Holy Translator , Batman!

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Looking at my English to Italian dictionary yesterday, I realized that there is another translation index that must be written : the "Protestant to Catholic" dictionary.

While I am half joking on this, I do realize that there are a lot of words,phrases, or terms; that have very different meanings depending on what faith, or lack of, you may have been raised in.

To a Protestant the word church has to do with a place you go to one or two days a week(but can change at the slightest disagreement with a pastor or music selection), to a Catholic it is "the Church", a body we are part of, a place to nurture and be nurtured, a place or authority and service, . . .a family. We don't go to "church" because we are the church, and it goes with us.

To Protestants, Communion is some kind of almost cartoonish ritual that they partake in every couple months, but to a Catholic it is the very center of the Mass.The earliest Christians believed in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and from talking to other converts today, this truth is usually the #1 reason for reconciling with Rome.

The word religion is even being deconstructed by Evangelicals, as in the new "Not Religion", a campaign giving in to the world's hatred of God, and placating the likes of Christopher Hitchens or Oprah, by saying it's "not about Religion, it's about relationship". Sadly, they seem to have misplaced their dictionary, as the word Religion actually means a Relationship, one coupled with reverence.

This last part I think, is a key to understanding where the various definitions /misinterpretations come from. Because the Catholic church has a source of authority, and is truly universal, there is, and must be, a concrete dictionary (the Catechism); so that it's followers will not be swayed by world-speech. Unfortunately in the 50,000 plus Protestant denominations (with more splintering all the time), there are varying degrees of authority, which leaves a populous of proverbial "chickens with their heads cut off", being lead around by the whims of the world.

I do truly believe if there is to be reunion in the Body of Christ, than a Translator really will be needed, and with that I pray:

Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.

O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.