The Way and The Truth
What follows is an excerpt from a meditation for Wednesday, Dec, 26, 2007 found in Magnificat. The meditation is by Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete. His description of the answer to life's questions that the Church offers is, I think, spot on. Let me know what you think.
[Christians] do not seek solutions to the problems of life derived from religious sentiments, spiritual approaches, or philosophical convictions. We do not have answers to questions. In each circumstance of life, whatever it is, we seek not an answer but a Presence, the human presence that is the way to the "Answer," to the Truth. We do not come together as Church to find intellectual answers to our questions about the meaning and purpose of life.This is to reduce the Church to an ideology. We come together not to find answers but to learn how to recognize and affirm a Presence. The Church is not "our way" of finding answers to our religious quest for the Truth; it is the method through which the Truth becomes humanly present to us. As the prolongation of Christ's presence in the world, it is the method through which the Truth becomes incarnate for us... We come together as the Church to learn how to recognize the fact of this Presence, and to witness to it in any circumstance of life, especially when there are no answers. Jesus Christ is the way to the Answer. In him, way and answer coincide.
posted by Jim at 6:28 PM
1 Comments:
Thank-you for the quote. Lots of thoughts are swimming in my mind. I'll process by writing (dangerous) and passage further, so we can chat about it in the future.
1. Yes, as fallen human beings we are limited in our ability to know with completeness and 'the Final Answer' is only glimpsed by the grace of God through Jesus the Christ. Although there will be a day when we see God 'face-to-face,' our focus in not upon religious answers/structures but on relationship with God.
2. But the Truth becomes significantly present to us through the revelation of God: through creation and it's unfolding direction (Father/Son), the Word incarnated and his work on earth (Son), and the people of God (who compose the community and body of Christ drawn together by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit)
3. The structure, direction, and accountability for addressing life's questions are offered by the rythmns of the Body of Christ provided by the preaching of the Word of God, the proper celebration of the sacraments, and faithful ministry. Even if these fail, God is still present through the creation, the Word of God, and the Spirit (which will draw one close to God and to those which also yearn for God).
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