It is very common to hear this line from your “average” Christian.
“I am spiritual, but not religious. I don’t need the Church, all I need is a relationship with Christ.”
At one point in time, I even held this point-of-view. But in my personal journey, praise the Lord, that I have also grown up and away from this very superficial point-of-view.
Here are some of my personal reasons:
1. Spiritual usually means that I just feel good about my own perception of God.
If God fits the mould that I imagine Him to be in, then He is not God. God, ironically enough, by definition should not even be definable. He cannot be put into a certain view-point or a certain mould. That is why He tells Moses, “I am who I am”. (Ex 3:14) God is simply God. Period.
If I simplify God using my own personal finite cognitive skills, then God ceases to be infinite, which in fact is one of His attributes.
How then, can I come to know God? Well, through how He revealed Himself. He reveals Himself to us in a myriad of ways, from the beauty of nature to the razor sharpness of logic as well. I believe God has revealed and reveals Himself in us, when we discover this God-shaped hole in our hearts as St. Augustine would say. This inescapable emptiness that can only be filled with this infinite God. This infinite God who fully revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. Which leads me to my next point.
2. Jesus was the Word made flesh. He was not just spiritual, but more importantly physical as well. (John 1:14)
This is where things get interesting. Christians, including me, like to spiritualize things. But God, though pure in spirit (CCC 370), created us in a very PHYSICAL world. We act as if anything that is physical is evil, but the reality it is not. For everything that God made is in fact VERY good. (Gen 1:31)
And if Jesus is any example – he would be the best – since He is fully human and fully divine, He is also fully good. His humanity and physicality doesn’t take away from His goodness. Neither should our reality of being physically present take away from the innate goodness that God has made us to be. Jesus shows us the way, He integrates the spiritual and the physical. He does not differentiate between both.
This is why for us Catholics, good works are an integral part of living Christian lives. One cannot separate the follower of Christ from good works. Since the source of all good is God Himself. These good works were enumerated by Christ in the Bible. But since not all of those things He said were explicitly said, a lot of them were passed on to His followers – the Apostles and the disciples. (2 Thess 2:15) Which leads me to my next point.
3. I believe in the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
The very same Church whom Christ established through Peter (Matt 16:18), the One(not multiple) Church that is made Holy through Christ and not by the people in it. The One that is sent to all peoples, and not just to a select few. The One Church that has a proven lineage that traces itself back to the Apostles and back to Christ Himself. The Catholic Church.
This may come as a shock to some of you, but the bible you know now was compiled by the Catholic Church. In fact the Catholic Church predates the Bible in that sense.
Which brings me back to my second point, remember the time Jesus said:
“While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” – Matthew 26:26-28
Jesus didn’t mean that in a figurative sense of partaking His body or drinking from His cup. He meant it not only spiritually but very much so literally and physically. And guess which Church takes this to heart?
This Church.
Which goes back to my first point, only is it in the Catholic Church that my faith is asked challenged to go beyond the confines of what comforts me. The Catholic Church challenges me to conform my will to something infinitely higher than me. Which is God’s will, because He has revealed Himself through this Church.
I think it would be a sad day if the fullness of God was limited to what I was comfortable with. I want a faith that doesn’t stop at prosperity, but actually challenges me to pick up my own own cross (Matt 16:24) and be crucified in it. I want a faith that tells me to say Yes to His will and say no to the limited world-view. I want a faith that does not want me to compromise Him for the sake of my own personal gain. I want a faith that transcends my limitedness.
Going back to its roots, Religion is taken from the word Religare which means relationship. My religion is the relationship which God has instituted so I can have a fuller relationship with Him. And like any relationship, try going about doing other than what the other person wants/needs and you’ll end up in a very unhappy and unfulfilled relationship. A relationship is about giving oneself to the other, religion is the giving of oneself to God – Catholicism is its fullness. Why would I give God something less than what He wants?
