The Holy Mass; what makes us different?

The Holy Mass;  what makes us different?

Ask this question to 100 people and you’d probably get as many answers.  Some would be similar but you may even get one or two that would be eye openers.  I ask this question to stir thoughts of centuries old heresies, councils, and arguments between saints and doctors of the Church.  Obviously, there is not just one statement that is written in black and white that is conclusive to 2,000 years of tradition and many schisms.  

How alarming was the day Martin Luther, a Catholic priest, nailed 95 Thesis on the doors of the church in Wittenberg denouncing the rules of the Church in Germany and consequently the entire world.  It Appears that one person’s idea of what is right according to God’s will can have an upheaval of traditional thought and change the direction affecting the rest of us.

It all began when people with money could retain indulgences according to the amount they gave the church.  However, this certainly was not according to God’s will by selling blessings.  Even today, some believe that the more they give in wealth the closer they will get to God and eternal salvation.  Our eternal reward is not based on what we do but on who we are.  And that does not entail status but the closeness we have with God personally.

Following the Reformation people became disillusioned with their choice of religion and began to drift away seeking ministers that touched their desires and not the rule of Rome.  Cardinal John Wright said it took 400 years for the church to dissolve and it may take 400 years to come together again. 

Meanwhile, we need to see what are the several instances that form a block of belief in the true dogmas of Catholicism and protestantism.  Most of the main-line denominations follow the three-year cycle of readings; that is years A, B, and C.      

Most of them teach the bible and its premises surrounding the birth, life, and death/resurrection of Christ.  So far there are very little issues to this point.  The first major block is the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.  Almost everyone of these non-Catholic denominations use crackers and grape juice and contend their belief is a memorial action, not Transubstantiation.  This alone is the first contradiction to Catholicism vs non-catholics.  One TV minister, which I alluded to before, told his parishioners that the blood Jesus shed was all divine blood.  This immediately set up a heresy which says the humanity of Christ was not present on the cross.  If this is so, when did the God-man become just divine without his human connection to us and therefore fitting an old heresy of the Son of God entering our realm and pretending to be human or some far-fetched idea.  This of course removes the theology of the Incarnation.

Even then, during the disruptive years of church politics, who is right seemed to be the crux of church leaders standing up for their place in God’s eyes.  What happened to just following Christ without placing a hedonistic thought in place of who stands first before God.  

One would think that Christ came to earth to establish levels of believers to stand in line before him in eternity and be welcomed in by what they controlled through human entreatments and not the faith that all should have.  Even here we can see exactly what Satan tried as his pride took his place before God and descended to Hell.  Pride also appears to have taken a position in the hearts of the Church officials and made belief in God a test of political pandering taking first place in the annals of heaven.  Beware O people of God when status becomes the mark of a true believer and places the goal we hope for one of recognition of what we do, and not who we have become through Christ alone.

Ralph B. Hathaway