Same Side - Different Team
God is not a Roman Catholic. Sorry to disappoint you. Nor is God a Protestant Christian, or a Jew, or a Muslim, or a Hindu. We belittle God by placing upon Him human classifications. God is too big for our classifications. God transcends them. Our classifications are for ourselves. We seek God as a Roman Catholic, or as a Protestant Christian or as a Jew or as a Muslim or as a Hindu. God does not so limit Himself. We are all in the same business of seeking the one true God. We are all brothers and sisters on the same quest with the same purpose.
Catholics who have accepted the invitation do not travel in the direction of God alone. As we travel from godlessness to God, we meet Jews, other Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. all heading in the same direction. They travel on their own roads. However, their roads from godlessness to God and our road often overlap at common landmarks. [Think of strands of wet spaghetti all oriented from point A to point B that overlap here and there.] The number of landmarks that the various religious traditions share in common is quite extraordinary and dwarfs the number of differences. ["It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it." G.K. Chesterton]
Catholics do not presume to limit God by claiming there is only one road that leads from godlessness to God. An omnipotent and loving Father who happens to also be God would build multiple roads to facilitate the escape of His children from godlessness - one would expect. Because a bottleneck would be created that would thwart the return of His Children to Him, it seems unlikely that God would give any single religious tradition a monopoly over the migration of souls back to Him. Therefore, it can be said that those who are heading in the direction of God are on the same "side". Yes, there are different "teams". But, so what? When we head in the same direction away from godlessness to God, we are on the same "side". Let us pray that all roads reach their destination and none leads to a dead end. ["New roads; new ruts." Gilbert K. Chesterton]
The Catholic Church has devoted itself to helping people get into heaven for more than two thousand years. Venerable is a word that does not come close to doing justice to it or its mission. Although the various religious traditions share many landmarks in common, each possesses its own unique landmarks. It is these unique landmarks that distinguishes one religious tradition from another.
One landmark unique to the Catholic religious tradition and few others is the Eucharist. If the other landmarks on the road from godlessness to God are golden inns, the Eucharist is a diamond palace where the most exquisite communion between God and Man takes place. At the Eucharist, we bring our hungers and thirsts to God who satisfies them with the gift of his Son, Jesus, in the bread and wine of the Eucharist. This is how Eden was supposed to work before we broke it. (See, the Do-Over). The Eucharist is fuel for our souls. No traveler on any journey can go fast or get far without food and drink including a traveler on the road home to a life of happiness with God. God has offered this rich treasure to the whole world free for the taking yet only Catholics and a few other religious traditions have chosen to take advantage of it.
I was born a Catholic. My parents raised me a Catholic. Inertia tends to keep me a Catholic. However, I am now a Catholic by choice and the Eucharist is what keeps me a Catholic. Without the Eucharist, I could just as well follow any of the other roads that lead from godlessness to God. It is the precious gift of the Eucharist that compels me to make my journey from godlessness to God on the Catholic road.
The Eucharist has helped many a soul on its journey to heaven. Therefore, the enemies of God and Man wish to suppress the magic, mystery and message of the Eucharist. Thank God for the Catholic Church which has paid a steep price for defending this extraordinary gift from God and for providing priests to make it possible for us to participate in it.
