It Is Done

Revelation 21:6

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Everything.

The Apostles’ Creed contains the words “holy catholic Church” – and here the word “catholic” is with a small “c” and means universal, or throughout the whole world.  It came to be a word to describe the Church begun by Jesus Christ and his followers, for this church, even in its first centuries, was not limited by geographical region, language, or culture.  People of varying religious practices left their ancient traditions in order to follow the way of Jesus Christ.  With each century, this “new” church gained more followers and spread across the globe.  Now, in our time, the word “Catholic” is most immediately associated with one very large population of Christians sharing the same beliefs and practicing the faith through various rites – the main ones being Roman, Antiochian, Alexandrian, and Byzantine – gathering together in acceptance of the Bishop of Rome as the first among equals.

I like the first usage of the word “catholic” – and I like it as it applies to Christianity.  The sense of universality is essential to the Christian mission, for Christ told His apostles to “go forth and make disciples of all nations”.  We do not believe that Jesus Christ is meant to be Savior for only a chosen few, but, rather, for the many, the multitude.  For He is God, and God assumed human nature – He became one of us and dwelt among us and, thereby, intimately sanctified the whole human race.  His Sacrifice on the Cross for forgiveness of sins is for everybody, as is His Resurrection and promise of Eternal Life – though not everybody may choose to accept this divine gift of love.  This is what we believe.

 

Following the theology of Catholic Christianity, we also see that this gift of salvation is not only received by those who clearly profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior with their words and their lives, but also received by those who may not particularly profess the articles of Christian faith – but who do profess, in an unspoken and un-intellectualized way, the Christian faith through the goodness of their hearts and their sincere lives of true love.  For Christ is goodness itself, truth itself, love itself.  All who thirst for righteousness thirst for Christ – and all who humbly and willingly practice virtue live a Christlike life.  And so here is another sense of Christian Catholic – it is of Christ being throughout the whole world and the aim of universal holiness.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end; all have their ultimate source and final end in Him.

 

For me, there is another way that I understand Catholicism, one that I very much want to keep in mind always.  Everything is embraced by the Christian faith – everything is embraced by my faith.  There is no subject of which we can speak that has “nothing to do with God”.  We may try to keep our thoughts of God or talk of God separate from our everyday lives, our work, our social gatherings, our “downtime”.  But God is inescapable.  And this doesn’t mean that I should be saying Hail Marys every minute of the day, or careful to keep a pious expression on my face at every turn – this means that even when I am not directly thinking about God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier, God is thinking about me.  And though I think that I may be doing something for myself, or even something for others that is purely secular, what I do, everything that I do, has an effect on Eternity – and what I do, everything that I do, is always and everywhere influenced by God.  For nothing would exist without Him.  All life, all existence, would cease if God was actually out of the picture.  We can ignore, forget or outright reject or deny – but God is.

 

And, so, it is good to have lunch with friends and talk about football or the price of gasoline.  It is good to run through fields of wildflowers and laugh like children.  It is good to watch a funny movie with a bowl of popcorn or go dancing with a date.  It is good to work hard crunching numbers, making presentations, or digging ditches.  And it is good to sleep.  And we will not be thinking about Christ every moment as we are doing these things – not directly.  But, whenever we experience true love, true joy, true selflessness, true sacrifice, true beauty, or true delight, we are experiencing Christ.  To have this knowledge, to have this faith, is to drink freely from the fountain of life.  It is right and just to acknowledge Christ in all that is good, so we must not be afraid to openly profess our faith to others and to speak intimately our gratitude to God in hearts full of prayer.  Praying doesn’t always have words.  I’ve often said that I am not a good pray-er.  Hopefully, though, I am, in the living of my life, a good prayer.  Thanks be to God!  And to God goes all the glory!  “The glory of God is Man fully alive”[i]… When we truly live, as Christ truly lived and lives, God is glorified.  It is fulfilled.

Christina Chase

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[i] St. Irenaeus