Robert Barbry

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! – Isaiah 5:20

Last night I completed my reading of JP2’s ‘Veritatis Splendor (the Splendor of Truth)’ and in the last portion our beloved Pope Saint spends a great deal of time introducing to the world the concept of a new evangelization. Bear in mind, this encyclical was written in the 1990’s; right around twenty years ago to be exact. It is blatantly obvious that John Paul II was extremely intuitive and was on point with his assessment of the ‘signs of the times.’ In his wisdom, he knew that there existed (and still exists) a desperate need for the Church to defend her timeless truths with unrelenting pastoral care. We live in an age where everyone gets offended over everything and anyone who claims to know the truth about anything will quickly be labeled as a bigot or a racist, etc. We live in a totalitarian age governed by relativism. Relativism simply states that what might be true for you isn’t necessarily true for me and therefore we can no longer proclaim anything to be objectively true or morally absolute.

Relativism brings to mind the instance in the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit so that they might be ‘like God’. Genesis so appropriately captures in that one sentence the essence of all sin. When we remove God as Lord of our lives and replace Him with ourselves we, effectively, remove all that is objectively true and good only to replace it with an entire universe that revolves around our own views. Sin is not only a turning away from God but an elevation of our own, imperfect preferences.

The Church, in all of her wisdom, seeks to promote the dignity of the human person in every situation; after all, made in God’s image is something worth preserving. Church teaching on the issues of abortion, gay marriage, contraception, and the like are often misconstrued as being invasive, dated, unfair, and intolerant. Think about this for a second, especially if you disagree with the Church’s position on any of these ‘hot button’ issues: If evil is opposed to good buy its very definition, how would the enemy of your soul have you to view the very teaching that aims to redeem your soul?

Exactly.

It is for such reasons that a new evangelization is so vitally important. The truth isn’t something that changes in order to ‘get with the times’ and the Church affirms that moral absolutes do exist and are worth preserving. However, we live in a culture that exists as if God doesn’t. As Catholics we are called to be faithful to the truth even until the point of death. (cf. Revelation 2:10) Martyrdom is, indeed, its own reward. The thought of martyrdom, however, seems radical and might even repel some to the idea of diving deeper into their faith. I can assure you that living out our Catholic identity in a radical way is the only way that the tide could ever be turned. The enemy seeks only to steal, kill, and destroy, and is going about these objectives with great determination and creativity.

The Church is called not to an equal, but a greater response. And no, such cultural issues cannot be rectified with making church ‘cool’, rather people need to see that the Church teaches something real, tangible, and life-changing. So I encourage you: live passionately Catholic. Invite people to mass, study your faith so that you might give a defense (if necessary), pray without ceasing, and make your faith the focal point from which your life takes its order and not just a compartmentalized part of who you are. (cf. 1 Peter 3:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:17) The future of the Church is in the hands of those who truly witness, by word and deed, the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit. It matters nothing if you’re a ‘good Catholic’ who does only what is required of you and nothing more.

“Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses…” – Blessed Pope Paul VI