Knowing the Person of Jesus - New Evangelizers

Being that the World Synod of Bishops recently covered the theme of the New Evangelization, I had been mining for quotes, ideas, and themes to engage here.

This quote, however, stopped me:

The Gospel that Jesus Christ came to reveal is not information about God, but rather God himself in our midst. God made himself visible, audible, tangible. In return, he asks our love.

– Cardinal Wuerl “Report Preceding World Synod of Bishops”

Often we catechize others, or attempt to educate the reasoning behind morals, or perhaps inspire others to service, presupposing they have actually had an encounter with the living God. Should they have no personal knowledge of God, what’s the point? Seriously?

There was a rather silly scene in Left Behind when the non-bible believing protagonist reads the Scriptures. All of a sudden, his eyes are magically opened. The scene was so laughable because there was very little prior to suggest that he was disillusioned with his previous life.

Augustine, for instance, went through chapters of misery and inner-conflict, putting off giving his life to the Lord. And here is this over-simplified portrayal of how God’s Word convicts. It’s not convincing in the least.

Sometimes we recite doctrines and theologies as if they could have the same power over others. Sometimes we quote a saint hoping to give them a Saint Francis moment. It’s as if we could take the reigns from God, and create an explosive conversion with the right ingredients.

What if they encounter the Lord first? Then they have an insatiability for questions, and we are perhaps in a better place to introduce them to the knowledge of God.

Do we really need a bunch of shallow curious quandaries or do we want more disciples of Jesus? It’s just as easy to research the Church on Wikipedia with a few Google Searches, but what value is it if that doesn’t result in coming to know Jesus Christ?

Reciting Church teaching on an issue, no matter how reasonable, no matter how neutrally rooted in Natural Law, seems to have no effect on hard hearts. Catholics hear plenty of Scripture proclaimed at the Masses they are required to attend, and still they opt to become a “nones.” External impositions are not as powerful as the inner movement of the Spirit nor the overall Providence of God.

“If only we catechized more!” This is the chorus.

I do not deny our bad catechesis, but to what effect are people even aware that they can actually encounter our Lord? To what effect do we facilitate that encounter or open people to that possibility? To what degree is this actually processed when people might actually be encountering the Lord?

It is one thing that many people are not convinced that God is really there in the Church or in the Mass. It is another that many people are not convinced that we are convicted about that.

I do not find the problem to be simply a lack of catechesis. As our American Church became so focused on Community and Service, we weakened what makes us so unique: Christ.

We believed that if we just did what Jesus said, it would be enough, and we forgot to tell the next generation about who it was that said it.

If people merely want Community and Service, there are plenty of places that they could turn without having to do with all the imperfect people. They can, and probably did, go elsewhere to find an easier way of doing Community and Service without the Church.

Likewise, I think people are eager to have knowledge about God without an actual relationship with the Lord in his Church. It is easier to shout down others in message boards over their inability to conform to precisely to Church Tradition in every minutia.

We are not really Buddhists, or Gnostics, or Marxists, or anything-ists. We are not here giving our life to some generic “higher cause” or “great idea” or “self-salvation.”

It is really about the person of Jesus, whom we have come to experience and believe. It is really about the fact that we know, were it so that everyone can come to experience and believe.

Copyright © 2012, Mark Menegatti

Mark Menegatti

Brother Mark Menegatti is a Friar with the Order of Saint Augustine. He is a hip hop beatmaker & lyricist for the New Evangelization. Under the patronage of Saint Ephrem of Syria, he integrates theology, mysticism, and hip hop in his blog and in all of his music. He is currently in his fourth year of Theology in Chicago, and looks forward to ordination to the Priesthood. You can find his writings, theological reflections, chastity exhortations, and original music on his tumblr. He’s also found at Bandcamp music page, Twitter, and Facebook.