Qu’est-ce que la mission aujourd’hui ? La question se
doit d’être posée alors que les disciples de Jésus sont de moins en moins
nombreux dans nos pays, et que la déchristianisation guette aussi les pays du
Sud qui aujourd’hui, par leur démographie, continuent à faire croître le nombre
de chrétiens dans le monde.
Les causes de la déchristianisation sont multiples. J’en note
quatre qui me paraissent jouer plus que les autres. Premièrement la liberté de
conscience et la liberté religieuse : plus rien n’oblige à croire.
Deuxièmement, le recul de la misère économique et de la violence guerrière. Après
plus de soixante-dix ans sans guerre sur le territoire national, plus de deux
générations, même si la pauvreté demeure élevée dans nos pays ‑ 14% de la
population en France ‑, et que le sentiment de précarité augmente, on a moins
besoin de crier vers Dieu. Troisièmement, le ciment social qui, peut-être, fait
défaut n’est plus la religion. Le monde est régi par des lois scientifiques, y
compris en économie, du moins le pense-t-on, ; ce qui ne sert à rien n’a
aucun intérêt. Quatrièmement, l’Eglise est d’une part ouvertement contestée et
accusée, à juste titre, et d’autre part elle est objet de ressentiment. La
crise des abus sexuels, qui ne concerne pas que l’Eglise, le manifeste
éloquemment.
Beaucoup vivent la déchristianisation comme une catastrophe, du
moins parmi les chrétiens ou les anciens chrétiens. Cela ne les empêche pas d’avoir
un rapport très distant avec la vie chrétienne. J’entendais un monsieur se
plaindre du « grand remplacement » par les musulmans, thèse, soit dit
en passant, d’extrême droite dont on s’étonne qu’elle soit reprise par des
disciples de Jésus. Avant de se plaindre du soi-disant remplacement, ce
monsieur ne devrait-il pas contraindre ses enfants et petits-enfants à
fréquenter les églises ?
La religion est assimilée au merveilleux, ainsi l’émerveillement
des enfants à Noël, et la nostalgie des adultes pour cet émerveillement. Ce
serait cela la foi. Ce serait cela qu’il faudrait perpétuer. Parler de la mort
de Jésus, c’est plus compliqué. On attend de la religion qu’elle fasse rêver…
alors même qu’on l’accuse de surfer sur l’illusion au point que même les
chrétiens savent rarement répondre aux remises en cause de l’existence
historique de Jésus.
Sombre tableau ? Pas sûr. La déchristianisation est une chance
pour l’évangile. Il en ressort dans sa pauvreté provocante, dans sa vertu critique
désarmante. L’Eglise ne gagnera plus de parts de marché par la force du
prestige. Elle n’aurait jamais dû jouer cette partie !
L’évangile de ce jour (Lc 21, 5-19) le dit explicitement. Le
merveilleux et la puissance n’ont rien à voir avec l’évangile. La beauté des
temples ou des églises, les prophètes qui disent venir au nom de Jésus et
remplissent les mouvements sectaires y compris au sein de l’Eglise catholique – et
quelques décennies plus tard, ils se retrouvent devant les tribunaux –,
rien de tout cela n’a à voir avec l’évangile. « Ne marchez pas derrière
eux ! » Et l’évangile décrit avec une précision de reportage ce que
nous voyons : dérèglement climatique, catastrophes apocalyptiques, guerres
et même l’oppression des chrétiens, 4 300 en 2018, surtout en Afrique,
continent de la supposée relève pour l’Eglise !
La mission qui nous incombe est premièrement de consentir à un
retour à l’évangile, l’évangile dans sa pauvreté et sa radicalité. Rien, pas de
fioritures, pas de merveilleux ni de rêve pour le faire avaler. La crèche est une
prédication de la mise au tombeau. Si l’évangile n’est pas crédible, n’est-ce
pas, finalement, qu’il ne change pas grand-chose dans nos vies ?
La mission nous convoque deuxièmement à l’hospitalité de Jésus, à
sa commensalité. Nous sommes avec lui engagés en vue de la fraternité. La lutte
pour la dignité de toute personne humaine, expression de l’amour que nous avons les uns pour les autres, est l’unique manière
de faire signe vers Dieu. C’est à cela que sont reconnus les disciples. (Jn 13, 35)
La mission ne vise pas à faire de toutes les nations des disciples,
mais à ce que, en tout lieu, des disciples soient ferments du royaume,
fraternité née de la paternité de Dieu. Le ferment ne garde sa vertu que si les
disciples sont attachés à Jésus comme le
sarment au cep (Jn 15). La mission troisièmement nous oblige à une conversion
jamais achevée. Comment l’écoute de Jésus nous tourne-t-elle vers le Père ?
C’est-à-dire ‑ les illusions n’ayant plus d’avenir ‑ comment Jésus nous
tourne-t-il vers les autres, dans la communauté qui nous engendre ‑ on n’est
pas chrétien tout seul, et le baptême, le nom de chrétien aussi, nous les avons
reçus des autres ‑ vers les autres auxquels nous devons faire signe.
Le modèle de la vie religieuse, y compris sous sa forme monastique,
s’impose à la mission. Si des sympathisants de la foi ont toute leur place dans
l’Eglise, et si les chrétiens ont une place dans la société, c’est par la prise
au sérieux du baptême, à la racine, radicalement.
Traduction de Jean-François Garneau
What is mission today? The question must be raised anew more insistently than ever, given that the followers of Jesus are less and less numerous in our countries, and that de-Christianization is also watching the countries of the South which today, by their demography, continue to grow the number of Christians in the world.
De-Christianization causes are numerous. I mention four of them of the top of the list, since my belief is that they play a bigger role than most others.
First of all freedom of conscience and religious freedom: nothing forces us to believe anymore.
Second, the decline of economic misery and warlike violence. After more than seventy years without war on the national territory (France) –more than two generations--, and even if poverty remains high in our countries --14% of the population in France—and though the “feeling” of insecurity increases, we feel less of a need to cry to God out of the depths of our misery.
Thirdly, the social cement –which is perhaps lacking, but that’s another question-- is no longer to be made out of religion. The world is governed by scientific laws, including in economics –or, at least, so it is thought; what is useless has no interest (and religion is thought of as useless).
Fourthly, the Church is on the one hand, openly challenged and rightly accused and, on the other hand, is an object of resentment. The crisis of sexual abuse, which does not concern only the Church, manifests this state of affairs very eloquently.
Many are experiencing de-Christianization as a catastrophe, at least among Christians or FORMER Christians. This does not prevent them from having a very distant relationship with the Christian life. I heard a gentleman voicing the theory of the "great replacement" by Muslims, a thesis, incidentally, coined by the extreme right –which makes it astonishing that it should be taken up by self-proclaimed disciples of Jesus (or people pretending to speak on their behalf). Yet before complaining about this so-called “replacement”, should this gentleman not force his children and grandchildren to attend church, and practice the very religion he does not wish to see replaced?
Religion is likened to the marvelous –the wonder of children at Christmas--, and the nostalgia of adults for this wonder (the so-called Max Weber theory about the “disenchantment of the world”, which GK Chesterton also developed in a more literary than sociological tone). That capacity to believe in magic (or so these people believe) is what faith is about. “That” is what religion is meant to perpetuate. To speak of the death of Jesus, for them, is more complicated (better speak of his resurrection and turn it into a magic trick meant to refute incredulity –and therefore reinforce a magical view of religion). Religion is expected to make people dream ... often by the very same people who will then accuse it of surfing on the illusion that even Christians rarely know how to answer the questions addressed to them about the historical existence of Jesus.
Am I painting too dark a picture of our predicament? Not sure! One thing is sure, however, and it is that de-Christianization presents us with a great opportunity for the Gospel itself to be heard anew (as opposed to all those centuries of cultural sediments. It survives the de-Christianization process in its provocative poverty, in its disarming critical virtue. The Church will no longer gain market share by the force of prestige. She should never have played this part!
Today's Gospel (Lk 21: 5-19) says so explicitly. Wonder (magic) and power have nothing to do with the Gospel. The beauty of the temples or of the churches, the prophets who say they come in the name of Jesus, fill sectarian movements holier than everybody else (including within the Catholic Church), only to end up in court, decades later: None of this has anything to do with the Gospel. "Do not walk behind them! What the Gospel does describe, however, and with great precision reporting is what we can see all around us with our naked eyes: climate change, apocalyptic disasters, wars and even the oppression of Christians (4,300 killed in 2018 alone, especially in Africa, the continent of the supposed future growth of the Church)!
Our mission, in these circumstances, is to agree first to a return to the Gospel, the Gospel in its poverty and its radicality. Nothing –no frills, no wonder and no dream to sweeten the pill and make it easier to swallow. The manger is a preaching of the burial of Christ and what His death is meant to signify (that He be food for our animality). After all, if the Gospel is not credible, is it not, primarily because it does not change much in our lives?
The mission invites us secondly to the sort of hospitality that Jesus displays, to his commensality. We must be, with him, committed to fraternity building. The fight for the dignity of every human person, an expression of the love we have for one another, is the only way to draw attention to what God is. This is what the disciples are recognized for (John 13:35).
The mission (make disciples of all nations –Mt 28: 19) does not aim to make that all nations be disciples of Christ, it calls upon those called to ensure that, in every place (and from every place), there should be disciples of Christ who will act as ferments of the kingdom within those communities (nations), creating thus a fraternity born out our recognition of God (and only God) as our real Father, Dominus and Lord. That capacity to ferment nations (and to be the salt of the earth) will keep its fermenting virtue only if the disciples are attached to Jesus as the branches to the vine (Jn 15). The mission forces us therefore, and thirdly, to a never completed conversion towards the Father (God is Love) by listening to Jesus.
But how can listening to Jesus turns us towards the Father --that is to say (given that the illusions of our Christian past have been shown to be devoid of a future): How can listening to the Gospel turn sus towards one another, in the sort of community that can engender us as sons and daughters of the Father (for we are not Christians alone, and our baptism, as well as our very name of “Christian”, we have all received them from others) so that we all can be a sign to the others, outside of our midst (in all nations) to whom we must be a sign.
The model of the religious life, including in its monastic form, imposes itself on our mission. If sympathizers of faith have their place in the Church, and if Christians have a place in society, it is by taking baptism seriously, at its root, i.e.: radically.
Traduction de Jean-François Garneau
What is mission today? The question must be raised anew more insistently than ever, given that the followers of Jesus are less and less numerous in our countries, and that de-Christianization is also watching the countries of the South which today, by their demography, continue to grow the number of Christians in the world.
De-Christianization causes are numerous. I mention four of them of the top of the list, since my belief is that they play a bigger role than most others.
First of all freedom of conscience and religious freedom: nothing forces us to believe anymore.
Second, the decline of economic misery and warlike violence. After more than seventy years without war on the national territory (France) –more than two generations--, and even if poverty remains high in our countries --14% of the population in France—and though the “feeling” of insecurity increases, we feel less of a need to cry to God out of the depths of our misery.
Thirdly, the social cement –which is perhaps lacking, but that’s another question-- is no longer to be made out of religion. The world is governed by scientific laws, including in economics –or, at least, so it is thought; what is useless has no interest (and religion is thought of as useless).
Fourthly, the Church is on the one hand, openly challenged and rightly accused and, on the other hand, is an object of resentment. The crisis of sexual abuse, which does not concern only the Church, manifests this state of affairs very eloquently.
Many are experiencing de-Christianization as a catastrophe, at least among Christians or FORMER Christians. This does not prevent them from having a very distant relationship with the Christian life. I heard a gentleman voicing the theory of the "great replacement" by Muslims, a thesis, incidentally, coined by the extreme right –which makes it astonishing that it should be taken up by self-proclaimed disciples of Jesus (or people pretending to speak on their behalf). Yet before complaining about this so-called “replacement”, should this gentleman not force his children and grandchildren to attend church, and practice the very religion he does not wish to see replaced?
Religion is likened to the marvelous –the wonder of children at Christmas--, and the nostalgia of adults for this wonder (the so-called Max Weber theory about the “disenchantment of the world”, which GK Chesterton also developed in a more literary than sociological tone). That capacity to believe in magic (or so these people believe) is what faith is about. “That” is what religion is meant to perpetuate. To speak of the death of Jesus, for them, is more complicated (better speak of his resurrection and turn it into a magic trick meant to refute incredulity –and therefore reinforce a magical view of religion). Religion is expected to make people dream ... often by the very same people who will then accuse it of surfing on the illusion that even Christians rarely know how to answer the questions addressed to them about the historical existence of Jesus.
Am I painting too dark a picture of our predicament? Not sure! One thing is sure, however, and it is that de-Christianization presents us with a great opportunity for the Gospel itself to be heard anew (as opposed to all those centuries of cultural sediments. It survives the de-Christianization process in its provocative poverty, in its disarming critical virtue. The Church will no longer gain market share by the force of prestige. She should never have played this part!
Today's Gospel (Lk 21: 5-19) says so explicitly. Wonder (magic) and power have nothing to do with the Gospel. The beauty of the temples or of the churches, the prophets who say they come in the name of Jesus, fill sectarian movements holier than everybody else (including within the Catholic Church), only to end up in court, decades later: None of this has anything to do with the Gospel. "Do not walk behind them! What the Gospel does describe, however, and with great precision reporting is what we can see all around us with our naked eyes: climate change, apocalyptic disasters, wars and even the oppression of Christians (4,300 killed in 2018 alone, especially in Africa, the continent of the supposed future growth of the Church)!
Our mission, in these circumstances, is to agree first to a return to the Gospel, the Gospel in its poverty and its radicality. Nothing –no frills, no wonder and no dream to sweeten the pill and make it easier to swallow. The manger is a preaching of the burial of Christ and what His death is meant to signify (that He be food for our animality). After all, if the Gospel is not credible, is it not, primarily because it does not change much in our lives?
The mission invites us secondly to the sort of hospitality that Jesus displays, to his commensality. We must be, with him, committed to fraternity building. The fight for the dignity of every human person, an expression of the love we have for one another, is the only way to draw attention to what God is. This is what the disciples are recognized for (John 13:35).
The mission (make disciples of all nations –Mt 28: 19) does not aim to make that all nations be disciples of Christ, it calls upon those called to ensure that, in every place (and from every place), there should be disciples of Christ who will act as ferments of the kingdom within those communities (nations), creating thus a fraternity born out our recognition of God (and only God) as our real Father, Dominus and Lord. That capacity to ferment nations (and to be the salt of the earth) will keep its fermenting virtue only if the disciples are attached to Jesus as the branches to the vine (Jn 15). The mission forces us therefore, and thirdly, to a never completed conversion towards the Father (God is Love) by listening to Jesus.
But how can listening to Jesus turns us towards the Father --that is to say (given that the illusions of our Christian past have been shown to be devoid of a future): How can listening to the Gospel turn sus towards one another, in the sort of community that can engender us as sons and daughters of the Father (for we are not Christians alone, and our baptism, as well as our very name of “Christian”, we have all received them from others) so that we all can be a sign to the others, outside of our midst (in all nations) to whom we must be a sign.
The model of the religious life, including in its monastic form, imposes itself on our mission. If sympathizers of faith have their place in the Church, and if Christians have a place in society, it is by taking baptism seriously, at its root, i.e.: radically.
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