Self-reflection and inner reformation are essential to the fruitful Christian life.
“In antiquity, the Latin noun reformatio referred to the changing of a bad present situation by returning to the good and better times of the past,” notes a recent Vatican letter from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. This letter recalls the Reformation’s denouement and looks ahead to its 500th commemoration in 2017.
As a Christian, I believe that Christ bids every member of His Church to reform daily. In Matthew 5:48, Christ calls us to be perfect as our heavenly father is perfect. He intimates our perpetual need for growth, for recognition of temptation, sin, for the unrelenting mercy that meets us in our struggles and responds, “Give me a drink” (John 4:7). Through the grace of Jesus Christ, if we will receive it, an inner-reformation awaits our hearts and souls in every moment. We are renewed in every instant of small suffering and small joy. We are reformed by virtue of our membership in His Body, drawing life from His life, choosing to love with His extraordinary love in the ordinariness of our personal vocations.
A desire to encounter a gracious God and to live out the Gospel of Jesus Christ propelled Martin Luther in the Middle Ages. He despaired at the malpractices of the Catholic Church and rightly sought reformation — “return to the good of the past.” I sorrow to consider this period of Church history — when many priests were poorly-formed, when the laity were mistreated, when some Church leaders seemed more motivated by avarice and wealth than by virtue and pastoral excellence — because the justice of reform exposes the mistakes of the Church I love and because the division and fragmentation that followed Luther’s pursuit of reform were not a part of his vision. Some scholars assert that Luther never even viewed himself as a “reformer,” evidenced by the teachings and practices to which he adhered throughout his life.
As I began to write this column about Reformation Day — a day which often fuels the Catholic’s self-righteousness and the Protestant’s resentment toward Catholicism — I wondered how I would begin, what could I write to a campus of faithful intellectuals whose fiercest divisions revolve around doctrine and Church teaching. We are a passionate people, and we are zealous for truth.
The Vatican Letter quoted above, “From Conflict to Communion,” sheds light on my longtime frustration, particularly in response to the fiery conversations and debates on our campus. “Catholic and Lutheran Christians,” it begins, “will most fittingly look back on events that occurred 500 years earlier by putting the gospel of Jesus Christ at the center.” In a Christian culture now ecumenical and a secular culture now post-Christian, it is “most fitting” that we incline our hearts and minds toward the person of Jesus Christ, the One to Whom we draw in any Christian faith. We will reach truth in our debates and conversations about Church doctrine if we engage them with charity, drawing breath and word from Him Whose Being is Truth.
There is certainly the risk of seeking unity for its own sake, and neglecting to establish common truth. This certainly occurs in our world, particularly among ideologies which place “tolerance” on an altar rather than a conception of the divine. This is not what the Catholic Church proposes. Instead, it proposes, and I hope, that Catholics and Protestants at Hillsdale will recognize their common love for Jesus Christ, who “emptied himself,” became man and revealed every man’s purpose and design through his incarnation, death and resurrection. “The gospel should be celebrated and communicated to the people of our time,” the Vatican writes, “so that the world may believe that God gives Godself to human beings and calls us into communion with Godself and God’s church. Herein lies the basis for our joy in our common faith.”
Our world thirsts for unity. The Christian Church — blessed with the richness of knowing Jesus Christ — possesses an ultimate Union, the potential marriage of Jesus Christ to every person, consummated by his incarnational love and utter self-gift.
I pray that Catholics and Christians would acknowledge the “joy in our common faith,” a faith which calls each member to constant humility, surrender, and redemption, to a life of reform and renewal. May we trust the Holy Spirit’s guidance unto that eternal unity which will surpass our hopes and ultimately redeem the world.
