Every so often I get an email telling me what the hot topics are on Catholic Answers Forum. CAF is an internet forum with over 30,000 members spanning the globe and while there are members of all faiths and none the majority are obviously Latin Rite Catholics.
It's a good site, one I enjoy snooping about every so often just to see what's new. I never really post anymore, because I'm tired of explaining that one can really and truly believe in the Real Presence without believing in Transubstantiation, or that Protestants don't generally follow the stereotypical foaming at the mouth fundamentalism that many Latin Rite Catholics imagine we do.
If you have some spare time, want to learn about life across the Tiber, or just watch as "traditional catholics" and ordinary catholics turn minor liturgical points into major issues then CAF is the place to go. The community on there is pretty welcoming, and it's a great opportunity to hone up on apologetics.
Anyway the point of this post is not to advertise CAF, but rather to highlight this post which quite simply blew me away and which deserves more recognition. Fr. Vincent Serpa's pastoral answer to what is a difficult, and heart wrenching question, is a wonderful example of the benefits of Christian clergy in an increasingly secular world.
I include both messages here in their entirety:
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What is the purpose of my blindness?
Hello, I have retinitis pigmentosa. I have slowly been losing my vision. With my lose of physical vision I have been having struggles with my spiritual vision. I see such negative things regarding blindness in the bible such as Exodus 4:11: The LORD said to [Moses], 'Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?'and I question everything I believe in.
What I would like to know, is your thoughts on why god makes people blind? Is he making me go blind because I have sinned? What is his purpose? What is my purpose?
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Fr. Vincent Serpa
Catholic Answers Apologist
Join Date: May 4, 2004
Posts: 3,855
Re: Blindness
Dear friend,
God has allowed you to be blind that you might love Him more than you would have if you retained your sight. Your loss of vision is a cross that He allows you to bear that you might love Him back for the love He has shown you as the result of the cross He bore for you. This is true of all the crosses He gives us. They are real treasures, even though they may not feel like treasures.
The blindness that cannot help us is the blindness of the heart. In John 9: 13 and following, Jesus heals a blind man on the sabbath and the Pharisees object. They then interrogate the man's parents and then the man himself. They eventually drive him away. But Jesus finds him and asks him: "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He responds: "Sir, tell me who he is so that I may believe in him.: Jesus says, " You are looking at him; he is speaking to you." The man responds, "Lord. I believe," and worships Him. Jesus then says that he has come into the world that those without sight might see and those with sight might turn blind. The Pharisee hear this and respond, "We are not blind, surely?" Jesus replies, "Blind? If you were, you would not be guilty; but since you say, "We see," your guilt remains."
The Pharisees were blind of heart. Dear friend, even with your loss of sight, you are able to see with your faith. This is the kind of sight that really matters and the Lord has gifted you with it. He obviously loves you very much.
Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.
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1 comments:
Well, W.P., you know we'd always welcome you to post your thoughts on "The Campionites" on CAF. In fact, I highly encourage you to do so if you get the chance. It's getting kind of slow over there, and we need a good conversation starter!
I promise we won't make the mistake of assuming you believe in Transubstantiation if you say "the Real Presence" - but you have to admit, the early Anglicans did devised that term to confuse the Catholics into thinking they did believe in Transubstatiation when they really didn't!
By the way, how did you personally come to believe in Consubstantiation as opposed to Transubstantiaion? It would interesting to hear your answer as an Anglican.
God Bless,
P.O.T.
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