Be a Witness!

1 Timothy 6:12

Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

Christianity is an incurably public faith. Modern American civil religion habitually speaks of “spirituality” as though it were a spook like Harvey the six foot tall invisible rabbit.  On this theory, each person’s religious belief is a private delusion meant only to be seen by each person in his own cell.  When you leave your madhouse cell of subjective religious belief and go to work or school or vote, you are to leave Harvey there and not trouble normal people or try to make them see Harvey too.  Not to obey this etiquette, to speak of God as though he is more like the sun in the sky than like a six foot tall invisible rabbit, is to “impose your beliefs on others”, a mortal sin in American civil religion.  Nonetheless, the Church has always insisted that the Faith is indeed common and not esoteric, more like the sun in the sky than like Harvey.  That is why we make our confession in front of witnesses.  Today, be a witness, not to a private delusion, but to Jesus Christ and to the Faith which is public, visible and open to all.

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Mark P. Shea is a popular Catholic writer and speaker. The author of numerous books, his most recent work is The Work of Mercy (Servant) and The Heart of Catholic Prayer (Our Sunday Visitor). Mark contributes numerous articles to many magazines, including his popular column “Connecting the Dots” for the National Catholic Register. Mark is known nationally for his one minute “Words of Encouragement” on Catholic radio. He also maintains the Catholic and Enjoying It blog and regularly blogs for National Catholic Register. He lives in Washington state with his wife, Janet, and their four sons.

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