ABANDONED GOD
LIDIA DUDKIEWICZ, THE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF 'NIEDZIELA'
Recently cardinal Robert Sarah, a prefect for Congregation for Divine Cult and Sacraments Discipline has been in Poland; once he was a close cooperator of St. John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and at present – pope Francis. Readers of ‘Niedziela’ have already had an occasion to hear his opinions concerning the sense of human life and philosophy of the world existence. Last year in ‘Niedziela’ there was presented a book ‘Dieu ou rien’ – ‘God or nothing’, a long interview with cardinal Sarah where we find a lot of definite sentences. We read, among the others: ‘Nobody, even pope, can destroy or change Christ’s teaching. Nobody, even pope, can contrast pastoral ministry with a doctrine. It would mean a revolt towards Jesus Christ and His teaching’. These thoughts of the Roman correspondent Włodzimierz Rędzioch in relation to the synod about family which was held in 1015. We remember how serious concern was that the synod might go to an improper direction, and even depart from the Church teaching about family. At that time cardinal Sarah left us the basic interpretation concerning the genesis and the essence of family. He explained that ‘the Christian family is an alive body which is born in Christ and with Christ. There is no other family than a relation between a man and a woman, open to pass life to others. Betrayal of family is betrayal of Christ because marriage is a gift which we receive from God’.
Valuable thoughts concerning not only family but also human existence generally, were personally expressed by cardinal Sarah during his presentation of his book ‘God or nothing’ in Warsaw, which was translated into Polish. – The heart of the book is God – said the author, and its title is to be a reaction to non-existence of God in the world of politics, economy and culture. – A real crisis in today’s world is the crisis of God – said the Cardinal. He also noted the contemporary ‘gods’ which are science, technology, money and power. He noted that a lot of people decided to live without the Creator and open the door wide for abortion, genetic manipulations and objectification of offspring. Therefore, as cardinal Sarah used to say: ‘The Church should discover its vocation for being the only institution which is able to save human sexuality and natural institution of marriage and family’.
Unfortunately, in the West for many people God died. They are trying to live without God – these were us who killed Him, we are murderers of God, our churches are His graves – said cardinal Sarah. And in relation to abandoning God the world is experiencing a crisis. In the opinion of the Cardinal, the contemporary man is directed nearly only to having and using material goods. – In the cultural context of the western society, it is not exaggeration to say that a man works, organizes inter-human, political, economic and business relations and manages them, and also causes wars, produces weapon of mass disaster, conquers and takes the authority over other countries – all this only in order to collect material goods and strengthen his power and hegemony.
How to change it? – only the choice of God can save a man and humankind anew. If we do not do it, there will be nothing. We will be like a tree without roots and then we will not be able to live.
AA
„Niedziela” 13/2016