Is one's faith invalid if it is not tied to an institution? Can one believe in what the Catholic Church teaches without being part of it? (Because some people would rather not be part of the Church but they still believe and don't want to be mislabeled as unbelievers.)
Ultimately, faith is a very personal thing. It's just you and God in the end. Looking back on your time on Earth, won't the person you were (the acts you did and the words you spoke and your thoughts) matter more than what church you sat in on Sundays?
I'd think that faith is always valid. By becoming a member of a religion, there is not only faith, but also commitment. So I guess that I'd ask, does that commitment to an institution necessarily indicate a stronger commitment to God? And would it have any impact on our salvation?
ReplyDeleteI remember once hearing a story during a homily that went something as follows: An old woman went to mass every day for her entire life. Each day after she had gone to mass, she put a pebble in a bucket. By the end of her life the bucket was full from all of the masses she attended. However, when she got to the pearly gates with her bucket of pebbles to demonstrate her goodness, St. Peter dumped out all but 3. "What is this?" she inquired, "I went to mass all of those times and you just dismiss it?" He replied, "By your count, yes, you showed up to the church as many times as those pebbles indicated. But these 3 pebbles represent the only times you were fully present during mass: mind, body, and spirit. Therefore, they are the only three that count."
If you go to mass or some form of service but you aren't really present, is it worth even going? In this year's edition of "The Little White Book of Easter," we highlight the necessity of the Eucharist. We should be able to find God in all of creation, but the value of the Eucharist is that it is the one place we can go and count on finding God. I'll admit that there have been times I've attended mass and despite the presence of the Eucharist, felt further from God than before I entered the church. Whether by my own fault or due to the challenges around me (or some combination), I left mass with a sour taste. On occasions such as these, I do wonder: would that hour have been better served on some other endeavor?
To your last question, I've been reading Paradise Lost by John Milton as some of you know. The book is really very compelling and an interesting practice in theological contemplation. According to an endnote in the text: belief that our deeds can earn us salvation is the ulitmate form of apostasy (or the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person). I thought that it was an interesting choice of wording. We achieve salvation through Grace; it cannot be earned. Is it the role of religion to help us to understand this: that our faith is God's gift and our faith is exemplified by our deeds? Is it possible to fully understand and live this without the guidance of a church?