I was inspired in the new year to beef up my study of the faith. To that end, like many of you, I signed up for the Catechism in a year podcasts with Father Mike Schmitz. It has been an interesting and insightful journey so far. In the past, the Catechism has been helpful to me in answering specific questions, in outlining the dimensions of social justice, and in providing clarity on social and moral issues. However, I never read the Catechism from cover to cover. So this year, immersing myself in God’s revelation, its transmission through tradition and sacred scripture, and our response in faith, has brought an organic freshness to my understanding of the faith of my Baptism, over 65 years ago.
On the last day of January reading paragraphs 222-231 on the implications of faith in one God, I was struck by the expression of necessary consequences of our believing in God, who is the ground of all existence, who is merciful and gracious, who is truth, and who is love. The Catechism lists five such consequences. It means coming to know God’s greatness and majesty. It means living in thanksgiving. It means knowing the unity and true dignity of all people. It means making good use of created things. And it means trusting God in every circumstance. Of these five, “knowing the unity and true dignity of all people” initiated a desire to go deeper in study and reflection.
To a student of the law, the Catechism is extensively internally cross referenced, like the Uniform Commercial Code, complete with source citations. On one of the cross-referenced sections, I was led to the first encyclical of Pope Pius XII, Summi Pontificatus, on the Unity of Human Society. Issued in 1939 and commemorating the 40th anniversary of the consecration of all mankind to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, it was a response to the destructive nationalism, racism and institutional violence of the times. Pope Pius XII writes of the origins of humankind, created by God in His image and likeness: “A marvelous vision, which makes us see the human race in the unity of one common origin in ‘one God and Father of all, Who is above all, and through all and in us all’ (Eph iv. 6); in the unity of nature which in every man is equally composed of material body and spiritual, immortal soul; in the unity of the immediate end and mission in the world; in the unity of dwelling place, the earth, of whose resources all men can by natural right avail themselves, to sustain and develop life; in the unity of the supernatural end, God Himself, to Whom all should tend; in the unity of means to secure that end.” (p. 38) Pius describes these supernatural truths as forming “the strongest possible bond of a union, that is reinforced by the love of God and of our Divine Redeemer.” (p. 41)
In a world that has become so tragically polarized and divisive, how can we recover our sense of that bond of union that underscores human solidarity and makes us family? We can be quick to recognize our sacredness and our dignity, even our call to relationship. Why is that bond of unity so easily ignored? Lent, which begins on February 22, is an opportunity to intentionally cultivate that bond, especially by seeing the poor, vulnerable and marginalized in our community and responding to their needs through almsgiving and service. A volunteer listing may be found at https://columbuscatholic.org/social-concerns/volunteer-opportunities. February is Black History month and is an opportunity to learn and embrace some of the missing pieces of the history of our human family that may not have been part of our education. St. Matthew the Apostle Church and its Julia Greely Committee are offering a book club reading opportunity for the next six weeks on Fr. Josh Johnson’s book, On Earth As it is in Heaven: Restoring God’s Vision on Race and Discipleship. To sign up go to: https://stmatthew.net/racial-justice.
It is our Baptism in Christ that allows us to “put on the new self which is being renewed in the image of the Creator where there is neither Gentile nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian nor Scythian, slave nor free. But Christ is all in all.” (1 Col 3:10-11)
