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Life Ways Where’s the "New
Creation" Now When I Need It? It's one thing to listen to Pope John Paul II inviting Catholics to rediscover the radicalism and attraction of the presence of Jesus Christ in the world today through a renewed awareness of the Church. It's quite another to live day in and day out with an alcoholic spouse. Or care for a child with a handicap. Or retain a position as a doctor under the increasing pressure to perform abortions. Or suffer endless waves of anguish while living through a depression or an experience of chemical dependency. Or suffer the loneliness of living in a nursing home. Or try to keep one's sights on spiritual values amid the neon lights that allure one to material values. Rising from the depths of the dullness and pain in the world today is the ancient cry, "Maranatha! Come, Lord!" (1 Corinthians 16:22) At times we are too weak, too blind to believe that there could be a more noble way to live. It costs too much to realize the truth of our tremendous dignity as a "kingdom of priests for our God." If we could but grasp the fact that our times are seething with the intensity of a hidden drama: the birth pangs of the "new creation." According to St. Paul, if we have been baptized we are a "new creation." It is so easy to believe that what we see and hear and experience around us is fact, and the Gospel is only a distant, impossible ideal--a pleasant candy-coated fairy tale that has no bearing on our life. We forget that God has burst into human history through the gift of his Son and the outpouring of the Spirit. The Kingdom is here, among us. In the words of Jean Corbon, "Human community is still an unattained goal at the level of the couple, the nation, and the world, but the kingdom of God is already here, really present, as the great presence of God's love to human beings." Meeting Christ changes our life forever. We meet him in the sacraments, in the Church, in his Word, in each other, in prayer, in history, in his providential action enfolding each day. We can stand up straight, proud of our dignity as members of the Kingdom established by Christ, that hidden yeast imperceptibly leavening the world. Even though we don't see dramatic change in this world's structures and agendas, we can affirm in faith that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ have channeled the course of history towards the bosom of the Trinity. As we face the difficulties and the simple joys woven into each day we can believe that our victory over the world is possible in every situation because Christ is always with us. The serious problems of the world and of our own lives can be solved if we succeed in making Jesus Christ present among us. The first Christian community, recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, did not grow and transform their society because they boasted a human success story, a masterpiece of research and long-range programming, or the overwhelming action of a miraculous power. John Paul II says, "It is, instead, the amazed contemplation of the efficacy of the saving word which, without special human means, without show or glamour, progressively spreads and conquers hearts" (May 8, 1993). Catholics are not an anonymous, shapeless crowd. We are people who have been confronted with the proclamation of salvation in the Word of God and have made a choice which pledges our lives. We have the power to search for and choose that which gives life, joy, peace, dynamism and delight. The faith penetrates deep into our hearts. It changes them and enlightens them. In the words of the Holy Father, "Christ's presence cannot be pent up inside those who have known him. It is Jesus himself who, calling his own, gives himself to them so that, to the ends of the earth, they may become the witnesses of the hope given gratuitously to them" (May 8, 1993). Therefore, it is important to develop the knack of asking ourselves the right questions. How do we make sense out of the events that involve us personally and emotionally? How do we shape our day-to-day existence? How can we develop an outlook that helps us look beyond the "here and now," up-front expression of reality in the events that face us, in order to experience the "here and now" that allows us to find a transcendent meaning for our lives? How can I make time to become a contemplative of the Word and discover God's wisdom and love as the ultimate means of understanding my life? Twenty years after Vatican II, the Church particularly feels the need for returning to the following of Christ in the various complex circumstances of our lives. This is the call to holiness--a holiness found in encountering, following and become one with the Lord. This call to holiness has been issued more urgently than ever to the lay faithful because no baptized person can remain outside of the Church's mobilization towards the evangelization of the world. Realizing the immensity of the task awaiting the Church, the bishops at Vatican II wrote, "Present circumstances, in fact, demand from them (the lay faithful) an apostolate infinitely broader and more intense" (Apostolicam Actuositatem, n. 1). No one of us can remain idle in the face of this inescapable responsibility. It is up to each of us to communicate our Catholic heritage to the next generation. The more we work together, the more far-reaching will be the efficacy of our evangelizing efforts.
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