Dear Friends,
Watching a comedian on Netflix recently gave me a very sad portrayal of the reality of Christianity in our
modern world. Granted, the comedian was British and speaking to a London audience, but still it was unsettling. At
one point in his monologue, he asked if there were any Christians present. Only one fellow was brave enough to
respond with a “yes”. The comedian then when on to mock him for being so gullible to believe the fantasy story of a
virgin birth and a man being raised from the dead. He told the Christian that he was not afraid to say these things
because what could the Christian do but forgive him because that is what Jesus taught him to do.
That negative thinking about Christianity is becoming more and more common among people. It is sad
because it is an image formed out of ignorance. If someone is going to reject Christianity, then reject it for what it
truly teaches and how it really lives rather than from some childish view of what Christianity is and believes. So
many who have abandoned Christianity never knew it to begin with. They stopped learning about Christian teaching
when they were children and never became adult Christians. It is as if we could ask a nuclear physicist to only use
what he or she learned in grade school to do their present work. It would not be possible. Children receive
Christianity on a child’s level. Adults on an adult level. Which is why we can never stop learning about our faith,
why we can never say we are finished. Disciples of Jesus never stop growing in depth of understanding of the why’s
and how’s of our faith life.
For example, there is a notion out there in our world and sometimes in our faith assemblies, that God is allsufficient,
all unto himself, supremely alone, detached, immovable, all knowing, all ruling, beyond all the risks and
hurts and pains of life. That is certainly not the God of the Bible. That is not the Father of Jesus. Any of us who
regularly read scripture or hear it proclaimed at Mass know that the God of the Bible is one who commits in
irreversible ways to creation and humankind. God enters into a covenant and stays in solidarity with sinful, hurting
and suffering humanity. The pain of this world is the pain that God experiences. God does not run away or back off
from our suffering. God suffers with us. Which is why God reacts to our sin because of the harm it causes to those
whom God loves. The marks of our God are not aloneness and immovability, but faithfulness and the readiness to
stay with and to stay for those who hurt.
The comedian was mean in his comments to Christians in the audience, but he was mean to everyone in the
audience. He is a perfect example of the temptation of our age that we are in control of ourselves and our destiny.
His self-centeredness was all that mattered – he was secure and powerful in the little world he had created on that
stage. In such a world we isolate ourselves and have no regard for our neighbors, we forget how to care, how to be
compassionate, how to be generous. We end up with a humanity that ends in a deadly destruction. When we wonder
about the violence and loss of neighborliness in our world today, we can begin with the loss of faith in so many
people.
So, one of the questions I pose to people who no longer attend church – like so many of late – is, has the drop
off in people attending church made the world better? Can we say that in these last thirty years, where church
attendance has dropped dramatically, that the world is a kinder, gentler, more peaceful place? Do people treat their
neighbors better today without the church? Do you really think the values Jesus teaches are bad – forgiveness,
generosity, love?
If we are gullible because we choose the values of Jesus over the values of violence and self-centeredness,
then so be it. Those who have chosen to live the gospel of Jesus have found in it life and joy and deep peace. What
does any other alternative give?
Peace,
Fr. Damian