Monday, January 22, 2007
ZEROING IN ON THE MALADY AND THE REMEDY
Once again, as he did in his encyclical, Benedict targets precisely our current difficulties and proposes the road to recovery. Sandro Magister reports at Chiesa on Benedict's forthcoming book about Jesus, providing five translations of the preface--a book which Magister says focuses on the theme contained in these words of Benedict:
Speaking about Christmas, the pope called attention back to “the power of the darkness that seeks to obscure the splendor of the divine light.” And he said:
“This is the drama of the rejection of Christ, which, as in the past, is unfortunately manifested and expressed today in many different ways. It may be that today’s forms of the rejection of God are even more subtle and dangerous than in the past: from explicit rejection to indifference, from scientistic atheism to the presentation of a so-called ‘modernized’ or ‘postmodernized’ Jesus. This is Jesus as a man, reduced in various ways to a mere man of his time, deprived of his divinity, or a Jesus so idealized as to seem sometimes a character in a fairy tale.”
To this false Jesus, the pope has opposed the “true Jesus of history”: that Jesus who is “true God and true man, and does not weary of offering his Gospel to all.” Before him, “one cannot remain indifferent. We too, dear friends, must continually take a position.” Not to reject him, but to welcome him. Knowing that “to those who received him, he gave power to become sons of God” (John 1:12).
Those are words similar to ones I heard in yesterday's homily. It is Christ, and ultimately only Christ, Second Person of the Trinity, who shows us who God is because He took our human form. The rock, the foundation, even moreso than Peter, Christ and relationship with Him, is the root of everything worth having, or in Benedict's words, "intimate friendship with Jesus, on which everything depends."
The hatred of Christianity rising around the world is a hatred of the Jesus of faith, and the fulfillment of His own prophecy that it would happen. Christ is a dividing line that too often costs lives. The God who preached charity toward everyone is hated by everyone who seeks factionalism and elitist superiority. Being a servant to all does not appeal to those who desire empowerment. They see no potential for gain in a God who will allow Himself to be crucified.
The medicine we need is not more of the social gospel. It is not more focus on the needs of our fellow man that can even be used to our own purposes. The medicine we need is the Living God, born in the body of a man, broken and resurrected, who seeks to know us individually. Only with our eyes on Him can there be any hope for peace and common humanity in the world. Christ, Himself, is the answer to what ails our planet.
The Church may swirl into chaos around us. We may not be able to find a place to worship. We may be subjected to the pressure from those who would redefine Christ that Benedict outlines in his preface. But ultimately the only prayer worth praying is that we will die with the name of Christ on our lips and a plea for His mercy in our hearts. With that we gain everything the Church has to offer. With that the failures of the men of the Church cease to matter.
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
