Covid -19 has drawn all of us into a reality we never imagined. Now, with the emerging vaccines, we are beginning to see a glimmer of light at the end of a long dark tunnel. We all yearn for a return to normalcy. It may happen but our future most likely will be quite different from our recent past.
I would like to reflect on one area of interest in the immediate future, the practice of religion. During the pandemic, many deeply cherished religious practices have been uprooted. Number one on the list is church attendance. A second curious issue would be church non-attendance. What will parishes, churches and faith communities experience as the pandemic fades away? Will those with a deeply ingrained habit of weekly church attendance return to this practice or will the experience of the pandemic lead them to conclude they can get along fine with much less commitment to formal religious services? On the other hand, many who have forsaken formal religion have found their personal security, and even more so, their mortality exposed in a truly frightening way during the pandemic. Will they return to formal religion as a result of their shattered security in their self-defined, and often self-contained, spirituality?
There are no clear answers but the likelihood of change in both groups will truly be an interesting point of development as we face the future. Whatever happens, the deep social upheaval in the practice of religion offers both institutional religion and individuals a marvelous opportunity to return to the basic truth of our Christian faith. There is nothing more indispensable to our faith than the question Jesus asked the disciples in chapter eight of the Gospel of Mark, “Who do you say that I am?” (Mk 8:29) Only when we discover who Jesus is for us, can we discover how true religion and, more importantly, true spirituality offer us a pathway to the definitive saving truth.
At the very beginning of his remarkable Exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis says, “I never tire of reporting the words of Benedict XVI which take us to the very heart of the gospel: ‘Being a Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.’” (The Joy of the Gospel: #7) That person is Jesus. We meet Jesus in the Gospels.
The Gospels are structured so that we, like Peter and the others, experience Jesus in the marvels of his ministry. We also must respond to his invitation, “Come and you will see.” (Jn 1:39) We are called to hear his teaching and view his healings. We are challenged to respond to the radical message of forgiveness and inclusion. We are invited to ponder the miracle of his compassion. We are asked to enter into the stories and parables. It is helpful to see ourselves as the blind person who gains sight, the leper who is cleansed, and the paralytic who is forgiven and healed. In our encounter with the gospel message, we need to make sure that the central meaning comes out loud and clear. The heart of the gospel is Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen. He is our savior who delivers us from the bondage of sin and shows us the way to eternal life. God has taken the initiative in his saving love for us. Our basic call is to accept this love as we recognize our need for salvation. After this fundamental encounter with Christ, we need to grow in accepting the maturing demands of this love.
