5.5 Our Responsibility for the Evils of Today.

“The present age in fact, together with much light, also presents not a few shadows.”⁸⁸ First among the latter, we might mention the phenomenon of the denial of God in its many forms. What is particularly apparent is that this denial, especially in its more theoretical aspects, is a process that emerged in the western world. Connected to the eclipse of God, one encounters then a series of negative phenomena, like religious indifference, the widespread lack of a transcendent sense of human life, a climate of secularism and ethical relativism, the denial of the right to life of the unborn child sanctioned in pro-abortion legislation, and a great indifference to the cry of the poor in entire sectors of the human family.

The uncomfortable question to consider is in what measure believers are themselves responsible for these forms of atheism, whether theoretical or practical. Gaudium et spes responds with well-chosen words: “Believers themselves often share some responsibility for this situation. For, taken as a whole, atheism is not something original, but rather stems from a variety of causes, including a critical reaction against religious belief and in some places against the Christian religion in particular. Hence believers can have more than a little to do with the genesis of atheism.”⁸⁹

The true face of God has been revealed in Jesus Christ, and thus, Christians are offered the incommensurable grace to know this face. At the same time, however, Christians have the responsibility to live in such a way as to show others the true face of the living God. They are called to radiate to the world the truth that “God is love (agape)” (1 Jn 4:8,16). Since God is love, he is also a Trinity of Persons, whose life consists in their infinite mutual communication in love. It follows from this that the best way Christians can radiate the truth that God is love is by their own mutual love. “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn 13:35). For this reason, it can be said of Christians that often “to the extent that they neglect their own training in the faith, or teach erroneous doctrine, or are deficient in their religious, moral or social life, they must be said to conceal rather than reveal the authentic face of God and of religion.”⁹⁰

Finally, it must be emphasized that the mentioning of these faults of Christians of the past is not only to confess them to Christ the Savior, but also to praise the Lord of history for his merciful love. Christians, in fact, do not believe only in the existence of sin, but also, and above all, in the forgiveness of sins. In addition, recalling these faults means accepting our solidarity with those who, in good and bad, have gone before us on the way of truth. It offers to those of the present a powerful reason to convert to the requirements of the Gospel, and it provides a necessary prelude to the request for God’s forgiveness that opens the way for mutual reconciliation.