Week Three GL 350

“Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors – the dreams of our old men, given to them in the solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of our sachems, and is written in the hearts of our people.” – Chief Seattle

At home, walking into church is familiar in every way. It is as though the smell, the sounds, the feeling, and even the people, all belong there and everything is in its proper place. It is home. When you walk into church in Rome though, it is as though you are simply an onlooker into a mysterious past, a history that extends far beyond your lifetime. I think this sense of observation is in part what Visser refers to when she states that, “the closest relative of a church is a theatre.” I would argue however, that a beautiful Roman Cathedral is not just some theater, but a gateway into the past. You feel the drop in temperature as you go through the front doors, the chill of the granite reminding you of the souls who have gone before you. You see the worn-down graves within the floor where you know millions have walked before you. You hear the hushed whispers and still silence, and when you really listen, it’s almost as though you can hear the stories of the past, because the building itself contains the history.

As said in Chief Seattle’s quote, our religion comes from the history of our ancestors. When it comes to the three major Western religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, these ancestors are all the same. Knowing and understanding this mutual beginning as well as the reasoning for the later separation of each of these religions is important to strengthening your own faith because you can understand the history as to why you are a believer in the religion you have chosen. As a Catholic, I understand that my ancestors believed that Jesus was the Messiah, and that His original followers, the Twelve Apostles, believed and preached their beliefs, even when it wasn’t the accepted opinion. Knowing the history of your religion is reassurance that your ancestors were not alone in what they believed, and that you are not alone in what you believe. As it is stated in Gaudium et Spes,

Knowing that people have believed in Catholicism for so long gives it more validity. Visiting places that people like St. Peter and St. Paul have been, remind us why we have chosen our faith. In The Smiles of Rome following the letters from Peter and Paul, we read about places of importance to our faith and the history that occurred there. But when physically in Rome and actually getting to visit these places, walk in their footsteps, stand where they stood, and be where they rest, you gain so much more. Knowing that we are following the history of our faith gives it more meaning. As it is explained in Gaudium et Spes, “By suffering for us He not only provided us with an example for our imitation, He blazed a trail, and if we follow it, life and death are made holy and take on a new meaning.” Knowing the history of our faith, and following it in a place like Rome, where so many believers come to remember, strengthens our faith because it assures us that there must be someone greater this world.