Archbishop of Maracaibo: "Evangelizing in time and out of time is the first challenge"."There is a secret link between slowness and memory, between speed and oblivion". This phrase by the famous Czech playwright Milan Kundera, who recently died in Paris, has been hitting me for the last few weeks. I read it in the essay "Remaining", by the French politician François-Xavier Bellamy, in which he analyzes the fast-paced world we live in and the consequences this fast pace has for our lives.
And I felt challenged.
We live in a world in constant acceleration, in a permanent movement. We all suffer from this culture of haste that leads us to go from one place to another, without wasting time. As Michael Ende narrated in "Momo", "Momo", "Momo", "Momo", "Momo", "Momo"., We seem to be trapped by the gray men who steal the time we think we are trying so hard to save. Change is a constant in our world. Nothing remains. Only what changes seems valid, even if its only virtue is simply that it is new. Progress, advancement, has become a goal in itself, even if we do not know very well where this path is leading us. The important thing is to go forward, wherever we go.
Consequently, we have developed a kind of shame about our past. We have reviewed it and this has led us to discard everything that does not conform to our current way of seeing reality. This is the revisionism imposed by the woke culture., that is tearing us away from our own roots and history.
Thus we have fallen into the trap of the vertiginous speed that leads us to oblivion. A trap that has become a culture and a political proposal. And so we have a fast food, "fast food"., more effective than simmered stew, a policy of marketing and slogans rather than long-term management, a life that is more fun and superficial, less dense and deep.
We Christians live in this world and feel challenged by this cultural tsunami. The waves are tossing us around and everything seems to be telling us that we live precisely in the past and that, consequently, there is no place for us in the society of the future. So the only way to survive seems to be to join this wave, to surf on top of it, and not to insist on being waves in the middle of the swell.
And yet the reality is that, as Chesterton said, "every age and every culture is saved by a small handful of men who have the courage to be unactual". It is not by following fashion that we will give light to the world, but by anchoring ourselves in that which remains, by remaining ourselves.
Today's world needs men and women who bring wisdom, deep knowledge of the heart of the human being, who can guide his life. In the midst of the constantly shifting sands of the desert, the wayfarer finds his destination by looking at the rocks that remain as a reference. It has happened to me many times that when talking with young people who in their early years knew the faith and later moved away, they have thanked me for having remained, even though they were stumbling in life. That gave them security, it served them as a reference.
Our church needs men and women who live at home and spend their lives waiting for the son who left home. Like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, like the mother in Cesáreo Gabarain's song "A mother never tires of waiting.". Men and women who remain and, therefore, are a legacy of memory.
Our religion is made of grateful memory. We live our being from the memory passed down from parents to children of what God has done for us. "Shema, Israel!". There is a total link between "memory and identity," as St. John Paul II entitled one of his books. To cultivate memory, to serenade the soul, is essential to evangelize our world.
Today more than ever we need wise men who are capable of seeing reality through God's eyes and provide us with the keys to walk in this confusing time. Men who will tear away the appearances of events and reveal to us the true meaning of what is happening to us. Men who are configured by faith and contemplate the world with the heart of God.
We need to recover the wisdom of God that remains, and precisely because it remains it allows us to move forward, because it serves as a guide and reference, a landmark that points the way. We need to move forward without fear, to steer the boat of our life out into the deep - "Duc in altum!, with our gaze fixed on a reference point that does not move and that helps us to discern the direction we have to take.
The pole star always remains, fixed in the sky, guiding the sailors.
May we Christians be the lodestar in the night, the rock in the desert, the abiding home for the men and women of our time!
Teaching Delegate in the Diocese of Getafe since the 2010-2011 academic year, he has previously exercised this service in the Archbishopric of Pamplona and Tudela, for seven years (2003-2009). He currently combines this work with his dedication to youth ministry directing the Public Association of the Faithful 'Milicia de Santa Maria' and the educational association 'VEN Y VERÁS. EDUCATION', of which he is President.
