Faith

I am a Roman Catholic.

Mostly.

There are some things about the church I have troubles with.

I've spent long periods in my life away from the church.

But I keep coming back.

Part of it is cultural.

I was raised Catholic, so that's part of who I am.

Even when I rail against things going on, part of me still loves the church.

Sort of like the way it is with brothers.

Brothers fight and bite and kick.

But pick on a brother, and the other will jump on you.

Literally. I did that once.

So even as I fight and bite and kick the church, I find myself defending it.

It's where I'm comfortable. It's home.

But more than culture, it's that as hard as I explore other faiths and denominations, I haven't yet found one in which I see more of the truth.

I see God in it. Men screw it up, but he is still there peeking out.

Hello Ron.

Hey God.

I've stumbled across him in other places. A synagogue. A Baha'i meeting. In an Adirondack forest (go Druids).

I think I even once spotting him outside a Unitarian Church after a service. He was laughing.

At least the guy looked like he could be God.

There were even some places where I thought I spotted him, but I was wrong.

Those times usually involved situations where I desperately wanted something.

Something besides God.

Like money.

Or sex.

Amazing what hormones will do.

But where I have seen him in these other churches, he is usually off to the side or at the back.

Even when he's up front, he's not.

It's always just a flash.

In the Catholic Church, though, he's everywhere. At the same time. In the back. Off to the side. On the altar. In the pew next to me. Winking at me.

He gets around.

He is central to the church.

Finally, the Catholic Church is the one that challenges me.

I can't just create my own beliefs. Like Unitarians. Or Joseph Smith.

There are certain central beliefs.

I have to believe them. Or at least accept them. On faith.

Grr.

So I fight and bite and kick.

But I keep coming back.

Hey God.

Hi Ron. Good to see you.