Bishop Timlin:
Enough Experimentation
.
"It is important, too, that people at all levels of the Church use the
Internet creatively to meet their responsibilities and help fulfill
the Church's mission. Hanging back timidly from fear of technology or
for some other reason is not acceptable, in view of the very many
positive possibilities of the Internet. . for [the Church] to deepen
her dialogue with the contemporary world...The Church can more readily
inform the world of her beliefs and explain the reasons for her stance
on any given issue or event. She can hear more clearly the voice of
public opinion, and enter into a continuous discussion with the world
around her, thus involving herself more immediately in the common
search for solutions to humanity's many pressing problems?.42 (John
Paul II, Message for the 24th World Communications Day, 1990.)
The Holy Spirit, through the Pope and the Church, is calling Christians "at all levels" to use the internet creatively to help the Church fulfill its saving mission throughout the world. Contemplative Christians, as part of this Body, are themselves being called to speak to the world of their own experience of the ineffable thing called "contemplation," and of the mystery of God's transforming love and providence in their own lives.
However, St Paul(1Corinthians) warns all of us who dare to speak to others of the glorious workings of God's contemplative grace in our lives, as it transforms us from membership in the Fallen Race of the Old Man, Adam, into the fullness of membership in the Redeemed Race of the New Man, Jesus Christ, that we beware of secret pride that may possess us and suggest negative comparisons with others who are not yet contemplatives. Moreover, there is also the danger of becoming a proud Pharisee as we set ourselves up as spiritual experts, or as contemporary prophets and spiritual teachers. St Paul brings us back to reality when he riminds us of what we were before God took pity on our plight and began His merciful work of Christian sanctification in us:
I Corinthians
1:18
For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:
But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Corinthians1:25
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many of you were wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, of you who are called:
"But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
That no flesh should glory in his presence."
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
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The concluding section from an address by Henri de Lubac, SJ, May, 29, 1969:
"....The second fundamental condition (for true renewal according to
the intent of Vatican II) is the love and concern for Catholic unity. It
is closely liked with the first condition: personal love of Jesus
Christ.
The shop-worn contrast which some still delight in making
between the Church and the gospel of Christ is an easily exploitable theme
because it is all too evident that the Church seen in her members is
never completely faithful. Sin, which is to be found everywhere, does
not spare the Church--neither sin nor all the other marks of human
frailty. It is no less true, however, that is is still the Church which
brings us the gospel of Christ and, still more important, more true today
than ever before that the generalized criticism of the Church is linked
to a movement that draws away from the gospels.
"I would not be so concerned if this were something from outside
the Church. But when each one takes as his mission to criticize
everything, when each one sets out to rewrite dogma and morality
according to his own wishes, the Church disintegrates. When the center
of unity becomes the target of the most impassioned attacks, each one
feeling that he has the right to criticize the successor of Peter before
the whole world on any point whatsoever, the Church herself is therefore
wounded. Those who take this liberty do not fully realize what they are
doing. Regardless of what pretext they may invoke, however, they are
turning their backs on the gospel of Christ, and they scandalize, in the
fullest sense of the word, many of their brethren.
"Whether they wish to or not, they encourage the formation of
small groups whose sectarian pretensions are equaled only by the poverty
of their spirituality. The weakening of faith is coupled with the
decomposition of the Christian community. They insult all those who hold
on to what their faith requires of them as Christians. Inasmuch as it
depends on them, they ruin the Church. A Church in which this form of
disorder exists and where such morals are accepted is doomed, for it
cannot be efficacious; it will have no missionary zeal, no ecumenical force."(Henri de Lubac, S.J.)