Courage

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6

Courage is the ability to do something in spite of fearing the commission of that action. But it is also the ability to show strength in the face of pain or grief.

I am flattered that Blessed Sacrament parish entrusts me with this blog, and I do the best I can to deliver a succinct and, hopefully, thought-provoking reflection on my spiritual quest for God in the hope that it’s of use to whoever reads this blog (constructive feedback is welcome).

But I find it takes courage for me to do this. As I have often stated, I am not a Biblical scholar or a theologian, so I try not to delve into issues more deeply than I feel competent to comment on. I try to do my homework so this way I am not starting from a false premise and misleading those who read this blog. This is a form of teaching and the Bible says that those who teach will be held to a higher standard – and that strikes the fear of God in me in case I have ever made a mistake. I can only pray the Holy Spirit is inspiring me when I write because, as we all know, human beings make mistakes all the time.

I also experience this fear and call to courage when speaking with people who are not firmly rooted in any faith or with Jews or Muslims, because like most Catholics I am far from being an authority on Christian dogma. All I can do is answer as honestly and completely as I feel competent to do.

I found Fr. Joe’s anecdote about the wedding preparation in Bathurst, New Brunswick, last week really interesting. I go to the earliest Mass in the morning so maybe he didn’t tell this story at the other Masses so I’ll try to sum it up as accurately as possible.

A group of people were sitting around Fr. Joe and chatting about all sorts of things. One person seated next to him started asking some questions about Christianity. Then, a while later, that person placed himself at the other end of the group and publicly challenged the relevance of Christianity in our day and Church dogma. Fr. Joe said his first response was to ask that person what he understood “dogma” to be and that person had no definition.

I found this story focused my mind on how to write this week’s blog.

First, it must not have been very pleasant to be speaking individually with someone about something very dear to him, faith, only to then be publicly challenged as believing in some farcical ritual from the past. That could, in a number of people, provoke anger (so kudos to Fr. Joe for his restraint). An angry response is not the example Jesus Christ teaches us when the Sadducees put him to the test, when Pontius Pilate gives him up to the mob’s will, and other examples in Scripture. As believers and followers of Christ, we are called on to be ambassadors to not only other Christians but non-believers.

The history of our own country, let alone those of hundreds of others around the world, is replete with instances of forced conversions to the dominant religion from pre-history to modern times. So even though Roman Catholics are the largest group of any holders of faith in Canada, my interpretation of the New Testament is that Jesus Christ had “followers”. No one was forced to believe in him. He simply led by example and answered questions. So, that’s what I try to do.

For anyone who is curious, about 42 percent of Canadians are Roman Catholic, according to the 2001 Census, compared with 23 percent being Protestant, people with no faith 16 percent and 12 percent believe in some unspecified faith, 4 percent being other Christians, 2 percent Muslim.

After my God, my health, my spouse, and our families, I hold my friends dear to me and a true source of wealth (love, kinship, laughter, support). Some of the people I count as friends are Jewish, Muslim, sceptics and non-believers. I respect their views as I expect them to respect my faith. But I make no apologies for what I believe and I am always happy to engage in an exchange of ideas. And I think that, ultimately, this may be the virtue of courage God expects of us in the daily exercise of our faith.

For example, I have one friend who goes to Mass every once in a while. His girlfriend will only marry him if he professes a belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. So he talked to me about it. I told him that some people think of Jesus Christ as a great moral teacher, a towering historical figure of a human being that touches the lives of billions over the past two millennia. I disagree with that view. I don’t think the Christian faith is founded on a human being who claimed to be the “Son of Man” and who did not deny assertions like Peter’s that identified him as the son of the living God. So if Jesus Christ were a great moral teacher and not the Son of God, then he would have been knowingly committing blasphemy. His message was so radical, and the earthly consequences paid for this radical message was so brutally, violently extreme – and for the sake of inspiring people to simply follow his example – I just cannot accept that Jesus Christ was a mere mortal like you and me. My friend has since moved cities with his girlfriend and, to my knowledge; he and she are not married in the Church. He never revisited this question with me, but we remain on very good terms and I suspect he knows I would be open to further dialogue should he wish to explore this question again.

I am rock solid absolutely sure about the reply I gave to this friend.

Another friend, who needs incontrovertible evidence before he can accept that Jesus Christ is the Son of God simply asks me to prove Jesus was resurrected. He is a good friend and we have had this debate, off and on, over the course of close to two decades now. I have, at times, thought of asking him whether he would believe if I could give him irrefutable proof … but I suspect his answer would be “No”. Besides, he and I both know that no one on earth can provide irrefutable proof. That’s why it’s called faith. We place our trust in God. Not everyone can be a doubting Thomas with the opportunity to stick his fingers in the wounds. So my debate, sometimes at his initiating and sometimes at mine, continues with this other friend. But since this friend is an honest person who uses clear and straight logic (unlike, I suspect, Fr. Joe’s interlocutor last week in New Brunswick) I am not afraid to answer “I don’t know, but I’ll find out and get back to you” or “God only knows” to his questions. I actually welcome these chats with him because it pushes me to delve deeper in my human understanding of the Divine.

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

NOTE: I have a friend whose wife runs a charity called “Canadian Friends of Pearl Children” that offers aid orphaned and disadvantaged Ugandan children known as the Pearl Children Care Centre in Jinja, Uganda. He said he would be grateful if I were to mention her charity, and contact details, should anyone be interested in donating. Her contact details are:
Dvora Rotenberg
www.pearchildren.ca
(613) 282 1060
drotenberg@pearlchildren.ca