The Gospel most people know is just a tame, domesticated version of the real thing. That Jesus is not demanding or incompatible with their already established hierarchy of values. Christianity can quite comfortably fit in a small box on the shelf, ready to be pulled out in case of need. Then it is tucked away as one more box among many. It certainly doesn’t interfere with life or make real demands.
It seems safe to say, we have failed to convincingly present the fullness of the Gospel.
Most of its greatest champions—St. Francis, St Therese, Jesus Himself—have been turned into heralds of a soft, fluffy niceness. Saints and the radical message they represent has been reduced to a caricature on laminated holy cards and garden bird baths. They are most definitely not real people who show that it’s possible for everyone to embrace an authentic living of the Gospel.
The spiritual life most people have been presented with is like the theological version of Kitsch: a mass produced, fake type of art that pretends to be something deep, but is just filled with superficial emotion and no real substance. Just visit your local religious goods store and look at the selection of statues to get an idea of Kitsch in all its glory.
The Christianity so many people experience is more like a vaccine against the real thing. It is an innocuous version that allows them to shallowly live their faith with a sense of self-satisfaction and complacency. Either that, or it enables them to reject it with the certainty they have fully evaluated the proposal and found it entirely unconvincing. Nothing so thoroughly and shamefully exposes our systematic failure like the words, “Oh, I know all about that. I went to Catholic school.”
No amount of information can solve the problem of the human heart. We do not just need better curriculum in our schools or a more rigorous faith formation programs in our parishes. As Abraham Heschel, the Jewish Theologian, said, “the God of Abraham does not have proof, He has witnesses.” Without the witness of holiness—men and women who fully incarnate the Gospel in their lives—nearly all our efforts and careful planning remain fruitless.
What is needed is a renewal of holiness.
The formula is always the same: know Jesus, be transformed by Him, and share that with others.
