A Thought On Honor

"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last." - Jesus

This summer during CPE, a friend referred me on numerous occasions to the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) for answers on various doctrinal questions.  One of those questions was on the relationship of non-Catholic Christians to the Roman Catholic Church, and how the RCC viewed non-Catholics, what with salvation not being found outside the church and all...

Looking for this information takes you to Part One, Section Two, Chapter Three, Article Nine, Paragraph Three.  Or just...(thought #??) 838.  It reads as follows:

"The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter."  Those "who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church." With the Orthodox Churches, this communion is so profound "that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord's Eucharist."

I bolded the part that I keep coming back to.  At this precise moment, I'm less interested in Rome's ecumenical relations than I am in their use of language here: "the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian."  Stop and think about that for a second.  "...honored by the name of Christian." 

I'm not used to thinking about the name/title/descriptor, whatever you want to call it, "Christian" as being an honor.  An adjective, yes.  Maybe an identity, perhaps.  ("It's not what I am, it's who I am.")  Etc...

But what would happen if we actually treated "the name of Christian" as an honor?  Instead of arrogantly claiming it for ourselves so that we can beat over the head with threats of hellfire and damnation those who don't have it?  Or instead of waving it over the heads of others like a giant banner in a stadium while we cuss out the referees?  Or wearing it like a fish symbol on our car even though we drive like jerks?

What if we stopped for a moment and contemplated the idea that the name of Christian is an honor that has been bestowed upon us by virtue of our baptism and the gift of faith given by the Holy Spirit?  Would it change how we related to God?  to others?  Would it change how we did evangelism? 

I have two images in my head when I think about this.  The first is of someone receiving an honorary Ph.D. - they didn't do the work, they didn't write the dissertation or pass the exams or teach the undergrads.  The university simply decided to confer the degree.  Similarly, we don't earn the name of Christian.  It is God who baptizes, God who gives faith, God who redeems.  You did not choose me, but I chose you...

...and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last.  The other image in my mind is of knighthood, that moment when you kneel before the king, and he places the blade of the sword on your shoulders, and says, "I now dub thee ___________, a Knight of the Round Table."  In the middle ages, knighthood required oaths of loyalty and service to both God and the king.  During the ceremony, the knight would be presented with many gifts, including the shield and sword, and sometimes the full set of armor.  At the end of the ceremony the king would say, "Arise, Sir Knight." 

What if we had an image in our heads of us kneeling...at the baptismal font, the communion rail, the confessional...and being tapped on the shoulders with the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," and hearing, "I now dub thee Elizabeth, a Knight of Christ.  Arise, Christian." ???  What if we really believed we had sworn an oath of loyalty and service to God?  That we now wear the full armor of God, and that we have been "knighted" for the purpose of going to bear fruit?

Something to wonder about, that's all...