One of the things that drew me to Catholicism was the intellectual side of it. This was no superficial practice of the faith where everything was watered down and made easy on the ears.
I truly had never encountered such rigorous intellectual thought in my upbringing and into my twenties.
Reading some of the early Church Fathers and St. Thomas Aquinas stretched my brain beyond anything I’d ever known. I realized that, yes, there are some darn smart Christians out there who seem anything but brainwashed. They’ve wrestled with the big questions and worked out answers that are as satisfying as they can be to a limited human mind.
I can’t stand when people try to turn Christianity into a silly, frivolous, hokey religion. It just seems so weak and bland.
Something I’ve come to understand, though, is that you can have all the intellectual arguments in the world, but if you haven’t fallen in love with Christ, Christianity will never penetrate your soul.
To be sure, the intellectual arguments might start you on that path to a deep love for Christ, but without that deep love, you will practice the Faith as if it is a self-help method or a secular school of learning.
The widow in today’s reading from Luke 21:1-4, “offered her whole livelihood.” That’s how you fall in love—by giving your whole self. It’s why new love between a couple is so intoxicating and exhilarating—they give fully of themselves. It’s why old love between a couple is so endearing—they’ve given of themselves for years and weathered the storms.
It’s why a parent’s love for their children is life-changing—they give themselves to their children in order to protect and care for them.
To fall in love with Christ, we must do the same. He did it for us. We must give Him our whole livelihood and let ourselves be loved by Him and return that love with the offering of our life.
Then and only then, will Christianity seep into your soul and transform your life in ways you cannot imagine.
We simply can’t fall in love with someone who we give only a passing thought or one hour on Sundays, Catholic Pilgrims. We fall in love with Christ when He becomes our all-in-all.
Have a blessed Monday.
