Monday, October 27th, 2003 - New Understandings and Snow

I was raised in the Catholic Church, but despite my education there, I didn't very thoroughly understand many things about the Church. In more recent years, I have read materials such as "What Catholics Really Believe" by Karl Keating (given to me by my confirmation sponsor, Gary Allen) and "Your Word Is Truth: A Project of Evangelicals and Catholics Together" by Charles Colson and Richard John Neuhaus. I have been seeking answers to many questions that I have had for quite some time.

In the past week, I have sought the counsel of a friend who is much more knowledgeable about the Catholic faith than I am; I asked him a question about the nature of Scripture and tradition, among others. I read over his response many times, and I have come to a much greater understanding. I would like to share the main point:

"My answer covers the important distinction between tradition (mere custom) and Sacred Tradition (Tradition with a capital T) in Catholicism. Scripture and Tradition are equally valued since both are true and have their ultimate origin from God. I would not say that Tradition is 'supreme' over Scripture; in the sense that Tradition might contradict Scripture. But I also would not say that Scripture is 'supreme' over Tradition; in the sense that if something is not found explicitly in the Bible, then it must be unbiblical. On this issue, and in so many others, Catholicism is 'Both / And', not 'Either / Or'."
Here is his website if you want to read more.

This cleared up a lot of my misconceptions, and I have come to agree and greatly respect this perspective. He also linked to an excerpt from the Vatican's website, and last night I was looking around on there. I ended up reading a biography on Mother Teresa since I didn't know much about her other than she helped poor people a lot. I was very inspired by her heart for others and many of the quotes listed from her lifetime.

Today, here in Duluth, the snow has been falling and continues to right now. Our first snowfall was about a month ago, but today is the first time that it didn't melt right away and has covered the ground in white. There are people everywhere outside, and snow is flying in every direction! I look out the window and stand in awe and peace at the beauty before me.

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