Not a New Religion

Impress upon all that growth is one of the laws of My Kingdom.

However long your span of life on eath, it can never be too long for growth and progress.

Be ever seeking My will for you.  Not a new religion, not the right religion --- but My will.

Then all will be well and growth will follow. (God Calling 2: Feb. 7)

 

So many people have turned from religion in disgust -- or they go from place to place seeking the perfect church, without ever being satisfied.  But all the religions in the world have only one aim--they are supposed to be pathways to the Almighty.  They exist as channels of grace, of communion, with God.  God wants to meet us, encounter us, love us, lead us, guide us, teach us.  Since we are human beings, we tend to need some kind of human touch, some kind of sign or concrete evidence of the presence of God.  Very, very few people seem to be able to approach God on their own, or to be convinced that He speaks to us directly.  That is why we honor the saints, those who did and do seem to communicate with God and to receive with purity of heart His gifts for mankind.

 

Knowing our weakness, from the beginning, God has provided for us teachers, guides, prophets to hear His voice and to lead us to Him.  Unfortunately, as Jesus put it, 'as soon as the seed is sown, the enemy comes to sow weeds among the wheat.'  And as St. John put it in his first letter, "many false prophets have gone out into the world."  From the time of Paul's ministry, false teachers went out to deceive the people for their own profit, not to bring them to Jesus, but to themselves.  They caused untold anguish for Paul, dividing the church and teaching false doctrines.

 

We already know the fate of the deceivers and false prophets; they are in the hands of God, and Jesus proclaimed to them "Woe to you...."  Jesus told the Apostles that he himself had chosen them, and "yet, one of you is a devil."  We cannot escape false teachers and deceivers; they will be present, trying to destroy the work of God, wherever we go.  So does that mean that we avoid the church altogether, because we can never trust the leaders?

 

Everyone who is called by God must seek always and everywhere the will of God.  There is no substitute for personal prayer and communion with God, through his Son, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit He has given to us.  Each one of us receives from the Spirit the discernment of Jesus --"but we have the mind of Christ" (I Cor. 2: 14 ff).  We come together as a church to hear teaching from the wise and to exercise together the discernment given to the Body of Christ gathered together as one.  If there is a false prophet, or a teaching not from God, the Body will discern the false note, much as an audience will detect a false note in a symphony.  Of course, if individuals in the audience have never heard music before, they may be innocent and think all is well because the conductor is "the expert."  But those who are familiar with the music will know better.

 

The same is true of the church.  If the believers who gather together have sought the will of God and the presence of God in their own lives, they will know the Voice of the Shepherd and recognize it -- and they will rejoice in it. If they are being led astray, they will know it also.  They may continue "attending church" out of habit or social acceptance, but they will not feed in green pastures while they are there.  One of my neighbors told me that he stopped going to church because he would always leave there angry and upset.  Obviously, if the pastor hits a nerve in our lives, it may make us angry, and that can be for us an area where we need to grow.  But that is why, in addition to attending services, we also need daily prayer on our own, plus small groups where we can share our faith and listen to one another.  The Gifts of the Holy Spirit operate in each one of us, but it takes the community to discern whether or not our gifts are genuine and true.

 

If we seek the will of God for our lives, he will inevitably draw us to places where we can be both blessed and be blessings to others.  We will be ministered to by the church, and we in turn will minister to the church.  One of the titles of the pope is "Servant of the servants of God."  I have witnessed for myself how our bishops and priests are servants of the servants of God -- though I know others have not had the same experience with the church.   I think, however, that as we seek the Face of God, he will show us in turn the faces of His family and friends.  And He will show them our face also -- this is what we mean by 'the communion of saints.'