by Br. Alexis Bugnolo

We all know of the modern phenomenon of the baptized Catholic who only calls himself “Catholic” when he wants to spout some heresy, blasphemy or Marxist agenda point.

However, in Lent, we need to turn our eyes to the other more common grievous errors, of which, perhaps, all of us have been guilty of at some time in our lives.

First of all, there is the cultural Catholic. He is the one who marvels and praises the Catholic Religion for its visible achievements in art, architecture, liturgy, literature, philosophy etc.. He enjoys being Catholic and the Catholic Faith, but he stops at that. He may or may not defend the truths of the Faith, but he will not disassociate from the Catholic Faith. This kind of Catholic is not living at the level of faith. He is certainly failing first of all in gratitude, because the Catholic Religion does not exist to make your life enjoyable or pleasant nor to serve you as a cultural context, even though it does all these things. Just as there were many in Israel, and even among the Apostles, who admired the Temple of Herod, Our Lord reminded us all that such things will pass away, and that to appreciate their experience but not use them for eternal purposes, is to misuse them.

Second, there is the most common type of Catholic, who sees Jesus and the Catholic Faith as his insurance policy. He definitely believes the Faith on important issues, and wants to make sure that if there is a Hell, he does not end up there. — If he has a vocation to the priesthood or religious life, he believes because it guarantees him a career or education. But Jesus always remains a god who exists to serve him and obtain things for him. That is it. Yes, there is the love of gratitude and friendship, but not the love of a God to be adored unconditionally. — But in no case, is Jesus a reason for him to change his career, lifestyle, home or to do anything that would seriously alter his personal relationships with anyone except those whom he does not like or sees a personal advantage in unfriending.

The problem here is that Jesus is not our collectible nor our insurance policy. And thus one is just in saying that these two types of Catholics are misusing the Catholic Religion and not taking to heart the Gospel preached by the Church, which says that Jesus is the Living God and that we must and are ontologically obliged to serve Him alone.

The near disappearance of this third kind of Catholic spirit is precisely what is behind Vatican II and the aggiornamento: indeed it is absolutely impossible such a Council would have been ever called or conceived, let alone executed, if this third kind of a Catholic was in charge.

This is also the reason why Catholics are finding it neigh impossible to believe that Christ promised us through His High Priestly Prayer to guarantee some basic minimums for the visible Church, minimums which do not include a Church which is culturally pleasant to myself or which serves me as an insurance policy.

If we worship God alone, the rest follows as a dividend on our investment of faith. If not, it will all be stripped away.

Lent is now the season. Let us take time and review how we have treated our God and Savior and how we have limited our relationship with Him. And let us change our priorities.