My Catholic Great-Grandmother's Sacrifice

This past June the 8th, my 8-year-old daughter was baptized at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. My grandparents, who are Methodist, were present for the occasion. I knew from my mother that my grandma had been "sprinkled" as a baby, so I had a vague notion that she had been Catholic. But some Protestant denominations also baptize infants, and I never really knew the story. When I was growing up my family, including my grandparents, belonged to the Church of Christ. This was the church of my grandpa's youth. My grandparents left that church after long time membership and joined the First Methodist, which was the church that my grandma had belonged to in her youth. But it turns out there's more to this history.

Either before or after my daughter's baptism I had the opportunity to share my Rosary miracle with my grandma (see June 1 post). This brought back a flood of memory for her. She told me that she too had been baptized at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Her mother was a Catholic Frenchwoman, and she took my grandma and her older sister to church there when they were very young. My grandma's father, however, was Protestant, and he went to the United Brethern Church (from my understanding, this eventually become a United Methodist Church). So the family was divided by religious denomination and did not attend church together. My grandma told me that when she was only 3 or 4, they came home from church one Sunday, and there was a proliferation of pink roses in full bloom in her yard. She is 84 years old, and she still has this vivid image of the roses in her mind after 80 years. She can still see them perfectly. Why this particular memory stands out, she says she does not know...

In my mind, I am screaming, "Mary!"  Grandma associates the roses with her young childhood in the Catholic Church. And there is no more predominant symbol of Mary than the rose. Rosary literally means garland of roses. My grandma did not attend the Catholic Church past the age of 4. For the sake of family unity, my great-grandmother began attending church with her husband so that they could all worship together. But, my grandma told me, her mother never, ever stopped being Catholic. She never transferred membership to my great-grandfather's church. I believe strongly that Mary knew that my grandma, and her mother and sister, would be leaving the Catholic Church, and the gorgeous pink rose blossoms were Mary's way of letting them know that she would always be with them. She would always be their Mother.  Subconsciously my grandma associated my Rosary miracle with her own miracle of roses.

I was only 5 when my great-grandmother died. I have memories of her, and I remember crying when my mom told me that she had passed away. I wish I would have known my Catholic great-grandmother who sacrificed so much for the peace and unity of her family. How did she live without the Holy Sacrament, the Eucharist? How did she live without Mary as part of Christian worship? Did she still pray her Rosary? How her heart must have ached. How brave she must have been, how full of faith.

But I am comforted by this thought:  My great-grandma Ruth is a saint in heaven. I can talk to her whenever I want. And how happy she must have been on the day of my daughter's baptism, to see from the celestial view her great-great-grandaughter coming into the Church that she had so loved in her lifetime, the Church she left but never abandoned. And of course she will also be thrilled to see me enter the Church at the Easter vigil next year! In my small way, I can make reparation for her sacrifice.  I can give something precious back to her, and I am humbled to be able to honor her memory in this way.

Just Jesus and Me?

A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgement (Proverbs 18:1). 

On the Catholic TV program, The Journey Home, host Marcus Grodi was talking to a former Episcopalian priest about the "just Jesus and me" doctrine of some evangelical churches. This means that the personal relationship with Jesus, and individual study of the Bible, is emphasized in exclusion to almost anything else in one's Christian walk. For some, even church is not absolutely necessary.

Catholics also recognize the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus, but the difference is that it happens within membership in the Church--the Body of Christ--and its living sacraments and traditions. The sacred scriptures also find their home and fullest expression within the liturgy (the Catholic church service known as the Mass). The homily given by the priest then applies the readings to daily life.

Individual Bible study is encouraged as well, but Catholics are not left to their own devices of interpretation. Rather, interpretation occurs through the lens of Tradition. It is true that some Catholics end up leaving the Church because they do not feel that they ever had a personal relationship with Jesus. They feel that they knew the associated rituals and practices but not Jesus himself, and some end up being drawn to a Protestant church to fill this need. This reflects poor teaching of the faith from within the Catholic Church, and from what I understand, a greater emphasis on knowing Jesus personally is one of the results of Vatican II to remedy this situation. The traffic is going both ways, also leading many to the fullness of the faith found in Catholicism.

Perhaps what has not always been understood is that the Catholic is never alone in his walk with Jesus, nor do I think Jesus wants anyone to venture on the path without company. Each member of the Church together with the others, both those still living on this earth and those living eternally in heaven (or still in purgatory), comprise the mystical Body of Christ, of which Jesus is the Head, and the Church is to respond to the Bridegroom, Jesus, as his Bride. Each member is also individually a bride of Christ, but this is within the context of the larger Body. Therefore, the idea of "just Jesus and me" is a false understanding. We are created to worship together.

There is a place for personal revelation, certainly, but again it cannot conflict with the teachings of the Church, which are based on the interdependent relationship of Scripture and Tradition. There were 12 apostles, as well as a group of women, who physically followed Jesus in his ministry. It was a large group of 120 disciples, including the Virgin Mary, who received the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost together after Jesus ascended. This was the official beginning of the Church, headed by Peter, that exists still today, as Jesus promised that it would until he came again. Despite its long history of corruption and less than holy people, Jesus said that hell would not prevail over his Church, that he would protect it and its teachings. This Church is none other than the Catholic Church, the only church with an unbroken line tracing it back to Jesus and his apostles. What more assurance do we need?

 Pentecost

The primary form of worship in the Catholic Church, the Eucharist celebration, was established by Jesus at the Last Supper. Jesus also gave Peter the "keys to the kingdom", granting him the ability to forgive sins in Jesus' name and such power that whatever Peter bound on earth would be bound in heaven, and whatever he loosed on earth would be loosed in heaven. Jesus gave similar authority to all the apostles, with Peter having primacy, and this authority has been handed down to the succeeding popes and bishops, from generation to generation. Even in the midst of evil doings by people in the Church, the keys have never been lost.

And we have been left in good company. The dead are not dead, but they are living in him, says Jesus, and so we have Mary and the saints as role models, advocates, teachers, and intercessors. They walk along with us in the "great cloud of witnesses".  Think about it like this. Not so long ago, if a person wanted to be a blacksmith, he was apprenticed to a master blacksmith, learning the trade by working along side of him. He was not left to his own devices to figure out how to forge the metal.

When I was pregnant, I appointed one of my co-workers, Lisa, to be my "pregnancy mentor". She was three months further along in her pregnancy, so I could go to her with questions and learn from her experience. One day I was short of breath, and Lisa instructed me to raise both arms above my head, from which I received instant relief! Mary, the Mother of God, is my motherhood mentor, just as my own mother has also been, along with other mothers I know whose children are older than mine. And I, in return, am a mentor to others. We are not alone in any of our journeys in life!

Mary also mentors us by her example of faith and loyalty, leading us in how to be steadfast, spiritually mothering us gently but firmly, reminding us to "Do whatever he tells you," because, we must admit, we often forget. Mary is mother, teacher, and advocate, always helping when we ask her, praying for us, and pointing us back to Jesus when our eyes wander. She continues to cooperate fully in God's plan for our salvation and entrance into the divine family, which is why she is referred to as intercessor. Mary is the human person most perfectly conformed to Christ. We would be wise to attach ourselves to her.

A woman wrote in Mamapedia, an online group, that she does not ask, or need, others to pray for her, because she goes straight to Jesus. And yes, we should and must pray directly to God. But I don't think anyone can rightly deny that there is great power in the prayers of many, working together for healing, for a common cause, for Love to prevail. Paul tells us in his epistles to pray for each other, so that is what we are obligated to do. It behooves us all to walk with Jesus as one, holding hands. Just Jesus and me, and you, and your sister, neighbor, and friends, and Mary and the saints and the angels, all joining in a holy chorus, singing "Hosanna in the highest..."