And You Call Yourself a Christian!

In my pagan college days I had a friend who lived on the same floor of my dorm who was a PK (preacher's kid).  He was tall, gangly, very smart and great fun to be with.  He was, however, a typical PK away from home and testing the limits of his new found freedom.  As most of us were prone to do, he was often doing something that was distinctly NOT in keeping with his Christian up-bringing.  We all took singular delight in pointing out what he, or anyone else for that matter, had done and always included the phrase "and you call yourself a Christian!" at the very end.  It got to the point that the phrase was all that was ever said.....the rest was understood and I am ashamed to admit how much "fun" we considered this to be.

Fast forward a few (I shall not count them up for fear of breaking the calculator) years to our discussion last week at OLM.  We started out discussing schism and apostasy, including what it means to truly be a Catholic, and ended up musing on how we can share our Faith with others.

  

Barb and I were discussing this on the way to Atlanta Sunday afternoon and she reminded me of a story from her childhood.  She had been to a party where some of the children present were Catholic.  She mentioned this to her mother when she got home and asked how she could tell who they were.  She remembers being told "you cannot tell someone is Catholic by looking at them".  Really?  Sadly, this is, for the most part, true.  But should it be true?

So I ask all of us to ponder this phrase....."and you call yourself a Catholic!".  So what does that mean to you?  How do you show it, or do you hide it?  On Fridays during Football season many of us are readily recognizable as a Vol, a Bulldog or a even as a, forgive me..... Gator.  Are we ever as visibly Catholic to the rest of our little world up here on Lookout Mountain or down off of the mountain while at at work?  If so, how, and if not, why not?

So let us give some thought to these questions and spend some time this coming week discussing the visibility of our Catholic Faith to those around us.

SLG