Saturday, August 15, 2009

Courage and the Feast of the Assumption

Today I had a very awkward (I don't think I spelled that right) breakfast with my parents. I was telling them about where I wanted to go to school for graduate studies. I suggested St. Regis College (Jesuit) attached to UofT and Boston College (Catholic & Reformed) but as soon as the word 'saint' came out of my mouth he began to talk about how I was adamant on unbiblical 'denominationalism' by wanting to attend a Catholic school, and suggested Dallas Theological Seminary or 'some other good evangelical school'.

Anyway, he said that true theology is based on "the Word" alone and that denominations which I allegedly insist on (If Catholicism is a denomination, then all the Church fathers were "denominationalists") were a sin. I just had the courage to tell him that I wanted to study "false theology" based on the traditions of men and Aquinas and Augustine and Church History. After that there was a long silence, an we spoke no more on it.

Today is the feast of the Assumption of our Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mother. This is arguably the most offensive feast day to Protestants as it is not explicitly in the bible and because the dogma was only declared in the last 70 years as official. But there was a certain courage it took for the Pope to declare it as a feast day and a certain courage for Catholics to celebrate it. It is the affirmation that God's tradition lives on in our Church, that the bible is not the only source of God's word, and that the Holy Spirit is still guiding our pilgrim Church. May I find courage to face these obstacles in drawing from the courage of my Church and the power of the Holy Spirit.

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