Saturday, May 29, 2010

That Christ May Be Followed

As I've mentioned, I've been thinking about the Second Vatican Council's Lumen Gentium, which is named according to its incipit: Christ is the Light of nations. Paragraph 15 proposes an ontological and sacramental unity among Christians at the deepest, most decisive level. See my previous post: "My Favorite Passage from Vatican II."

In Soloviev's story, "A Tale of the Anti-Christ," a remnant of Catholics, Orthodox, and Evangelicals comes together but only at the point when someone else provokes them about what they hold most dear. What is most precious to me? That Christ be followed. At The Glory of Everything blog, Scott has a post that is impossible to excerpt – because it describes a path that can only be understood by reading and tagging along, and one must learn what he learns alongside of him: "Knowledge and Communion." Elsewhere, Deacon Scott Dodge reflects on morality and the law, and asks the question: " in what does happiness consist, living for yourself, or living for Another?" ("So that You May Belong to Another").

As a Catholic, it is not my mission to eliminate poverty, to wield spiritual power for the common good, to preserve the cultural heritage of Christendom, to learn about the Scriptures. All of these things have their place, which is secondary. But I live, I go to work, I raise children, so that Christ may be followed. Following always requires a path, which of necessity starts where one already is. Christ makes himself present here and now, and my task to to point, saying: "Behold, the Lamb of God." This is witness, and the rest is up to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

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