When I arrived at Mount Saint Francis Seminary in the fall of 1962, a new relationship with my family began. Every Sunday the entire student body sat down to write letters home. We were allowed to write one letter per week to parents; which I thought was more than enough.
There was still "Visiting Sunday" each month but in some ways our correspondence became virtual, like the electronic relationships of this 21st century, like the Letters of Saint Paul to the Romans, Corinthians, Colossians and others.
Intimacy is always difficult as human beings struggle to feel with and for one another. Their words never quite say what they mean and are never quite understood as their intended. Their gestures suffer the same alarming condition as they are given and received. But when the messages are limited to words on scraps of paper the challenges are far greater.
Saint Paul seemed to suffer enormous grief every time he left a town to announce the Gospel to another town. Reading his letters his longing is palpable. He so much wants to be with them, to participate in their developing community which will form traditions that must last for thousands of years. He wants to steer them past dangerous mistakes and misunderstandings but the Spirit has taken him elsewhere.
He seems to know he is writing not only to a real community, in this case the Church at Colossae, but also to the "church" in his mind, which is "eternal" and "spiritual;" i.e. a virtual church. That Church is always faithful, hopeful and loving; it is courageous, generous and suffering; but it is also sinful and repentant.
We still refer to that "church" often. Sometimes it is "the mystical body of Christ;" it may be the "Blessed Mother"; or the "communion of the saints." Its "magisterium" is infallible.
This church may seem virtual but it's as real as our faith, hope and love. It's real like the marriage of a man and woman, which binds them together and for which both must make sacrifice. That bond is not "me" or "you" but "us" and "our."
Likewise that Church is more than a disparate group of people with a common interest, like a bridge club, labor union, voting bloc or political party.
The critic may regard it as fictional and there's no denying that point of view. So it appears to the skeptic, especially when Christians are exposed as racists, adulterers or thieves. So it appears when bishops make one statement and voting Catholics make another, as with issues like divorce, birth control and abortion. So it is to those who notice "the most segregated hour in the United States -- 10:00 am on Sunday morning."
But we still meet that spiritual Church "face to face" during our Sunday and daily Masses. We cannot deny the Spirit's gathering "one, holy, catholic and apostolic" Church into the Heart of Christ. We still have that experience of beautiful Church that Saint Paul described -- and ascribed -- to his Colossian disciples:
We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the holy ones because of the hope reserved for you in heaven.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.