The Revelation of Jesus Christ in Scripture: What Does Being a Catholic Christian Mean?

Unity among Christians is one reason Pope John XXIII called a meeting of the bishops of the whole Church, the Second Vatican Council. For some people unity means every Christian becomes Roman Catholic and follows the pope. Today after 50 years of dialogue among Churches, we value diverse ways to be Christian and seek to understand each other.

The Catholic Church respects all who seek God. The Apostle Peter baptized the first Gentile, a Roman centurion when he saw the man’s faith and said, “At all times and in every nation anyone who fears God and does what is right has been acceptable to God” (Acts 10.35).

The term Christian rightly belongs to all who believe Jesus is the Christ, the messiah. “Are you a Christian?” has sometimes been a loaded question. Some bible-centered Christians regard only those who experience a conversion and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior as real Christians. These denominations baptize people when they personally decide as teens or adults to submit to the authority of Jesus Christ. Taking Jesus as one’s Lord and Savior is the formula for making this personal commitment.

Catholics baptize babies into membership in the Christian community; parents promise to teach their children about Jesus. For Catholics conversion happens over our lifetimes as we celebrate Eucharist together and seek to become like Christ, whose love we celebrate.

The reformers at the time of the Protestant Reformation made the bible their sole source of faith. Protestant Christians emphasize the bible more than the sacraments. However, today Catholics hear the bible at Mass in their own language and read and reflect on the bible in groups as Spirit groups do.

Bartimaeus in the gospel and Bobby Brown in the story exemplify believers who act on their faith. Bartimaeus follows Jesus up the road to Jerusalem. Bobby inspires us with his faith, insisting, “Your situation is not too big for God. If you believe that, it’s not too big for you.”

Faith is both a noun and a verb. As a noun, faith is what we believe; for example, Jesus is truly human and truly divine. As a verb, faith is setting our hearts in trust.

In the act of faith we adhere to Jesus and to God. To adhere means to glue, to stick with, to cling to. To believe is to belove and belong to God and to Jesus.

Faith in Jesus commits us to live as he lives — to love God and one’s neighbor as one’s self. This relationship shapes our lives and can sustain us in difficult times. Our choices to be like Jesus shape who we become.

Lay out an imaginary line in the room. One end of the line is “strongly agree” and the opposite end, “strongly disagree.” Each person takes a position, representing the degree to which he or she agrees or disagrees with the following statements. Discuss each statement from where you stand. Do it first as Christians and second as Catholics.