Salvation devoid of personal pious acts

       I was once a Roman cleric. In fact I am the product over 20+ solid years of Catholic education and indoctrination if you will. I have determined that with the grace of faith and the brains that the good Lord gave me, I was essentially an Episcopalian for most of my life.  I heeded the advice to analyze everything, keep what is good and acceptable to God, discard the rest. In my journey though I ran into a considerable number of perhaps overly devout Catholics. These are people whose faith seem based more on rules and rubrics as I say. Ministrations and personal actions of piety to them are as important as proclaiming Jesus is Lord!

          At one time I was a minister in a large congregation of over 5000 families. One thing about Roman Catholics, any group consists of an unseen mix of the ultra orthodox and the hand waving home Mass Pentecostal variety. So the news one day that an overtly devout Deacon who had made communion wafers at home with his wife for a Thanksgiving Mass using the addition of honey was met with a tremendous uproar. The zealots had the phone lines to the Diocesan offices burning and even this devout Deacon found himself on the condemned list of many, swearing he would burn in hell. It would be comical if it were not so sad.  This is the same Deacon who had a whole arsenal of personal acts of piety that he foisted on the congregation as proper. A cringe that a whole generation of young Catholics think that certain actions in Mass or on the Altar will keep them holy and faithful.

        What brought this to mind is the proclamation by Claudius Lysias that Paul was being charged for questions of Jewish law, not secular, Roman law. My Pop and I have a phrase for much of the laws of religion, we call it "happy horseshit". Man made rules to regulate and control that have, perhaps good intent' but laws that are no more from God that a guillotine that similarly cuts off life.

         After reading The Seven Story Mountain, and determining why Merton was so popular with most of the worlds religions in addition to his own faith in Jesus, I found an interesting tidbit. This nugget was as good as gold. Merton noted that if we were to compare religions on the basis of rules and  rubrics, mankind would never be able to adequately discuss God or become united. On the other hand, if we could discuss the fundamentals of our universal Creator without the burden of all those rules and rubrics we could more easily come together in peace and harmony. That is one of the reasons he was so universally popular. Merton could transcend his Christian man made  happy horse shit.

         The question returns to those that perhaps find redemption in the life of Jesus Christ. If we walk into church and do not dip our fingers in the holy water and walk up to pew and do not genuflect and do not immediately make a sign of the cross, are we still saved? Do we need to confess those omissions? Just an example, one of hundreds you might think of.

        There is a real need to focus on real sustaining faith. Most people can see all the happy horse shit there is in religion if not the world. There is a real sense about honest and genuine sustaining faith that is not born of the stuff of organized religion. The churches are emptying in record numbers and loosely knit bands of nondenominational devout people abound.  What are we doing to make our faith real and genuine? That does not mean we have to abandon tradition in a wholesale manner. We can have traditions in their proper place.

        Can we have conversions of heart and real sustaining faith in Jesus unfettered by the stuff that has no meaning? Must we foist our personal acts of piety on others to be real?

Can we convert as St. Francis did by our actions and using words only if necessary?

Acts 23:23-35

 Then he summoned two of the centurions and said, ‘Get ready to leave by nine o’clock tonight for Caesarea with two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen. Also provide mounts for Paul to ride, and take him safely to Felix the governor.’ He wrote a letter to this effect:

 ‘Claudius Lysias to his Excellency the governor Felix, greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, but when I had learned that he was a Roman citizen, I came with the guard and rescued him. Since I wanted to know the charge for which they accused him, I had him brought to their council. I found that he was accused concerning questions of their law, but was charged with nothing deserving death or imprisonment. When I was informed that there would be a plot against the man, I sent him to you at once, ordering his accusers also to state before you what they have against him.’

 So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him during the night to Antipatris. The next day they let the horsemen go on with him, while they returned to the barracks. When they came to Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they presented Paul also before him. On reading the letter, he asked what province he belonged to, and when he learned that he was from Cilicia, he said, ‘I will give you a hearing when your accusers arrive.’ Then he ordered that he be kept under guard in Herod’s headquarters.