At the Threshold

Humanity finds itself submerged in pressing concerns. At the threshold of the 21st century the world is more “global” and technological, but marvelous scientific and technical advances haven’t responded to the serious problems that still weigh upon millions of people, and, by disconnecting themselves from their proper fundament and orientation, can become a threat to man. Interior ruptures, theories which distance the person from his own self, unresolved injustices, increasing poverty, ethnic and political wars and conflicts, relativisms of all kinds, agnosticisms – even before the existence of truth – in sum, all kinds of ruptures that reveal a culture that has forgotten to concede to the human being the place that his nature and dignity demand.

Of course there are many good things, not all is bad, but the image of a world in “mythical” development doesn’t convince those who suffer so much in so many countries, even though the cosmetics of a carefree optimism conceals to many the face of a disconcerted and suffering humanity.

We hear siren songs with their enchanting melodies. We hear voices which express the frustrations and lamentations of millions. And in the middle of this diverse concert there sounds forth the impact of a two thousand year old fact. Some people, failing to assume this fact or locked in routine, have silenced it. But it’s an event that makes a claim for the centrality due to it and this event offers the only horizon of hope: the Lord Jesus, who is the light that illuminates the mystery of the human being, his dignity and his supreme vocation.

A Key Question

At the threshold of the third millennium, even among those who consider themselves believers, the need remains to respond to the question of Jesus of Nazareth in Caesarea Philippi: “Who do you say that I am?” To anyone who views the panorama of humanity at the turn of the millennium, the Teacher’s question not only hasn’t lost its rich horizon, rather, it constitutes an urgent appeal to men and women of all nations and cultures.

There are those who disdainfully ignore it, hypnotized within a vacuous “idolatry” of a mythical progress, thus leaving aside the most fundamental human concerns. Those who neither succumb to this idolatry nor to others which would leave them without eyes to see nor ears to hear are capable of hearing the question.

Many Answers

But, like two thousand years ago, today there are many wrong or incomplete answers which sometimes seem to outshine the correct one. Thus a recognition of Jesus of Nazareth as a notable exponent of the human race tends to be rather widespread. On being taken as an absolute the true aspect of such a vision turns into one that mutilates the reality of the Lord.

Alongside this perspective of a reductive humanism can be found another. This time it has a “religious” look to it, even though it is also incomplete. Jesus is reduced to a great prophet or spiritual master. A similar attitude can be seen in the skeptical disciples on their way to Emmaus after the Crucifixion, before the encounter which re-evangelized them and brought them to proclaim their faith.

Considerations of the Lord as merely an example of a spiritual man or even as one of the ways of access to God are reductive stances which present a sweetened disfiguration of the face of the unique Savior. Even among those who call themselves believers there are those who opt for a certain “selectivity,” victims of a subjectivism of unwholesome fruits, who also fall into a lamentable disfiguration of the face of Jesus.

These partial visions of the Lord, as much as they may enthuse certain people, are not a full recognition of God who is Love and who becomes man, going out to encounter the human being in order to redeem and reconcile him, showing him the way to his complete fulfillment and happiness.

The Word listened to

The Father utters his Eternal Word which becomes Man, by the Holy Spirit, in the immaculate womb of the ever-Virgin Mary. Whoever allows himself to be impelled by grace can, with faith, confess like Saint Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!” The fullness of the Lord’s face is only perceivable by the light of the faith. The Church conserves the full reach of this profession of faith and by Her teaching transmits it throughout the centuries.

The theme of the Great Jubilee of 2000 reminds us that Jesus is Lord and that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (cf. Heb 13:8). It’s an appeal to discover the dimension of the permanence of God’s redeeming love, of the faithful constancy with which He goes out to encounter the human being, and that His love co-exists with changing times and circumstances. Discovering, accepting, and testifying that Jesus is the only Lord and Reconciler illuminates the horizon of the third millennium with hope.