When I was in high school, I dated a girl whose family was Catholic. Sometimes I went to church with them, and I always liked their services alot, and--I confess--I often "passed" as Catholic so I could take communion, even though I think that is a pretty big no-no in the eyes of that church. I watched everyone else really closely, but I never knew if I was going through the motions exactly right, and I often suspected the the priest knew I didn't belong. But he never stopped the service or anything, so I just kept on pretending that I knew what I was doing.

In college, one of my friends, Jamie Blosser, converted to Catholicism and then went on to graduate school at the Catholic University of American in Washington, DC. I think he is still there. That change struck me as somehow interesting at the time.

Now, I occasionally read the blog of Alan Creech, who I don't know and have never met, but I'm intrigued by his spiritual journey as he tries to rejoin the Catholic church (after leaving it for a period in a protestant church?).

I'm certain that I'm not called to be a member of the Catholic church, just as I'm sure I'm not supposed to be a member of many other churches. However, I do believe in one body, and I think there are things I can glean from other manifestations of that body, including the Catholic church.

As a kid, I remember being curious about the difference between the Catholic crucifix and the plain cross that is used by most protestant congregations. The answer I was always given was that the cross represented the resurrection, that Jesus was not stuck on the cross, that he had gone on before us, etc., etc.

But over the past few days I've been meditating on a quote that Alan Creech keeps in his blog's sidebar: 

"Keep your eyes on the crucifix, for Jesus without the cross is a man without a mission, and the cross without Jesus is a burden without a reliever."
Fulton J. Sheen

Right now, that makes sense to me. Today I can find comfort in the crucifix.