I am not one of those people who look at the past through rose tinted spectacles. The past was marked by poverty, war and corruption, just as the present is. The centenary of the First World War is something to be marked with respect, but not celebrated.
There are, however, some good things about the past that it would be good for us to reclaim. There was, for example, a time when it was generally accepted that God, who is the source of life, was also the one who gave meaning to our human existence. We understood God to be the end towards which human life, of its very nature, was directed. He held us continually, as the Psalm says, “in the palm of his hand”. (Isaiah 41)
I think one of the challenges that face us today, not just in our society, but even among us who call ourselves Christian, is that we tend to think that the world revolves around us, that we are the ones who give meaning to our own existence. It would be worth asking ourselves how big a part the goal of eternal life plays in the way we focus our daily lives.
With all of this in mind, my first hope for the Church would be that we as Christians would remember who we are, to whom we belong and where we are going.
Expressions
Most people have certain phrases or expressions that they use all the time. I remember one of the priests in our parish when I was growing up, who was known by many as “Father if-you-like”, because almost every second sentence in his homilies end with the expression “if-you-like”.
St Paul uses the expression “in Christ” over 200 times in his letters, but it is not just a mannerism. He uses these two words to express the way in which people who really believe in Jesus and in his Resurrection are transformed by their faith. “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation”. (2 Cor. 5)
There is nothing vague or nebulous about being in Christ. It is concrete and it has very real implications for the way we live.
To the extent that we are “in Christ”, then each one of us carries hope in our hearts and becomes a source of encouragement to others within the community in which we live.
This brings me to another aspect of my hope for the Church and it is that we would be ‘encouragers’. You will possibly be aware that one of those who worked most closely with St Paul was Barnabas.
He was the one who wanted to give Paul a chance after his conversion at Damascus, when other members of the Christian community looked on him with suspicion.
The name Barnabas means “son of encouragement” (cf Acts 4). Later on, Barnabas shared in Paul’s missionary journey and we are told how he and Paul encouraged the believers or, literally, put fresh hearts in them. (Acts 14)
The characteristic spirit of our age is individualistic. There is a tendency to relate to others in terms of what they can do for me. We are inclined to be consumers and our children are becoming consumers.
This, if we are not careful, can even spill over into how we are in Church. In every one of our parishes there are people who give most generously of themselves, using their gifts in all kinds of service.
Obviously there are times in people’s lives when they are more or less able to offer their time and their energy. But there are some who come only to be served, in much the same way that they would go to the local take-away. They are the people who talk about “my seat” and “my Mass”, and who resist anything which does not suit them personally.
They may be very pious people, but that is not what it means to be “in Christ”.
Our mission, “in Christ” is not just to live our own personal relationship with God in a kind of ‘spiritual cocoon’, but to actively seek the good of all. We are called to be daughters and sons of encouragement, as Paul and Barnabas were. What would that mean in practise?
I think it would mean, for a start, that more people would want to have a deeper understanding of their faith, so that they could share it with others and so that they could give an account of themselves to anyone who asks the reason for their faith (1 Peter 3). The huge demand for catechesis at the Eucharistic Congress suggests that there is a real hunger out there.
Ministry
I think it would mean that when people are asked to undertake some ministry in the Church, they would be more inclined to say “why not” than to ask “why me”? The specific vocations of priesthood and religious life would grow more naturally out of such a culture of service.
If we are “in Christ” then, in his name, we will invite others to be disciples.
I think we might be more inclined to ask ourselves what we can do to welcome and encourage those who are hanging on by their fingernails or those who, though culturally Catholic, no longer participate in the life of the Church.
These are just a few examples of how life “in Christ” might be different and more hope-filled. It seems appropriate to give the last word to Mary, the Mother of God. She saw her call to serve as a gift, which lifted her up. It was not an imposition. She was a woman of the “Yes” and her “Yes” gave Christ to the world. What form will your “Yes” take?