Last Monday we returned to Assisi. We went down the stairs in the Basilica of Saint Francis to the chapel of his tomb. Two priests were there, quietly available, they handed out prayer slips to those who wanted to submit a prayer, or they just acknowledged your presence with an encouraging nod. I sat in a pew midway back and pondered what I saw. As I sat there, other people came in and also sat quietly, some with heads bowed, some looking at the sarcophagus where St Francis laid.

No one seemed to care about theology nor denomination, no one cared about politics, no one cared about Protestant or Roman Catholicism. This was just a place for each person to feel and express their faith and to seek some comfort or a bit of hope in their lives.

What I realize, is that for most of Christianity’s history, most followers just expressed their faith, seeking grace, mercy, and hope. Their leaders may have been corrupt. The scholars debated non-essential questions of theology, and sadly, the politically inclined used the church for their own objectives. But the person in the pew recited the Our Father, said a rosary, verbalized their faith through the Creed, and tried to live life as best they could.

Jesus prayed for unity, while Paul feared that wolves would come in to distort and divide the church. True to his fears the church has a history of division, distortion, and even evil. Yet through it all the faithful have continued to express their faith.

The Apostles left us documents to refer to, the early councils combined the essentials of the faith into easily memorable creeds, churches displayed icons and cut-glass images to teach and remind us of the Biblical stories, and a liturgy was developed that repeated the heart of the Gospel week after week.

Each week the liturgy proclaimed “the Lord’s death until he comes.” Even corrupt clergy proclaimed the message each week as they recited the liturgy of the Mass, and the faithful responded. Paul said in Philippians that some preach out of selfishness, even with a desire to do damage, yet he was thankful that even then Jesus was proclaimed.

Jesus said that the gates of death would not prevail against the church, and for centuries people have distorted the message and attacked the church, still, this week, there were people sitting in a basilica expressing their faith. The human-tainted side of the church may be a sad demonstration of the selfishness of humanity, yet the hearts of many common people, the kind of people that Jesus has always sought, still express their faith.

We have visited so many cathedrals, basilicas, and churches during our travels. Fortunately here in Europe the doors are often open so we can go in. The architecture is amazing and there is wonderful art. Some are magnificent places like Chartres or Assisi, some quite simple like the Église Notre-Dame-sur-l’Eau in Domfront, yet each draws people to sit for a bit and take it in, I call that faith, and it gives me hope.