An Open Letter to the Church

It's a lonely walk to salvation, or so it seems. Wide and easy is the path to Hell, both in Scripture, and in observation of the world. Many are on their way to Death. And so few seem to walk the path to Life. Something has been missing in recent years even among those who, on the face of it, walk that path. A recent Pope said that what each parish needs is a committed group of orthodox, lay parishioners who would take up a core, leadership role in their communities. I don't know that each parish has this. I know that my parish has it, and still the Church seems weak, unable to accomplish the mission required of her.

I decided this day to ask certain people whom I love in a way new and mysterious to me to walk with me on the road to salvation. It occurred to me that I, despite thinking in the communal terms familiar to Catholics, still primarily viewed my salvation as precisely that. My salvation. I saw salvation as an individual affair. Not to the same degree as so many Protestants seem to, but still to the point where I realized that I was still alone, even when I should have been encompassed. At this I marveled, because I have lately found myself in awe that in my life I know such Saints as I do, slowly suffering martyrs for God and those they encounter. I do not jest when I say that I am surrounded by people whom I can actively see God turning into His next generation of the Elect. Right before my very eyes, though often they cannot or do not see it. Compared to them I count as almost nothing, but each one is like a tiny beacon burning brightly, but alone, in a barren landscape. They talk with me of the encounters they have with others, how people they don't even know come to them with thanks and praise for the hope and guidance they have given.

Why do they walk alone? Why do they shine alone? Why do they speak with me, a man far removed from their lives and situations? Why do others even more removed turn to them for guidance? Why, in rare instances, do they even turn to me?

Where are the people in their lives who are dedicated to walking the path to salvation with them? Not just those who are dedicated to Sainthood, but those who have made a committed effort to joining them in the struggle, so as to have partners and friends, confidants and comrades, a living community of Saints to blaze like the sun instead of scattered stars. They would illuminate the world with their brilliance and draw others to them like moths. Imagine a world where every parish had an ever growing community of such Saints, men and women wholly dedicated to serving God together, as real friends and family, as opposed to the mere distant politeness we observe today in the average parish? I myself am no less guilty, of the most orthodox families and people in my parish, I have met only a few, am friendly with only a handful of individuals, and find myself while polite, still quite distant, from those who should be my greatest allies, people who come up to me after Mass or catechesis to ask me questions, or compliment me (generally quite undeservingly) on a lesson or discussion.

These people should be my allies, there, I have struck the very core. They should be but they aren't, I don't pray with them save in the Mass, I don't know them, speak with them often, know about their families and their individual struggles. Likewise they know nothing of mine. We're politely distant individuals walking the loneliest road to the same place. Why don't we help each other along?

We all feel the need for such aid, in truth. That's the exact reason why people do approach these friends of mine who are living Saints, why some even approach me, weak alternative though I am. People need, instinctively, this aid in their lives. People need to walk the path to God communally, and that means reaching out to others on that path to join together. Consider, however, the methods. Most of these Saints I know from Internet apologetics. They are an entire generation which has learned to seek community not just in their neighborhoods and parishes, but across the globe. Where are the people in their lives who should be providing for them hope, counsel, and succor in spiritual darkness, when the path grows too dim to see? Why are they turning to the anonymity of cyber-space, to complete strangers? Thank God for the weary, happy few who encounter living Saints. Pray to God for the salvation of the deluded many who encounter the charlatans, crack pots and veritable demons of our age, as they prowl about seeking the ruin of souls.

What the world needs, what we need is not just committed groups of lay Catholics in the parishes, it is bringing those running the race to the same course, and letting them chase together the prize, encouraging and instructing each other along the way. We need to stop standing as islands of piety in an ocean of secularism, or fonts of charity in a desert of greed. Instead, we must transform our parishes into cities of God, with each citizen feeling connected to the whole, looking out for the good of the others as well as themselves, that when one stumbles or falls, there are hands ready and waiting to pick him or her up.

The barriers to this transformation are many. The rapid disintegration of the family, which was once the backbone of such a community. The ever decreasing amount of civic society and expanding trends in solitary entertainment as opposed to social connections. The expanding tramp of the work place into the sacred spheres of home and church and family. The cries in crescendo of consumerism, capitalism, even communism and all the other chants of the modern world vie for our attention and distract us from both the path to sanctity and relationships with others. The Internet, which has proven itself a formidable tool in both evangelism and apologetics has also lent itself to the growing lack of connection with real people in a real environment. The importance of basic, local human connections; the value of a well-timed hug or smile; and forthright, person-to-person conversation about who and what truly matters simply cannot be understated. We have less and less of it. Yes, in our digital era, information goes farther and faster, at the cost of all human warmth, familiarity and with the increasing danger of viewing people not as people, but as disembodied voices on which we can vent ourselves without qualm.

These problems, however, are not insurmountable. Starting first with the people we love, and expanding ever outwards so that our love encompasses everyone willing to shelter within it, those of us with both eyes on the coveted crown need to begin building these communities. Like the first monks, we need to find those of like mind, and walk together, work together and will together. It really is that simple, and it truly can be done. As today's Gospel illustrated, even from a seed as tiny as that of the mustard tree, a wonderful bounty can grow. Even from a bare amount of yeast, much dough can be leaven. We are called to this task, to the revitalization of the community of Saints, to the fruition of the Kingdom. Beginning today, I will seek God not alone, but in company. In the fellowship not only of the Communion of Saints in Heaven, but of those on Earth. Never again in the impersonal and immaterial way of this world, or in my previous and shallow understanding of the Church family, but in the way of the Church Triumphant to which we aspire. Together we Rise.