Saints in the Scandals: The Next Generation of Holy Ones

We have all heard the breaking news stories and horrifying details, in which this would require a series of articles to honestly report: a new wave of scandals have hit the Catholic Church, in where this new wave is disturbing to say the least. Men we have trusted have broken that trust and there have been cover-ups all around. To be short, our credibility had been shaken. However, among the negative and detrimental effects of this scandal, there is a positive that can be seen: purification of the Body of Christ. In times of debate and scandal, from the Arian Heresy to the Reformation, to even the French Revolution and the two World Wars, it has been the same basic path for the Church. Think of the three stages of the soul’s growth and union with God (Purification, Illuminating, and Unitive) and apply it to when scandal occurs in the Church. If you apply the definitions of the three stages to any scandal and/or debate, you find that the Church endures these.

Purification Stage: Time of Purging

This is what we are in now, as an entire Church. We have experienced the revelation of something that God has desired us to see universally. We, as the Body of Christ, have been going through this since the First Scandal, but in this Second Scandal, our sins have been outed. You can say that it happens in every generation and culture and faith, which is true, but it doesn’t lighten the fact that it has happened with the Catholic Church, the Rock of Faith and Morality. If anyone is to be held to a standard, it is the Church. Whether we are to experience a Third Scandal, or that this is the Final Scandal before the next stage of the Church’s growth, will be left up to God’s permitting will.

Illumination Stage: Time of the Dark Night

We do not know what this particular stage will be like in the wake of devastation that the Church is experiencing now, but we are sure of a few things. As with the Dark Night, it is split up into two substages: Dark Night of the Senses and Dark Night of the Soul. With the Senses, we can’t feel God but we know that God is there and present. With the Soul, we can’t feel God and we have lost all sense of His Presence within. However, through all this, He remains always present and true to His Promises. So what does this mean for us now? Being a Catholic means much more than going through the motions, but willing to give of our lives for the Faith in whatever way God deigns necessary for witness. It could be possible during the Church’s Dark Night of the Senses, that individual members lose sight of God and the ones who do not are willing to give of themselves entirely to bring back souls to the Faith. As with the Dark Night of the Soul, it will be darkest before the dawn for the Church, as the majority of the collective body will most likely fall away internally.

Unitive Stage: Time of Close Union

The Third Stage of the Church’s growth will be the most mysterious, as we cannot simply place close union with God into a category or label. It will have to be for the Church to find how She unifies with God. However, when we get to this third and final stage, we will be a smaller but holier people of God, ready to help the world come back to Christ through the Church once more. When the time comes, we need to learn from our past mistakes and be ready to tackle any future problems that come our way. The beautiful thing about this is, no matter what pit we fall into, Christ will be there to grab our hand and pull us out from the sea.

On a final note, after these stages have occured, there is a hidden one as well: The Emerging of Saints. From the ashes of a wildfire, do new trees and forests emerge, so too will saints of epic charisms emerge as well from these ashes. The only thing God asks of us now and then is this: Are you willing to be that saint?