{"id":4673,"date":"2010-07-21T23:50:22","date_gmt":"2010-07-21T23:50:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/07\/like-the-magi-the-church-has-been-traveling-resolutely-west.html"},"modified":"2010-07-21T23:50:22","modified_gmt":"2010-07-21T23:50:22","slug":"like-the-magi-the-church-has-been-traveling-resolutely-west","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/07\/like-the-magi-the-church-has-been-traveling-resolutely-west.html","title":{"rendered":"“Like the Magi, the Church has been traveling resolutely West…”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day, I alerted you to the absorbing series on the Future of Catholicism<\/a> that Elizabeth “The Anchoress”<\/a> Scalia has been shepherding over at Patheos.<\/a> The kindly and humble Ms. A. is too modest to flaunt her own fabulousness — she’ll never achieve full diva-hood with that kind of attitude — so it’s up to people like me to point you to this pearl of great price<\/a>, from her very pen: <\/p>\n

\nThe church began with a star, followed from the East, and with writings to the Hebrews and the Ephesians and the Galatians and Thessalonians. There were churches, back then, where there are none now.<\/p>\n

Like the Magi, the Church has been traveling resolutely West, and it has nearly come full-circle; it is bringing new treasure from the East and up from Africa. There is almost a sense of completion to this.<\/p>\n

That may be unsettling to some; it may hold promise to others. Completion — or wholeness — is what we have been taught is the objective to this long journey of mission and masses and mistakes. We anticipate that moment when all things are restored in Christ.<\/p>\n

Faith and experience tell us that all things work for the glory of God. The ebb and flow of vocations, the dominance and diminishment of churches, are His to control. What we need will be provided, even if we cannot at first recognize the provision. We know that beyond all else, the Church is a great mystery, and its future is known to God alone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is that great, or what? Check out the rest.<\/a> You can thank me later.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The other day, I alerted you to the absorbing series on the Future of Catholicism that Elizabeth “The Anchoress” Scalia has been shepherding over at Patheos. The kindly and humble Ms. A. is too modest to flaunt her own fabulousness — she’ll never achieve full diva-hood with that kind of attitude — so it’s up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-inspiration","category-links-r-us"],"yoast_head":"\n"Like the Magi, the Church has been traveling resolutely West..." - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/07\/like-the-magi-the-church-has-been-traveling-resolutely-west.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Like the Magi, the Church has been traveling resolutely West..." - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The other day, I alerted you to the absorbing series on the Future of Catholicism that Elizabeth “The Anchoress” Scalia has been shepherding over at Patheos. The kindly and humble Ms. A. is too modest to flaunt her own fabulousness — she’ll never achieve full diva-hood with that kind of attitude — so it’s up…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/07\/like-the-magi-the-church-has-been-traveling-resolutely-west.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-21T23:50:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jmcgee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Like the Magi, the Church has been traveling resolutely West...\" - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/07\/like-the-magi-the-church-has-been-traveling-resolutely-west.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Like the Magi, the Church has been traveling resolutely West...\" - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"The other day, I alerted you to the absorbing series on the Future of Catholicism that Elizabeth “The Anchoress” Scalia has been shepherding over at Patheos. 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