August 30, 2016
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| “We have no need of announcers of the word who want to change the Gospel with the excuse of adapting it to our times, but of announcers who endeavour each day, even with little results, to change themselves everyday ever more conformed to the Gospel which does not change”. |
“In the plan predisposed by
God for the salvation of men, there are three pillars which sustain the entire
edifice of our existence. If they give way, the collapse of all values is
inevitable. They are also the truths we are bound to accept if we want to call
ourselves Christians.
"These truths are: God, our
Father and Friend; Jesus Christ, the Envoy and Son of God: the Church, as a
redeemed people and a community of those who are awaiting the Kingdom of God. These three truths are so linked to each
other that if one is lost, sooner or later the others will be lost too. The history of the last few centuries has
demonstrated this.
"Four centuries ago for the
first time in Europe, the idea of the Church was questioned, even if a deep
faith in Christ, God and Saviour was maintained. Nonetheless after some
centuries, where the idea of the Church was lost, it resulted in the uncrowning
of the Divinity of Christ, by considering Him a mere man, even if a great one, a
genius. Further, it became commonplace to think of Him as the ‘first
socialist’, a freedom fighter for the oppressed and a preacher of earthly
justice. Fascinating idiocies: if Jesus Christ were not truly the Son of God, He
would have simply been a fanatic and a failure of a man. When faith in Christ
was corroded, also the idea of God, which seemed very vivid, bit by bit began
to fade. And so for the first time in history, mass atheism made its
appearance.
“It seemed in the beginning
that even without the idea of God the human ideals of justice and morality
could have been maintained. Someone more
intelligent saw instead where things were heading: ‘If God doesn’t exist,
everything is permissible’ says one of Dostoyevsky’s characters, and even
murder ends up being justified. Today we are being convinced of this at our own
expense. This presumptuous society, which has demolished its foundations, is no
longer able to stand on its own feet: nothing seems to be important, no value
seems to be sustained. We are faced with a world of no sense, which is heading
inexorably towards desperation.
"Naturally we are not going
toward desperation, since we have been given great hope and each paschal
celebration offers us once again motive [for this hope] by restoring freshness
and vitality to us; as long as we remain fully aware of the three pillars and
of their necessary connection: it is impossible to save a human existence
worthy of this name without faith in God; it is impossible to believe in God
Who is Father to us and will not abandon us, without contemplating Jesus Crucified
and Risen, where the love of God is revealed; it is impossible to know Who
Jesus really is, if one does not remain in the Church, the ‘foundational column
of Truth’ and the ‘Bride without spot or wrinkle’, as St. Paul says. We cannot
play around with the foundations of our existence: who is going to pull us out
of the rubble and ruins of our pretentious castles?”
Translation: Contributor Francesca Romana
