"Away in a manger; Who would believe what we have seen and heard?"

“Away in a manger: Who would believe what we have heard” 

The beginning stanza of a song announcing the birth of Jesus Christ that would lead all of us to the completion of God’s eternal quest saving each of us from eternal death.  By the time this article reaches print we will have taken the Christmas tree down, cleared the wrappings away, and are now waiting for the next chapter in the life of Christ.  

A preview of his passion, a little early, but so necessary in the belief of our salvation.  As Catholics the very symbols we adhere to are foreign to all other denominations, such as crucifixes in lieu of empty crosses, communion with grape juice and crackers in place of the real presence of Christ in the hosts, and a series of sacraments all geared as outward signs of the presence of Christ.  

There are too many souls that look at symbolic realities that identify Catholics as opposed to the many Christian denominations that pick and choose their approach to Christ to suit their ideas of differing what our adherence to tradition is all about. 

When Martin Luther nailed the 95 thesis on the door of the Castle Church at Wittenberg, Germany, he began a revolution that has changed religion in more ways than just paying for indulgences.  His complaint did not go unnoticed, but did revolutionize the way most Christians are now worshiping in their respective parishes.  The questions that a lot of Catholics utter regarding these aspects towards community worship may not appear as vital, but a deeper look of their place in worship does matter.

Rubrics regarding the placement of a crucifix on or near the altar is a serious matter, and without that visible reminder of just what Christ used to redeem us can become a stab in the dark of belief.  The argument of many is Jesus is risen, why keep him on the tree that no longer exists?  When we begin to burn away symbolism we somehow recreate our beginning aspect of eternal salvation as a dark truth without a foundation to what we actually worship.  

For new believers of the faith, or our grandchildren arriving at their education regarding God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, they may easily be led into New-age religion and everything they believe.  In The absence of crucifixes or the theology of the Real Presence of Christ in the tabernacles in all Catholic Churches, we would begin to take God’s plan of redeeming each of us through Christ at his Incarnation.

New advocates to Catholicism will join the Woke generation believing in a make-believe religion that has no substance and will miss the meaning of the Incarnation, the passion of Christ, and the very reasons God was instrumental in creating them for our immortal souls.  This is what the erasing of our symbols of faith is all about.  Without these real images of our 2,000 year traditions what future will our children and future generations have to lean on and the reasons we worship an unseen God.  However, God is real in everything we do, in spite of his physical absence.  Christ stands as God and Man and therefore anything we pronounce as his is our own adherence to life here and in eternity.  

What is truth?  Pilate asked Jesus as he stood accused of blasphemy.  (Jn 18: 37 - 38).  Christ is the truth of God, and all that we believe hinges on this one attribute of heaven and the eternal obstinance of an eternal reality each of us will find, provided we die in the grace of belief regarding the passion/death/resurrection of Christ. 

Ralph B. Hathaway