WHY TODAY THE CHURCH IS LOSING HER SALTNESS
This deserves an attention. Someone should be asking What? How the church seems to be losing out her tastes and flavours in the modern epoch of technology, fake news, diminishing voice of conscience, forerunner in democracy, ardent defender of human rights. The Church has found herself between a rock and hard place.
The Church is to carry the Good News to all people and generation more so those who have no heard about Jesus. Jesus should not just be pronounced but has to enter into dark hearts, evil hearts of mankind who are daily corroding in the corruption of the soul. For anyone who is corrupt cannot be converted, that soul is sold and sacrificed on the altar of the devil. You will judge them by their fruits, Jesus knew what he was speaking about and his context was clearly open before his eyes in the historical context of his people faced with enormous yokes of burden and in search for a saviour, liberator, to relive them from the burden of the Roman conquest. This too is the realty of the church today.Jesus wants each of his sons and daughters on this earth to make things a new (2 Cor 5:17) “If one is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away behold new has come”
This newness is not something external but internal, completely change of heart, what we call metanoia, 360 degrees turn with Christ. Not being the same person who was buried in ignorance, hate, anger, pride and auto-sufficiency but new in baptism (Rom 6:4) “we are buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the death by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in Newness of life”. This is the life lived according to the Gospel heard proclaimed and I ready to dare take up the task of doing something of what I have heard. (Eph 4:23-24) “and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of Godin true righteousness and holiness”.
This has to touch interior life, that heart that has no love for the neighbour, that stiff attitude of gossip, pride and self-glorification to personal internal transformation.
This the Church has become lazy to preach about it, for fear of what she herself knows. Today, priests have become so diplomatic in talking about sin and being a voice of conscience, the church has compromised many things at the altar of financial prowess. The local church we call small Christian community is completely strained with special collections, buildings, money generating projects and the time spend on real mission mandate is almost zero. The church has turned into a functional NGO with tax exemptions and enriching the pockets of church officials. Comfort has entered in the pastors, priests, bishops that the constant visits the ordinary used to make annually in parishes in his diocese, today, to get the ordinary to visit is a nightmare, the contacts has become scare. Things are not going on well and this should not be seen as a revolt mind, its simply the truth out there, I talk out of experience and for that this is a shout out to the concerned to do what they vowed to do.
Evangelization is not about building schools, hospitals, clinics, money generating projects, but depth going to the very centre and root of life. The human person has to be taken as he is and as a starting point, the relationship between man and God has deteriorated, and man to his neighbour has worsened and we have accepted to hate each other just because of political parties, manipulation of the citizenry by the state with false promises and if the people resist and remind the state of its responsibility, they are suppressed and killed, or soldiers are poured to the streets to unleash evil weapons of destruction. The same soldiers who on Sunday change uniform and dress in civilian and are on the queue to commulgate the body of Christ, or occupying front seats in our churches in the name of honourable. The Church has to recuperate the sense sin and preach about it in season and out of season.
The culture cannot be put in the same category with the Gospel. But how many times do we see a lot of syncretism being practised before our eyes and yet we storm it, or look the other side. See no evil, hear no evil, touch no evil, smell no evil attitude.
Today, we have pastors, priests who are closing gates for the Christians to come in with many conditions, owning parishes, and turning missions into personal property, they over stay in a parish until nothing is renewed, everything is the same, no creative but fear or hands-off attitude in the parishioners. The ordinary knows about the complains of the Christians but has always builds up a philosophy of go back, we shall look into that, and this has cost the church a lot and the church is paying for the consequences of her own sons and daughters sinfulness, careless leadership and management skills.
People who in their midst of the community in which they live, will show that they are capable of understanding and accepting them, cooperate with all those who are seeking to protect what is noble and good. These are values that transcend common values and their hopes in things which are not seen and of which even the boldest mind cannot form an image. The Christians will always ask, why is that priest like that, so rude, unfriendly and sad. They know who a priest is by their first encounter whether he is warm, and kind or cold and arrogant. The Gospel has to be proclaimed in silent, strong but effective manner.
Today the gospel looks as if it is in wrong hands, that who are proclaiming it are not worth the call of proclaimers but men at work, take caution when approached. The Christians are sad with some of their pastors, not counting how many pastors are sick with their flocks. There should be social intercourse and cooperation, this is the beginning element of evangelization.
All Christians are called to bear this witness and in this way, they can be true evangelizers. There is no true evangelization if the name, teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God, are not proclaimed.
The challenge is always who is to be sent to proclaim the mystery of Christ? Today we have priests who are afraid to be sent for mission or to proclaim to other brothers out of their territories, it’s sad that you vow to be a priest for all (universal) but once one is ordained a priest, he wants to be a priest only for his people. Jesus himself a prophet is always despised in his own, or never accepted. Until that sinks, then we shall be assured that it will be understood and that it will reach all those who ought to hear it, proclaiming the Good News. This force has to produce great significance unless it is received, accepted and adopted and unless it evokes the wholehearted allegiance of those who hear it, fuller assent to the spirit and way of life.
Those who hear this Gospel should be the same people who need to turn into local evangelizers in their homes, communities, neighbourhood and their country at large. The litmus is in the personal conversion first then spread it around to those who deserve to convert, sometimes we think our neighbour needs more conversion than the self, or the gospel is meant for someone else in your mind not for you.
We are called to take our responsibilities and obligations very seriously and come out of our slumber, witness to the truth, wholeheartedly forgive those who have hurt us, learn to re-enter into the Church community anew, take up tasks actively, especially the apostolic work.
Let us build up a culture of establishing to whom the message of evangelization is directed and on whom the responsibility for the devolves.
This deserves an attention. Someone should be asking What? How the church seems to be losing out her tastes and flavours in the modern epoch of technology, fake news, diminishing voice of conscience, forerunner in democracy, ardent defender of human rights. The Church has found herself between a rock and hard place.
The Church is to carry the Good News to all people and generation more so those who have no heard about Jesus. Jesus should not just be pronounced but has to enter into dark hearts, evil hearts of mankind who are daily corroding in the corruption of the soul. For anyone who is corrupt cannot be converted, that soul is sold and sacrificed on the altar of the devil. You will judge them by their fruits, Jesus knew what he was speaking about and his context was clearly open before his eyes in the historical context of his people faced with enormous yokes of burden and in search for a saviour, liberator, to relive them from the burden of the Roman conquest. This too is the realty of the church today.Jesus wants each of his sons and daughters on this earth to make things a new (2 Cor 5:17) “If one is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away behold new has come”
This newness is not something external but internal, completely change of heart, what we call metanoia, 360 degrees turn with Christ. Not being the same person who was buried in ignorance, hate, anger, pride and auto-sufficiency but new in baptism (Rom 6:4) “we are buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the death by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in Newness of life”. This is the life lived according to the Gospel heard proclaimed and I ready to dare take up the task of doing something of what I have heard. (Eph 4:23-24) “and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new nature, created after the likeness of Godin true righteousness and holiness”.
This has to touch interior life, that heart that has no love for the neighbour, that stiff attitude of gossip, pride and self-glorification to personal internal transformation.
This the Church has become lazy to preach about it, for fear of what she herself knows. Today, priests have become so diplomatic in talking about sin and being a voice of conscience, the church has compromised many things at the altar of financial prowess. The local church we call small Christian community is completely strained with special collections, buildings, money generating projects and the time spend on real mission mandate is almost zero. The church has turned into a functional NGO with tax exemptions and enriching the pockets of church officials. Comfort has entered in the pastors, priests, bishops that the constant visits the ordinary used to make annually in parishes in his diocese, today, to get the ordinary to visit is a nightmare, the contacts has become scare. Things are not going on well and this should not be seen as a revolt mind, its simply the truth out there, I talk out of experience and for that this is a shout out to the concerned to do what they vowed to do.
Evangelization is not about building schools, hospitals, clinics, money generating projects, but depth going to the very centre and root of life. The human person has to be taken as he is and as a starting point, the relationship between man and God has deteriorated, and man to his neighbour has worsened and we have accepted to hate each other just because of political parties, manipulation of the citizenry by the state with false promises and if the people resist and remind the state of its responsibility, they are suppressed and killed, or soldiers are poured to the streets to unleash evil weapons of destruction. The same soldiers who on Sunday change uniform and dress in civilian and are on the queue to commulgate the body of Christ, or occupying front seats in our churches in the name of honourable. The Church has to recuperate the sense sin and preach about it in season and out of season.
The culture cannot be put in the same category with the Gospel. But how many times do we see a lot of syncretism being practised before our eyes and yet we storm it, or look the other side. See no evil, hear no evil, touch no evil, smell no evil attitude.
Today, we have pastors, priests who are closing gates for the Christians to come in with many conditions, owning parishes, and turning missions into personal property, they over stay in a parish until nothing is renewed, everything is the same, no creative but fear or hands-off attitude in the parishioners. The ordinary knows about the complains of the Christians but has always builds up a philosophy of go back, we shall look into that, and this has cost the church a lot and the church is paying for the consequences of her own sons and daughters sinfulness, careless leadership and management skills.
People who in their midst of the community in which they live, will show that they are capable of understanding and accepting them, cooperate with all those who are seeking to protect what is noble and good. These are values that transcend common values and their hopes in things which are not seen and of which even the boldest mind cannot form an image. The Christians will always ask, why is that priest like that, so rude, unfriendly and sad. They know who a priest is by their first encounter whether he is warm, and kind or cold and arrogant. The Gospel has to be proclaimed in silent, strong but effective manner.
Today the gospel looks as if it is in wrong hands, that who are proclaiming it are not worth the call of proclaimers but men at work, take caution when approached. The Christians are sad with some of their pastors, not counting how many pastors are sick with their flocks. There should be social intercourse and cooperation, this is the beginning element of evangelization.
All Christians are called to bear this witness and in this way, they can be true evangelizers. There is no true evangelization if the name, teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of God, are not proclaimed.
The challenge is always who is to be sent to proclaim the mystery of Christ? Today we have priests who are afraid to be sent for mission or to proclaim to other brothers out of their territories, it’s sad that you vow to be a priest for all (universal) but once one is ordained a priest, he wants to be a priest only for his people. Jesus himself a prophet is always despised in his own, or never accepted. Until that sinks, then we shall be assured that it will be understood and that it will reach all those who ought to hear it, proclaiming the Good News. This force has to produce great significance unless it is received, accepted and adopted and unless it evokes the wholehearted allegiance of those who hear it, fuller assent to the spirit and way of life.
Those who hear this Gospel should be the same people who need to turn into local evangelizers in their homes, communities, neighbourhood and their country at large. The litmus is in the personal conversion first then spread it around to those who deserve to convert, sometimes we think our neighbour needs more conversion than the self, or the gospel is meant for someone else in your mind not for you.
We are called to take our responsibilities and obligations very seriously and come out of our slumber, witness to the truth, wholeheartedly forgive those who have hurt us, learn to re-enter into the Church community anew, take up tasks actively, especially the apostolic work.
Let us build up a culture of establishing to whom the message of evangelization is directed and on whom the responsibility for the devolves.
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