Optional Memorial of Saint Junipero Serra, priest

Lectionary: 376

Amen, I say to you, in no one in Israel have I found such faith.
I say to you, many will come from the east and the west,
and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the banquet in the Kingdom of heaven....

The message of Jesus is "catholic" -- that is, addressed to everyone -- but Catholics, Christians, and Orthodox sometimes have a hard time grasping its catholic dimension. The word was originally adopted because it was accepted by millions of people in hundreds of diverse cities and villages from one end of the Roman Empire to the other, from Spain to India, from Europe to Africa. That is, north, south, east, and west. 

Heresies appealed mostly to smaller groups of people. They accommodated the gospel to the expectations and understandings of certain local or national cultures, and to those who might admire that culture. An American heresy might assure its members that abortion is a woman's choice; or, because they love their guns, Christians can worship both guns and God. Messages like these appeal to consumers and, in America, the consumer is always right.

The Catholic Church, with the constant and necessary help of the Holy Spirit, preaches the gospel to every nation, and fits no culture very well. There is always some chaffing and irritation about its teaching. It might concern marital fidelity, commitment, or exclusiveness. I have heard that North Americans expect marital fidelity but not lifelong commitment; whereas South Americans expect lifelong commitment but not fidelity. Some African villages support polygamy and resist the gospel's insistence on lifelong, faithful monogamy. 

Many North Americans Christians presumed slavery was morally acceptable; and when the peculiar institution failed they adapted their Christian religion to segregation and Jim Crow. History sadly records how some American Catholic bishops supported slavery, while Catholic universities owned them.

The gospel will never fit any human culture perfectly, nor should it. Even when groups of people set out to create a Utopian Christian community, they're continually challenged and ultimately fail. "Success" would be marked by continual internal conflicts and an endless process of reconciliation. 

The Lord was crucified because such a man could not survive in any city, state, or nation. God raised him up because the Word of the Lord endures forever, and his Spirit remains with us always. 

Catholics cling to an organized, disciplined, and hierarchical religion that includes an amazing variety of peoples and cultures. Despite their diversity, they are of one mind and heart, and their common language is Truth.