His Hands and Feet

Sometimes His hands and feet stink.

Not to be blasphemous, but if we Christians are His hands and feet, we sure can stink sometimes. I know I can stink, and I'm not being hypocritical in this post, so hear me out. I know we all have our failings, but in this post I'm going to narrow the focus down to when we feel victimized by representatives of Christ.

If my faith was dependent upon the people who represent the faith, I wouldn't be Catholic.

I would run far, far away from the Church. We all probably know people who have done just that -- had a bad experience with someone in the Church, ordained or not, and left, never to return or reluctant to return. I've had some bad experiences with all kinds of self-proclaimed holy people. To the point where I remarked to my husband once... "If this person loves Jesus, why the heck are they so mean?!"

I was led deeper into my faith by some amazing people. Sadly, though, I see a lot of people who have their "conversion buddies" - those friends who led them into the church or with whom they entered a deeper relationship in Christ - and then left just as quickly when one or more questioned the Church's teachings (without an honest search for Truth) or represented them poorly or didn't really give up previous vices.

Our faith is a relationship with Christ AND His Church - one another. It's not an either/or scenario. It's just sometimes we forget when we are in a relationship, people can tick us off.

For example... David puts his laundry on the floor in front of the hamper. I walk by and "Are. You. Kidding. Me..." are the first angry words that come to mind. I mean, really... in FRONT of the hamper? Sometimes it looks like he must have melted right in that very spot. Is it too much to ask to put the clothes IN the hamper? This may not sound so bad, but after about, oh, a hundred times... it gets old. But I'm committed to him. And we are committed to the relationship which is centered on Christ. But most importantly, we are committed to Christ.

I am sure I do things that tick him off, too, I just can't think of any right now. o:)

If my marriage was dependent solely upon those who represent the Sacrament of Marriage, I may or may not be married.

If my desire to drive was dependent solely upon the impression I got from my fellow drivers or the statistics of accidents, I wouldn't be driving. Especially not if I lived in Chicago or Boston. Scary.

So I hate when people point to the failures of people in the Church as a reason for leaving the Church, though I can certainly empathize, understand from my own bad experiences, and validate those feelings of hurt and anger.  YES, WE CATHOLICS, CHRISTIANS SHOULD KNOW BETTER, but we are no more or less human. And those of us who do profess to believe in the love and mercy of Christ should also know that we are called to love and forgive one another, lest we be accountable to:

"Our Father who art in Heaven... forgive us OUR trespasses AS WE forgive those who trespass against us.

Yikes. Is He going to forgive me as I forgive others?

I better get to forgiving asap.

I remember the salesman who sold me my keyboard. He told me he used to work for a Protestant Church but left because "at least in the secular world you don't expect as much decency from your coworkers."

That made me really sad, but I understood. It is almost disillusioning at times to encounter the kind of nastiness one can encounter when working in and for the church, including the gross negligence with which some represent or don't represent the Truth in teachings of the Church - creating their own truth.

But nasty people are everywhere. We pray for them and we love them and hope they change their ways. Christ is unchanging though, and He desires that person just as much as He desires you and me.

I apologize for the preachiness of this post, and hope it comes across as intended - passionate. The main point is this... If we have our conversion to the Lord and leave because someone was a jerk, we still need conversion. If this has happened to you or someone you know... pray. That person is fighting a battle just like you. That person has been hurt, just like you.

 Christ loves that person just as He loves you.