Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - School is once again to start with grammar, syntax, arithmetic tables: they have realised that boys and girls know little about elementary things. The Church too in the past used the Catechism to hand on certain fundamental truths to children and adults and would only then offer testimony in word and deed: now in many places people are realising that for some decades these fundamental truths have either not been handed down at all, or only partly.
One example: for many, the souls of persons known for their evil deeds are regarded as evil spirits or demons; not to mention statistics which show percentages with regard to the ignorance among Catholics of the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus, basic truths once known as the “principal mysteries of the faith ”. This is why in 1985 the Synod of Bishops stressed the urgent need to compile a new Catechism. John Paul II did and now we also have a more agile Compendium. But in many ‘pastoral plans’ of this no trace is found. Let's hope that the Pope's call to young people at the recent Catholic youth gathering in Loreto to “change the world in the name of Jesus” will make priests and lay people understand the necessity to start from spiritual and intellectual knowledge of this Name, since it holds within it a force for change, a power to save far greater than any pastoral strategy. This knowledge is taught with the Catechism. Therefore energies should not be wasted on ‘legality marches’ - Paul teaches us that the Law does not save mankind -- if anything with the announcement of God's commandments.
However the Decalogue is not enough, first, and more important, comes Deus caritas which Jesus brought into the world. In fact, Pope Benedict XVI in Austria recalled that “The heart of the mission of Jesus Christ and all Christians is to announce the Kingdom of God. The announcement in the name of Christ means for the Church, priests, men and women religious and all the baptised, commitment to be present in the world as His witnesses”. Truly the name of Jesus changes the world, we need only to think of what happened during two thousands years of evangelisation: not only is His name known to the peoples, from east to west, it has curbed the evil which we Christians have committed even in his name. His name is far more powerful not only than absolute evil but also than our own personal evil since in His name we are born through baptism to new life. So let us give to Caesar, to the state, what is of the state; the Church is of God and she must teach people to give to God what is His. Let us resume announcing Jesus Christ- a name which means ‘God saves through the One He has sent' - and then mankind will truly encounter God, sent to save us from all evil and sin. In fact the Fathers say that directly behind those who announce the Gospel, comes He, Jesus the Lord.
Let us refuse the slogan ‘tolerance zero’, so contrary to ‘multa tolerare’ of patristic memory. If God not only tolerates evil, He even loves evil doers, who are we to rise above Him? It is love which conquers evil, it is grace which triumphs over legality. Windscreen washers today, slaves in ancient times, thirst above all for inner freedom but they do not realise it: “…we began to explain the catechism to them, inherent to baptism, that is its wondrous effects on body and soul. When, on the basis of the answers they gave to our questions, it appeared they had sufficiently understood, we began a more profound teaching, with regard to the unicity of God, the distribution of reward and punishment according to the merits of each one, and all the rest. We asked them to make an examination of conscience and to show repentance for sins committed. Lastly, when they appeared to be sufficiently prepared, we explained to them the mystery of the Trinity, the incarnation and the passion and showed them Christ nailed to the cross, as depicted above the baptismal font into which run rivulets of blood from the wounds of Christ, we led them, in the recitation in their own language of the act of contrition”. This is what Pierre Claver apostle of the slaves did in 1627. This is what the priests and catechists of the third millennium must do. This is difficult? Religious ignorance, Blessed Mother Teresa used to say is much more serious than hunger for bread.
The Second Vatican Council wished to be simply a going back to speaking to the world about God: the Father who loves, the Son who saves, the Spirit who gives new life. This is why we must speak to people about Jesus, because Jesus made God known bringing himself and making all things new. Speak about Jesus, his words, his miracles, his life. This is what He did in his conversations with the rich young man and with the Samaritan woman, with Zaccheus the tax collector and with the woman caught in adultery - sermons on values, on legality and peace, convert no one- He looked at them with love, just as God looks at us. And whatever God looks at He heals and saves. So dialogue is a fact of heart first of all rather than intellect. It was this type of dialogue with the modern world, with societies, with cultures, with sciences, that the Council intended to launch anew. From dialogue of salvation, said Paul VI and John Paul II, is born the civilisation of truth and love which is first of all the Church, Christian civilisation. The Council wished, not to open new ways, but to lead mankind, always inclined to wander from the road, weak by nature, prone to sickness and death, back to the 'Way' to God, that is Jesus, the Truth and the Life. This is how the world can be changed in the name of Jesus. (Agenzia Fides 13/9/2007; righe 60, parole 955)
