Here in this Country October 31st marks the annual day of Halloween. The yearly sugar high for children and a day for Dentists to rejoice! Well, maybe not but for all the weird and sometimes even disturbing decorations you may see on peoples homes and front lawns the celebration has a definite sacred beginning related to tomorrow's beautiful celebration of All Saints to be followed by a day and the whole month of November as prayer for our departed brothers and sisters on All Souls Day.
But today also remembers a most significant event in Christian history for on this day, 500 years ago, an Augustinian Monk named Martin Luther "nailed" his list of 95 grievances against the Catholic Church of his time to the door of the local Cathedral. It was a bold and striking move for him to do this but rather than lead to a healthy respectful dialogue it led to the split in Christianity that we live with and accept as a common way of life to this day.
However, the Ecumenical efforts of dialogue, in particular pushed forward over the last 50 years since the Second Vatican Council, have made the acknowledgement of the realities in the world today as necessary for more and more efforts to seek common ground rather than to persist in stressing the theological positions of each as a reason to continue and deepen the separation. Over the last 500 years we have heard a truck load of name calling, hatred, prejudice, and down right ugly words coming from both sides, beginning with Martin Luther himself, about "Catholics" and those "Protestant heretics." Some Popes have said horrible things about the Jews, some Protestant communities and leaders among them have continued to openly criticize the Catholic Church as worshipers of Mary and the Saints and the superstitious rituals of the sacraments; on and on over the years. But then came along the Second Vatican Council in 1962 under the inspiration of a particularly open minded Pope John XXIII who claimed the first thoughts of it as a powerful and direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Since that time Lutheran and Catholic dialogue has become not just the desire of a few but a desire of those in the pew as well. This includes efforts to dialogue with Jews and other Protestant denominations as well. Every Pope since and including Pope St. John XXIII has reached out to Jews and Protestants with increasing success and mutual respect. Pope Francis presently is absolutely no exception and maybe has gone farther than even his predecessors indeed. Every Pope has his style but it seems to me that Pope Francis reaches out to dialogue in an especially personal way.
This has upset a good number of well meaning Catholic folks, however. However, those same people don't like much of anything Pope Francis says or does and as his pontificate continues to make history in the Church, they sadly have become more and more hardened in opposition and open resentment of our present Holy Father. The following link is an especially tough one: https://onepeterfive.com/is-catholic-opposition-to-pope-francis-growing/
But, the culture, the social conditions, the leadership, perceptions and understandings of 1517 were far different than those of our time in 2017. Now, there is a spirit of a common search for the Truth and how we, as people of faith who share Christian traditions, must seek that Truth together. Will there be a day when we are truly one, united as one Church in Jesus Christ? Only God knows but the spirit of today is markedly different and we must move with that Spirit.
But, the culture, the social conditions, the leadership, perceptions and understandings of 1517 were far different than those of our time in 2017. Now, there is a spirit of a common search for the Truth and how we, as people of faith who share Christian traditions, must seek that Truth together. Will there be a day when we are truly one, united as one Church in Jesus Christ? Only God knows but the spirit of today is markedly different and we must move with that Spirit.
At any rate as Pope Francis has embraced the spirit and vision of the Council, the spirit and mission of the Church as given by Jesus to his Apostles who have passed it down to this day, he will not be deterred. Dialogue and a search for mutual respect is what Jesus desires: "That all may be one."
The link below is timely for today's remembrance of the 500th anniversary commonly called the Reformation.
It's good reflection for today which is about far more than Halloween:
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