Hopelessly Catholic

Dangerous Moments and High Comedy on the Road to Salvation

At the encouragement of our editor

David Swindle

to explore the variety of Catholic types, I thought I’d start with my own category—Hopelessly Catholic.

No matter the storms of the present--including a Pope wading into the quasi-religion of environmentalism--I’m forever and a day committed to my faith and to Pope Francis, the Vicar of Jesus Christ.

The central feature of Catholicism is the Mass, and it can be summed up in the Glory Be:

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and forever, world without end amen.

Fourth-century monks in North Africa and Syria ended every Psalm of the Breviary with the Glory Be. Today, the Glory Be ends each of the ten Hail Marys of the Rosary’s five decades.

Mirroring that short prayer, the glorification of the Trinity occurs throughout the Mass with the ringing of the bells during the Consecration of the Eucharist, along with the signing of the cross at the beginning and end of the service. The congregation and celebrant make the sign of the cross three times before the gospel: upon the forehead (Father and creation), across the lips (Son and the Word) and over the heart (the Holy Spirit and faith). The three persons in one God are glorified in the Profession of Faith after the gospel.

The Glory Be features time and eternity. In the realm of time, Christ is prefigured in the Old Testament and, in the New Testament, He walks the earth, starts his ministry, is crucified, buried, and rises from the grave. Modern physics attests to all moments of time being connected. At Mass the congregation connects across time and space when the bread and wine are transformed into the body and blood of Christ and we receive communion. This supernormal event is a taste of eternity, the immediacy of the Last Supper, now and forever of the Glory Be.

I’m a slow learner, another “type” of Catholic. The power of the Mass took years for its impact to be felt in my life. Catholicism takes practice and patience, especially living in the richest, safest (so far) and most entertaining nation in all human history. Next to vacations, “Breaking Bad,” the Eagles supposed last tour, and a thousand other delights available to the senses, Catholicism holds the “excitement” of a somewhat intriguing short story from a dogeared book once read in high school. But for the Hopelessly Catholic, like myself, it’s been worth the wait and lack of modern thrills. What I now seek is the love of Christ to burn away the malevolence and fear that still lingers in my own heart.

Even the end of the Mass mirrors the Glory Be when the priest concludes: “May almighty God bless you, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.” The Deacon adding, “Go forth, the Mass is ended,” which I interpret as hit the ground running, spread the good news, eternity and time are now married. Like the Celtic Cross, Christ the Eternal descends into the world, sanctifying it for all time.

Heaven isn’t an otherworldly realm, it’s here, it’s the ultimate destination spot, it’s the world made new. To paraphrase Anglican theologian N.T. Wright — God doesn’t make junk — and John 3:16 announces…

for God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son…  

And finally, there’s the close of the Glory Be…world without end, Amen.

Photo by K. Mitch Hodge on Unsplash

Editor’s note: See the previous installment in this ongoing series exploring the varieties of the Catholic experience.

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