Don’t Pass the Rock: Charlotte
Here we are in Charlotte, North Carolina for the preseason finale. Readying ourselves to embark on a journey across America — a journey whose ultimate destination we do not know. But we are to enter into it with a willingness to be held accountable to the truth no matter the result. With the desire to rediscover the riches that our ancestors had once obtained. But how are we to get there? How are we to secure such bountiful treasures when the destination is so far away? Perhaps it comes with fully immersing ourselves into the day at hand. Perhaps, as one great American pioneer stated, the secret to getting what we seek, to coming together to achieve something great, to forming ourselves to become the men we were made to be… Could it really be that simple? Perhaps the secret lies with Charlotte.
On to the church…
Our Lady of Consolation — Charlotte, North Carolina
One of the best aspects of the Catholic Church is its true universality. Across all continents, languages, peoples, and cultures, Catholic churches are united via the authority of Christ in his ordaining of Peter and the apostles, passed on by the laying of hands to Pope Francis and the bishops today. This has allowed for incredible international consistency (albeit far from perfect) where any Catholic in any country can participate in a valid mass from a validly appointed priest whose bishop is in union with Rome. It also allows for incredible diversity with different practices, devotions, traditions, and music of different cultures finding their way into the mass and events of any given parish or diocese. Such I found at Our Lady of Consolation, according to its website, “Charlotte’s only African-American Catholic parish…founded in 1955…celebrating the rich heritage of both Roman Catholicism and African-American traditions.”
For some time now the church has been operating out of their Parish Life Center, with mass occurring in their basketball gym (serendipitous!) But something that struck me when I first went here last year was the images of Jesus and the Blessed Mother beside the altar where both have an African appearance.
I want to take this time to point out several things I never knew but have been brought to my attention in the past few years that I find very cool. Attested in by the Transfiguration as well as His resurrected appearances on the Road to Emmaus and as a gardener beside the tomb, Jesus’ glorified heavenly body has the capacity to appear under different forms. This is also attested to in Marian apparitions, where Our Lady has often been described as looking like the people of the specific area in which the apparition occurred. Which I think is particularly cool and bears witness to how God has always communicated with us with respect to our own humanity (most obviously displayed by God himself becoming man and taking on a human body to personally reveal himself to us.) This also connects to my visit to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception this past spring, where there are many chapels dedicated to the different titles of Our Lady from all across the world including a chapel for Our Lady of Africa.
This is something that I think many of us Catholics could continually benefit from in appreciating how God has chosen to operate within the Church. He appeals to all men in being human but also comes to transform every individual life to be united to Him. To live within us so that all our sufferings are united to his and we all become true members of the body of Christ. From America to Africa to Asia and on, from politicians to day laborers to children to athletes. The experience of every person who has ever lived can be united to Christ and is meant to be so. In God becoming an infant, living as a carpenter, and experiencing the worst execution available, we can know that this is a God that is with us in our suffering, joys, and humanity. “There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God.” (Rom. 8:39)
So let us take the time today to open our ears and hearts to hear God’s voice and offer ourselves as living sacrifices. As today’s responsorial Psalm read, “Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.” God Bless you all as we start this new season. May this 7th season of mine be dedicated to the Lord and may I do His will through the joys and the sufferings that will come and that His will be done despite my shortcomings and failures. Glory to God in the Highest!