THINGS I HAVE LEARNED....The East - West Divorce

If you ask the Orthodox they will say the Latins deviated from the truth, especially in the matter of the filioque clause in the Nicene Creed, and are to blame for the split in 1054, and now only Orthodoxy has the original True Faith - and, they are complete without the Latins. If you ask the Latins, they will say the Patriarch of Constantinople refused to recognize Rome's authority over them in doctrine, practice, and jurisdiction, and therefore excommunicated themselves - and the Latin Church is complete without the Orthodox. If you ask Jesus, He will show you the scene from the Gospels where the Disciples are discussing who is the greatest one among them, and deserves to rule at Jesus right hand. You know what He told them! So, I believe He would say the Latins and Orthodox divorced each other, with equal blame because they did not love each other, and that their sins against love seriously compromised the unity of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. I think Jesus would say Heaven does not now, and will never recognize this divorce, no matter how piously each side claims the opposite. That means I, and my own Latin brothers and sisters, and our Orthodox brothers and sisters are, as someone has said, the children of divorced parents (who were married for life by God Himself). I feel this divorce in my very soul, and not just intellectually. That should go a long way in explaining why I try so hard to be a bridge connecting the two of them with teachings and love, because the lack of Christ-like love divided them in the first place, and love alone can make them one again. I am Catholic because of Peter's primacy, and that will never change for me. But I grieve for my other parent. In marriage, love forgives, love talks and reaches agreement. Both sides need to remember what St. Benedicta of the Cross said: "LOVE WITHOUT TRUTH IS NOT LOVE" but at the same time, "TRUTH WITHOUT LOVE IS NOT TRUTH." God grant them both the grace to love again and put their wedding rings back on....then we can all live together in our family home - united by love and mutual respect like the Blessed Trinity and the Holy Family. As to the filioque clause that divided them in the first place, in the liturgy book in the little Byzantine Catholic Church Nancy and I attend, it is footnoted that at the Bishop's direction, the clause can be dropped when the Creed is taken !!!!!! It was not really about that clause at all...but about pride and who should sit and rule at Christ's right hand. How tragic a commentary that is for both sides. Jesus warned them.