I selected this chapter to talk about because of this sentence:
When a convert begins his Catholic life, or when one who has been a Catholic from the cradle wakes to a deliberate consideration of what his religion means, it is enough to believe all that the Church expressly teaches, and to conform his life to that teaching: just as, in the first stage of a new acquaintanceship, it is enough to be polite and deferential and to refrain from offence.
When I talk to Matt Swaim, he is conversant, as a convert and as one working with converts in OCIA and The Coming Home Network, with the attitude of the convert. As a cradle Catholic, baptized as an infant and taught in Catholic schools in a religiously observant family, I know that I woke up "to a deliberate consideration" of what my Catholic religion means--and I know exactly when, in January of 1979, when I discovered Saint John Henry Newman and whole different, "adult" way of being a Catholic.
We must remember that Benson was speaking and writing for his British congregations in a country where Catholics were still a mistrusted minority in the early 20th century and therefore he speaks and writes to them so they can explain the Catholic way of understanding "the Friendship of Christ" as well as to understand it better themselves. Thus, he describes friendship with His Church as a necessary part of being friends with Christ, at first simply by accepting her teaching and order.
But Benson doesn't think that's enough; that's just the first step:
As the relationship deepens, it is absolutely necessary, if relations are not to be marred, to begin to conform not only words and actions, but thoughts; and even more than thoughts -- instincts and intuitions. Two really intimate friends know -- each of them, without a question or word of explanation -- what would be the judgment of the other upon a new situation. Each knows the likes and dislikes of the other, even though they may not be expressed in words.
Now this is precisely what a Catholic soul must aim at. If friendship with Christ in the Church is to be real -- and without this knowledge of Him, as has been seen, our relations with Him cannot be at all adequately what He intends -- it must extend not only to scrupulous external obedience and formulated acts of faith, but to an interior way of looking at things in general; an instinctive attitude; an intuitive atmosphere . . .
While Benson does not use exactly these words, he is echoing Saint Ignatius of Loyola, who urged his fellow Jesuits to “think and feel with the Church” and like Saint Joan of Arc, who replied to a question at her trial, "About Jesus Christ and the Church, I simply know they're just one thing, and we shouldn't complicate the matter." Saint John Henry Newman, in an Anglican Parochial and Plain Sermon, "Unreal Words" reminds us that one "cannot frame a language for himself", and that while it's "not an easy thing to learn that new language which Christ has brought us . . . [we must] try to learn this language."
The Catholic Church's language of liturgy and liturgical seasons can be hard to learn: the changes in vestment colors, how the "Alleluia" and the "Gloria" and the Creed come and go depending on the season or the level of the feast, how the decorations in the church change. These are not unimportant elements of the language of our devotion and our being in rhythm with the liturgical year.
Benson acknowledges that those outside the Catholic Church can find this language too structured, but he notes that this is what makes a Catholic experience that interior friendship of Christ in the exterior:
Hence a certain "friendliness" with the Church is not difficult. No Catholic, for example, who even attempts to practise his religion, is ever altogether homeless or an exile. He feels, not only as a subject of a kingdom or an empire may feel, protected by his country's flag -- but as one who is in the society of a friend. He wanders into churches abroad, not only to visit the Blessed Sacrament, not only to reassure himself as to the hour for mass, but to get into the company of a mysterious and comforting Personality, driven by an instinct he can scarcely explain. He is perfectly reasonable in doing so; for Christ, his Friend, is there, present in that centre of humanity whose members are His.
During the seasons of Advent and Lent, with additional devotions and charitable efforts in our parishes, if you're active in your parish, you'll find yourself more there in church or in the parish hall than at other times of the year. And you go because it's another way to be in His Presence, praying Solemn Matins at 10 p.m. on the Vigil of the feast of the Immaculate Conception; listening to and joining in the Lessons and Carols; attending Penance services, Parish Missions, the Stations of the Cross on Fridays in Lent, and so on.
As Benson concludes:
Once grasp, therefore, that the Catholic Church is Christ's historical expression of Himself: once see in her Eyes the Divine glance, and through her face the Face of Christ Himself: once hear from her lips that Voice that speaks always "as one having authority";{12} and you will understand that no nobler life is possible for a human soul than to "lose herself"{13} this sense in that glorious Society which is His Body; no greater wisdom than to think with her; no purer love than that which burns in Her Heart who, with Christ as her Soul, is indeed the Saviour of the world.
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, pray for us!
Saint Joan of Arc, pray for us!
Saint John Henry Newman, pray for us!
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