Love Never Fails

Today’s Gospel is a bit of a riddle.?

Whether in Catholic media or religious education textbooks, it is often noted that the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. But the explanations for what this means always seem to be inadequate and taken out of context.

Seen in the context in which it’s spoken today makes it even more precarious. Christ says immediately before that those who speak against the Son of Man will be forgiven. We see evidence of this with St Paul, of course.

It implies that professing belief in Christ is not sufficient, but it also insinuates that it is possible one could be seeking honestly, though not yet recognizing Christ as Lord, and that would be forgivable. In other words, the honesty with which we seek takes precedence over our current level of understanding. And maybe that is why Christ says those who seek will find. Because if you seek honestly, over enough time, it will lead to Truth.

Today, it seems there is much more dispute about Christ’s Church than about Christ Himself. Even (or maybe especially) among Catholics. But I think this principle of seeking honestly can really help here.

Several years ago, I was struggling with a particular teaching of the Church. When I shared with my spiritual director he gave some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten. He said, “you will never completely understand every teaching. What’s most important is that you have the humility to wrestle with a teaching you don’t understand rather than reject the Church.”

As we talked longer, he explained three major dispositions he sees from people in similar positions. Some will say, “I don’t understand this teaching, therefore the Church is wrong!” Others will say, “I don’t understand this teaching, but I do trust the Church. I need to pray on this and seek for more answers.” And lastly, some will say, “I don’t understand this but I want to be a good Catholic, so I’ll just stop asking questions.” I’m sure you all can imagine which one he recommended.

After taking the middle advice, I found that I was having trouble with what I thought the Church taught, not what She actually taught. After much prayer and study, I’ve come to find that teaching as one of the most beautiful gifts from the Church. It reminded me of the famous quote from Archbishop Fulton Sheen, “There are not even 100 people in this country who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they think the Catholic Church to be.”

I also realized that if my spiritual director would have just simply shut me down and told me why I was wrong, I would have likely gotten defensive and remained in my ignorance. But he stood firm with the Church while also respecting the dignity of my search. In fact, I think it was his confidence in the position that allowed him to let me search. When we are reluctant to engage with opposing viewpoints or quickly shut them down, it is usually due to our own insecurity that we may be wrong and our desire to cling to this ignorance rather than experience the humbling joy of being wrong and growing in understanding.

This has been a great lesson for me as a parent concerned about passing the faith on to my children. All the research indicates that the number one reason people leave the Church is that they never got their questions answered. This experience provided a framework in which the difficult questions, the ones that are as intellectually challenging as they are emotionally charged, can be dealt with appropriately. One needs to first seek to really understand where the question is coming from, provide some words of guidance, and ultimately encourage the other to continue asking good questions and searching for the answers. In other words, good spiritual guidance has more to do with helping people seek faithfully than telling them what to believe.

But this isn’t just a personal issue I’ve faced, it is an issue the Church perpetually faces. Matthew Levering, in the latest edition of The New Resourcement, wrote an article addressing a similar topic. He made a distinction between tension with the Church and opposition to the Church. Tension exists when one still loves and trusts the Church but is struggling to understand or accept something within it, while opposition to the Church is when one no longer loves or trusts the Church and wants to demonstrate why the Church is wrong.

If the Church is Christ’s Mystical Body, as St Paul teaches in the first reading, then it is similar to a physical body that gets stronger through tension. We exercise our muscles by creating tensions, and though it is painful, it helps us become stronger. The Church will then be healthier if its members (us!) can experience this tension.?

We need not be scared to ask questions, nor so quick to doubt. As St. John Henry Newman says, “ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt.”?

God may resolve one riddle, only to unveil ten thousand more. The search always continues because we are unable to ever fully understand God and His ways. He who says he understands everything, understands nothing and to have more answers than questions is the surest mark of a fool.

But if we seek with the assistance of The Holy Spirit, we will always be brought into greater Trust and Love of God. And if we lead with Love, we can not go astray, because Love never fails.