He is Risen! Now What?

In all the flurry of excitement over Pope Francis making it into his second decade of Poping around in Rome, and still hurting over the death of Benedict XVI, I have been ruminating on the differences of each man.

In truth, Benedict XVI was a genius, deeply insightful and a calm hand on the tiller of Peter's Barque.  But also in truth, he was a frustrating person to me at times.  He was very Christ-centric and, as odd as this may be to say about a Pope, I sometimes thought he as a bit TOO Christ-centric, to the point of useless abstraction. While it is undoubtedly true that Christ is the Answer to war and poverty and injustice, it's a bit more helpful to explain how Christ is the answer to this particular example of war or poverty or injustice.  How does Christ enter into the debate on the minimum wage, or terrorism in the Middle East or crime in the cities?  Is one side right and the other wrong or must we always acknowledge the view of both sides and split the baby in a way that will satisfy no one?

Now we have another Pope with another agenda, one mostly formed by a long life of grievances which he is finally able to unburden himself of.  Whereas Pope Benedict preached that Christ is the answer, Francis is more along the lines of "You are the problem".  And, to be fair, both are correct in a measure that I'm  uncomfortable to admit.

And yet in both Papacies, the number of practicing Catholics has, at best, stayed level and in many places is dropping.  Neither message is actually "working" if we're supposed to be bringing in new converts, or keeping the ones we have.

Furthermore, our Bishops and Priests are weak and wobbly on most issues.  The Cardinal Archbishop of New York today has a stirring Easter message favorably comparing Jew and Catholics to Baseball of all things.  And that counts as a courageous message because he protrays Catholicism favorably (assuming you like baseball) and a lot of Priests and Bishops feel that Catholic teaching and practice is an unfortunate burden that the faithful are better off avoiding.  But if the Priests and Bishops are weak and incompetent, it should also be remembered that they come from the laity, which is also notably weak and incompetent.  The best that could be said is that they are the best of a bad bunch, and we have to pray that the trite aphorism "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies those He calls" is true.

So it's clear we need a rethink.  I would suggest we tackle this in steps.  Ask yourself:

1. Is God a Trinity, existing in an eternal communion of love?
2. Is the Bible a faithful and accurate transmission of God's message?
3. Is the Old Testament relevant today?  Even the boring or unpleasant bits?  Does this still apply in a Christian age?
4. Did Jesus, the second member of the Trinity come to Earth and live fully human and fully divine?
5. Is Jesus really God?
6. Did He die on the cross and rise on the third day?
7. Does He will that everyone be saved, yet acknowledge that many won't due to their own willful refusal to accept the salvation on offer?
8. Is the New Testament an accurate representation of Jesus's words and actions?
9. Is the New Testament still relevant today?   
10. Are you forbidden to contextualize the Bible in a way that excuses whatever war, violence or injustice you feel is justified in this particular case?
11. Is this Good News?
12. Did He leave a church behind, lead by his apostles, to carry out His mission of gathering all people to Him?
13. Is this Church empowered to preach in His name, instructing the faithful on what to believe and how to behave?
14. Is THIS Good News?

Now, here's the tricky bit:

1. Does any of the above matter to you, in the United States in April of 2023?
2. Does an all-knowing God fill you with awe in the age of Google?
3. Does an all-powerful God fill you with awe in the age of Big Government?
4. Does an all-present God fill you with awe in the age of Google and Big Government?
5. Given that we are in the age of Google and Big Government, are you happy with the idea of an ominscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God?
6. Are you required to say, do and act in a certain way given the items above? If there are rights and responsibilities that come with being a citizen of this world, do you have rights and responsibilities as a result of being a citizen of the Kingdom of God?
7. If you do have rights and responsibilities, what are they?  Do they come from the Bible, Magisterial teaching and Sacred Tradition or do they come from some think tank that aligns with your political beliefs?

Finally, if you've made it this far:

1. Is all of this Good News?  Are you happier and better off, not just in the afterlife but Here and Now if you Know the Truth of Jesus Christ, if you believe that Jesus is Lord and if you live according to His commandments?  Even when things get uncomfortable?  When it's easier to leave your spouse, or steal from your employer, or abort your child or pull the plug on your parent?  When everyone else is wearing immodest clothing or watching immodest TV shows and you are an outcast because you won't?  That you're still better off an living a more joyful life when your friends stop inviting you out because you don't laugh at their jokes any more? Or they think you're a wimp?  Or a prude?

And that's enough for now.  Of the items on this list, I can't say that there are priests and bishops who deny all of them, but there are plenty that deny at least a few from sections one and two and act as if they deny section 3. And there are plenty of practicing Catholic who deny every one of them, or at least mumble their way through it like Arius did in the 4th century. And you know how things turned out for him.

To return to where I started, I would say that Benedict XVI preached very well sections 1 and 3 above and Francis attempts to preach section three but neither really puts it all together.  Being clerics, perhaps they don't deal with the grittiness of the world and are unable to actually formulate an opinion on Section 2.

It's often said that in the US, we don't get the "Kingship" of Jesus because we don't have Kings, though the presidency is getting closer every day.  However I was very specific in the second section.  We have a lot of "omni's" in our life.  There's no aspect of daily activity that's not spied on or regulated by the leviathan that surrounds us.  Perhaps we need a new preaching contrasting the Big Tech/Big Government duopoly with God, similar to how the Feast of Christ the King was designed to contrast His lordship over the buffoons that run our nations..  

But mostly I think we need to assure people that God exists (doubted by many), and we are made in His image, not the other way around (doubted by even more). And we are better off living according to His will than we are living according to ours (doubted by almost all).  That it's a Good Thing to follow the Good News.  Even when it means making difficult decisions.