Thread by @jdflynn

For the past few week or so, I’ve raised a lot of questions about the expressions of spirituality taking place in connection to the Amazon synod.

Some people dismiss these questions as prejudiced, or intended to embarrass the pope or distract from other issues.

(Cont)

Some people have asked “why are we getting worked up about a couple of statues when people are suffering from the effects of environmental degradation, capitalism without virtue, deforestation, etc

It’s a fair set of questions. Here are some thoughts.

First of all, I have certainty about what the content of those spirituality moments means, and I have heard multiple people purport to be certain that the statues and rituals are this, that, or the other thing. I don’t know where they get their certitude.

But uncertainty, and the apparent uncertainty of institutional Church leaders and other organizers, is precisely what gives me pause.

Because the Church should be wary about— extremely cautious about— promoting, hosting, engaging in spirituality rituals she doesn’t understand.

We are made for the worship of God. Sacred worship —esp in the sacrifice of the Mass— is the high point of our lives, and the source of our ability as Christians to live as disciples of Jesus, proclaim the Gospel, work for justice, etc.

Each person is made to worship God.

If the Church wants people to live in freedom, and truth, and charity, and peace, her teachings say that the primary step should be to worship God, by which we are in the right relationship with God (through the sacraments) and by which we are given the grace to live in love.

Whatever distracts us from that- whatever draws us to offer our honor or homage or devotion to “not-God”— whether ourselves, or nature, or a pantheon of gods, or abstract concepts like humanism —distracts us from living in the fullness and freedom of God’s own inner life.

And Scripture, the revealed Word of God, is emphatic that God is jealous. He made us for unity with him, and he craves unity with him, and Scripture is abundantly clear that God is not tolerant of our turning our trust and fealty from him to something or someone else.

The Church has the grace and privilege and to lead people into eternal light- through Christ’s resurrection, through the worship of God and the sacramental economy of salvation.

Promoting or endorsing things which are not directed toward worship of God lead away from light.

I don’t know what exactly the statues and rituals are - and neither do you. But the question fundamentally matters.

It’s reasonable that people might disagree, within those parameters, about inculturation and adaptation, etc. there’s room for discernment on those questions.

What has concerned me is a sense among some that the question doesn’t really matter. That whatever’s going on, if it’s done in good faith, should be affirmed. That to do otherwise is judgmental.

That attitude seems to convey the view that God’s own revelation is not important.

*DO NOT have certainty. DO NOT

It is one thing to say: “We are concerned about worship of false gods too, but we don't think this is that. We think this is something different and here's why."

It is quite another to say “what a priggish question that is. There is no possible cause for concern.”

*craves unity with us.

But in truth, if we want to stand in solidarity with marginalized people, or fight the oppression they face, or be in loving relationship with them, the Church must begin with sacred worship of God, and invite all people to join us in that.

People will invariably think that view is foolish because Christianity seems foolish to the wise. And to secular humanists, raising doctrinal issues like this seems a foolish distraction from what is perceived as the humanitarian potential of the Church.

But the Church’s charitable love for human beings is borne of her experience of the love of God. If we don’t get the worship of God right, we have almost no chance of doing anything else worth a damn.