Our Lady of Guadalupe

It goes without saying that religion is a very touchy subject.  Maybe that is because it is the essential subject of who we are and where are we going.  I think the nature of God has a lot to do with it as well.  If He were the kind of God who charges through the sky thundering commands and demands of adoration, well then I would think we would all, fearfully, be on the same page.  As He is though, He teaches through specific and limited revelations and miracles.   In His quiet way He waits for us to search Him out, to love Him simply because He loves us.  Up to His Incarnation as the Christ, these events were scattered over a long ribbon of time making human understanding of the divine plan incomplete to say the least.

Following the Incarnation, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, things got a little more organized.  For a period of fifteen-hundred years there was the Roman Catholic Church.  For two-thirds of the time since Christ walked the earth there was one organization fighting heresy, evangelizing pagan cultures the world over, preserving the Truth, preserving the scriptures and handing down through times the stabilizing precepts of tradition.  For eleven-hundred years there was one bible, the Latin Vulgate.

Then came the protestant revolt.  From this revolt there came thousands of organized churches.  With the invention of the printing press there came many different and conflicting versions of the bible.  It is weird how the technical ability to print many different versions of the bible became the basis of the invented dogma of Protestantism that "the" bible is the sole source of instruction.  As a result of the revolt 500 years ago we now have thousands of different churches teaching as many different ideas and the result has been, predictably, confusion and error.  How can a person tell truth from lies?  How can we reconcile the prayer of Christ, "that they may be one, Father, as You and I are one."?

Firstly, one must understand that there can only be one church, teaching one Truth.  One must understand that each denomination exists because it proclaims all the others to be erroneous. Look at the following logic sequence:

A is the only truth.
B is the only truth.
C is the only truth.
A, B and C are all equally true.
A, B and C are all false.

A, B and C are the different denominations.  They each claim their supremacy.  However, when there are unanswered questions many people default to the forth premise, that all are equally true.  Unfortunately that won't work because the fourth premise wipes out the first, second and third which self destroys the forth.  That leaves the fifth which cannot be true do to our assurance by Christ that He would not abandon us and that He would be with us until the end of times.  He also stated the the gates of hell would not prevail against His church (singular).  So, we are back to sifting between A, B or C. to find the true church.

It is my belief that the Roman Catholic Church is the One, Holy and Apostolic Church.  I did not always believe that.  I waded through A, B, C and the forth premise for years before arriving firmly at Catholic.  It was a journey of learning.  It was a journey of letting go of pride, that is trying to find a religion that suited my desires, and searching with an objective attitude.  Truth is real even though Pontus Pilate didn't recognize It as he was standing in the room with Him.  I am convinced that to study Christian history is to become Catholic.

Sadly, with the severe division of Christianity, when God allows a divine, teaching event to occur, no one pays attention, or very few do.  Such a remarkable event happened in 1531 near present day Mexico City.  It was the appearance of the Virgin Mother to a peasant Indian.  We do not have to take anyone's word for it because she left behind physical proof which can be viewed today.  She left her image on the peasant's tilma.

If you really want to learn the Truth, to learn which church can help you attain heaven, you must search out this remarkable story.  Warning, it will lead you towards Catholicism, as I pray it will.