Given all that is happening today it is easy to succumb to despair. However, if we shift our view from the limited focus on the roiled present and widen it to the broad expanse of history we will find an inherent dynamism propelling us forward – an impulse or longing that somehow guides us to a goal we can sense if not define.
Whether we admit it or not, we have a divinely backed guarantee which should confirm our hope that this dynamism is real and that in the long run the species of ‘man’ will stay on track. Those who are unaware of this guarantee labor in ignorance and might welcome enlightenment. Those who willingly reject it risk the fate of self-frustrating cynicism. Those who honor it find themselves, paradoxically, in a liberating embrace – the quintessential and inviolable romance between an all loving Creator and those privileged creatures he made in his own image.
This romance is the ongoing Covenant that exists between God and his people. That God made us in his image is reason enough to expect the romance to endure. But, in spite of our failings brought about by the poor use of our free will God has repeatedly reconfirmed his commitment. We should keep these ‘covenant renewals’ in mind as we find ourselves suffocated by today’s smothering nihilism.
Consider Yahweh’s promise to Adam and Eve after their expulsion from Eden. Though their lives would be cursed with suffering, the woman’s heel would ‘crush the serpent’s head’. Evil would not triumph. The Covenant was renewed with Noah to whom God promised never again to destroy his creation in floods as he had done to the wicked antediluvian denizens. The divine pledge to the God-fearing Abraham is another example, namely that his old age and childlessness notwithstanding he would be the father of descendants more numerous than the stars.
With the Mosaic Covenant, in exchange for their loyalty, God promises eternal blessing to the new nation of Israel – his Chosen People – who, as a people set apart, are to be the light for a dark world. Centuries later God promises David that an heir in his royal line will appear to shepherd all nations. In the succeeding generations as the Hebrews waivered in their obedience to God inspired the prophets to chastise and guide them.
The supreme example of the Covenant’s renewal is, of course, the Incarnation where God himself becomes one of us to redeem us. Not only does the anointed Jesus Christ do this through his passion death and resurrection, he promises that the Holy Spirit will come after him to guide us. The Covenant is alive, vibrant and everlasting.
Our donors honor this Covenant. They participate in its forward movement by sharing the resources, financial and otherwise, with which Providence has blessed them. I would wager that for them the terms ‘liberalism’ and ‘progressivism’ do not connote their current meanings of libertinism and (ironically) directionlessness. Rather, for them to be progressive is to participate in this divine romance, and to be liberal is to be ‘at liberty ‘to do so.
In our darker moments let us remind ourselves that under this evergreen Covenant the Kingdom advances.