And now for something different... A LEGO Church (in progress)

As a family we have been collecting the LEGO Winter Village sets as they come out (one per year).  We have every set since they started, which makes for a quite nice winter village, but it misses a church.  It is clear that LEGO will never release a church because it is against their company policy (or so it seems).  So, I have been designing my own...  Of course, one thing led to another, and so I also started developing a LEGO model based on the church in the parish I grew up in: Heilig Hart in Ekeren-Donk, Antwerp, Belgium (in English: Sacred Heart).

The design work started sometime around Christmas 2013, and this is its current state:

This is the church it is based on (picture courtesy of Google StreetView):

As you can see, there is still quite a bit of work left to do, but it is coming together pretty nicely.  Once detail I can already share is the pipe organ:

RCIA: Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults

The Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) is the process by which a non-Christian joins the Catholic church.  It is also used when non-Catholic Christians wish to become Catholic, and sometimes even when Catholics who have been away from the Church wish to come back.  Depending on the specific situation all or part of the rite is used throughout (usually) a one-year journey in faith.  The rite confers the three sacraments of initiation on an individual: Baptism, Confirmation, and Eucharist.

One aspect of RCIA that is sometimes criticized is the length of the process.  Why is it that the Catholic Church 'imposes' such a lengthy process whereas other denominations let you join pretty much immediately, or after a few introductory lessons?  The rest of this blog post aims to provide a (brief) explanation of some of the rationale behind the process and its requirements.

First of all, one should approach RCIA from the perspective of its origin intent: initiating non-Christian people into the Christian faith.  This is the very beginning of the faith journey of an individual.  Typically, there is a spark that put one on the inquirer track.  This may be something you read, or an observation you make about another person, or even a desire to join the faith of a loved one.  Regardless of the reasons, the main point is that the person commences a stage of exploration of the faith where he or she learns about our faith and the Church (i.e. how we live that faith in community), in order to discern whether one truly believes.  It is after all wrong to try to push someone towards Catholicism.  The conversion is something that you go through - not something that someone does to you or for you.  No one can convert anyone else - it comes from within.

In period of inquiry can be relatively short or long, depending on the situation of each and every individual person.  If it is a matter of understanding Church doctrine in view of already holding a Christian believe, it may take less time for someone to essentially say: "Yes, I want to become Catholic."

At this point, rather than inquiring about the faith, it is time to learn about the faith.  This is generally done through several months of group meetings where the Sunday Liturgy of the Word is discussed (similar to a bible study), and where doctrinal concepts are discussed.  The format is usually truly more a group discussion rather than more formal teaching.  The goal is to move further along the journey of faith by deepening one's understanding of the scriptures and the Church teachings.  This is very important because when an individual expresses the definite desire to be baptised, to be confirmed and/or to receive the Eucharist in the Catholic Church, he or she obviously should be quite certain of their overall believes.  Just "going through the motions" without true intent is pointless.  And pretending to believe is certainly not a step towards salvation/

As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, faith formation is a journey in faith.  It does not happen overnight, and neither should it.  Even from a purely intellectual point of view, everyone should make a truly informed decision rather than passionately embracing a faith without truly understanding it.  As a Church we owe it to those who express an interest in becoming Catholic to ensure that they are able to get a well founded understanding about faith and doctrine.  While it would be quite impressive (and very noticeable) to have large numbers of people becoming Catholic on short notice, it would be meaningless.

Of course, even a one-year program doesn't have the time to teach everything.  There is a reason why deacon and priest formation takes easily 5-6 years.  But in the end, we are all still on that faith journey through life.  A year can be a long time, but it makes that faithful day (usually the Easter Vigil) so much more special - something to really look forward to, something to long for.  And there is always comfort to be found in the knowledge that in the early Church, this process lasted three years.  

On May 24th, 2014, Kathy and I celebrated the Sacrament of Matrimony at St David Parish.  We offered all those present a prayer card with the following painting and prayer:

"De Bruiloft van Kana" (Marten De Vos, 1597)

O.L.V. Kathedraal, Antwerp, Belgium

O God,

grant that we may always share

the love that grew between us

from the moment we first met.

May that love

with the grace of the Holy Spirit

guide us in all things

so that nothing can divide us.

We ask for words,

both kind and loving,

and for hearts,

always ready to forgive,

as we also ask for forgiveness.

Holy Father,

may our union as husband and wife

be a lasting sign

of Christ's loving gift of grace.

Amen.

(Prayer based on http://www.angelfire.com/md/elanmichaels/marriage.html.)

Is all sin equal?

Today I came across a posting on Facebook on a rather controversial topic.  The core of the posting revolved around the following reasoning:

"I understand what the bible says about homosexuality, but it also says no divorce, no kosher, no lying, and no disrespect to our parents.  Now don't we all do one of these every single day?  In God's eyes all sins are equal, so your lie you told today is just as bad as me loving another man."

Now, first of all, I do not wish to pass any judgement on anyone's choices and decisions.  That is not what this is about.

The problem here is that the reasoning expressed in the above quote has some very fundamental flaws and yet, this reasoning is shared all over the Internet on an almost daily basis.  The first assertion amounts to the fact that we are all sinners, and that is of course true.  I would also have to agree that our sinful mature is likely to cause us to sin each and every day, perhaps even more than once a day.  It is a side of our humanity that we have to live with, although as faithful Christians, we strive to not give into temptations and we strive to not sin.  When we do sin, we are called to repent.  We feel bad about the sins we commit, we work to correct them, make up for them, and do our best to not continue to sin.  Reality is that we do continue to be sinners until our death - but we are called to do our best to avoid sin!

The premise that all sins are equal in God's eyes is very definitely wrong.  In 1 John 5:16 we read: "If any one sees his brother committing what is not a mortal sin, he will ask, and God will give him life for those whose sin is not mortal.  There is sin which is mortal; I do not say that one is to pray for that."  Clearly, John describes two forms of sins: mortal and not mortal.  (See also Matthew 12:31-32.)

The next problem is a little bit less obvious because it cannot be easily addressed with just a quote.  It revolves around the difference between repentance of sin and justification for sin...  a matter of intent.  As mentioned two paragraphs earlier, as faithful Christians we are called to avoid sin.  When we do sin, we are to repent.  In essence, that does imply that it is our desire and intention not to commit that sin again.  In reality, we are sinners and in a way, we tend to be habitual sinners.  That is an integral aspect of our sinful nature, and we are to fight against it.  Our faith helps us with that.

So what happens when we instead look to justify our sin?  Obviously, one ends up on a very slippery slope because rather than repenting one tries to explain why it is OK (or at least acceptable) to commit a sin.  All sin is wrong - simple as that.  So the reasoning that since everyone sins, it is OK for me to sin is most definitely very unchristian.  The sin for which we are not repentant is not forgiven.  That important aspect is completely ignored in the rationale quoted at the beginning of this posting.  We sin by our very nature, but through our repentance we accept God's everlasting grace in forgiveness.  When we sin and are not repentant, we reject God's sanctifying grace and thereby reject forgiveness.

It is sad to see that a rather flawed reasoning on the important topic of sin is used to justify the choice to sin.  And some use this same argument to justify other sinful lifestyles, etc...  Now, again, I do not judge people's choices.  And some use this same argument to justify other sinful lifestyles, etc...  But I also do not believe that people have a need to justify their choices to those around them.  Our choices are our own, and we stand in judgement before God alone.  Therefore, I hope that rationales like the one I addressed in this posting will cease because they are unnecessary and unfortunately very misleading.

And it is a mortal sin to cause others to commit sin.

Birthday - a celebration of life

When we celebrate a birthday, especially our own, it is very easy to be a bit self-centred about it.  After all, it is a celebrate of one's own birth.  But all too often we do not think about the fact that it is also a celebration of our parents' gift of life.  And of the very fact that we are alive, and able to live as God's children.

The more self-centred aspect of our birthday is natural.  At earlier ages, we are celebrating that we are a year older.  We might even be a bit wiser or more mature.  This comes with a focus on some age-dependent goal.  Then many people go through a period where it doesn't really seem to matter, though we are still quite happy to celebrate this anniversary of our birth.  It has a bit of a tone along the lines of: "Yet another year that the world has been enjoying my existence."   It may not be that explicitly self-serving but still...  And then eventually we might end up in a period of life where we're not quite sure whether we really want to keep getting older.

But in all this we forget that the main aspect of a birthday celebration ought to be giving thanks to God for the fact that we were born, that we have lived, and that we continue to be living.  Sure, we have had some impact on the world (be it obvious or not), but that is the application of our God given talents.

So...  Today, as part of celebrating my birthday, I went to adoration before the Sacred Sacrament.  It is the least I can do to thank God for my birth and for my life.  Even then I think I get more out of adoration than our Lord does, but still...

This might be something to consider adopting as a tradition: setting aside some time for adoration before the Sacred Sacrament on birthdays in the family.