Conflicting destinies

Has ethical preaching supplanted eschatological preaching?

Are we so caught up in making the most of now that we forget we are created to live in eternal beatitude with God?

Even after the fracture of Christendom around the middle of the last millennium heirs of the Judeo-Christian tradition continued to lead their lives mindful of the eternal consequences. In more recent centuries, however, for many of us an exclusive concern for the here and now has displaced our concern for the hereafter.  We embrace ethics and morality not so much for an eternal benefit as for present a personal and social edification. Destiny for us is the grave, not Paradise.

Not surprisingly, this shift is contemporaneous with a fading belief in God. Where once we perceived morality to be based on divine imperatives we now determine for ourselves right and wrong. In this ‘dictatorship of relativism’ (Pope Benedict) we seek not to understand how we relate to Truth but rather how truth relates to us. What’s more, many of us – even ones who consider ourselves Christian – possess this mindset. For us our religion is nothing more than a philosophy, a code of behavior, courtesy – even charity – occasionally adorned with ritual and ceremony.

There are many reasons this mindset has come to dominate our culture. The seemingly miraculous accomplishments of technology in all fields of endeavor imbue us with an unprecedented sense of power (the very same hubris that led to our eviction from Eden). An abundance of leisure time, higher levels of affluence, and aggressive marketing engender an all absorbing materialism and consumerism. Extraordinary medical advances dull our once keen awareness of the ever proximate grim reaper. Also conducive to our shift in outlook is the ironic effect of indifferentism, that attempt by organized religion to attract adherents by downplaying unwelcomed dogmas.

 Perhaps as a society we are already experiencing the harmful consequences of this shift. One would be the disarray of the social fabric. When we hold to a morality founded on external Truth (natural law) we share a common bond which enables harmony. When we create our own morality this harmony is jeopardized.  Consider our polarized nation. A second consequence would be a rising sense of purposelessness. If we were not created to be fully and forever alive with our Creator why live at all? Many avoid the answer by escaping into addiction.

Where can ethical and eschatological preaching be properly presented and their mutual relationship effectively explained? The answer is in religious organizations responsible for rearing children (including families – the ‘domestic church’). But, the paramount agent in this cause would be Catholic schools.

In no small measure Catholic schools will assure a sound future for our nation. They continue to teach the fundamental ‘truths’ and to champion the inalienable rights on which we are founded.

Let us hope that as a society we avail ourselves of this precious gift and promote its expansion.