Catholics have found some new things to argue over in the past few weeks.
If you look at social media too much like I do, you can see these verbal back-and-forths in all of their prominence.
I don’t want to rehash any of them here because I don’t want to add to it.
If you know what I’m talking about, you already know what I’m talking about. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can either easily find out for yourself or you’re better off not knowing.
There are times I wish I didn’t have to keep my ears and eyes open to what is going on “out there”.
Long story short, I’ve seen a lot of name-calling, baseless claims, and reactionary emotions.
Is this the Church that Christ gave us?
Ah, yes, Jesus Christ, Son of God, Messiah, savior — priest, prophet, and king all rolled into one carpenter’s son from Nazareth. That guy, the that guy of that guys.
Have we forgotten about him? I hope not.
In times like these, maybe the bracelets brought up a good question — What would Jesus do?
Read the Gospels
While St. John told us that “There are also many other things that Jesus did, but if these were to be described individually, I do not think the whole world would contain the books that would be written” (John 21:25, NABRE), and therefore, we don’t know EVERYTHING Jesus said and did, the Bible, and namely, the Gospels, as the divinely-inspired word of God, tell us a lot of things that Jesus said and did.
First and foremost, he loved “one another” and told his disciples to do the same.
We see both a “Go, [and] from now on do not sin anymore” (John 8:11, NABRE) and a “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves” (Luke 19:46, NABRE).
Those always seem to be the two go-tos — not condemning and table-flipping, depending upon the argument one is trying to make.
What they both have in common is truth.
In both instances — the woman caught in adultery and the money-changers in the Temple — wrongs are being done. In both instances, the ones doing the wrongs are being called out.
Now we don’t know if any of the money-changers repented — we sure hope they did — but the woman did. She turned her life, at least in that moment of danger, back toward what is good and true.
That’s all that God asks of us, stop doing the bad stuff and turn toward Him.
Or, as more eloquently put “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15, NABRE).
The word “gospel” is even in that one.
What is truth?
It’s easy to read the Gospel and come up with one’s own ideas about what it’s saying.
The scene in Fiddler on the Roof with the “So, you see, children, the Bible clearly teaches us you can never trust an employer” line comes to mind when thinking about this.
When looking for answers, maybe the Gospel of John’s Pontius Pilate was right when he asked “What is truth?” John 18:38, NABRE).
We have to learn the truth of what Jesus would do and say, and in turn, we should also do what Jesus would do and say.
The truth is, Jesus loved everyone so much that he died for us all and wants us to get to Heaven.
“As I have loved you, so you also should love one another” (John 13:34, NABRE).
How did Jesus love them?
He counseled, he admonished, he taught, he corrected, and he prayed all according to God’s will.
Need more? Read the Gospels.