Reading the news, with its anti-Catholic anti-Christian anti-God bilge, sometimes it's so easy for me to lose hope and abandon the culture to the secular humanists. Not the least in a literally ad nauseum list of recent offenses are: the HHS mandate railroading our consciences, the legalization of same-sex so-called "marriage," the protection of hate speech against the Church as a 1st Amendment right but the pastoral letter of a bishop preaching the truth is censored by our government, and the debut of yet another God-mocking TV show, "GCB".
And yet, when I get together with like-minded people I am so encouraged. There is so much good in our midst!
I think it's really vitally important, especially in this time of persecution of true Christians, to foster deep friendships and encourage one another in our faith. There was a great article in the National Catholic Register lately about church friends being super-friends.
A sad fact is, in most parishes, just going to Mass on Sunday is unlikely to score many friends. The stampede to the parking lot after Mass possesses the frenzy and urgency of front row tickets to a Justin Bieber concert in an all-girls middle school. It's intense, I tell you, intense. So unless you join some committees, groups, or societies, it's very easy to feel horribly alone in church full of people.
But you know what? Joining committees, groups and societies isn't so hard. I've joined a parish Bible study, the religious education program, the Catholic Daughters of the Americas, the funeral bakers committee, and am an aspirant to the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites. I've got so many Good Christian Ladies (and gentlemen) around me that it's hard to be discouraged!
Ultimately, of course, our hope is in Christ our Lord. He has already won the victory over sin and death, amen?? "Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, as indeed you do." 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Do you belong to any church clubs, groups or societies? How do you make godly like-minded friends? How do you keep your eyes fixed on Christ and retain hope in this culture?
12 comments:
We have a handful of other young Catholic couples that are good friends and wonderful inspirations. Most of them we've met in college, high school, or through other friends. As our journey as a young family goes on we crave their company and curse the miles that lie between us (we have several friends here in CO but the rest are scattered across the country). As a stay at home mom I make it a priority to keep up with the other mommies with facebook, phone calls, and texting, and try not to read too much negative media (it totally bogs me down!). We don't have cable or the newspaper so I only read what I choose to read on the internet. This is such a timely post, thank you!
I tell ya, Christina, my college buds are a lifeline too!! What a blessing they are, hm?
I think that being a Catholic out here in the Pentacostal Badlands of Tennessee makes us a bit more tightly knit. Because so many people travel quite a distance to get to Mass, we have coffee and doughnuts every Sunday after Mass at the Fathers of Mercy. During the summers, the seminarians are back in residence and play kickball or volleyball with the kids (yes, in the summer, in the south, in cassocks!) We're very blessed.
Most of our friends are from church, but not all, and that doesn't bother me at all. Gives me an opportunity to evangelize over time. :-) And honestly, being an unreformed optimist, all the doom-and-gloom my Catholic friends are prone to is a bit too much sometimes. Are some things bad? Sure. Really bad? Absolutely. BUT there is so much good in the world, so many good people, so many opportunities to make things better, that sitting around complaining just doesn't float my boat.
That IS a blessing. Smaller communities seem closer than mega-parishes. When you have 5-10,000 families in a parish, it's hard to foster community (or easier to be anonymous).
I love the Fathers of Mercy!
That's why friends like you are good to have :).
We just moved, so sad to say we don't have many friends at all. My lifeline (or lifelineS in this case) are the blogs of other Catholic ladies through which we can encourage and support each other. I hope to meet other Catholics in this area over time... although I'm pretty busy with my little family (including new baby) right now, so there's not much chance to get out yet. Thank goodness for the internet!
Congratulations on the newest addition to your growing family!! Hope you meet some great Catholic gals soon :-D.
Friends who agree with me..hmm. Generally I’m happy just finding friends who can disagree well, and those with whom I’ve at least something in common, but that could be anything from high-school memories to a shared pursuit of natural living. Ideally, an abundance of shared passions would meld together with a deep commitment to Catholicism, a lovely personality, and the time and nearness to develop a true , lasting friendship. That has happened occasionally, to varying degrees. I married the only friend who fully fit that profile though ;), and so I primarily seek out other close friends based on how well I feel we get on as people. Often, I’m most refreshed by my friendships with ‘surprise’ friends - those whose beliefs conflict with my own but whose personalities meld perfectly. I think of them as similar to those atheistic authors I love - Camus, Joyce, Hemingway - who nevertheless capture something of the Catholic imagination in the lives they create.
Since moving to Seattle a year ago my husband and I decided to start something we have long been searching for: a small prayer community. I wanted a group from our parish that met periodically, shared our lives, walked our faith, and provided a smaller setting for fellowship than the larger church. But how to do this? Post an ad in the bulletin? At the risk of sounding like a snob :) I ended up choosing two moms from the parish moms group that I had gotten to know and asked them about (over morning coffee) starting something like this. The result has been phenomenal. The three families (including 7 kids) meet once a month on a Sunday evening, rotating whose house we are at. The host family provides the main dish and loosely a topic for the evening. We have a babysitter come for the first hour or so to entertain the kids while us adults have time to share, read Scripture, give prayer intentions, and discuss a spiritual topic led by the host couple. Then we invite the kids in for songs and prayer intentions. Then we EAT :) and enjoy eachother's company. This group has truly been a blessing in our lives and each month when we meet I am reminded that God directed our steps to this place.
Yeah... I guess I'm not in it for friends who parrot back to me what I want to hear (insofar as they agree with everything), but ones whom I can share the love of the truth with :).
I hear ya on the authors!
Oh Anne, what a LOVELY setup! Now you've got my wheels turning :).
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