I have no desire to alienate or distance any serious Christian, Catholic or otherwise. In many ways this blog has become a way for me to form alliances and relationships with serious Christians of all denominations, and I want to continue building those alliances and relationships to whatever extent I can.
By serious Christians I mean those who truly believe in Jesus Christ and wish to follow Him with the entirety of their minds, hearts, and souls. I do not wish to bicker over theological fine points or haggle over who is right and who is wrong concerning history, church dogma, doctrine, traditions, or anything else.
We all have our own unique spiritual destinies, one that is guided by a loving God, and I have no qualms with any Christian who believes he is doing the right thing by adhering to a church.
Having said all of that, we are experiencing something unprecedented in the history of the world. I am not referring here only to the closure of churches over a virus scare, but everything that is happening. What matters now is the primacy of the spiritual. Whatever helps you find and maintain the primacy of the spiritual is fine with me, as long as it aligns with God's reality and loving Creation.
"the Catholic Church is not the Church of the pope, the cardinals, the bishops, the parish priests, or even the laity. It is the Church of the Saints."
I'll go a step further. The Church is you. You should strive to be that Saint. Don't underestimate the power of your spirit. The time for waiting to see what will happen has passed. God is waiting for us to take a step toward Him through an act of Creativity. God is waiting for us to become co-Creators.
I say that not out of heresy or spiritual pride, but out of necessity and sobriety.
Gentlemen, like it or not, we have been un-Churched. As I said earlier, you are now the Church. You need to draw on direct knowledge from God. You are the immanent that needs to meet the transcendent. That meeting happens through love, faith, and hope.
We can and should draw on tradition, but we shouldn't be regressive. Nor should we be passive. We need to move beyond our spiritual adolescence and become spiritual adults.
That is our task.
Here and now.