As you may recall the classic fable, Chicken Little caused widespread panic when he mistook a falling acorn for a piece of the sky. The phrase "The sky is falling!" features prominently in the story, and is a common idiom indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent.
St. John the XXIII had to respond to Chicken Little during his pontificate. At his address at the opening of the Second Vatican Council, he criticized the “prophets of doom” who “in these modern times see nothing but prevarication and ruin.” Pope John XXIII set a tone for the Council when he said, “The Church has always opposed… errors. Nowadays, however, the Spouse of Christ prefers to make use of the medicine of mercy rather than that of severity.”
Today we often hear of the gloom of the shrinking church attendance, especially among millennials, a generation greatly misunderstood, especially when it comes to religion. Millennials “are not disillusioned with tradition; they are frustrated with slick or shallow expressions of religion,” argues David Kinnaman. According to Barna Group, among young people who don’t go to church, 87 percent say they see Christians as judgmental, and 85 percent see them as hypocritical. A similar study found that “only 8% say they don’t attend because church is ‘out of date’.”[1]
Upon reflecting on this it came to mind in my military experience, college campus', and even in the church a mind set has existed that say, "I had to do this or that way, this is what was expected of me, therefore that's the way it is suppose to be and I will ensure it stays that way." With a better understanding of our merciful God, which always was, is now, and ever shall be, some just get resentful and angry.
The Lord picks up twice on Jonah’s anger point, as Jonah remains uncommitted and displeased at divine mercy toward the Ninevites. God asks: “Have you reason to be angry?” The second time at a plant of all things! Yet Jonah knows his catechism, how God is “A gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, rich in kindness, loath to punish.” (Ex 34:6; Ps 103:8) God is saying look inside first, what is your motivation?
On his deathbed, Pope John said: “It is not that the gospel has changed; it is that we have begun to understand it better. Those who have lived as long as I have…were enabled to compare different cultures and traditions, and know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to seize the opportunity and to look far ahead.”[2]
Our challenge is to get back to the basics. We must walk the talk, we must look inside first, and it starts with the prayer most of us learned as a child, the Lord’s Prayer. this prayer is more than just words we are trained to recite, they require us to bring something to prayer. It is a call on God as Father/Creator who is holy; we must let go and ask that God’s will be done, not ours. We're asking for what we truly need—and not all the things we want. We must forgive, for we have been much blessed with forgiveness, and we're asking God to spare us from testing and falling into evil in this world.[3]
When we live this prayer, in its fullness, we can become contagious for a generation who is seeking an authentic practice of gospel values of love, forgiveness, mercy, and responding to a call to serve all God’s children.
- Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ The Washington Post April 30, 2015.
- https://www.franciscanmedia.org/saint-john-xxiii/ © 2017 Franciscan Media
- Weekday HomilyHelps. Published by FRANCISCAN MEDIA, 28 W. Liberty Street, Cincinnati, OH 45202
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