THE PRINCIPLE OF SUBSIDIARITY AND MY CATHOLIC FAITH

https://www.catholic.com/qa/what-is-subsidiarity The Principle of Subsidiarity, as applied to My Catholicism, says that the most effective use of religion, the Christ Principle, happens at the lowest level possible (me, you, the parish, Lay Cistercians, etc.) I know this is true because, whenever I see a hurricane or flood on television, the most effective and helpful care is given by those affected by those terrible situations.

I am the lowest level in the Catholic Church (and so are you). All of this Eucharist, the Sacraments may be coordinated by the local Church, but I am the one who is the ultimate recipient of God’s generosity. I am born alone, and I die alone. In between those two realities, I must find meaning and discover the meaning of love and what truth is that is beyond someone’s opinion. I am not left an orphan, but have the combined heritage of 20 centuries of the Church Universal, trying to face the temptations of the Devil to betray Christ as did Judas, or to deny Him, as did Peter. It was not until Pentecost that the Holy Spirit infused the Apostles with the proper way, the actual truth that had escaped most of them when Jesus was with them, and the life to convert a false self to an authentic self. The Apostles (a type for each one of us who must die to self to rise with Christ) had no book (The Scriptures were only in letters and early drafts of the New Testament Gospels until a century later), and were tasked with taking Christ message out to the whole world, giving each individual human the chance “to know, love and serve God with their whole heart and to be happy later on in heaven.” Thus, the gathering of those present at the Eucharist was to take Christ into themselves as Ministers of the Gospel and tell the good news to those around them.

So it is, in this context of seeking the lowest level of existence possible (you and me), that Christ finds fulfillment in the words he wanted His disciples to subsume into their minds and hearts and become what nature had intended us to become before Adam and Eve chose themselves as god instead of God. What follows is a series of statements about what I have learned about the Catholic Church. They are not exhaustive nor even complete, but they reflect my thinking at this stage of my spiritual evolution.

• Eucharist is preserved down through the centuries so that I can receive the Real Presence of Christ as surely as He walked the earth on the shores of Galilee, trying to gain supporters to be fishers of men and women.
• The Sacraments, as preserved by the Church of each age, are instituted by Christ to give us grace by having Jesus inside us in that upper room of our inner selves.
• Creation is there in all its glory and majesty so that I can discover the riches of all that is and know that God cares so much for me that He offered His Son on the Cross, as Abraham did with Issac, to allow me to say, “Jesus is Lord,” and “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me, a sinner.”
• My Catholic Church is trying to have in me the mind of Christ Jesus (Philippians 2:5) and belonging to a group gathered together to sustain Christ in me through the power of the Holy Spirit.
• I am not the Catholic that I was at age 25, just as my physical body is not the same (I wish it were).
• Not only does all reality move in space and time in ever more complex and conscious ways, so too does the Church as it parades down through the centuries. Churches founded along the way can only begin their evolution from the time of their foundation. An unforeseen and unintended consequence of founding your Church or interpretation of what Jesus wanted is that each individual is a Church, their own pope, the final arbiter of doctrine, and what is meant by Scripture. There are no roots back to the time of the Apostles.
• For most of my life, I passively pursued what I thought of as Catholicism, and I was partially correct insofar as I lived it. Catholicism is meant to be lived using Scriptures as a HOW-TO set of instructions, not something you use to prove someone else has the wrong religion.
• Catholicism is about knowing, loving, and serving God through service to others, as Christ bid us do. Abandon the political machinations or intrigues of the Vatican. Seek first the kingdom of heaven, and all will be supplied as needed.
• I must make my Church new within the upper room of my inner self each day. I was asked and accepted as a Lay Cistercian, a rigorous approach to spirituality using Cistercian practices and charisms (Trappist). Silence, solitude, work, prayer, and community are the five pillars of what I understand of the Cistercian Way.
• I have just realized that I must be a penitential Lay Cistercian. I was far off (but did not fall over the cliff) from having Christ as my Lord, and realizing how to talk to the Holy Spirit through profound listening and just waiting in the presence of Christ.
• Catholics, and especially this one, need to dig every day for spiritual gold. I must be one of all the people who have ever lived to make new wineskins to hold the new wine I receive each day from Jesus.
• I must constantly abandon those false promises and cotton candy foods offered to me by the world, just as the early Christians were offered their freedom if they but sacrificed to the Emperor as god. St. Ignatius of Antioch (c.100 A.D.) writes eloquently of the early Church.
• I don’t need to try hard to be a good Catholic, as I think the Church should want me to be. Instead, I must daily convert my false self to my true self as an adopted son (daughter) of the Father (conversio morae) and seek to grow in Christ by being in His presence through the Church and through others. (capacitas dei)
• What does it profit me to have riches and two or three houses, if I miss the point of what God sent Christ to tell all humans and to invite those who believe as adopted sons and daughters of the Father and heirs to the kingdom of heaven?
• The Catholic Church, in the deepest penetration of Faith, takes work, weal, tears, giving up of the false self to put on the cloak Jesus gives to us at Baptism. If we don’t get our hands worn out by constantly working to keep Christ as our center, when Christ takes our hand to see if they are worn and bruised from a lifetime of stuggle, He will show us his hand, his back with the stripes by which we are healed and then bid us to wait a little longer until we get it correct (Purgatory).
• The Catholic Church has the Blessed Mother as intercessor with her Son on our behalf, with St. Joseph as guide to the Church, especially My Catholic Church, St. Michael, whom I ask to watch my 6, and last Jesus, Son of God, Savior. Why didn’t I place Jesus number one? After all, He is the Son of God and the Son of Mary? I used to place the letters J.M.J. on all my writings, as did Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. When I invited these four life companions to come up to the upper room of my inner self for tea and biscuits, Jesus pulled me aside and whispered, “Do me a favor and put my mother, Joseph, and St. Michael at the highest seats at your table, and I will be fourth.” I said, “My Lord and My God!” Only God would think of that courtesy and respect for His elders, even though he was God. (Philippians 2:5-12)
• It is not how much you know about the Scriptures, but rather how much you know that takes you to a deeper level where you dig to uncover the real riches beneath your feet. Only the rich get to heaven, but it must be God’s riches we take, not our own.
• My life is, like an astronaut’s, mostly training on how to decorate the mansion that the Father has waiting for me in Heaven. I pack my suitcase, taking with me everything I can thread together with that golden thread Christ gave me at Baptism. Christ is that golden thread, and I can sew it through all my life experiences where I saw Christ in others. Matthew 25.
• There is no joy like being in the presence of Christ with the energy of the Holy Spirit and just being. St. Paul tells us that we have no idea what awaits those who love Christ. If what I have experienced in this life (and later on in life as a Lay Cistercian) is any indication of what is to come, all I can say is that “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God, My Savior.”
• Amen and Amen.

Peace of Christ be with you.

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