This is also a time which portends the coming of Spring, and a re-birth of Nature's beauty with budding trees, flowers, and a raiment that far surpasses that of Solomon in all his glory!
But, most importantly, it is also a time for self-reflection and some measure of fasting and praying in preparation for the coming of the Passion of Christ, and of His victory over death: the Resurrection.
Unfortunately, in today's world, over-commercialization, and over-secularization detracts from the reason for the season, rather than focusing on the birth of the Savior at Christmastime, and Christ's Passion and Death at Eastertime...
And those who attach the august handle of Christian to themselves and their lineage, seem to forget that the very book they base their belief system on, the Bible, relies on the authority of the Catholic Church in determining which books were authentically inspired, while eliminating those that were determined to be specious at best.
In all honesty -- and it takes honesty! And good will! -- to accept that fact.
If I could make a comparison between the Constitution of the U.S., and the Catholic Church, it would be to show the supreme interpreter of the laws, and the doctrine of both institutions as follows:
If all men/women were able to interpret the Constitution as written, for themselves, without the Supreme Court to interpret those laws passed, for better or worse, then there would be hundreds if not thousands of different governments and interpretations of those very same laws.
On the ecclesiastical side of the equation, if all were able to interpret the Bible on their own and make judgments on what Scripture means, then we would be faced with what we see today: hundreds, if not thousands of different denominations all with differing interpretations of the same Bible.
But Christ left us with a Supreme Authority -- His Church -- to interpret the holy Scriptures and give a standard and a stability to those very same teachings in the Bible.
The idea that one can say what a particular Scripture verse means, and another says it means something different, shows that there is a vital need for that Supreme Authority.
Clearly, it is the Catholic Church that is the Supreme Authority!
To my Protestant friends, whom I love: come home, and be filled with life, and celebrate with us, the Eucharist! The Bread of Life! For if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you will not have life in you (St. John, Chapter 6; taken from the King James version of the Protestant Bible)...
Pray for our country!!
Gene DeLalla
Well said, Gene; well said.
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