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TRANSFIGURATION
MISSION 2008 - UPDATED March 3rd, 2008 |
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TRANSFIGURATION MISSION AT THIS POINT, 20-40 Vision recommends that Parishioners located in each of the following regions get together with known neighbors and serve as local Parish evangelistic powerhouses after Mass.
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20-40 Vision is NOT
under the direction, organization, initiative, or responsibility of
Transfiguration Parish. We simply start
there - and it is a big task - to strengthen and compliment their
own initiatives. Down the road, there will be other Parishes
specifically targeted for our Evangelization strategies to get 20-40
year olds back into Church (or to Church for the first time) based
on a sincere sense of guidance by the Holy Spirit and conditions 'on
the ground.' Therefore, if there are any complaints, suggestions, or concerns, please do not contact Transfiguration Parish for they bear no responsibility in whatever your concerns may be. Instead please contact John Sullivan directly - who is directly responsible - at this e-mail contact. BAPTIZED AND CONFIRMED CATHOLICS BORN BETWEEN 1968-1988 To those who are already habitually attending Mass and enjoying the Sacraments, please write us to tell us your success stories in getting this message out to your own family members and friends whose travels in the journey of life have taken them along a different path. Sometimes all that is needed is an invitation. This is one such invitation to them, but web pages are never as convincing as close friends and loved ones. It is obvious when watching those who are over 40 at Mass how much they long for the company of their own children, and the joy of the Mass is diminishued by this understandable pain. But yet again, under the momentum of these efforts, parents are asked to refer their grown Catholic young adult children to us, so that together, we can try to give everyone a second chance - for as Jesus said, He "makes all things new." The times for Sacramental and social events in the Parish are available by calling (727) 525-0262 or by visiting their WEBSITE. Se habla Español. (Please see above note above again). To those who are habitually not attending Mass and enjoying the Sacraments, this project is for you. The average age of the called Apostles - those working closely with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the 1st Century A.D. was 30. The average age of those now missing from today's pews is 30. It seems that Christianity has been turned upside down - from without and not from within. There are several reasons why the 20-40 year olds are missing from the Church, and after much study the rationale comes down to this - you choose which one is your choice. 1) You have been misunderstood by the Church, and you were not made to feel welcome or worthy. 2) The Church has been misunderstood by you. 3) Against all the other things in the world you can choose to pursue in freedom, the Church did not advertise its worth well enough, or the Church did not adequately demonstrate that there was worth behind the advertising to the degree that you found convincing. 4) The change of habits - from going to not going to Mass was a hard one, but you've accepted it. And now that this habit of staying away is easy, you fear the hard struggle of change in lifestyle and habits in forcing yourself into the routine of going back to Mass. You think you can do it without us, and too many of us think we can do it without you. We're both wrong. This effort is a commitment that we will try to understand you ... the Transfiguration Mission is not about preaching - not about condemnation. It is a dare on a prayer that you will get to know your Church better. In modern Catholicism, we emphasize that we all discover little more about ourselves by the process of discovering God's magnificence. By exploring one mystery at a time through the misleading appearance of repetitious processes, a new reality of peace, serenity, joy, and hope gives us happier, more balanced lives that carry us through the week - if we are truly on board with modern Catholicism. Many, admittedly, are not, even if they attend Mass every day. But Catholics do not ultimately define or even fairly represent Catholicism - the words of Jesus Christ do. This effort is about listening to you, loving you as God would and does love you, and taking your own struggles, problems and prayers and submitting them into the trusted care of our Eternal Father. Amen. If you have any questions, or would like more (non-preachy, non-judgmental) information about how to work your way back into a relationship with the Church - then honor us as we celebrate a new and joyful relationship with you. You are every much an equally valuable and beloved creation of God, and admittedly that message does often get lost in the complexities of traditions and theocracies. A renewed interest in the two "big" Commandments delivered to us by Jesus Christ defines modern Catholicism, and the rest of it is just window dressing. To find out more about getting into a Church where you belong and are loved and valued, e-mail John Sullivan. BAPTIZED NON-CATHOLIC CHRISTIANS BORN BETWEEN 1968-1988 First off, let it be known that 20-40 Vision has a policy to never be critical of other Christian faiths, and we accept many non-Catholic criticisms of our Catholic faith as with merit, centuries overdue, and delivered with an intellectually honest sense of Christian love and spiritual concern for us. We also are keenly aware that most of the more serious criticisms are a bit outdated and not necessarily applicable to modern Catholicism but in cultist pockets that still value outdated symbolism over substance and an upside-down hierarchy to what Jesus Himself expected of His Church. While many of the rituals survive with little or no relevance in the real world today, they are just that - symbols and not substance. Many in this transitional period find great personal comfort and solace in a certain form of beauty they cherish from the nostalgia of the past, and thus as loving and understanding Christians, we do not protest their personal preferences, even if their origin is clearly traced to intermediate stages of the developing Church. Just the same, we will not criticize Protestants or other non-Catholic Christians. The ways of expressing our faith through our insecurities has not worked for 1,000 years, and our new way is to love our non-Catholic brothers and sisters and to see them as just that - our brothers and sisters. Modern Catholics have never claimed to be a Church of the Bible, but rather a Church with Jesus and for Jesus written by eyewitnesses to God on Earth. These men were inspired to write words that by the will of the Father survive for new generations, still touching our hearts, minds and spirits today, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Catholics are now discovering something that the Protestants seemed to have discovered long ago - that the Bible does not necessarily explain the Holy Spirit, but rather - through prayer and contemplative meditation the Holy Spirit explains the Bible. Old Catholicism - perhaps more accurately defined as intermediate Catholicism did not give adequate priority to study of or immersion within the Word of God. That is changing. It is now a welcome development that Rome has made it an essential priority for Catholics to be more like our Protestant brothers and sisters, whose lives have for centuries been touched in a meaningful way by immersion into the Eternal Word of God, through what we today call our Old and New Testaments. We have a long ways to go before we can say we have caught up with our Protestant brothers and sisters, but we are working as hard and as fast as we can, and the Holy Spirit, through prayer, is facilitating this effort. Modern Catholics now realize that in our minds our Church does go back in time through a succession of imperfect humans who aspired to answer the call and responsibilities passed down from another flawed man, St. Peter bar Jonah. The succession itself is irrelevant, and the implementation of power has in too many cases been an abuse upon humankind that Christ the King will almost certainly view with condemnation and disdain. Being a son of Adam will not save Cain, and being Catholic in and of itself will save no one in the next life, for as it was written, God could turn common stones along the Jordan River into Sons of Abraham if He wanted to. The Church, after overdue self-examination and self-reflection now realizes that it exists for improving the spiritual awareness and meaningful spiritual quality of life for humans while alive on short journey from conception to our final eternal destination. The Church exists as more than a religion - and we will talk about this soon. The Church truly believes that creation and the passage of our mortal lives have never been anything designed to occur without God the Creator framed solidly in the center of the picture. Most of us can not see this God, but a case has been made that some who are mentally challenged and considered not-so-smart by our standards perhaps can see what we can't, for they are angelic by spirit and are incapable of offending God or sinning against God. But we - the 'smart ones' can see all that God has given to us, including our freedoms and our very lives. We have become heirs in a long dynasty to a "tree of knowledge," that allows us to sin in ways unknown to those who are alive who aren't quite 'with the program' like we are - who are living this life in the shade of the "tree of life." We must value those lives, and honor them like no clay statue could ever be honored, for perhaps for our generation, they are God's angels on Earth. Religion is not what we are necessarily about. Nor are we about a belief system, per se. We are about Revealed Truth as God came to us to bridge the gap between the isolation of humanity alive in creation and the heaven that exists beyond all space and time where we all hope to someday go. It is unconditionally and unequivocally true, as our Protestant brothers and sisters like to say, that if we accept Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, then we become Saved. I know Catholics have too long rejected the concept that this event could be perhaps an 8th and most important Sacrament, but upon sincere examination all of our Sacraments in Catholicism celebrate the salvation of our souls by the passion, death, resurrection, and pioneering ascension of Jesus Christ. We are foolish to argue about theologies and abstract concepts at this point, because Catholicism has from the beginning been simply our spiritual acceptance of that Revealed Truth, with a community pledge known as "obligations," to go just a bit further and to offer thanks and sacrifice to God for that miracle of our salvation, in our best understanding of how Jesus instructed us to do that. While many non-Catholic Christians claim that the Pope is not a biblically relevant figure, traditions going back to early Church development written by Christian and non-Christian historians support the idea, but let's be serious here - woe to the one selected to be Pope - at least by our human standards in this life. St. Peter, the first Pope spoke eloquently about the right-side-up Christian hierarchy - it is up side down by our standards. One need only read what is now framed as Chapter 5 of Peter's first letter to realize that in the Church view, Jesus came to serve humbly the Pope and all others on Earth, the Pope came to serve Jesus by serving the evolving Bishops, and all the rest, and the up-side-down (by our standards) hierarchy leaves the most wretched and poor among us as the kings to be served by everyone else, with love as only God truly knows love. Thus in the correctly implemented institution of the Church, Bishop Lynch would (and does) serve his priests and all others in his Diocese - Catholic and non-Catholic alike, and Pope Benedict XVI is here to serve Bishop Lynch, as well as all of his priests, as well as all humankind. Only in this light can any non-Catholic Christian come to truly know the true sense of fear and horror that visits the living human chosen to lead as the "chief servant" of humanity on Earth. The Cardinals meet to invoke (all politics and mental maneuvering aside) the Holy Spirit to help them decide which living human shall be sent almost to Calvary by their own brethren to serve as the "Holy See," the "Supreme Pontiff," and other such titles impressive to the old aristocratic world. Another topic of hot debate that seems to vigorously and forcefully divide Catholics from non-Catholic Christians is in the Tradition of the Eucharist. It is actually a relatively recent development in Christianity where some of our non-Catholic brothers and sisters doubt the intended role or authenticity of the Eucharist in the Church, and so far as one can tell, this singular subject is even more divisive than Catholicism's well-placed traditional claim that a successor to St. Peter would be chosen by elections (not unlike the election of St. Matthias who replaced Judas) to replace Peter's role in Christianity as the human leader of the Church, and thus chosen likewise by inspiration from the Holy Spirit. Even in the non-Catholic Bibles in what is framed nowadays as Chapter 11 of St. Paul's first letter to the wayward early Church in Corinth, Paul admonished the Corinthians to take the developing Christian tradition of a Eucharist celebrated in memory of - and through space and time connected to the passion, death, resurrection and ascension seriously. Even in the non-Catholic Bibles, it is clear that Paul went so far as to call the subsequent medical ailments among the population in Corinth as God's warnings that they should only participate in the Celebration of the Mass to its fullest extent while examining their consciences and being in a 'State of Grace.' This concept of "worthiness" has several peculiar and diverse interpretations both throughout Catholicism's historic epochs and among modern variants of Christianity that still practice a valid Celebration of the Mass. One thing that has never changed in Catholicism is a profound reverence for the Eucharist as the actual Body and Blood of Christ made available at our Altar. The only evolving question becomes who becomes "worthy" to accept Communion, in a world that seems to have separate standards of worthiness between the priest who leads the Sacrifice of the Mass and the laity who join this Communion. In fact, priests and laity are held to the same standard by God on Judgment Day - by the weight of sins, and not the stature of a job title. For either, the Protestants are right in reminding us that we need to first and foremost thank Jesus for undergoing the horrors in ransom for our many sins, and we will certainly be asking for mercy on Judgment Day - all of us. But for either priests or laity, no matter how big our sins are, they are all wiped away by our "Sacrament of Penance." (Note: In many English-speaking cultures, the Church now refers to this process as the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Semantics do not alter the original intent - to join Jesus in some small and by contrast immeasurable sacrifice as we express thanks that through the Sacrament, His Cross has lifted the eternal burdens from our own shoulders as our sins are confessed, and thus forgiven. Like the Sacrifice of the Mass, the Sacrament of Penance links us to the Cross as well by crossing time and space to connect to Jesus as He accepts the burdens of our confessed sins that we regret and lament. Having those burdens lifted and having our soul brightened into completely holy bliss is a remarkable personal experience, which makes one wonder why the lines for Confession are not even longer. Or, perhaps some Catholics really do live the steady lives of Saints and don't need periodic Confession.) This "Confession" experience is widely available to priest and laity alike, and even good intentions to repent for a life cut short leaves God as the final and only Judge of our souls - for a lot can happen between a person and God in the last split-second of life. But the flawed human priest does beg God to be made worthy for his role as Christ-in-Persona upon the Altar. Only the priest washes his hands - not as Pilate would - before saying the Eucharistic Prayer, saying quietly to the Father in heaven, "Lord, wash away my inequities - cleanse me of all my sins." With all of this in mind, Catholicism's standards have a "high bar" of rules and regulations pertaining to the Eucharist only out of a profound sense of utmost reverence for the Eucharist itself, and the desire to avoid profanity of something we hold in such high regard. The role of priest is not equal to others in attendance, and there are many subtle differences that clearly make the priest as the conduit for the celebration, yet we are reminded as non-celebrants to join in as active, conscious participants. This means being attentive to the words, participating with enthusiasm, and making our own offerings to God to join those of the priest at Mass. We currently say a response to the priest's blessing: "The Lord be with you." In the correctly translated response, our response is "and with your Spirit," which designates a distinction that reveals we are speaking to Christ-in-Persona through the time and space traveling abilities of the Mass. We are not in this context simply responding to a co-equal at Mass. Yes, in English many simply say "and also with you," but many of us are already responding with something along the lines of "and also with your Spirit." We are mindful of Biblical passages that indeed empower the priests of the Church with extraordinary connections to Jesus Christ, in fact acting as Christ-in-Persona in the Confessional. Adequately trained priests never say "The Lord will forgive you," but rather "I forgive your sins," (if they choose to do so). While many non-Catholics and even some practicing Catholics doubt the legitimacy of this approach, it is based in our same Bible, in words from Jesus who also faced His own skeptics when He forgave sins of repentant sinners on the spot, even on the Cross. Now this "Confessional" experience - the examination of our conscience that St. Paul referred to for the repentance and forgiveness of sins is the only true accepted normal path to return a sin-stained soul to the pure, unblemished "State of Grace." In Catholicism, the conversation between that soul and Christ on Judgment Day would be considered abnormal, if only because such a sense of peace and joy and forgiveness that Jesus would deliver then, in His mercy, would not be available for its intended time - while we are living disciples of Christ. So, it's fine to pray that the deceased will be given mercy, and in fact it is admirable to do so, but it's even better for us to regularly go to Confession, so that we are mentally and spiritually confident and competent in our qualifications to be good disciples and representatives of Christ and not mere hypocrites. 20-40 Vision encourages its members to pray the Our Father without some of the unnatural pauses that occur in Catholic recitals of the Lord's Prayer. For instance, "Thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven," should be said without breaks or pauses. More specifically, we should all say this is one uninterrupted thought: "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." The unnatural pause in the current recital almost seems to say, "Look at us, Father in heaven - once in a while we can forgive those who sin against us, and so you should forgive us, too." The correct interpretation from both Gospel accounts of the Lord's Prayer indicate that we are asking God to treat us as we treat others, and this is a keynote philosophy in 20-40 Vision that challenges us to truly be worthy of heaven by our treatment of others on Earth in this short life. "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us," - without breaks or implied loopholes allowing for excuses. That raises the bar considerably. It should be pointed out that many Christians do not have anything similar to this Sacrament of Penance but for the moment of salvation by accepting Jesus Christ as one's personal Lord and Savior, and Catholics should never judge their souls by our standards, because God has many ways to show mercy on Judgment Day. As a matter of fact, their way works for us, too, but ignoring opportunities for Confession equate to giving up on graces and opportunities to walk as truly holy people as living Saints during this life. We do not view Confession as the only gift of mercy and forgiveness, but simply an added bonus available to us that in fact blots out our sins today, for true spiritual nirvana - as some on Earth would call it - so that we can live and work as Christian disciples today without doubt of our worthiness or competence, and without any sense of regret or guilt over past sins. We are sure that if we were to suddenly die following a good Confession, our road to heaven would be a short and easy one. But what about our past? What if we did terrible things in our life? It would take quite a lot to out-perform the sins of Saul of Tarsus - now known as St. Paul. It is always best for us to never judge our worthiness to be a disciple of Christ based on our past or what our history of sins is. That worthiness comes solely and only by the 'State of Grace' we experience today, and how long it has been since our last Confession which is very much like Saul's conversion experience if experienced to its fullest. While others may hold your past against you, as even skeptical Christians held St. Paul's past against him (for good reasons, considering Saul's leadership in persecuting them), the true objective standard of your worthiness to be a disciple is in your "State of Grace" for today, and your past sins only go as far back as your last Confession. Even many Catholics are misguided about elements of the Mass which have been confused with the forgiveness and remission of sins, and there are valid biblical sources for both which can easily be the source of the impression that removal of sin is achieved through the Mass itself - which it is not. Early in the Mass there is a "Penitential Rite" which in short is a group admission that we are all sinners by nature in need of God's love and mercy, and we approach God together as one group of flawed humans to announce that we can not do anything in this Mass by our own accord or talents - not even the priest can do anything but go through the motions by his own accord. In fact, were it not for God's involvement, the Mass would be nothing but a pagan cultist ritual. By invoking God's participation and direction over the Mass, we are asking for God to come into this Mass to make it holy, as an admission that we could not make it holy on our own. This is closely related to a "sign of peace" that comes later in the Mass, in which true Christian love and brotherhood is manifest among those gathered - so that no grudge or complaint remains among anyone there. Both of these set up the appropriate environment for a good and holy Mass. The second misunderstanding is that the "Bread of Life" and the "Cup of Eternal Salvation" by themselves serve to miraculously make sins go away. No. They do miraculously give light and balance and health and strength to the soul, and allow us to avoid sin in the future by doing as the Lord commanded of us, but they do not serve as replacements for the Confessional process. In fact, the benefits of the Eucharist may be seriously impeded and perhaps even mitigated completely by lingering sins. When Jesus noted that those who partake in the Eucharist will have everlasting life, the context is made in the moment when it can even be assumed that Judas Iscariot's destiny of heavenly ascension was not weighted down by grievous sins committed in the future after the fact. And we must go back to square one to the valid Protestant path to heaven in that God is the final judge of souls - not the Church, and this even applies to Judas Iscariot. We could make such assumptions all day long, and we might even be right that Judas is roasting in hell for all eternity, but by making such assumptions we might be joining him there, and even find out that once we get there that we were wrong. There is one peculiar part of the Mass, mistranslated in the English as well, which basically recounts the faith of the Roman Centurion whose servant was healed by Jesus from a great distance - by the power of unprecedented faith alone. The two translations - the current and the updated one to come - both come down to an expression of our likewise total faith in Jesus and the power of Jesus to transform and work miracles in our lives, not only by healing our bodies and minds, but our souls as well - and perhaps our souls in particular. The Catholic interpretation of the standards of worthiness to accept Communion basically comes down to the "State of Grace" at the time - if one were to suddenly die without lingering grave sins against God, then that person has a "State of Grace" to receive Communion. Yet, lingering lesser sins can still be distractions from the full benefits and graces of the Eucharist, and degrade our intended role, call, and challenge to serve Christ as not only his Disciples, but also as His living Saints. St. Paul and others made it clear that this worthiness to accept "Communion," as it is now known was clearly linked to the state of one's soul at the time, and over the years, nothing has changed in our core beliefs that the Sacrament of Reconciliation paves the path for those still alive to worthily accept the Eucharist at Mass. Once those in Corinth would repent of their sins, they would again have the "State of Grace" to accept Communion. Nowadays, there is an extensive formal program in place to try to teach those on their way to their First Communion all that we have discussed in only a few paragraphs. The value of the RCIA is improving, and the fact that so many 20-40 year olds are now absent from regular "Holy Days of Obligation," (an unfair description that makes Mass sound like a burden - and not a blessing in our lives), can in large part be attributed to an erratic period of confusion and perhaps secularism within the U.S. Church once the St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism and worldwide equivalents were replaced by a complex and avoidably over-cerebral version that was easily understood by Master Theologians, only some of the teachers, and relatively few of the common students. It seems like the Holy Spirit had been replaced by encyclopedias. The Bishop's 3-year LIVING EUCHARIST INITIATIVE goes far in bridging the gap between where we are and where were are supposed to be. Much has been said over the years over the "primacy" and infallibility of the Pope or the relevance of the interpretation of the Magisterial body. Any thinking man has good reason to call such claims into question. Yet, upon actual review of what comes from the Vatican in these matters, the Holy Spirit calling to them is also calling to us, and once such directives are issued, we all get a sense of deja vu. While opinions and personal arguments do make it into Vatican guidance, when it comes to definitive proclamations of Revealed Truth, the Church has always been rather restrained, liberating and not constraining, and well sourced when the rare Revealed Truth proclamations are made. The leadership of men can not succeed for long, and Catholics normally pray to realize on their own that the Holy Spirit is telling them the same thing. This is proof positive that despite all of man's values for any given generation, the ways of Christ survive on God's schedule and as God's plan. In practice, too often, the Mass has become a climax and an end, and not the intended beginning to the lives we lead once we leave. We can assure you we Modern Catholics, serving a Christ who "makes all things new" for all generations, are not going to waste any time criticizing either them, or you if the Holy Spirit has not yet made you aware of the validity of the Eucharist that does indeed have Biblical weight. We will pray for you and them, but for ourselves as well, that the true goal of Jesus when He prayed for Christian Unity may be fulfilled through us, Christian Catholic and non-Catholic alike. Scientific marvels are always allowing us to see that God is a lot more complex than the Creator described in Genesis, and creation itself seems to be more vast and majestic than once believed. As our understanding of Creation becomes more impressive, the awesomeness of the Creator becomes even more apparent. There does come a point where some of Christianity - Catholic and non-Catholic alike can degenerate into a religion that separates our real-world lives from the spiritual life, when in fact they are inseparable. The time God spent on Earth as Jesus Christ made an extraordinary house call from heaven beyond the edge of the created cosmos is proof positive in God's continued love for, and interest in us. As science makes Earth seem ever more insignificant contrasted against the vast cosmos, God's house call to Earth and the continued presence of the Holy Spirit make our value to God even more apparent. These truths become more than mere beliefs because they originate by the Holy Spirit, and our faith is an acceptance through the Holy Spirit of Revealed Truth. The beliefs held on an individual basis are just that - beliefs, and everyone has them. Revealed Truth comes to all Catholics by our Sacraments - not through human brainwashing but by inspiration by the Holy Spirit that reaches all continents, cultures, races, and ages. Once enough people get together who fall for the same beliefs, a new religion is born. That is why we must insist that Christianity is not based on theologies and dogma formed from our personal beliefs. It is based on two simple Commandments spoken by Jesus Christ for all the world to hear, with adequate attention to lesser priorities that continue to come to light for each one of us through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, there is no preaching in this effort - just love. 20-40 Vision would find it foolish to engage in arguments, persuasion, or debates about beliefs that have no bearing on the reality of God or creation. Was Earth literally created in six days a few years before Abram became Abraham? The answer is: does it really matter? These things are irrelevant to our mission to love God by loving our neighbors. Philosophies about what happened in the past have no bearing on what happened in the past. There simply isn't time for theological nonsense. We can only ask that the Holy Spirit persuade you of God's own Revealed Truth, for the Holy Spirit today is still God's best messenger. While we squabble amongst ourselves, there is a God Who is not adequately praised, and there are neighbors who are not adequately loved. Amidst our squabbling, innocent lives are dying after living completely unfulfilled existences on Earth and we are serving neither God nor neighbor by our squabbles. And there are too many empty pews in our Churches, Catholic and non-Catholic. There is a good reason for the empty pews, and we at 20-40 Vision like to break the blame into three pieces ... us ... you ... and the rest of the world which confuses Christianity with other religions, and somehow believes God does not have an expressed preference in whether we choose to practice and celebrate Christianity or not. Since the "Big Two Commandments" have such a high place in Christianity, some legitimately question why Catholics place such an emphasis on the Eucharist. The answer is simple - and two-fold. First, Catholics believe that the Mass is the highest form of prayer and praise of God, which may or may not in practice lead to an effective transition to the 2nd Great Commandment once Mass is over. Second, Jesus Himself made the Eucharist a priority, and we have a natural love as a follower to follow His lead. We ask non-Catholic Christians to appear at our Masses, not as a form of surrender to our theologies, but as a form of Christian Unity that answers the prayer of our landlord and master from the beginning, Jesus Christ. See the next section for specific advice on how to present yourselves when you come to visit your Christian brothers and sisters. TO COMPLETE STRANGERS BORN BETWEEN 1968-1988 Communism. Jainism. Totalitarianism. Buddhism. Secularism. Capitalism. Judaism. Hinduism. Did we mention Catholicism yet? Perhaps not. 20-40 Vision understands everyone's collective skepticism - no pun intended - in 'ism's. In your neighborhood is a Church that is named after an event in time - long ago that perhaps proved the impossible Science Fiction fantasy of time travel as possible, through God. Elijah was in a cave long ago, hearing the voice of God in a quiet whisper. What Elijah perhaps did not realize was that he was also present far in his future, visible to three relatively uneducated Apostles (Peter, James and John) who were on a mountain witnessing the impossible happen as the Holy Spirit filled a mountainside in Elijah's future and the Father who created all explained the glory of Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus for a short time appeared to Peter, James, and John in final glory as a fully divine, fully human visitor to Earth to restore a disconnected humanity to our Creator. In this time while Jesus was transfigured - perhaps even reflecting the light of the close Trinity co-Persons with him, through sights, sounds, and events, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were manifest together to the three Apostles, and from their pasts peering into the future, to Elijah and Moses. Not only was Elijah speaking to a Jesus who was perhaps revealing to the Apostles Peter, James and John what Jesus would look like in his glorified incorruptible eternal body that would come upon His resurrection, but Moses, who thought he was speaking to a burning bush long ago was also transported through space and time into the future, even though by the time of the Apostles the bones of Moses also existed in a distant desert short of the Promised Land. How could Moses and Elijah be at two places at once, yet alive with Jesus even though they were each born centuries apart? Perhaps the best answer to this question is technically answerable only by God, as our limited senses and brainwaves can't possibly contemplate how God does this. But just ponder the possibility that the humans on Earth really do experience the presence of the Holy Spirit Who not only was promised to us, but Who is the only logical explanation as to how 2,000 years after an impossible story of a Transfiguration was told, despite all of the technical advances of humankind, we still tell that story as if were as factual as the atomic structure of water - because on a personal level, something has happened to us where we know as concretely as we would feel if a hammer were to strike us between the eyes that it is all true - really all true! We likewise become able to envision the Salvation of those born and dead even before the Crucifixion, for this Passion atoned to our sins of all generations. What is also true is a statement that gives hope to all who were never baptized, and who had never even heard the name Jesus Christ in this life, even if every knee will bend before the Crowned Christ the King in heaven, who sits at the right hand of the Father in anticipation of what we are all to become once all generations end and eternity begins. That statement is that for those who believe, no explanation is necessary, yet for those who don't, no explanation is possible. Revealed Truth is an intangible reality that can only be best described as heavenly music that can be written down with notes replicated and celebrated, but no sheet of music is truly music, and no writing about Revealed Truth is Revealed Truth. Therefore, 20-40 Vision will not be heavy on literature or guidance, but rather on an invitation to be open to this heavenly music as the Holy Spirit comes into their lives. One might suppose it is possible that a created human fails to believe that in a created Universe there is no place to even acknowledge the existence of the Holy Spirit, but it is impossible for the Holy Spirit to ignore any human in God's creation. It all, ultimately, comes down to a choice, and as we all know for better or worse, choices do ultimately have consequences. This promised advocate, the Holy Spirit was not only given to Christians as a great gift, but to all spirit-filled humans. Yet, as with many gifts the Holy Spirit often has to be made known, longed for and earnestly desired and sought before found. Perhaps our role in evangelization is to be that fire to spread the recognition of what is actually present for all to find, no matter what is the human culture, education, upbringing, or circumstances. It is our prayer, at 20-40 Vision that we may appear to you as St. Paul appeared to those in Athens, and not only as he appeared before the choir at Ephesus to cheering, massive agreeable crowds, to ask you to truly search the soul we all agree you have and ask a few questions that can't ever be answered by religious theologians. Seems like Ignatius Press and others keep putting out more and more books on God and Catholicism to the point where St. John's point that the whole world couldn't contain all of the books may someday be challenged. What you need to know about Christianity and Catholicism is simply this: God loves you, and we do too. The Transfiguration - the namesake of your neighborhood Parish. It is a Biblical fact that the impossible happened that was unlike any miracle performed by Jesus Christ, when St. Peter St. James and St. John needed no further proof, yet most of these men cowered in fear once Christ was crucified in Jerusalem. After witnessing the expression of such doubt, the first words out of the mouth of the resurrected Jesus were not condemnation for their human weakness or doubt, but rather what 20-40 Vision wishes to say to everyone there ... PEACE BE WITH YOU! In the Transfiguration we witnessed that God can cross space and time, apparent by the presentation of two men from the past, Elijah and Moses, and although the precise explanation was perhaps omitted as understood by the early Gospel and Epistle authors, the meaning is clear that we as humans alive in this Century are invited to participate in this marvelous time-traveling experience by attending Mass. There at this Mass we are also connected through space and time, and once one understands the Transfiguration, one also understands what happens at Transfiguration Parish and why all of the Catholics there gasp in awe when the mere accidence of bread and wine in the cup are lifted with reference as if they are the true Body and Blood of Jesus. We believe that through space and time, we are connecting to the original Last Supper just as Moses and Elijah connected with the mountain of the Transfiguration. We are then invited to come forward. Please do come forward with all the rest. But for now, we politely but firmly insist for now that you don't accept the Eucharist, for this requires special training and a Sacramental preparation. That time will come, if you choose to answer a call to that process. This seems to be one of two awkward point for visitors - the other is an exaggerated discomfort when the collection plate is passed. If you choose not to contribute, then don't - no one will say, think or believe anything untoward about you. This collection is also framed in Catholicism as an offering from the laity that joins the offering by the Priest during the Sacrifice of the Mass, and there is no reason to feel uncomfortable if you choose not to contribute. Do not feel lonely - there are many non-Catholics who regularly visit our Churches, some of them even participating every week in the choir or bands so that our music becomes more joyful and heavenly and pleasing to God than if left up to the limited talents of Catholics alone. In this light, we strongly feel that God is a God for all peoples, and as well our Church is a Church for all peoples - those already Catholic and those not. It's not a fashion show, so don't feel underdressed so long as you make a sincere attempt to dress adequately for the occasion, within the limits of your situation in life. When you navigate forwards, make an attempt to get in the line where the priest is. Then, cross your arms across your chest as you reach the front. The priest will then bless you, and you will see what these blessings do in your life over the next few days. Clear your mind of all distractions, and listen to see if this Holy Spirit who is calling to us - often as so many of us ignore Him because we are too busy at the time - is calling to you. Our best proof in our faith is how we treat others, for it demonstrates how we are treating God and angels we unknowingly entertain. Let our proof in God's existence be manifest by our love for you, so that you may come to also know God's love for you. By that, you will be as sure as we are that God is real, and that this life is not just one unhappy accident - but rather, one ingenious divine plan. Peace be with you! To find out more about getting into a Church where you belong and are loved and valued, e-mail John Sullivan.
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20-40 Vision is a division of John Sullivan's Strasium Productions
