“In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.”
This, also known as the sign of the cross, is the traditional way to start a prayer in the Catholic religion. Doing this renews baptismal promises and professes our faith in the Holy Trinity.
According to Catholic Answers, Christians who reject the sign of the cross are rebelling against their own roots. Christians aren’t really Christians if they are rejecting their own religion. So, why judge Catholics for doing something every Christian should be doing?
The truth is that Catholics are Christians, yet many people like to twist this based on their own biased, unprofessional opinions. Occasionally, churches can spread misinformation about Catholicism to degrade Catholics.
In my faith, I’ve come across many people who like to argue against the Catholic religion, and they all say the same things: “Why do you worship Mary and saints?” “The Eucharist is a symbol, not the real body and blood,” “Why would you confess your sins to a priest, when you can confess them directly to God?”
The real answers coming from a Catholic are: We do not worship Mary or saints, worshiping is only reserved for God. However, we simply honor them and ask them to intercede for us. Similar to asking a friend to pray for you.
As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist is the real body and blood of Jesus Christ. At mass, every week, we have communion in which we intake the real body and blood of Him. To us, it is not a symbol. At the Last Supper, He said, “This is my body, given up for you,” and “This is my blood, given up for you.” Nowhere did He say that this wasn’t His body or blood, so for us, it simply is not a symbol.
We believe in confession, also known as reconciliation. We confess our sins to a priest because Jesus gave authority to His apostles to forgive sins in His name, allowing for priests to forgive our sins and give us penance because the priest stands in place of Christ. This is also one of the seven sacraments in which Catholics receive, making it very important.
In many non-Catholic churches, pastors have told their church that Catholics are not Christians, and personally I see this as very malicious because they don’t know the full truth. Some of them are not willing to be open to hearing more about the Catholic faith.
From what I can perceive, we both believe in Jesus Christ, His crucifixion, resurrection and the promise of eternal life in heaven. This makes me question why many people are so derogatory towards the Catholic faith. But as a whole, we all believe in Jesus Christ, and that is what really matters.
