What the World Thinks about the Joys of Being Catholic
The world points its collective finger at Catholics who believe the faith and hold tight to the teachings of the Church, and the world sighs, “Look at these backward, intolerant, [insert your favorite label here] people. They do not contracept, they have so many children; they go to Mass every Sunday instead of watching the game; they do penance (whatever that is). Surely, they must be a miserable lot, but what is worse, they demand that we all be miserable even as they are miserable.”
It would astonish the world that good Catholics are not miserable people. Actually, it would astonish the world that anyone leading a moral life (especially with respect to the sixth and ninth commandments) would not be miserable. The fact that the world which does not lead a moral life is full of misery is an irony completely lost on the world. For in reality, it is the world that is miserable, and it is the morally upright who are joyous, even in the face of a miserable world.
How can the world, so indulgent of its desires and entertainments, be miserable? How can the upright, who mortify their desires and limit their entertainments, be happy?
The short answer, which the world cannot accept, is that we are made for God rather than for the world. For if we are made for God, then we are happiest when we are living the way God wants us to live, just as an automobile is in the best heath when we use the right kind of fuel and follow the maintenance directives given by the manufacturer.
The world will not accept God for the simple reason that following the commandments would then be imperative. Thus rather than accept marriage as the union God has established for a man and a woman (for that would preclude the pleasures the world desires), the world just tosses God out of the equation and declares marriage to be whatever is expedient at a given time. Yet this is worse folly than to pour gasoline in a diesel engine on the pretext that the manufacturer does not exist and that we can use whatever fuel we want (and that anyone who says otherwise is intolerant).
Yet my purpose for this post is not to delve into why the world is miserable. I want to talk about why Catholics are happy. In short, I want to talk about the joys of being Catholic.
What I Think about the Joys of Being Catholic
Freedom through the Sacraments
As Catholics, we actually get to be free from bondage to sin. Before our baptisms (and anytime we have the misfortune of falling into mortal sin), we are children of wrath, and there is absolutely nothing we can do about it, naturally speaking. We are slaves to our past, fettered to the sins we preferred over God, who we have kicked out of our lives. But through Baptism and Confession, the slavery we preferred to being children of God is undone. Our sins are not merely covered over; they are actually removed. We are now free to be good.
Participation in God’s Life
By sanctifying grace, we actually participate in God’s life. This is especially true in the reception of the Holy Eucharist. This is a great mystery: we have been loved by God so much that, sinners though we are, He not only freed us from sin but restored His life in our souls and daily gives Himself to us that we may be one with Him. We, the murderers, can be the brothers and sisters of the God-man we murdered. Not only that, this same Jesus Christ invites us to share in His Divine life. It is as if, in undoing Satan’s dominion over us, God has kept Satan’s empty promise to Adam and Eve that they should be as gods.
The Opportunity to Be Humble
As Catholics, we can finally let go of pride. I’m not saying it is easy, but it can be done. The world, on the other hand, cannot let go of its pride. For if the world let go of its pride, it would have nowhere to go except to humility, which is ordered to the truth. If the world admits the truth, it would be bound to subject itself to God and obey the commandments. The world sins boldly, as we see in its slogans such as “Gay Pride“. The world is proud of its self-ascension over God and its self-granted (though ineffective) exemption of itself from His laws.
We Catholics, on the other hand, get to admit that we are what we are. We are just proud dust, and anything good that we possess, we possess not of ourselves but of God. We realize that we are totally dependent on God, that following the commandments is the least we can do. We see that the end prepared for us by pride is to return to dust, but the end available to us through humility is glorious indeed. Humility is the imitation of God. We who are dust get to follow God the Son in humility, Who humbled Himself becoming obedient even to death on the cross.
Being at Peace
“You move us to delight in praising You; for You have formed us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in You.” — St. Augustine
The world does not give peace, at least not true peace. Indeed, the world encourages envies, contentions, and fear. How often we hear that the world is running out of resources? How often we find ourselves in the trap of worry if not hopelessness! And when we are not worried, is there any end to the things we must have from the world in order to be happy?
Yet we Catholics, even in this life, can find rest in God. Though the beatific vision of God is reserved for eternity, we can possess God in our souls, especially in the reception of the Holy Eucharist. Our savior is here now and will remain with us to the end of the word, just as he promised.
Recap
To summarize then, among the joys of being Catholic are the following:
- Freedom from bondage to sin
- Participation in God’s life
- The practice of humility
- The imitation of Jesus
- Supernatural peace and hope
- The promise of heaven
We have so much cause for joy. We have so much to be thankful for.