God is not directed by history. He is its author and guide. But for the active role of Providence in our lives history would neither exist nor perdure.
We today accept with beguiled resignation the label of ‘postmodern’. With an arrogance rivalling that of the sojourning Israelites who switched their allegiance to the image of a grass-eating bullock, today’s illuminati tell us that religion is the product of civilization and not vice versa. The ‘cult’ in ‘the tree of culture’ is not a nourishing root but an anomalous outgrowth. Indeed, they insist that religion, like feudalism or trial by combat, has been rightly jettisoned by civilized minds as it is no longer useful. Humanity will progress without reference to God who – like pagan mythology – has been justly relegated to dusty library shelves and vacuous Hollywood films.
With such willful ignorance and blinding conceit, we postmoderns are falling into error. But God does not abandon us. Genesis teaches us that he created us and commanded us to ‘be fruitful and multiply on the earth and increase upon it’. In so doing he set us on the path of civilization. However, as our history unfolded and we began to wander off the path, he arranged a radical intervention.
That radical intervention took place two millennia ago. At that time, the philosophy of the Greeks and the mysticism of the Jews were being introduced to each other’s truth. And, in an obscure village in the outer reaches of the world’s then global power a young woman accepted God’s request that she give birth to the world’s Redeemer. The Incarnation occurred when the vigorous intellectual and religious heritages of the Greeks and the Jews combined within the physical footprint of the Roman empire. Eventually, fortified by the expanding partnership of faith and reason, the Good News of the Gospel was promulgated through and beyond the empire. Athens, Jerusalem and Rome that famous trio – together laid the groundwork for what would become western civilization.
Just as in Genesis God had commanded what we were to do with our lives, Jesus in his ‘Great Commission’ at the end of Matthew’s Gospel amplifies the imperative by instructing us to “go and make disciples of all nations….teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you….And, surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age”. Obedience to this Commission has promoted and assured the ongoing pervasion of our civilization.
Today, though, the Good News has fallen on our deaf, postmodern ears. But God does not abandon us. Instead, the Good News is penetrating new lands and receptive hearts and minds. In contrast to the millennia it has had to enlighten postmodern us, only in recent centuries has its edifying and salvific message been heard in these ‘fresh vineyards’. The ‘cult’ is taking root and flourishing in places whose names sound outlandish to our Western ears. Our growing indifference notwithstanding, we should not be surprised if the renaissance accompanying the ‘new springtime’ prophesized by Pope John Paul II blossoms in these distant lands.
Moreover, as the civilizing ways of the Good News are with us until ‘the end of the age’ we can expect the attentive will continue to benefit. We might also, understandably, wonder how the ‘post-attentive’ will fare?
At NCCF we understand that Catholic philanthropy – indeed all philanthropy rooted in reverence for our Creator – recognizes the true source and guide of history and accepts its own role in this unfolding divine endeavor, the advance of the Kingdom.