An opportunity to put our lives
in order
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| Crucifixes reminiscent of Christ's crucifixion on Calvary (ANSA) |
Father Federico Lombardi looks ahead to the future that
awaits us: the Lord’s time, rediscovered during this emergency, is a source of
meaning for the rest of the space of our existence.
By Federico Lombardi
One of the first observations Pope Francis makes in the
encyclical Laudato sí, looking at “what is happening in our home”,
concerns rapidación, “rapidification” — that is, “the continued
acceleration of changes affecting humanity and the planet combined with a more
intensified pace of life and work”. He notes that this rapidity is at odds with
the natural times of biological evolution, and wonders whether the objectives
of the changes are oriented to the common good and to an integral and
sustainable human development.
Looking back at the short span of our lives, those of us who
have reached a certain age can see how many things have changed completely, and
how, in an ever shorter space of years, they change once again. Fortunately,
many things have changed for the better, such as the living conditions for very
many poor people, the possibilities for medical treatments and surgeries, free
movement, education, information and communication. But at the same time the
obsolescence of many goods has been accelerated well beyond what was necessary,
simply to feed economic development and provide profits for certain sectors.
Advertising obsessively pushes the desire for unnecessary novelty, creating a
real dependency that makes the latest find, the latest product seem necessary…
And so in many areas the acceleration of change risks becoming an end in
itself, a form of slavery rather than progress. It seems clear that we are
moving at an unsustainable pace, that sooner or later must break down, as we
can already see from the very serious threats to the environment.
For their part, many active people, thoroughly integrated
into the functioning of the modern world, are engaged in very intense — not to
say frantic — rhythms of activity. At first they often join in with passion and
enthusiasm, but they soon realize the heavy price that must be paid in terms of
human and family relationships, affections, and overall balance in their
personal lives.
Now this increasingly accelerated course has suffered a serious
shock. Economic indicators have been upset, our plans have been turned on their
head, meetings and trips have been cancelled. For many people, the concept of
time has been lost, and they’ve become disoriented. Already… it’s time… how do
we experience it? in the end, what’s the point? There is a time for activity,
but are also times of joyful expectation, times for being together and loving
one another, times for contemplating beauty, times of long sleepless nights,
times of waiting in suffering… There is also the possibility of wasting a great
deal of time needlessly, of becoming embittered by a sense of uselessness and
emptiness… There is also a time for being alone with oneself… Is there also
time for being with God? When we are bursting with life the idea of being with
God pushes us to the margins of existence. We tend to find countless things to
do first, things that seem urgent or pleasant, while time spent with the Lord
is often postponed.
For many people, this strange time of having to stay at home
on account of the pandemic has been a time to rediscover prayer. One might
wonder whether the inability to go to church will negatively affect faith and
the spiritual life; or if, on the other hand, it might be a time – as Jesus
said to the Samaritan woman — to learn to worship the Lord “in spirit and in
truth” in every place, even in our homes where we our obliged to remain, and
even in a time of forced inactivity. Jesus adds elsewhere that the Spirit blows
whithersoever
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