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| THE LORD TEACHING NICODEMUS ABOUT BEING BORN FROM ABOVE. Image from google.com |
"I do not call you servants any longer, I call you friends. For a servant does not know what his master is doing. I call you friends because I have told you everything that I have learned from the Father." - John 15:15
Availability provides us with time to accomplish our mission for the Lord. But one important thing that we must bear in mind is that with our time, we also need to study. Therefore, we must provide available time for the sake of learning. Our focus today is about study or learning about the Lord. Though here we are not about to discuss having to go to formal school [though for some, even without the vocation to the priesthood, it is necessary to have formal studies in Philosophy and Theology such as Professional Catechists and defenders of the Faith].
Why do we have to learn? The Prince of the Apostles tells us that we have to be always ready to give an account of what we believe [see 1 Peter 3:15]. This needs study for how can we answer those who ask us regarding our Faith unless we know? Knowledge can only be gained through study and study requires time. Many Catholics simply answer those who ask them why they are Catholics with this: "I was born into it". Blessed thing and thanks be to God! But not enough to gain us heaven.
Even if we truly believe that we Catholics belong to the one, true, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, we also have to know why should we belong to it and what does it mean to belong to it. Many people are born into their own respective religions and they equally believe that they belong to the right or true religion or church. We cannot just tell them, "See, I was born a Catholic and it is the only true Church!" We might just get the same response, "I am born a Protestant and ours is the true Church!" "I was born a Muslim and Allah is the true God and Mohamed is his Prophet!"
Holding only to being born a Catholic caused many of our brethren to be whisked away from the Church by sweet-talking evangelizers especially when there are promises of material benefits included in the conversion package! It is really a sad reality that because of lack of proper and even basic knowledge about our Faith, many of our brethren become prey to non-Catholics who often use such lack of knowledge to their advantage.
Hence it is very important that we, Catholics, should be armed with at least the basics of our Faith, and if possible, to move higher on to the ladder of knowledge. We cannot let laziness overcome us nor let ourselves be complacent thinking that we cannot be overcome by merely holding on to that privilege of being born Catholics. Instead we must remember what the Apostle Paul told Timothy that "Scriptures are useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness" [see 2 Timothy 3: 16-17]. Moreover, St Jerome, a Doctor of the Church, reminds us that "Ignorance of Scriptures is ignorance of Christ!"
Jesus Himself stated that He considered the Apostles, which represented us all Christians, to be His friends because He already told them everything that He learned from the Father. That is why we can also claim to be His friends because we have been taught about these same things that the Apostles learned from the Lord through the Church hierarchy, the Pope, Bishops, Clergy, and also the catechists and other ministers of the Church. Unlike in other secretive organizations which teaches what their organization is all about in accordance with the degree of membership, in the Catholic Church everything is open for everyone's consumption even by non-Catholics.
Therefore we must never let time pass without learning a thing or two about our Faith. We must never be caught off guard when a non-Catholic challenges us about why we are Catholics. It is not enough to declare with pride that we have been born into the Church [what if you have been born a Protestant or Muslim or Buddhist?] for it is a very shallow reason. Remember the Jews, they were born into the Chosen People of God and yet they suffered the loss of belonging to the Church because they did not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
It has been said that "Knowledge is power." We should use knowledge properly in order to deepen our relationship with God and the Lord Jesus Christ through the study of the divine truths. In this, let us ask the Holy Spirit's help in this regard for it is He who grants the gift of true Knowledge, one of the Seven Gifts. Through the Holy Spirit's inspiration, we shall acquire true knowledge and not that knowledge which leads to sin [see Genesis 3]. Acquiring the proper knowledge that we ought to know will make us the Lord's true friends and with this, we can also lead others to His friendship.
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