Saturday, June 14, 2014

Why Christ is irrelevant in the modern world?

The modern world apparently seems to deny guilt. It seems to confuse guilt and sin with sickness having no moral implications. If sin is only sickness that can easily be explained away in sociological, psychological and statistical terms then it is no wonder why Christ's relevance in the modern world has taken a nose dive. Christ is irrelevant therefore in a world where there are no sinners only the infirm. The Christ who seems to be relevant to the infirm is the sociological Christ whose relevance waxes and wanes in proportion to His ability to establish the earthly kingdom. If Christ has become irrelevant in the modern world it is because we have made Him so through trivializing sin, guilt and individual moral responsibility. If Christ has become irrelevant it is because we have relativized truth either directly through preaching or indirectly through ambiguity in word and deed regarding issues pertaining to Truth. Christ becomes irrelevant to the extent that we divorce His Victimhood from His Priesthood. If Christ has become irrelevant in the modern world it is because we have denied the real implications of the Incarnation(God becoming man) and the firm possibility of knowing the 'real Christ' whom the modern world has convinced itself is to be distinguished from the Christ dressed up by later doctrinal formulations of Scripture and Tradition. The modern world (including many in the Church) in many cases denies the abiding power of Pentecost because it is continually seduced by the prospects of unmasking and excavating the "real historical Jesus" thereby denying the capacity and ability of the Catholic Faith to transmit the truth of Jesus. The modern mind almost searches for the 'Real' Jesus as if He were buried beneath the rubble of the New Testament account of Him.
Christ is made irrelevant to the degree that we downplay the gift and virtue of reverence in the context of the Church and the Holy Mass. Reverence in the Church and especially during Mass can inspire faith in Christ's relevance. Lack of reverence inspires ambiguity regarding Christ's relevance. Irreverence inspires eyes for everything else but a relevant Christ.

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