DeoOmnisGloria.com

Best Wishes for the Blog Awards.
May the good Lord continue to bless your work that is given to his service! :)

In Christ,
MaryH

I don't say the following to cause trouble in this highest of seasons. I say it for the sake of discussion.

When I read this post, my first thought about it was that this is a perfect demonstration of why I am not a Roman Catholic.

Will I suffer for Christ this Lenten season? Not in the same sense as you might. From my perspective as an Anglican, it seems to me that in this as in alot of things, Catholics have the right form of expression but the wrong idea or interpretation.

The Anglican church sees the purpose of Lent slightly differently. the emphasis of its teachings about the purpose of our Lenten devotions and sacrifices is that we are making an offering of thanksgiving and praise of ourselves to God. While the words "offering" and "sacrifice" necessarily implies suffering and loss the emphasis is on giving not suffering. We give because Christ gave so much more. We don't think of it in terms of we must suffer because Christ suffered so much more.

Can you see the difference? To me the difference is a much more positive and life affirming one. It not that we don't focus ourselves on our sins and on repenting for them. And we do not avoid our guilt. Lent is not a fun time for us. But rather than focus on the idea that the Christian life should rightly be one of suffering so that we want the next world more, the emphasis among Anglicans is that this life is a school of discipline making us strong and healthy and whole and capable of true joy in God and true repentance before God in heaven on the day of Judgement. Life is not supposed to be a vale of tears so that we come to hate the world. Life is meant to be a foretaste of heavenly goodness, health and joy. We suffer here not to pay for something but for our own good in a sense. I think we see suffering and loss more positively as something to be embraced not avoided because it will bring us ultimate health and healing. We long for heaven not because we are encouraged to hate this world but we long for heaven more because we love the goodness of the world and that makes us want more of that goodness in its purest and highest form.

I'm sure that none of this is an entirely alien idea to Roman Catholics, but can you see that the emphasis that the Roman church places on suffering seems to be more negative?

I'm just wondering what you think about this.

Hi Peggy, I especially like your comments about Islam, but this is a very good point. I've been thinking about suffering a lot these days. I'd just like to tell you my own impressions, I am not an apologist and I certainly don't know nearly enough about Christianity.

I think that in that case, if as you say, then Anglican has in common with all the Protestant churches a discomfort with suffering and specifically Christ's suffering (notice how their symbol is usually the empty cross signalling the Resurrection). I actually am drawn more to the Catholic church because of its emphasis on suffering. Granted, even though it is a downer to constantly focus on suffering. But do you know the expression, "Laugh and the whole world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone"? I love that were I to be suffering terribly (God forbid), the Catholic church would be the first place I'd go and I wouldn't cry alone.

The Catholic church focuses on Christ's suffering or Passion, more than any other church and I think that the people who are more uncomfortable with Christ's suffering are uncomfortable with the concept of suffering in general. Like how hard it is to comfort mourners? I take as evidence that even non-Catholic Christians were baffled by the violence in the TPOTC movie. I think of it this way: if I had a loved one who was undergoing painful treatments for a medical condition (say burn treatments), wouldn't I want to be there every step of the way? Which is harder, for me to go with my loved one and watch every bandage being changed and wince everytime he winces and cry everytime his face contorts in pain, or to sit in the lobby and wait for visiting hours, or to go on vacation and wait it out. Now how would I feel about a person who did the latter and then came to me and said, "oh you should put all the suffering behind you, the important thing is that he is all right now!" So I think suffering with Christ's suffering is to own Christ (in a non-blasphemous way), to claim Him as our loved One, much as we'd claim our loved one's sufferings for our own.

The other thing about suffering is that it seems so alien when it happens to a person who's basically had it good all their life. Suffering is not supposed to happen, right? I don't know about Anglican, but in Protestant Churches the elect are supposed to be favored financially as well as be generally blessed with good fortune. The Catholic church seems right to me that they place suffering as a normal and expected part of life, then they have the examples of the saints so you can look at the role suffering played in their lives. Then, if you the Catholic has connected the dots, you would probably be all the more grateful for all the good things that you have in your life, that you don't deserve it, that God doesn't owe you a good life becuase you're a good person. So the end result should be that the Catholic church's emphaisis on suffering will cause us to be more grateful for our blessings and not to take them for granted and to be better prepared for when tragedy strikes.

Sorry I hope that didn't sound preachy, I'm not a good writer.

Hannah

Hannah,

You make some excellent points and I'll definitely take them into consideration.

A couple of things about what I wrote and about how the Anglican church differs from other Protestants.

The Anglican church is catholic in practice and its theology is leavened with Protestant-type thinking. It is Protestant in a historical sense in that it resisted the papacy when it over-stepped its bounds. And yes, it is Protestant in that its emphasis is on giving and thanksgiving rather than on suffering. It also is a bit more inclined to be rational than the Roman church.

But I use the word "emphasis" to illustrate that there is a slight tilt in our focus towards giving rather than suffering. I want to make it clear that the suffering part is not forgotten or shoved under the rug. I think a greater balance is acheived in the Anglican communion than in the Roman one.

BTW, our crosses aren't empty. God forbid. I've left those empty and impersonal things behind me. In the Anglican church as well as in the Orthodox church, you tend to find Christ on the Cross but he is depicted in a triumphant pose. I think this type of Cross is called Christus Victor. The emphasis is on Christ's victory on the Cross rather than on his suffering. But the visual reminder and personalization is there. One cannot look at such a Cross and forget how Christ suffered for us and because of us but the focus is on the joyous outcome of that suffering. Christ wins the victory over sin and death and now reigns serene.

For the record, Peggy, not allowing a divorce isn't "stepping over it's bounds" - it's sticking to truth. Let's be reasonable about why the Anglican church was started: the King wanted a divorce and even St. Thomas More had to pay the price for standing against moral relativism.

God bless,
Jay

Jay,

Well I've heard to the contrary and seen a great deal of evidence as well including but by no means limited to some of Henry's own writings and papers long before the divorce became an issue. There was a great deal of trouble between the church in England and Rome before the final break. I tend to greatly mistrust any over-simplification of the issue. Sorry. You are entitled to believe as you wish. But I am not convinced by that argument. These things always brew for some time before they erupt.

Peggy,

Those are good points and Anglican seems like a nice church. I myself am trying to decide between Catholic and Orthodox.

My main point is that I think the Catholic emphasis on suffering is exactly right, no more no less. (Any more emphasis leads to a heresy called stoicism if I remember right) It's easy to take part in someone's victory, what's so special about doing that? Sure if I throw a party lots of people will come, but who will come and help me set everything up? Do you get what I'm trying to say?

When making moral choices, I find that the correct decision is almost always the hard one. And I find the prospect of my suffering or even confronting someone else's suffering terrifying.

Do Anglians pray the rosary? Do they have Stations of the Cross? Praying the rosary and meditating the sorrowful mysteries has helped me a lot. I haven't done the Stations yet, so I highly recommend you try mediating the sorrowful mysteries to see if that doesn't do something for you. Which reminds me back to my point that the Catholic emphasis is exactly right--in praying the rosary there only 5 sorrowful mysteries and 15 are for joy, glory, and light.

Post a comment