Today I choose to write on the subject of something that I find wonderful, mystical, and inspiring, even though I am protestant and Lutheran one at that.
Protestant churches generally honor and revere all the saints of the "catholic" or worldwide church, in that they still regard themselves as true catholics, but not what one might refer to the "Catholic" or "Roman" church.
Scrolling through the on-screen guide from the cable company and happened to stop to view, out of curiosity, the Misa de la Virgen de Gaudalupe televised from Vatican City. Thankfully, my partner is a Catholic and was here to help me understand some of the significance of these services offered in honor of the appearances of the Madonna, or Virgin in different parts of the world.
I was surprised to learn of the importance of The Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico. The cathedral in Mexico City is considered second only in importance to St. Peter's to the Catholic faithful. Moreover, the cathedral in Mexico City carries with it the designation as a Basilica, which in Latin means "Royal Palace" or place.
Having been well-instructed in the Lutheran religion throughout parochial elementary and High School, I know that we Lutherans believe that all members of the church, both living and dead, are to be considered saints. I was surprised to learn, though I should probably have figured this out on my own, that only the twelve disciples and the apostles are referred to with the formalized title of Saint. I myself, grew up attending, being instructed through catechism, and confirmed at St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in University City, Missouri.
I know that Martin Luther and many other of the famous protestant founders of the various religions, preached that an extra of level intercession by the Saints, Holy Orders of the Catholic Church, and even the Pope during our interim time here on earth, before we met God face-to-face was an abomination and to some particular order's of protestant religions an outright sin.
But, I can't help but think though that perhaps Martin Luther got this one wrong.
To me, and many in the world outside the Catholic Church, the whole process of canonization, whereby a person becomes a Saint, seem to be more a political process. A process often manipulated to reflect Machiavellian maneuvering by powerful groups within the bureaucracy in Rome - a la Don Bosco. Even so, one is still left with the legitimate question - if there were Saints in the past, even those acknowledged by the Lutheran Church, why shouldn't there be Saints living now or in "recent" history that we have knowledge of.
In the Lutheran Church, all Christians, whether in heaven or on earth, are regarded as saints. However, the church still recognizes and honors specific saints, including some of those recognized by the Catholic Church, but in a qualified way: according to the Augsburg Confession,[11] the term "saint" is used in the manner of the Roman Catholic Church only insofar as to denote a person who received exceptional grace, was sustained by faith and whose good works are to be an example to any Christian. Traditional Lutheran belief accounts that prayers to the saints are prohibited, as they are not mediators of redemption.[12][13] But, Lutherans do believe that saints pray for the Christian Church in general.[14] Philip Melancthon, the author of the Apology of the Augsburg Confession, approved honoring the saints by saying they are honored in three ways: 1. By thanking God for examples of His mercy; 2. By using the saints as examples for strengthening our faith; 3. By imitating their faith and other virtues.[15][16][17] The Lutheran Churches also have liturgical calendars in which they honor individuals as saints.
Christ empowered his disciples to perform miracles in his name and hence their designation, in particular Saints with a capital S. Lutherans are instructed that the designation as a saint though carries with it no special power of intercession with God and therefore do not pray to or request intercession from these saints.
This fascinates me because it would seem that while Lutherans are instructed to believe in the powers of intercession available to the disciples and apostles some how became unnecessary or irrelevant simply because Martin Luther said so. That seems to me nonsensical. If God found the intercession of these Saints useful way back when, why would He not find them useful today? Did Martin Luther just instruct God that this was all a wasteful and unnecessary level of intervention and therefore, to stop sending them? Or did God, in his particular fascination with Martin Luther, tell him he was tired of all this nonsense and was no longer going to make use of certain individuals to act on His behalf here on earth as a sign of his presence among us. That from Martin Luther's pronunciation, henceforth, we were each and everyone one of us on our own to stumble about attempting to find our own "sainthood?"
I don't know enough to get into a liturgical dispute, but I would be grateful for the insights of those of my readers who would be kind enough to comments.
In the next few days I will also discus my thoughts on the idea of Angels, and by their necessary opposite, demons.
Please support the advertisers whose fees for making using of my blog page make it possible for my blog, and blogs by anyone else, to contribute to public debate. I do not need the minimal income generated by your "clicking through" these ads to support myself. However, I could never afford the expense of supporting such a blog site on my own and your viewing those advertising sponsors' messages does make this forum available to all. These ads are no security risk to your computer or your privacy for multiple reasons. First, I have absolute and total control over what ads and advertisers appear on my blog. I have nothing to gain from your visiting an advertisers site and finding as a result that your computer is infected or your privacy infringed upon. Second, these ads are placed and serviced by a reputable sales organization - AdSense. They would quickly go out of business if readers who click through the ads they place on this blog became the least bit dissatisfied by the results. Finally, Google and Blogspot.com have nothing to gain from damaging your computer or infringing on your privacy and everything to lose if they do.
No comments:
Post a Comment