We do not have the answers to every question – maybe only a partial answer that could set you in the right direction. But the very asking of the question is the beginning of the answer. So why don’t you send us your questions and together we will search.
LEFT OUT
I’m a high school student and consider myself as a religious person. But I always feel left out. I suppose my classmates hate me. Nobody likes me. Sometimes in my most difficult times I even doubt that God/Christ exists especially when people produce movies such as ‘The Da Vinci Code” and everything else that weakens the Christian faith. I am very confused with these things. What should I do? What should I believe? Please help me.
You seem to be going through a difficult patch at the moment. When I read your email I was thinking about the story in the gospels, especially the version in Mark 5:21-43. That was about two people who felt left out or were left out.
The woman who had been sick for 12 years with bleeding – it was a kind of continuous menstrual bleeding – had spent all her money on doctors and had got only worse. More than that, because of the nature of her sickness she was considered ritually unclean and couldn’t take part in the religious services of the Jewish community. And by touching the cloak of Jesus she made him ritually unclean too. But he’s not concerned about that. He wants to affirm her in her faith. He assures her that it was this that made her whole again, that enabled him to use his power as God to heal her. He gave of himself to her. She went away well and fully part of the community again, assured by Jesus that God loved her.
The young girl – dalagita or, possibly, dalaga na – was born around the time the other woman had gotten sick. She too was cut off by a grave illness and by the time Jesus reached the house the people said she was dead. The people mocked Jesus when he said that the girl was only sleeping. So Jesus was prepared to be laughed at in order to bring life back to this young girl. He then took the girl by the hand and said, ‘Talitha koum’, ‘Little girl get up.’ The Tagalog and Hiligaynon versions of the Christian Community Bible translate ‘little girl’ as ‘Nene’, while the Cebuano version of the Good News Bible has Jesus call her ‘Inday’. He speaks to her in affectionate terms. Then St Mark has a beautiful touch: he tells the family, who are so ecstatically happy, to give the girl something to eat. He knew she was ravenously hungry after her grave illness. I’m certain he had a smile on his face when he reminded her family of this.
You say, ‘Nobody likes me.’ Who prepared your meals for you today? Who taught you in your classes? Who took you to school today? In other words, there are many people who make it possible for us to live each day, particularly our family, even if it’s not the ideal family. No family is. (You didn’t say anything about your family so this is just general). Did nobody say ‘Good morning’ to you today? Did nobody smile at you? Did you smile at anyone?! Were you nice in any way to someone else?
When you write, ‘I suppose my classmates hate me’, do you mean that you have feelings of hatred or anger towards them? The feeling isn’t by itself hatred. Hatred, like love, involves a decision. I can still love someone even when I’m feeling angry or negative towards that person. I can decide to still treat that person with respect.
The woman in the incident in the gospel felt all alone, maybe close to hopeless. But she had faith enough in Jesus just to touch his cloak. Jesus saw the plight of the daughter of Jairus. And it was the girl’s father who sought Jesus out of his great love for her.
You can share your experiences and feelings with Jesus in your prayer. You can ‘touch his cloak’ as you do this. You can let him take you by the hand as he says to you, ‘Nene, I love you!’ I keep quoting St Therese of Lisieux’s description of holiness: ‘becoming what God wants us to be.’ He has a loving dream for each of us and wants us to grow into that.
It’s good at the end of each day to have quiet time and review what has happened, especially the blessings. Most of these are ‘small.’ This morning, for example, I celebrated Mass with Sisters who run a home for abused girls. I didn’t have a chance to talk to the girls as they were on their way to school. But they all gave me a big wave and a smile as I passed them on the road. Yesterday I heard the girls’ confessions, celebrated Mass with them and the Sisters, and spent time chatting with them afterwards. As always, I felt a sense of joy.
Each day I spend time in prayer, usually with a passage from the Gospels, and usually in front of the Blessed Sacrament. I do this early in the morning. It’s coming to know Jesus there and finding his presence in so many others that strengthens my faith.
I haven’t read or seen The Da Vinci Code. One source where you can get some help about this is www.jesusdecoded.com , a website developed by the US Catholic bishops.
CHRISTIAN SMORGASBOARD
Why do we have different religions, eg, Roman Catholic, Baptist, Protestant, Born Again, Iglesia ni Kristo, Aglipay, etc? Maybe differences within Christianity?
From the beginning there have been differences between Christians. For example, St Paul criticizes the Christians of Corinth very strongly because the ‘haves’ discriminate against the ‘have-nots’ after the Sunday Eucharist when they bring lots of food and don’t share it with those who are poor. Paul also reminds Christians that they are not his followers or followers of Apollo – another preacher of the Gospel – but of Jesus Christ.
Down through the centuries there have been serious divisions caused by different interpretations of the Gospel. There were two major divisions, one in 1054 when the Orthodox Churches broke away from Rome. It was largely over the authority of the Pope. Each side excommunicated the other. It was only during the time of Pope Paul VI, 1963-1978, that both sides lifted their excommunications. The Catholic Church has always recognized that the bishops, priests and sacraments of the Orthodox Churches are true bishops, priests and sacraments.
In the 1500s a number of Catholics in Europe broke away from Rome and rejected some of the Church’s teachings. These included Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox and others. King Henry VIII of England also broke away and started the Church of England when the Pope wouldn’t annul his marriage. Most of these people called themselves ‘Protestants’ because they were protesting against certain aspects of the Catholic Church. In your question you include ‘Baptist, Protestant’. The word ‘Protestant’ covers many different Christian groups, including the various kinds of Baptists. None of these Protestant groups have anybody with the kind of authority that the Pope has in the Catholic Church.
The Iglesia ni Cristo, despite its name, isn’t a Christian body, as it denies the divinity of Christ. (You can read more at www.catholic.com/library/iglesia_ni_cristo.asp ).The belief that Jesus is God and Man is central to Catholicism, to the Orthodox Churches and to the vast majority of practicing Protestants.
In the last century, among the three main groupings of Christians, many began to pray for unity among Christians as God’s will, expressed by Jesus in his prayer at the Last Supper, ‘that all may be one’ (John 17:21).
In other words, Jesus founded only one Church. The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) made ecumenism, the search for Christian unity, central. The word ‘ecumenism’ refers to the movement towards the unity of Christians. It doesn’t include dialogue between Christians and people of other faiths such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and so on. That’s a very different matter. One thing that unifies Christians is that all are baptized ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’. This means, for example, that if a Baptist or a Methodist wishes to become a Catholic, they will be confirmed but not baptized, since the Church recognizes their baptism as valid.
The Catholic Church, which recognizes the presence of Christ in other Christian churches and bodies, especially through baptism, nevertheless has always taught that it is the one, true Church founded by Jesus Christ. Find out more in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Nos 811-870 (www.christusrex.org/www1/CDHN/church3.html).