Last year’s visit of Pope Benedict to Britain was for many a surprisingly joyful and uplifting event. To some extent it revived the faith, strengthening Catholics who live in the UK. One of the many results of his visit was the renewal of the idea of meat-less Fridays. This is now the recommended practise in England and Wales. There is nothing wrong with it – it’s an ancient traditional fast that might be easily observed these days. But I was somewhat astonished when I heard that people should use this particular practice to express publicly their Catholic identity. This idea seems to contradict the gospel: ‘When you fast, [do it so] that no one will know you are fasting except [God the] Father’. The same principle applies to all spiritual exercises in the gospel.
Practically every religion consists of two elements: spiritual and ritual. The second serves the first. Rituals, symbols and religious signs are the means by which we express our faith, communicate with the supernatural and try to achieve a sort of spiritual enlightenment. Think about radio waves. The air is packed with them transmitting huge amounts of information. You can’t see the waves; you can’t hear, or smell, or touch, or taste them. You are not even aware of them unless you turn on your radio, TV or mobile phone. In a similar way the spiritual world exists regardless of us. We need some means of getting there.
Whichever faith you consider there is a potential danger. Rituals, symbols and signs can take the place of spirituality. People can become bound to religious practices and signs as if they were the essence of faith. Then we find people arguing over Muslim scarves, crucifixes in public places or any form of ostentatious religious behaviour. Sadly quite often people defending their religion forget about the importance of the individual.
After the Reformation Catholics were perceived as public enemies – they were distrusted and persecuted. After unsuccessful attempts to regain political power they went the other way: they presented themselves as loyal, diligent and responsible subjects of the Crown. Catholicism was for them the driving force behind social and political involvement. Their faith became visible in their deeds. This shows a very healthy return to the basics of Christianity, which gained for Catholics renewed respect in British society. Unfortunately various scandals have effectively damaged it.
We believe that our faith gives us the best and most effective instruments for knowing God. We believe that sacraments are powerful and effective rituals that let us touch the untouchable. But all these seem to be terribly unimportant for people outside the church. If they are interested in us at all it will not be because of our religion; but because of how we are as humans.