"Love Can Build a Bridge" by the Judds has been replaying over and over in my mind. It began when I realized that we had come full circle from the time of our initial interest in the Church to our now current *almost* immersion in it. We came into our search a bit frustrated by some of the things that our Evangelical background had resulted in. We were sad from the lack of unity that we saw among congregations and denominations, and we longed to know Jesus so much deeper than we were currently knowing Him.
In contrast, we viewed the four points of the Catholic church (One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic) as generous gifts that God had given in order to build up his Kingdom here on earth, protecting the unity of truth and the vast depth of who Jesus becomes when viewed among his Body. It was easy to get caught up in the newness of what we were experiencing, forgetting the rich heritage of faithful people that had brought us to this point in our lives. We never ceased to be thankful for our upbringings, but we did find ourselves dwelling on more negative aspects of our Evangelical background than the positive ones. Until confronted with the words of Paul...
"If I speak in human and angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal. And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
And he concludes his fruit of the Spirits discourse by some very intriguing words:
At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these, is love."
Love will ultimately remain when the perfect comes. When heaven is realized, faith will be completed in sight; hope will be fulfilled in possessing what we have hoped for. Love, will remain, because He is Love. He gives faith, and he is the reason to hope, but he is ultimately, Love. If we want to have any chance in sharing the Catholic faith with those outside of it, the first goal of the Church must be to love. We must love him unceasingly before all else, we must be devoted to him in the Eucharist, and we must love our neighbors as holy objects which carry within them the image of the Creator.
The fullness of the faith cannot be used as an triumphant battle call to argue people into our sanctuaries. It has to be viewed as a humble reminder that if the Church does in fact possess all of the fullness of the Savior who called us His Body, then we who are a part of this visible body must resemble Christ in his love for the world. We must first encounter Christ who we profess in an intimate and personal way, calling others to Him and his Church by our desire for him, even before our knowledge of tradition or practice. For Tradition and practice are only true and beneficial because they point to Him, and reveal something about his nature and his plan for us. Severed from an encounter with the Lord, they are empty rules.
Our viewpoints on the scriptures may very well be what the Church fathers and the apostles meant them to be. The Eucharist is the body, blood, soul and divinity of him who died for me. And the Lord's mother may very well be the secret weapon of intercessory prayer that the Church has been given. But if we fail to love those separated denominations who we call brothers in the faith, if we fail to acknowledge and learn from many of their strengths, and if we fail to appreciate their lives of faith, then we remain resounding gongs instead of his hands and feet.
We continue to move closer to full communion with the Church, joyfully now in this place of full circle. We find ourselves in a place where although very "catholic" now in thought and practice, we are more grateful than ever for Evangelicals, and what they find most dear in a relationship with Jesus. We find that as we long for more to come and see and taste that the Lord is mighty and loving and glorious in his Church... he is also mighty and doing great things among those who love him outside of the walls. We pray for a wider and shorter bridge to be built among the two, finding unity in doctrine and scripture and communion. And I believe the answer lies in a simple humble love for one another. Love builds a bridge, who became a Son, who promised the Spirit, who leads us into all truth, if we listen to his voice. This truth can heal falsehoods, it can spread the gift of the Savior, and it can form a Body that is more effective than ever in leading a lost world back to the Rock, on whom the whole building stands.
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