Niniveh

29 March 1999 15:30

This is the March letter from Fr. Werenfried van Straaten, (http://www.kirche-in-not.org).


As our Holy Father said, over ten years ago, it is “not easy to be truly Christian in a modern society that is marked by re-emerging forms of heathenism”. And, since the collapse of the Soviet Union and its particular form of communism, this has in some sense become still harder. Even for the Church. For we live today in a distorted world, where immorality and selfishness are widely seen, no longer as reprehensible, but as normal. “Materialistic ideologies and a permissive morality have seduced many into believing that it is possible to establish a new and better society without God and without any reference to transcendent values. But experience gives us the tangible proof that a society without God is an inhuman one, and that man is thereby robbed of his most precious treasure”. And he adds: “A world without God will sooner or later turn against man as well” (John Paul 11).

Already our society is doing just that, as we can see as soon as we reflect on the killing of unborn children, the assisted suicide, cloning of humans and now the new murder weapon of the abortion pill. But there is still a Niniveh. There are still people who are ready to fast and do penance as soon as, like Jonah, someone announces the will of God to them. God made use of Jonah, although he at first ran away from Him, and when He saw that the inhabitants of Niniveh had tried “to renounce their evil behaviour, God relented: He did not inflict on them the disaster which He had threatened” (Jonah 3, 10).

People are better than we think. Often all they need is someone to point out the truth to them or give them a way of translating their goodwill into action. Thanks to your spirit of sacrifice and your love, dear friends, we are in a position to proclaim God’s Word, and help to save our present-day Niniveh. We can do so through our Child’s Bible, through the formation of soundly instructed catechists and teachers of religion prophets in a godless world! Certainly, what we can offer to God is often very little. But He can satisfy thousands with a handful of loaves and two fishes. With our small offerings He can work wonders. Indeed, He could do so even without our gifts. But God wishes to send us, like Jonah, to the people – however roundabout the route may be. He desires the homage of our hearts, and so, with His eyes upon those who hunger for truth, He says to us, in our day too: “There is no need to send them away. Give them food yourselves” (Matt. 14, 16). Christ is above all our Saviour, the Pope tells us. “He is the One Who teaches us the path of Salvation, not the accuser of the guilty”.

And what is the path of Salvation? Again the Gospel leaves us in no doubt. The deciding factor at the Last judgment will be how we have fulfilled the Works of Mercy towards our neighbour. Christ identifies Himself with this neighbour. “Whatever you have done to the least of My brethren you have done to Me” (Matt. 25, 40).

These words already resound like a call to our Lenten season of penance, when we must attempt to detach ourselves from the things of this world and face the fact that the Church in the post-Communist countries, as almost everywhere in the Third World – and sadly also in our faithless Europe and America – all too often stands empty handed before the spiritual hunger of the people. So let us respond to this appeal with the joy of a generous heart.

The suffering Church has need of our prayer and sacrifice above all. The world needs our penance. Scripture and the Fathers of the Church speak of three forms – fasting, prayer, almsgiving – as the outward expression of our reparation, towards ourselves, towards God and towards our fellow men. They effect the purification, the conversion of our hearts. And God will not be outdone by us in generosity. For He too is much better than we think.

As always it is Peter who asks Him: “What about us? We have left everything and followed You”. Our Lord replies by promising them “a hundredfold, and eternal life as well”. For it is not the quantity of our wealth that Jesus expects of us. He desires our hearts, our conversion. Again, at the second miracle of the loaves, He asks: “How many loaves do you have?” Once again there were only “seven, and a few small fish” (Matt. 15, 34). Yet everybody ate and was satisfied. This must be our yardstick, then: to perceive the need, to turn to the Lord, to give all that we happen to have, and then leave the rest to Him. The miracle is repeated again and again. How often priests come to us, from Mexico, Pakistan, Rwanda – we promise help, and trust that the Lord will then move your hearts to give those seven loaves and handful of small fishes to Jesus, so that He may bless them and hand them back to His disciples for distribution.

This is our Faith. This is how we must love. This is how we can sow pardon and reconciliation. And this is how, through the work of our organization, He can renew the face of the earth. Together with the Pope, we say to those who have turned away from Confession – from the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the Merciful Love of Jesus: “Come back to this Source of Grace! Have no fear! Christ Himself is waiting for you. He will heal you and you will live in peace with God!” And so, precisely in this Lenten season, we can restore to the world a little of this peace.