It’s Maundy Thursday of 2019. I’m excited to pick up from a courier office a package sent to me by a dear friend. When I got the package, I rushed to a coffee shop to start reading one of books in the package. The book is My Life on the Rock, A Rebel Returns to the Catholic Faith. It might be a surprise to some (especially people who know me) to learn I’m reading this kind of stuff. I imagine faces like, “Why?” “What goes to you?” “ What happened” “ Are you…?” Don’t worry. I will also have the same face or reaction if I am on the other side. 😊 So, just ask questions and I’m happy to share if time permits and if you are a person seeking for clarity of faith.
The book is written by Jeff Cavins, a former Protestant pastor of 12 years and who returned to Catholic faith. He went through a change of spiritual direction when we was young and left the Catholic faith to pursue Protestant faith and his marriage to a Protestant believer.
I write to document significant learning I have with the book so I’ll not forget.
1) Authority – there is order of authority that will decide for the daily affairs of the church especially for circumstances when there is differing opinions among members. Authority to preach or lead the church is to be derived from ordination from structured and organized leaders of the church. It makes sense to me that when believers are dispersed to different countries and locations, there should be unity of faith and teaching and for this to happen, a structure is to be established similar to how businesses structure their organization to protect and advance the shared vision. This is to create a place of unity and resolution amidst diversity and avoid factions brought about by differing opinions and unclear intentions.
2) Jewish root movement – Jesus and his disciples lived and taught in the Jewish context. The way we can better understand the way they live and teach is going back to the roots, getting the context of the culture. It makes sense, I am a Filipino and I don’t know the culture in Israel e.g. not working in Sabbath, a camel going to the eye of the needle, feasts of the Jews, bread and water, atonement, lamb, Rabbinic way of teaching, etc. If I know something about the culture, the more it become significant to me and the more I’ll realize the connection of what I’m doing to the way things were done in the past which is for me critical.
3) Order – the celebration/gathering of the believers is to be anchored to the way the Early Church structured it. The faith is to be aligned to both the Scripture and Tradition. Jewish worship is rooted in ritual, sign and symbol. In the Temple, all senses were involved in worship: incense for the nose, shofar (ram’s horn blown by the priest) for the ears, tallit or shawl for the fingers to feel, altar of sacrifice to see with the eyes, the feasts to taste with the tongue. Jesus imitated the standard rabbinic methods of teaching called “hekesh” which means to bang together two Scriptures in front of audience and “remez” or hinting at things rather than saying them outright. By better understanding world of Jesus, we gain a deeper insight into what the New Testament means (italic is excerpt from the book). It’ll have a big impact to the way I connect with God when I’m in corporal worship setting.
4) Eucharist – the sacrament of communion or taking of the bread and wine is not a symbol of the body and blood of Christ. By taking it, believers are taking the body and blood itself of Christ. In fact, Paul was so insistent on what looked for all the world like the actual sacramental presence of Christ in Communion that he sternly warned the Corinthians, “Whoever, therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 11:27). If the Eucharist was really Jesus himself, really present in a sacramental way and not merely a symbol of him, then it was, as Paul said, a participation in his sacrifice, then the one who offered it was participating in Christ’s priesthood in a special way like Levites who had a special priesthood in contrast to the common priesthood of Israel. Under the Old Covenant, “called by God” did not mean “having a special warm feeling in your heart that assures you that you are a Levitical priest.” It meant going through a formal process of ordination to the priesthood that was public and performed by one who was himself already a priest in the line of Aaron. Trying to do independent jazz riffs on this very orderly process of priestly succession by, say offering unauthorized sacrifices (as Nadab and Abihu did in Leviticus 10:1-3) received stern judgement in no uncertain terms (italic from excerpt of the book).
5) Being fathered – Jeff explains in the book that he longs to be fathered. As a pastor of independent church, he desires to have someone above him to father him, to guide him, to pray for him. It goes back to the topic of authority as when a priest is ordained, it succeed in an order of structure and there is someone above you to help and father you in the work of God.
6) He/She says – this is a situation wherein people would say, “God spoke to me that this….”, the other one would also say, “God spoke to me….”. It is one of my personal questions because it might create an environment that people will have messages of differing perspective and it might result to division if no established structure above to resolve or guide.
7) Papacy – the existence of the pope is a result of apostolic succession from the first pope Peter. Undeniably, there is history of bad popes as there is history of sinful acts among the people God chose such as Moses for murdering an Egyptian, David as adulterer and murderer, Saul as persecutor of Christian. When God's leaders failed, God either restored them or brought in new leaders to fill the office, but He never simply swept the office out of existence (italic from excerpt of the book). To have a leader of the faith to love and protect the Church, with the help of the Holy Spirit and bishops/clergy is important. The pope is one of the servants of God, a worker in God’s vineyard.
Jeff notes to his wife that she decides to be Catholic in her own will and not due to following him. In the book, Jeff’s wife and children eventually became Catholic.
I both laughed and cried reading the book: I can relate to his struggles and searching. This is history for me to complete reading in 4 hours!
P.S. Jeff will be in Manila on May 9 to discuss Mary, Mother of Mercy, Activated Disciple and Four Reasons I Became a Catholic. What a great coincidence.
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