Living the Catholic Faith: Rediscovering the Basics
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Anyone who follows any type of sports knows that the best teams or players, year in and year out are those that have most clearly mastered the fundamental basics of the sport. For years in American College football, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Alabama dominated the sport. These teams accomplished their goals, not by doing anything fancy or unusual but by simply lining up and running over their opponents. Put another way, they won by relying on the basics. Many Catholics, including myself could learn a valuable lesson from these football teams as we try to live our Catholic faith.
Archbishop Charles J. Chaput has written a playbook to allow us as Catholics to get back to the basics of our faith and to more fully appreciate the scriptural authority behind these core teachings of the Church. He does this in a very appealing and straightforward way that is easy to understand and very easy to read. There is no heavy theological jargon nor are there any unexplained Latin terms in this book and even someone who is totally unfamiliar with the Catholic Church will have no trouble grasping the Archbishop’s points.
To his great credit, the Most Reverend Chaput takes on the issues he discusses head on and never swerves to avoid hurting someone’s feelings. Almost any Catholic who reads this book will find that at least some of the author’s arguments hit mighty close to home. The author also takes on the hard issues like abortion, contraception and suicide, issues that may be controversial in some quarters but which are at the heart of the Church’s teachings on the sanctity of human life. The learned author also takes the time to explain in very clear terms some of the most basic tenants of the Christian faith and I found his point by point discussion of the Ten Commandments to be very enlightening.
The Archbishop does all of this while relating it to the world that we live in today. I found his analogy of two twentieth century films to be particularly poignant and to be charged with unpopular truth. Sometimes the truth hurts but it does us a world of good in the long run.
This book is highly relevant to the world today and especially to Catholics facing the challenges of the twenty-first century. The good Archbishop has given us a wonderful blueprint to follow as we try to live our faith and spread the gospel to the whole world.
The message of a recent Sunday’s Gospel, St. Luke Chapter 10, poses the question “Teacher what must I do to be saved”. The answer, contained within the two great commandments followed by the story of the Good Samaritan, parallels the challenge of St. Mark Chapter 10 in Living the Catholic Faith, Rediscovering the Basics by Archbishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M.Cap. The question around which the Archbishop builds a viable plan for our journey from here to eternity is answered in St. Mark’s Gospel. He lists several of the Ten Commandments and suggests “Go sell what you have, give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me”. Archbishop Chaput says the first step to answer the challenge is “Breathe with both your lungs. Use your mind and your heart. Seek the truth with your brain and your heart and your soul.”
The act of redemption having been accomplished it’s been said that every person created was and is the fulfillment of a love story unique and unrepeatable. Hence, each person has incredible dignity and worth. The plan that exists for the journey home to God is available if we but only cooperate with it.
Tucked within just eleven chapters containing a total of 159 pages, this plan is presented by the Archbishop. He reaches back for basics as those listed in the spiritual and corporal works of mercy, hoping that they are no longer on just our “to do” lists but activated now in our daily lives. Brief as the book is, he considers among many listings the commandments and sacraments.
An adequate review of such a book requires time because just a blink of an eye can cause one to miss a treasured word or two of this carefully chosen script. Each sentence of each paragraph is so electrically charged with meaning that it would be the reader’s loss to miss even one word of this message.
The Archbishop’s five-point plan suggests we must pray not just prayers of petition, praise and thanksgiving, but for listening to the will of God for each of us. But even in His will, we maintain our freedom of response with either yes or no. It is the sum total of these choices which we finally become.
The Archbishop has his readers return to formal training to recall a definition of prayer. He offers his favorite from a rather contemporary female Doctor of the Church. St. Therese of Lisieux says “For me, prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look towards heaven; it is a cry of recognition and love, embracing both trial and joy”.
The the Archbishop suggests we read scripture to keep our “minds enlightened, our wills strengthened, and our hearts on fire with the love of God”. He insists the Gospel is not confusing or complicated just difficult and demanding.
Being a voracious reader himself, the author sets the example for us to read, read, read by challenging us with names of many writers and works saying, “we can get lost in a good book”. He encourages us to check out the Catholic Catechism and draws on two documents especially, from the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium and Gaudium et Spes. He quotes from lives of various saints, even the converted as far back as St. Augustine to the converted C.S. Lewis of more recent times. The Archbishop futher suggests we read from lives of saints whose endeavors are similar to our own.
Since we are missionaries by reason of Baptism and because “complacency is the enemy of mission”, Archbishop Chaput advises that we participate in the Church’s mission; never neglecting our families, giving of our time, talents, and treasures to our parish, diocese, or even if possible, to a broader missionary life.
All our efforts should be nourished with our participation in the Sacramental Life of the Church. A special account of the Sacraments of Initiation is accompanied by an entire chapter on the Eucharist.
By the motto on his coat of arms “As Christ loved the Church”, adapted from St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians the Archbishop declares his intent to work unselfishly for the Church. His often repeated phrase “faith is personal but not private” is his continual challenge to us.
The Archbishop exudes so much joy between the lines in his book that it isn’t difficult to feel his enthusiasm to live each day built on the Gospel. In the spirit of evangelization of ourselves first, then the world we can fulfil the final command of Jesus Christ before His return to the Father. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations”.