A Call to Emulate the Blessed Virgin Mary

Note: This is a paper I did for a rhetoric class I took at San Diego State University that I feel would be appropriate for this blog to share here. 

Jacob Hubbard

Professor Minifee

RWS 500W 

8 December 2011 

                                      A Call to Emulate the Blessed Virgin Mary

Dear old church friends and pastors,

I want to apologize for leaving you all without a moment’s notice and not letting at least one of you know that I would no longer attend your church. I remember the day you all brought me into your church with open arms. I remember the days I had run ins with the law, did drugs, and probably would have committed suicide without a moment’s notice if it weren’t for you. For that, I am eternally grateful. If it weren’t for you, I would not be where I am today, and for that, I deeply regret not informing you that I was leaving. I left because I felt that there was something missing in my life as a member of your church after a year and a half of attending. It wasn’t that the church was a bad church, or that that I wasn’t happy, or that I wasn’t getting the guidance I needed in my life, and it’s definitely not because I don’t love or care about any of you. But I knew that something was missing. I knew that something about the church was not providing something that my heart was longing for, so I kept going, keeping what Christ said in Matthew 6:21 in mind: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” 

For the first few months of no longer attending your church, I began a spiritual journey that brought me to different churches around the San Diego area, including the SDSU campus itself. Almost every church I tried out was an evangelical non-denominational church just like yours. At first, I thought by going to these kind of churches that I would find the thing that was missing and that my heart was calling for, but alas each church did not satisfy my desire. I kept going with the intention of coming back to your church, but then I found something that I knew the majority of you would not approve of. 

One day at SDSU, someone gave me a pamphlet to the school’s Newman Center. I was hesitant at first to visit the place, having been taught many things about the Catholic faith which I’ve come to find are misunderstood. Knowing that I was a Protestant, I was scared to attend Mass for the first time. I even recall one time that I tried to attend the Newman Center Mass, but didn’t go because I was afraid one of you would catch me there and tell me that I was walking astray from the path of God. It was only until I finally went that I fell in love with the Mass. I fell in love with the atmosphere, the people, the culture, but most of all, I fell in love with Christ all over again. I really felt Christ there. I felt Christ’s presence in a way I had not experienced before. I knew I found what I felt was missing in my heart. 

I then decided to answer God’s calling to become a Catholic. 

I understand that this news will come as a shock to you, considering the misconceptions many of you have about the Catholic faith. The reason why I never told you until now was because I feared you would disown me for my decision, so I left for a year to reflect. It was painful to leave because of our positive history together. But I knew that I had to go where God was calling me to go to, and I know (or at least hope) that is something you can understand. 

I know there are many obstacles and misunderstandings you have about the Catholic faith. Some of them include our understanding of justification; others include the role of the church and the authority of scripture; however, I know that the biggest obstacle for you is the Catholic understanding of Mary. I will concede to you that many people who call themselves Catholic misunderstand the Catholic Church’s teachings on Mary. I can assure you that properly understanding Mary gives us more common ground than many of you realize.

I want to share with you a recent anecdote I had with my mother. When she found out about my conversation, she of course wasn’t exactly excited, being reminded of her teenage years where the majority of Catholics she grew up with didn’t set an example of their faith. She had always been suspicious of Catholics, holding to some of the same misconceptions many of you probably still have. Me being her offspring, she of course still loved and supported me, even if she didn’t at first agree with my decision. Recently, she and I held a prayer session and out of the blue she gave praise to Mary. Because of the hardships that had gone in her life with raising me and my brother and sister, my mother admitted that praising Mary made her fall in love with her for what Mary had done for us, and made her appreciate Jesus more. She realized that whatever hardship she was going through as a mother, Mary went through so much more when she gave birth to Jesus, raised him, and watched him die on the cross for our sins. I reminded my mother that giving Mary the honor that she deserves allows us to relate to her so we can draw closer to Christ. I even brought up two verses in Luke, where Mary herself sings, “My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed . . .” (Luke 1:47-48). We can all do well to emulate the Blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of God, the woman who helped bring out to the world our beloved savior for all humanity. We Catholics love Mary in the same way Jesus loved his mother. Emulating her will bring us together as brothers and sisters and bring us closer to Christ. 

As a practicing Catholic, I want to make it absolutely clear that we are still brothers and sisters. I hope that you think the same about me. For many of you, the news of my conversion will come both as a shock and a source of confusion. I know you all to be devout, faithful disciples of Christ with a passion for evangelism and youth outreach. I want to assure you that my conversion would not affect my love and respect for any of you.I ask that if you were to accept me into your community in light of my conversion, that we set aside our differences and work together for a revival in the church.

You’ve all said in the past that the church is in dire need of a revival. I’m presenting you with that opportunity. I present you the opportunity that we can learn from each other and look past our theological differences so that a revival in the church can be possible. However, if you’re not going to accept me or other Catholics as brothers and sisters, then how can we work together for a revival? Don’t you remember Mark 3:25 where Jesus says,“If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand”? So I ask you this: What is important, your theology or a revival? 

Knowing you, many of you would jump on the opportunity to have a revival. Would my conversion stop you from us working together for a revival? Don’t we worship the same God? Didn’t Paul say not to be a stumbling block for fellow believers when he said: “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak” (1 Corinthians 8:9). There is a concern within the community concerning our church’s future, and that is due to the church becoming more and more divided because of our theological differences. In 1994, there was a document titled “Evangelicals and Catholics Together” signed by both Catholics and Evangelical Protestants that agreed to work towards unity. This is a good start, but there is still work to be done. There is still division in our church. Many people have become skeptical of the church’s ability to provide the spiritual needs for our community. They see the division between Catholics and Protestants as a problem. How can we have a revival if people see the church as divided? If we come together as brothers and sisters, we can demonstrate how regardless of our strong theological differences, we can be united as a voice for Christ so that we can provide the spiritual needs for our community. We can be like Mary and together present Christ to the world. We can show the world that when we cooperate each other, we show people that we take Christ seriously. Pope John Paul II himself before he passed away knew that ecumenical efforts to unite both us Catholics and Protestants would be necessary in order to revive the church. Why not jump at this opportunity? 

I have hope that knowing me, you will take the time to listen to what I have to say.

God Bless, 

Jacob