Dear reader friendsa thought that often comes back to me and that questions me – but I think worries many of you – is the destiny that awaits Christianity in this time of marked “detachment from God”: will faith have a future? And what can we do? These are certainly not new questions, which are perhaps asked more today “raw” looking – as a reader writes to us (see page 4-5) – the “hoary heads” that prevail among the pews of churches. But this is also a reading that stops at “news”to the simple observation of the evidence.
«Catholicity is a mission. But it’s not a question of numbers», reflects Cardinal Aveline in the beautiful interview he gave us (page 18-22). «The Church was already Catholic a Pentecostwhen the disciples were few”, he states. I believe that the question deserves to be clarified, because we are very tempted to measure the presence of the Church in numerical termswhich until recently also meant influence on society, power.
The archbishop of Milan, Mario Delpini, also reflects on it in one interview on November 7: «Secularization can be read as the chronicle of one defeat and decline», he declared. But then he pointed to a different criterion: «The evangelical wisdom recognizes the fulfillment of the words of Jesus which indicates the presence of Kingdom with images of pinch of salt, a little light». The conclusion he drew: “The question is therefore not how many of us there are, but whether the salt retains its flavor and whether the fire continues to burn.”
This question must disturb us – but also give hope. We then need to ask ourselves if we are fueling this fireif we keep this “salt flavour”. And that means going to the heart of Christianityas Brother Enzo Bianchi writes in a beautiful book just released (Be rebornSan Paolo editions): «Christianity does nothing but constantly be reborn and even in this hour of crisis it is possible for us to live a Christian life in conformity with the Gospel. But it is necessary”re-establish our faith” on the only foundation that is Jesus Christ Lord, man and God, living forever and ever with us, who await his glorious coming!».
It may seem obvious, but sometimes the very things that are taken for granted are the most tarnished and irrelevant to our lives. As Delpini further noted in the interview, «il essential foundation for our faith and for our mission, that is Jesus risenseems reduced to a rather irrelevant notion of the catechism.”
Before being sent to otherswe need warm the heartOf “be with Jesus” (Mark 3.14), to always discover his person anew, starting from his own “humanity” that we know from Gospels. It’s that movement of systole-diastoleOf return to Jesus and exit into the world loved by Godwhich must be kept alive, because even the mercy, charity, attention to the poor can take shape in the Church.
Jesus “told” God with his life. We still know “tell us” about Jesus so that it warms our hearts and we are provoked by his memoryFor “live with Him and for Him. And a bit like Him too» (Delpini)?
