Question 6.100

6.100 In an age when relativity is the rule, how can the Church still make comprehensible the dogmas that are one of her most important foundations?

Subjectivism is one of the most significant traits of our time. Feelings and personal desires are the only norm. Often modern man regards traditional values as archaeological artifacts.

Since the social revolution in the sixties and seventies, it has been common practice to pit individual liberty against authority. Within this context, even among the faithful, it may seem that personal experience becomes more important than the rules established by the Church. If the individual is the central point of reference, everyone can interpret the Church’s message in his own way, adapting it to his own ideas. I regret that many Christians allow themselves to be influenced by this pervasive individualism; they may sometimes have difficulty feeling at home within the Catholic Church, in her traditional forms, with her dogmas and teachings, her laws, exhortations, and Magisterium. Of course, the disparity is even more significant with respect to moral questions.

Consequently, it is not inaccurate to say that there is a sort of rejection of the dogmas of the Church or a growing distance between people, the faithful, and the dogmas. On the question of marriage, there is a gulf between some people and the Church. The question, therefore, becomes quite simple: Must the world change its attitude, or must the Church change her fidelity to God? Can the distance between these two realities be maintained over time, at the risk of seeing the misunderstandings deepen? For if the faithful still love the Church and the pope but do not put doctrine into practice and change nothing in their lives, even after coming to Rome to hear the successor of Peter, what sort of future can we envisage?

Many of the faithful rejoice to hear talk about divine mercy, and they hope that the radical demands of the Gospel can be relaxed even for the benefit of those who by their lives have chosen to break away from the crucified love of Jesus. They do not appreciate the price paid by him on the Cross, which delivered every one of us from the yoke of sin and death. They think that because of the Lord’s infinite goodness everything is possible, while at the same time deciding to change nothing in their lives. Many expect, as something normal, that God should pour out his mercy on them while they remain in sin. …

But sin destroys me: How can the energies of divine life be grafted onto nothingness? Despite the repeated appeals of Saint Paul, they cannot imagine why light and darkness cannot coexist: “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?. . . What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!” (Rom 6:1-3, 15).

This confusion calls for rapid responses. The Church can no longer go on as though the reality did not exist; she can no longer be content with ephemeral enthusiasm that lasts for the duration of major meetings or liturgical gatherings, as beautiful and rich as they may be. We cannot long do without practical reflection on subjectivism as the root of most contemporary errors. What good is it to know that the pope’s Twitter account is followed by thousands if people do not change their lives concretely? What good is it to compile amazing statistics about the crowds that throng to see the popes if we are not sure that their conversions are real and deep and if we do not know whether Jesus and his Gospel are the reference point and guide of our faithful? That being said, the World Youth Days have also made possible some beautiful and generous responses to God’s call.

Given the wave of subjectivism that seems to be sweeping everyone away, men of the Church must beware of denying reality by becoming inebriated with deceptive appearances and glory. Certainly, some events can prompt interior changes and genuine conversions. For example, I am sure that the funeral of John Paul II and the ceremonies for his canonization, at the same time as that of John XXIII, gave great impetus to many Catholics; that immense crowd gathered around the Lord’s altar managed to deepen the message of Karol Wojtyła and the universal call to holiness voiced by the Second Vatican Council, which the two popes embodied in their everyday lives. In order to start a concrete, radical change in people’s lives, the teaching of Jesus and of the Church must reach human hearts. Two millennia ago, the apostles followed Christ. They left everything, and their lives were never again the same. The path taken by the apostles is still a model today.

The Church has to rediscover a vision. If her teaching is not understood, she must not be afraid to go back to the drawing board a hundred times. This is not about relaxing the requirements of the Gospel or changing the doctrine of Jesus and the apostles to adapt to fleeting fashions but, rather, about challenging ourselves radically with regard to how we ourselves live the Gospel of Jesus and present dogma.