It takes great courage to be a disciple
of Jesus Christ and his Catholic
Church. All baptized Christians
are considered a part of the Catholic
Church and do not need to be rebaptized
to enter into the process of
becoming a Confirmed, Eucharistic
sharing Catholic, if it can be shown
that they were baptized in the
Name of the Father, and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus
taught us to do.
However, back in the late 60’s and
70’s there were some, not many, but
some Christians baptizing their
children in the name of the Creator,
Redeemer and Sanctifier. They
were well intentioned, but that is
not a valid baptism because Jesus
was quite clear that we should baptize
using the formula above: “I
baptize you in the Name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit.”
It seems many of our social problems
began in the late 60’s and 70’s
when people began to take on a
relativistic perspective with regard
to much in life, even spiritual
life. Relativism is one of the root
problems that can break down families
and relationships with God and
others.
Subjectivism asserts that there is
more than one truth, and that your
truth might be different from my
truth, and that they can even contradict
one another. Relativism,
however, takes it a step further,
and says that there are no moral
absolute truths.
But if there are no absolute truths,
how can you have a relationship
with God and one another? Is it
absolutely true that little children
need to be taken care of, that they
need food, water, and shelter? Yes,
they absolutely need those things to
live. Do they need a loving family
that will teach them moral and
spiritual truths? Yes, they absolutely
need that to grow properly.
Is it absolutely true that Jesus died
on the Cross and rose again and,
before ascending into heaven, told
his disciples: “Go, and make disciples
of all nations baptizing them
in the Name of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them everything I have
taught you.”
Yes, being validly baptized is an
absolute spiritual truth that begins,
in a most certain manner,
our journey home to God. The Sacrament
of Confirmation completes
one’s baptism and receiving the
Holy Eucharist completes these
three rites of initiation into
Christ’s life that the Christian
might grow in perfection to attain
God.
Is it absolutely true that the MN
Twins are the best baseball team
around for the last five years, and
that they lost games only because
of bad refereeing and injuries?
That is not an absolute
truth. You can have opinions on
that, you can have relativistic
viewpoints about the Twins being
the best team.
Why? Because the nature of baseball
is different from the nature of
a child, a human being, who absolutely
needs water, food, and shelter
to live, and a loving family that
believes in God’s Holy Commandments
(not mere suggestions)
which are the proper moral and
spiritual absolutes that help us to
grow towards God.
And yet, there are some who care
more about baseball and its traditions
than they do about the eternal
truths that bring us to heaven.
Some people care more about human
traditions than the Sacred
Traditions that Jesus and his
Church established to help us stay
on the straight and narrow path to
Eternal Happiness.
For this reason, Jesus said to the
Pharisees and scribes: “You disregard
God’s commandments but
cling to human tradition.” (Mk. 7:8)
Jesus glorifies God the
Father by absolutely
following God’s holy
will. Jesus does not
want to suffer the pain
of the cross, and he prays in the
garden of Gethsemane, “not my
will, but your will be done”. However,
Jesus goes through with his
passion and death as a sign of
faith, hope and love in God the Father,
and to call us to follow him
with those same theological virtues
of faith, hope and love in order to
be saved.
Jesus lays his life down for you and
I, and takes it up again, to prove
that he is God. We, as his disciples,
are called to make sacrifices for the
absolute spiritual truths of God’s
love and eternal life flowing to us
through the Sacraments, beginning
with Baptism, and growing through
our practice of the Christian faith:
prayer, forgiveness, compassion,
loving worship, and service.
It is for this reason the Catholic
Church has more hospitals and
more schools than any other organization.
We know that Jesus
Christ gives us the courage and
wisdom to grow our families, and
our family of faith, with the loving
service that brings new life.
Jesus gives us a new commandment:
“Love one another. You will
be my disciples if you love one another
as I have loved you.” He sacrificed
his life for us, to live for God
and to be raised to heaven so as to
live for us in the Sacraments. Let
us have the courage, then, to believe
in this absolute truth and put
an end to relativism, so that we
might live in healthy families and
friendships according to God’s truth
– the truth that will set us free to
be authentic Christian disciples.
Peace in Jesus Christ,
Fr. Thomas McCabe