“In a world that seems to have lost its grounding, I have some good news for you today.”
I think we all need some good news in our lives. I am tired of writing about the corona virus or the situations in the Church. If you’re like me, you’re weary of making and changing plans and trying to predict the future. The news is draining, and listening, worrying, and talking is exhausting. I’m tired of wondering what is happening to our world. I even started re-reading a book about the French Revolution, partly to remind myself that things could get worse than they are right now.
So let’s talk about some good news.
God created us out of love. When mankind rejected that love, God still sought us. He sent his son, Jesus Christ, who died for our sins. And now we are called to respond to that love.
We call that the kerygma. It’s the heart of the Gospel. And frankly, I don’t think we ponder it enough.
Someone recently commented to me that there’s a “recent fascination” with the term kerygma. The way the comment was couched, it sounded as if this person was dismissing the kerygma as a trend. Over-hyped.
But similar to the term “new evangelization,” while we may hear the term with frequency these days… perhaps there’s a good reason for the “trend.” Maybe it’s because we need it. Perhaps it’s because we need to focus on it.
This essential proclamation of the Christian Faith is vital. And it’s the good news we all need.
There’s a lot more to the Christian faith, of course. But if someone on the street asked us to tell them in five sentences or less what we believed, could we boil down what we believed? Could we tell them the heart of the Gospel?
It doesn’t mean that we don’t go deeper, or that we can stop at this basic understanding. But sometimes we do need to return to what is at the root of it all. We can get preoccupied by definitions or theological conjectures. Even worse, we can get distracted by fights and disagreements.
So let’s return to the Good News. And let’s remember that it’s good.
God became man. He entered this mess! We are unworthy of God’s love, but He loved us anyway. And continues to love us.
Does my knowledge of Jesus Christ make a difference in my life? Has it moved from head to my heart? Do I know Him? Or do I only know about Him?
Do I have a relationship with Jesus Christ, through daily prayer and reception of the sacraments? Has that relationship affected the way I live and the choices I make?
In a world that seems to have lost its grounding, I have some good news for you today. God created you out of pure love. Your life is a pure gift from Him. You don’t have to exist. But you do – not only because He once loved you, but because He loves you right now. You are what He loved you into being to be. And even though you reject that love every day, He seeks after you, inviting you to respond.
And that’s some good news.
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