpretation’s of another – interpretations that are often presented by, as he says, the ‘Hierarchy.’
Enjoyment and blessings from the celebration of Sunday Mass can quickly be blurred by messages from the pulpit. . . Love and message can be opposing – and trouble many a heart. . .