From: A Catholic Response to the New Age Phenomenon prepared by the Irish Theological Commission in 1994
"New Age Movement" is abbreviated as NAM.
Some people find it difficult to believe in God's love for the individual, and to realize that he calls each one personally. Many find difficulty in believing that God's Providence covers the whole of their life. Yet God takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. Indeed, world events, and the cruel, tragic experiences of individuals, groups, and even whole nations, often blind us to the reality of the presence of our Creator in his handiwork. The human condition is laden with pain as well as joy, suffering as well as contentment, conflict as well as peace. Many of these ills seem to be a direct result of our own disordered choices, while others, such as natural disasters, cannot be traced easily to human wrongdoing.
The Second Vatican Council considers these ills in depth, and lists the inescapable questions to which they give rise. 'What is the human being? What is the meaning and purpose of our life? What is goodness and what is sin? What gives rise to our sorrows, and to what intent? Where lies the path to true happiness? 1 It is true, of course, that our age is also an age of impressive scientific, social and technological progress. Humanity has extended its control over nature, and one could see in that a fulfillment of the command God gave us 'to subdue the earth' (Gn 1:28). It is most certainly true that the benefits of these achievements have alleviated considerably many of the maladies afflicting people. 'Now for the first time in history people are not afraid to think that cultural benefits are for all, and should be available to everybody'. 2 Sadly, the greater part of the human family has so far had little or no access to these benefits. This only increases the aspirations of people to share in the goods of modern civilisation.
The grandeur and misery
The broad aspirations of contemporary people towards a fuller and more human life are continually contradicted by the negative experience of evil and failure, whether personal or social. To take but one example, this century of astounding scientific progress is also the century of wars unparalleled in the history of the world. Since the end of World War Two more than sixteen million people have died in bloody conflict. What is the meaning of this dichotomy affecting the modern world? It 'is, in fact, a symptom of a deeper dichotomy that is in man himself. He is a meeting point of many conflicting forces. In his condition as a created being he is subject to a thousand shortcomings, but feels untrammelled in his inclinations and destined for a higher form of life'. 3 This is what Pascal meant by the 'grandeur' and 'misery' of the human condition, or what Cardinal Newman meant by its 'greatness' and 'littleness'. Worse still, feeble as they are, human beings often do the very thing they hate and do not do what they want. They sin.
The human condition, then, is one of bewildering ambiguity: of hope challenged by despair, of greatness contradicted by moral misery. Any plan of salvation would have to match this vision of the world that both shocks and appals. It would have to encompass and fulfil both our grandeur of aspiration and our frequently miserable performance. Now this is precisely the shape and form of our Catholic faith.
At its core lies the person of Jesus Christ who both endured the greatest suffering ('Oh! all you who pass by, look and see if there is any suffering like mine' (Lm 1:12)), and entered the greatest glory (see Phil 2:9-10). One and the same person encompasses and enfolds the reality of suffering and love. In doing so he brings together and overcomes radical opposites. That is why he is the only name in Heaven or earth who can save us (Ac 4.12).
The programme of Jesus of Nazareth
In the synagogue of Nazareth 'where he had been brought up' (Lk 4:16) Jesus read from the prophet Isaiah: 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor...' (Lk 4:18ff). His subsequent ministry was the living out of this programme (Ac 1:1). He cured the sick, as in the cases of Simon's mother-in-law (Lk 4:38-39) and the man covered with leprosy (Lk 5: 12-14). He drew the sinner, Levi, out of a world of selfishness and into a life of generosity (Lk 5:27-32). He forgave the sins of 'the woman with the bad name' and praised her great love, identifying it as the fruit of the forgiveness of 'her sins, her many sins' (Lk 7:3650). He cast out devils from the possessed (Lk 4:33-37; 8:26-39; 11:14-22).
Finally, he unmasked 'the spoilt religion' of the pharisees and the lawyers, who neglected justice, mercy and the love of God, while laying heavy burdens on the shoulders of the people (Lk 11:37-54). The people around Jesus were often broken, sick, and far from God's Kingdom. Many were locked into the slavery of sin, far from the attitude of respect and reverence for others which constitutes the second commandment. For each and every one of these people Jesus was good news. He was the good news that brought liberty to those caught in the tyranny of sin. He was sight to those blind to the meaning of life, hope to the broken-hearted, and the divine favour of forgiveness for those weighed down by guilt.
In Jesus, the Father's eternal merciful love met the misery and need of the people, as well as their craving for freedom and reconciliation. The result was that 'the tax-collectors and sinners were all seeking his company to hear what he had to say' (Lk 15:1). He convinced them by his person, by his deeds and by his words that 'there is more joy in Heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance' (Lk 15 7).
The truth is that, in his face, everyone caught the reflection of the Father of mercies (II Co 1:3) as Luke's Gospel so splendidly illustrates from beginning to end. As the only Son of the Father, and the one nearest his heart, Jesus interpreted, made present and communicated to us the grace and truth of his Father (Jn 1:16,18). Jesus is, in fact, the Father's perfect self-portrait: whoever sees Jesus sees the Father (Jn 14:9).
In his encyclical Dives in misericordia, Pope John Paul II writes: 'Not only does Jesus speak of mercy and explain it by the use of comparisons and parables, but above all he himself makes it incarnate and personifies it. He himself, in a certain sense, is Mercy. To the person who sees it in him - and finds it in him - God becomes visible in a particular way as the Father "who is rich in mercy" (Ep 2:4; DM 2)'. In that way God makes himself known in the way most people need to know him, as a holy and yet most merciful Saviour
Jesus Crucified: The Revelation of the Father's Mercy and the Proof of the Love of the Trinity for the World
In the agony in Gethsemane a dramatic change occurred in our Lord and in his Mission. The burden of sin was laid upon him, and he felt it in an indescribable way, so that 'a sudden fear came over him, and great distress' (Mk 14:34). The terrible chalice of his Passion, Cross and engagement with 'the powers of darkness' was before him. He chose to drink the chalice filled with all the 'No's' of sinners to the Father's Will: 'Your Will be done, not mine' (Mk 14:36).
In his Passion Christ entered into the greatest possible solidarity with sinners. And because he did this 'God laid upon him the sins of all of us' (Is 53:6). He acted as a substitute in that he stood in our place, and so took upon himself the reality of our refusals, rejections and oppositions to the Father, whose Will he loved and did even now as he prepared to drink the chalice of suffering to the dregs. He carried our sins in his body all the way to the Cross (I P 2:21) out of love for the Father, and for us. The mercy that radiates from this action of his gives 'knowledge of a love that is beyond all knowledge' (Ep 3:18). 'Mercy', as Pope John Paul II writes, 'is love's second name'. 4
The stunning originality of this should not be missed. All other religions seek a way out of, or beyond, the painful and negative dimensions of the human condition. They seek a relief from guilt, an escape from death, or a way into a region of bliss. This is understandable, since all religion addresses the human predicament. Jesus Christ however, went in the opposite direction. He lowered himself into our world, into our pain and forsakenness, into our death and sorrows, and though he is utterly beyond personal sin, he entered into solidarity with us to the point where 'he became sin for us' (II Co 5:21), as St Paul claims.
Our Blessed Saviour's experience of this dramatic encounter with sin is seen in his dying cry from the Cross, 'My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?' (Mk 15:34) In the act of sinning a person forsakes God, and God, who has given us the supreme gift of personal freedom has to accept and ratify the sinner's desire. The sinner thus becomes God-forsaken. It is this forsakenness that the Redeemer entered into as 'he loved us to the end' an 13:1). The combined weight of all these refusals was laid upon him.
On the summit of Calvary, however, he lost the effects of the beatifying vision. This was the torment of all torments. The summit of his loving us became the summit of his suffering. Both heaven and earth rejected him. Humanity crucified him and then he was forsaken. 'O all you who pass by look and see if there is any suffering like mine' (Lm 1:12).
Here God the Father manifests through his beloved Son, slain for sinners, a goodness so great that none greater can ever be thought of. The Pope's words are eloquent: 'The Cross of Christ is the most profound condescension of God to men, and to what humanity - especially in difficult and painful moments - looks on as its unhappy destiny. The Cross is like a touch of eternal love upon the most painful wounds of man's earthly existence; it is the total fulfilment of the messianic programme that Christ once formulated in the synagogue of Nazareth'. 5 This makes of Jesus Christ good news, inexhaustibly good news, for our generation.
Among the most painful wounds of today's society is a weakening of the religious sense. This shows itself in a lessening of faith and a cooling off of love. It also expresses itself as an emancipation from God which introduces practical agnosticism, even atheism, and a lifestyle which leaves God and the spiritual completely out of the picture. Where this happens, the meaning of life is lost. Furthermore, the great puzzles of human existence, such as the problem of evil, the struggle in the human heart between despair and hope, the conquest of spiritual sorrow, are left unanswered. Since these problems will not simply go away (because we remain human), people turn to alternatives such as humanly constructed religions and the many therapies and self-help groups which the psychoanalytic movement and psychology have made available. As human beings, we are a complexity of levels of body, psyche/mind and spirit. It is a fact of life that we experience breakdown of relationship at all these levels; and it is also true that we can experience the anxiety and guilt of the non-relatedness that follows. Sometimes this guilt can simply be morbid and neurotic, and the distinction between it and the guilt of a healthy conscience, while it may be clear in principle, is often confusing in practice. There are many reasons for this, but the most obvious one is that not many people reach a high level of moral maturity, and they carry within them from the past memories of moral training associated with fear and punishment. The guilt they suffer is a form of alienation from their true selves.
Psychotherapy, when wisely used, can restore in some way the fractured human psyche. But it can also have religious implications of immense proportions when it is open to the spiritual nature of persons and to the Christian truth that it is God who takes the initiative in any process that makes human beings pleasing to him. Divine therapy is pre-eminently a healing one. Christian revelation speaks of the divine presence as one of mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation: 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, and not holding men responsible for their sins' (II Co 5:19). This means that sin - which in biblical terms means 'missing the mark' in our relationship to God - is a reality which afflicts the heart of human identity. Thus the search for that identity, the desire for meaning in life, is at heart the desire for divine forgiveness, forgiveness not only of moral guilt but of the existential guilt of our unholiness before the divine. God's forgiving love always, because it is God's, abounds even more than sin (see Rm 5:21) and human alienation. The Church exists in order to hand on this forgiveness of which each and every person has lasting need.
This is the context in which humanly constructed religions and merely human therapies emerge, are hopelessly inadequate because they are only human, and therefore not big enough to match the mystery and depth of human life. The human condition requires divine therapy. One might as well attempt to quarry granite with a razor, or moor a Cunard liner with a string, as to heal and save the human person with the small medicine of merely human techniques. Since the human person is created in 'the image and likeness of God' (Gn 1:27), only God can satisfy the ultimate aspirations of human life and liberate the soul from evil. That love 'will present us with a new and reconciled life' (Walter Kasper). The Church exists in order to hand on this forgiveness of which each and every person has lasting need.
A difficulty: 'We have no sin' (I Jn 1:10)
The message of God's forgiveness of sin is a central point in the New Testament and in the Creed. It always occurs in the third part of the Creed, is dependent on our belief in the Holy Spirit, and is associated with Baptism.6 This message, however, is totally undermined by an attitude quite widespread today. It is the attitude 'which increasingly strives to free itself of any thought of guilt ... and which operates within a sinister framework of excuses'. This 'merciless attitude of modern society repeatedly encourages us to attempt to justify our acts and to suppress our guilt'. 7 In that way it cuts the ground from underneath the message of the forgiveness of sin.
The message of the forgiveness of sin encourages us to confess our sin: 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you' (Lk 15:18, 21). In this we see the truth that we are responsible for our actions; that our actions are either good or bad, and that they affect our relationship to God and his kingdom. We also note that God's eternal, merciful love, revealed in Christ, is continually available in the Church through the forgiveness of sins. This enables us to confess in the confidence of receiving forgiveness, healing and reconciliation
Christian living and the forgiveness of sins
Christians, then, live their lives under the arc of the forgiving, merciful love of the Trinity, which 'lasts from age to age' (Lk 1:50). Citing those words, the Holy Father comments: 'We have every right to believe that our generation was included in the words of the Mother of God'. 8 The Church exists to communicate this divine mercy and forgiveness to people. Since this mercy is a primary attribute of God, indeed 'his second name', it is infinite, like him. 'No human sin can prevail over this power or even limit it. On the part of man only a lack of good will can limit it, a lack of readiness to be conversed and to repent, in other words, persistence in obstinacy, opposing grace and truth, especially in the face of the witness of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ'. 9
To receive this mercy we must hear the gospel (see Rm 10:14-15). The message of Christ's merciful forgiveness creates a response of profound conversion in those who hear it. Conversion is always preceded by the discovery of this love that is 'patient and kind' (I Co 13:4) 'as only the Creator and Father can be'. 10 Christian living consists in large measure in keeping this love continually before us. We need to repent of our failures to accept it, and to celebrate God's mercy when we have sinned, and, finally, we try to have a heart full of mercy to those who sin against us. How could we receive God's mercy if we refuse this mercy to others? (see Mt 18:21-35).
It is no surprise, then, that at the centre of the Church's life there must be a 'pastoral practice of penance and reconciliation', which 'comprises all those tasks for which the Church is responsible on all levels in order to be able to promote both'. 11 Such practice flows from the Gospel as naturally as light from the sun or a stream from a powerful wellspring. Without this pastoral practice the Church's proclamation of the forgiveness of sins will be empty and fruitless. It would become, in the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, 'cheap grace', which 'amounts to a justification of sin and not of the sinner'. This is tantamount to 'preaching forgiveness without penance, baptism without communal discipline and absolution without confession. Cheap grace is grace without anything succeeding it'.12
Personal and Communal Access to the Forgiving Christ
The Sacrament of Penance
After the gift of his Body for us, and his Blood shed for the remission of sins in the mystery of the Eucharist, the gift-sacrament of the forgiveness of sins is a most helpful and practical sacrament. What lies at the heart of this sacrament? Christ, the Good Shepherd, goes out to welcome and embrace the returning sinner with great joy, reinstates him in his Family-Body which the sinner has wounded and hurt by his sinning, and all this in the very moment the sinner 'comes to himself' and, moved by sorrow, turns to the Saviour with his baggage of sin (see Lk 15).
This happens through the mediation of the bishop or priest who represents Christ to the Church and the Church to Christ. This sacrament guarantees in this manner the personal access of Christ to the whole community. The new rites of reconciliation drawn up according to the directives of the Second Vatican Council are designed to bring out both the individual and communal dimensions of sin and forgiveness.
It is important to see in this sacrament the action of Christ our Head for the good of us, his members. This grace draws us towards him and away from sin. The sacrament is a call to conversion. It both presupposes conversion and advances conversion of heart and habits. In that way it powerfully helps us turn daily living into a holy journey to God. The sacrament brings about in the properly prepared a spiritual revolution of mind, the decision not to be conformed to the world (see Rm 12:2) but rather to the standards of Christ and his kingdom. This conversion-perspective on the sacrament, though central in earlier centuries, was inadequately grasped during recent centuries. The Church now reminds us of it.
NOTES
1. Nostra Aetate 1
2. GS9
3. GS 10
4. DM7
5. DM8
6. See J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds, 5th edition, London, 1977, passim.
7. Kasper, 'The Church and the Forgiveness of Sins', in Communio 2(1989), 163.
8. DM10
9. DM13
10. DM 13
11. Synod of Bishops, Reconciliation et Paenitentia (1984), 23.
12. D. Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, London, 1959, 36.
