Unveiling the Light

Well here we are in 2007. We made it into another year. As long as I can remember, for at least 40+ years, I have been hearing about the end of the world. In grammar school my classmates and I practiced the “duck and cover� drill as we expected the Cuban Missile Crisis to cause the Cold War to go very hot. In high school I read about over population and how it would cause a world wide civil war of “haves� against “haves not� that would eventually ruin civilization. Throughout my life I have been told that “Global Cooling� or “Global Warming� would cause the weather to change so drastically that by (name your date) we would suffer a great catastrophe. Those dates keep passing by.

Of course throughout all of this a variety of preachers and denominations have predicted the end times. They look to the various wars, disease, revolutions and other troubles in the war and declare that it follows the pattern put forth by the bible and that the end is very near. These dates, when given, come and go. Even when not given it is the norm that these predictors die of old age before ever seeing the end of the world they so gleefully looked forward to. They have been with us always and will always remain with us. They will continue to ignore history and declare that things have never been so bad.

So why are we still here? Why am still here? Certainly when I graduated high school in 1974 I never imagined myself sitting at a computer in 2007 to write about the times in which we live. I certainly never considered that I would be doing it as pastor of a Catholic Church, having enjoyed several careers before landing at my destined place in life. Life if full of surprises! I am surprised at where I find myself at this time and I believe this old world full of people has surprised many who thought they knew better than everyone else.

Too many people in this world think that we are it, that we are the highest form of life this planet has or will see, and they are deeply disappointed in us. We do not meet their expectations of perfection. We do not always agree with them. We are messy. We leave behind traces of who we are and we continue to act as if there is hope for the future. So they whine and predict and tell us we are killing ourselves. They explain to us how we should change our lives and are frustrated when we don’t jump at the opportunity to take advantage of their wisdom. Of course, they exempt themselves from the actions and burdens they wish on us. They feel they are here to lead, not do.

I have learned on my journey to this point in life that those who claim to be part of the “intelligentsia,� are usually the least educated and least qualified among us. If you have to declare your superiority, you are not. A large ego and a way to communicate to others, does not make you worthy of leadership and should not guarantee you a following. Humankind is not the poor species many describe. We may be silly at times as individuals but, taken as a whole, we are remarkably resilient, hopeful, creative, and future oriented. We have missed many chances to cause our own demise and have grasped and run with many opportunities to better ourselves, even at great risk to our lives.

We are not just a species which has evolved from the lowest of life forms. Whatever your belief, neither evolution or creationism, nor other variations of how we came to be, can explain who we are. We will not find the answer in our genes and not in our minds. We can study history for hints, but the answer will not be found there. Science and philosophy, nor even religion itself will give us the final answer.

Some may be surprised that I exempt religion as well in the above list. But the fact is, religion can lead us to the Truth, but it cannot give it to us. The truth of who we are lies in our being Children of God. That is not the result of evolution or creationism. It is the result of Jesus Christ. He did not come to impress us and Lord over us. He lowered himself to join us and live among us and to serve us in His ministry and sacrifice.

We can be told about Jesus and we can study the scriptures. We can worship in Church and even receive the Sacraments. These are good things, and they lead us to the truth, but they are not the Truth. Socrates found the Truth well before our Savior came into the world. He was a great philosopher but it was not just his mind that brought him the truth. One does not die for a reasoned conclusion. His conclusion was confirmed elsewhere.

The Truth is found in only one place and that is the human heart. It is the heart that cannot be defined. Not a muscle beating to push blood through our veins, but the heart of whom we are as human beings. When we hear the Truth, that we are not a biological accident but a creation of the divine being and that God has made us part of His family; this rings true to our very being. Call it our heart, our soul, or just being human; when we set aside our agendas and prejudices and simply open ourselves to hear the Gospel, which is the truth of our salvation in Christ Jesus; that is when we know.

It is in such circumstances that we come to understand something that is beyond reason, beyond instinct, beyond faith and belief. It just feels like the Truth. We know it in the heart of who we are. Yes, there is a God and yes, He is a loving God and yes, we are blessed by this God to have become His children. We are not an accident. We will not pass quietly from this world and we are not just another species. We are children of God and as such there is always hope, always a future and always a reason to bring out the best in one another.

Let us take a resolution in this New Year. Let us resolve to understand who we are and to live in the knowledge of that Truth. Let us resolve to be good stewards of the gifts God has granted us, including the gifts of life, of nature, and of each other. Let us resolve to not live as animals with only instinct and genes to lead us but to LIVE as the Children of God that we are. God loves us. We need to live in that love and share it with others as well as ourselves. We need to live in hope and to seek out that hope in our actions of charity, ministry, brotherhood and sisterhood. Then we will truly have a Happy New Year and once again prove the prophets of doom wrong.
Happy New Year everyone!

Father Steven Foppiano