Preparation Day 3 - Catholicity

Preparing our Minds - Catholicity

Catholic means universal.  It means seeing things as they really are, across-the-board so-to-speak, in this age, and in all ages of the Christian era.  There is a hermeneutic (interpretatation) of continuity that joins together the whole of Catholic history, culture, heritage, and solidarity of communion.  Whatever is truly Catholic, even today, 2000 years after the beginning, has tangible and demonstrable roots in what went before. 

There are those in this day who wish to embrace instead, a hermeneutic of rupture, discounting and disowning many treasures of the past.  This is only illusion.  What is truly Catholic, cannot be redefined so easily, for there are a million roots into the past, anchoring firmly what is today to what has been so for 2000 years, and even to the heritage of the pre-Christian era.  Those who embrace the hermeneutic of rupture are like ships without anchors in the very stormy seas of the 21st century and beyond.  For those who embrace the hermeneutic of continuity, there is a safe harbor in the storm. 

The Catholic Mass makes present on the altars of today, the One Sacrifice that was offered on Calvary 2000 years ago.  Catholic History, through such efforts as the Station Church Pilgrimage, makes present again today, saints and martyrs and events of those entire 2 millennia.  It is this unity, this catholicity, that the Station Church Pilgrimage of Lent helps us to understand.  For the pilgrim who allows himself/herself to be swept up in the tide of history, through the story, the liturgy, the music, and the movement of Lent, slowly there develops an awareness of inclusion, of belonging, of solidarity – inclusion in Something that is larger than the obvious - beyond Time, beyond Place, beyond Self.   

Eventually, one recognizes one’s own membership in something Eternal, and joyfully embraces his/her unique mission in the pilgrim Bride of Christ, as She marches steadily onward through the millennia to meet her Lord at the altar.  It is a journey of conversion. This was the experience that Mother Church prepared for Her early catechumens as they prepared for their Baptism, and this can be our experience as well, as we trek daily with them throughout the Pilgrimage.

Tomorrow we will explore this journey of conversion that is the focus of the season, and prepare ourselves to embark on this unique pilgrimage, exploring the very nature of this time we call Lent.