GOD ISN’T IN CRISIS
It’s more frequent than we think. We believers say we believe in God, but in practice we live as if God doesn’t exist. This is also the danger we have today when we approach the current religious crisis and the uncertain future of the Church: to live these moments «atheistically».
These days we don’t know how to walk in «God’s horizon». We analyze our crises and plan the future thinking only about our possibilities. We forget that the world is in God’s hands, not in ours. We ignore that the «Great Shepherd» who takes care of and guides the life of each human being is God.
We live as «orphans» who have lost their Father. The crisis overwhelms us. What’s being asked of us seems excessive. It ends up hard for us to keep going with hope in a task without seeing a way out on any side. We feel ourselves alone, and each one defends oneself as best one can.
According to the Gospel story, Jesus is in Jerusalem, communicating his message. It’s winter, and in order to not be chilled, he’s walking through one of the Temple’s porticoes, surrounded by Jews, who bombard him with their questions. Jesus is talking about the «sheep» who listen to his voice and follow him. At one point he says: «My Father, for what he has given me, is greater than anyone, and no one can steal anything from the Father’s hand».
According to Jesus: «God is greater than anyone». The fact that we are in crisis doesn’t mean that God is in crisis. The fact that we Christians loose heart doesn’t mean to say that God remains powerless to save. The fact that we don’t know how to dialogue with people today doesn’t mean that God no longer encounters paths to speak to the heart of each person. The fact that people are leaving our churches doesn’t mean that they are running away from God’s protecting hands.
God is God. No religious crisis and no Church mediocrity could «steal from God’s hands» those sons and daughters whom God loves with infinite love. God abandons no one. God has ways to take care of and guide each one of God’s children, and God’s ways aren’t necessarily the ones we try to lay out for God.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
