Question 6.114

6.114 As we conclude this reflection, how should we understand the development of modern secularization?

Sometimes I get the feeling that the Western part of the world definitely intends to lock everything up in this world, in an aggressive rejection of transcendental relations. The separation between earth and heaven becomes so radical that religion becomes a foreign object, a lost island inhabited by individuals from another era. This oligarchic attitude of the promoters of atheism not only is based on oversimplifications but also is dangerous.

The fact remains that man lives in two dimensions, the heavenly and the earthly. He is created for this life and for the next. Here below it is important to harmonize the two by responding to corporal and spiritual needs without neglecting either. A society that forgets God hungers, without realizing it, for the spiritual foods that man cannot do without. This is why the secularization process that reduces the religious dimension to the smallest possible extent results in a division of man by depriving him of one of his lungs. Man is both on earth and in heaven; but man’s only roots are in heaven! Without its ramifications, what is human loses its strength. In April 2014, during a homily at his morning Mass in Saint Martha’s, Pope Francis commented on the dialogue between Moses and God on Mount Sinai as a way of addressing the question of prayer: “This prayer is a real struggle with God,” Francis explained, “a struggle on the part of the leader of a people to save his people, who are the people of God. Moses speaks freely in front of the Lord and in doing so teaches us how to pray without fear, freely, even with insistence.”

Prayer must be a “negotiation with God” to which we bring “our arguments”, Francis advised. For him, “Prayer changes our heart. It helps us better understand our God.” Therefore, it is important to speak normally with him, as with a friend, “Even rebuking the Lord a little: ‘You promised me this, but you did not do it. . .’”, speaking face to face. When Moses comes down from the mountain, he returns changed by his experience, for he thought that the Lord was going to punish and destroy his people for idolizing the golden calf. The pope added that during his prayer, Moses “tries to convince God, but in doing so, he rediscovers the memory of his people and God’s mercy.” He understands that “Our God is merciful. He knows how to forgive.” Moses goes back down full of energy, telling himself that he knows the Lord better. In prayer, therefore, Moses finds the strength to lead his people toward the Promised Land.

Prayer is reinvigorating because it is a struggle with God, just as Jacob wrestled all night until the dawn. If we hold firm, we will have the same experience: “When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and Jacob’s thigh was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.” Then he gives Jacob a new name and blesses him (Gen 32:23-32). Saint Paul, too, considers prayer to be a struggle: “Epaphras, who is one of yourselves, a servant of Christ Jesus, greets you, semper certans pro vobis in orationibus [always fighting for you in his prayers] that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col 4:12). The apostle is sure that spiritual work has no impact if it is not supported by intercessory prayer. To the Romans, but also to us, Saint Paul writes: “I appeal to you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, that I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints” (Rom 15:30-31).