RUSTING IN THE UNDERGROWTH

A mad thought wandered in off the street the other day and sat down in this very chair as if it owned the place. It was still there when I looked earlier today and is clearly making itself at home. What should I do? 

When stuck, I was told years ago, "consult the people". I'm not sure the Dogma professor really meant what he said but here I am anyway, in the language of today, "sharing" with anyone willing to give me a hearing. I told you it was a mad thought, but I'm too uncertain to actually expel it from the premises and then discover it had had some good parts, I thought I'd leave it to you to decide what was best.

The mad thought that has lately come  to be part of this  place is this: 
 "The church should throttle back on religion, ease up on ritual, let people live their own lives."

I think the Mad Thought saw its chance when it heard me saying how impressed I was by the bit in the Gospel that says the crowds were impressed by Jesus precisely because, "he spoke with authority, not like the scribes and pharisees." Mad Boy saw the door was open and made its move. Let this be a warning to the rest of us.


Mention of the Scribes and Pharisees seems to have been the trigger. After all "religion" really was their business. They owned it. "Greeting each other obsequiously in the market squares and having people call them Rabbi." Nothing they liked better than telling people the requirements of the Law, giving their decisions on matters of tradition or mere custom. 

At dodgy times when folk seemed uncertain, the doctors of the law could be relied upon to have their say. And don't blame me too much for leaving the door ajar, please. I can clearly remember how in my younger days, the mere laity would sneak into the sacristy after Mass for a quiet word with Father. "We're going out next Friday, Father, would it be alright if we ate meat?" And they waited for the answer from someone half their age. When it came, it came with the whiff of an authority the scribes and the Pharisees would have envied. 

Meantime the laity, the heart's core of the living church, armed by God almighty with conscience as their guide but lacking the confidence to use this gift, rusted in the undergrowth like devalued remnants of the people they were called to be.[ Wow! Big sentence that].  

How Jesus must have maddened the authorities of his time, the very guardians of the traditions he had been taught in his home in Nazareth. It wasn't just that he was disobedient, he wasn't; it was worse than that, he kept referring to something called "fulfillment" which had not occurred to most of his hearers. Keeping the law was everything. Fulfillment didn't come into it.

No wonder then that their last word on Jesus was, "Crucify him".  That's vested interests for you.

It would be nice to think that I have overstated the case. Vatican 2 has shown us better ways. And in any case we seem to have a Pope now whose vision is wider, deeper, and further than mere adherence to the regulations of religion.

It would indeed be nice to think that we have learned our lesson and that now at last we have reset our compass bearings. And yet almost daily we hear of efforts to immerse the local church in religion as it was a thousand years ago. We hear too of people longing for the so-called certainties of the good old days. Why? Are we unwilling or indeed unable to decide for ourselves?

What a disaster that would be, for in spite of appearances that approach would seriously damage the church we say we love, hole it below the water line. The spirit-driven call of the church is to help people live lives that are truly human. And what could be more fitting for the dignity being human than the courage to use our conscience in living our lives?

And the church? Must it now take its turn at rusting in the undergrowth, just an object of curiosity for visiting tourists. Certainly not according to our present Pope, Francis. In the recent document on "Family Life" Amoris Laetitia, he tells us quite clearly what he regards as the role of the church in modern society. Far from retiring to the long grass, he says " the Church is called to form consciences not replace them" (Amoris Laetitia, 37)

A different role then for the church. No longer just dishing out the rules but certainly not rusting in the undergrowth either.

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