“When we build a house, we start at the foundation and work our way up to the roof. When a planet is built, the work starts at its core and ends at its crust. Likewise when we build a Christian, we start by acquainting him or her with God before we acquaint him or her with the official rules, regulations, rigmarole and red tape of the Church. The job just does not get done if we start at the roof, the crust or at the official rules, regulations, rigmarole and red tape of the Church.”
Jesus who fashioned us from the mud with His hands put Himself into the hands of the mud. And the mud was not grateful. In fact, the mud was downright hostile. We tortured and killed Him. He suffered and died.
The visit ended in ignominious defeat. It concluded in abject failure. That is, until a miracle occurred.
Science teaches us that the darkest black hole is not any of the black holes that populate the sky. The darkest black hole is the black hole of death. No light escapes from it. However, in the case of Jesus, two glorious rays of light escaped the black hole of His death. Mighty Death was not powerful enough to contain them. The two escaping rays of light illuminate our understanding of God. We tortured Him but He did not stop loving us (lover). We killed Him but He did not stay dead (omnipotent). With the help of the mud, the Son of God showed us that He and His love for us are indestructible. That the Son of God was willing to do the Crucifixion for us tells us in no uncertain terms that there is nothing that He won't do for us.
Jesus is not a stranger. Jesus is not merely an acquaintance. Jesus is not merely a friend. Jesus is not merely a relative. Jesus is not merely our Abba. The richness of the reality that is Jesus is shortchanged by these man made descriptions. These man made descriptions fall short of the mark. They do not fairly and accurately describe the richness of the reality that is Jesus. They do not give Jesus the credit that He deserves. The Crucifixion teaches us that Jesus is our omnipotent lover. Omnipotent lover is the man made phrase that more accurately describe the richness of the reality that is Jesus. Wow! We have - each of us - a lover who is omnipotent. Therefore, what do we have to fear? Our omnipotent lover has our back. This is the good news of great joy.
Now God had a problem.
The visit of the Son of God took place in the boondocks of time and space. It was inconspicuous, anonymous and remote.
God's problem was how to propagate the good news of great joy from then and there to us here and now.
God concluded that some sort of perpetual memorial was urgently needed and a Church to tend it.
God did not want to establish an ordinary, conventional, run-of-the-mill memorial. God wanted a memorial whose glory would match the glorious triumph of life and love over death and hate won by the Son of God in the Crucifixion..
God, therefore, reviewed the options. The candidates for a memorial were words, a reenactment, a work of art, and other types of representations. However, from their review of the candidates for a memorial, God realized that the any representations made by human hands of the triumph of the Son of God would be inferior to the triumph of the Son of God itself. Therefore, God decided that the memorial had to be nothing less than the triumph of the Son of God itself.
So God did the impossible - they created a time machine. They uprooted the triumph of the Son of God from its foundation in time and space, made it portable and created a vehicle to carry it to us in the present. The vehicle that carries the triumph of the Son of God to us is the Mass. At Mass, the physics of time and space are suspended to publish and make known to us here and now the fact that the Son of God paid us a visit as one of us, let us torture and kill Him, rose from the dead and continued to love us nonetheless.
The above is a summary of the core of this thing we call Christianity. The core of Christianity is the good news of great joy. Other strata of Christianity are built upon the core. The core of Christianity is the most important aspect of Christianity. The strata built upon the core are of lesser importance. Yet, the Church thinks otherwise. The Church devotes too many resources to the strata of Christianity and not enough to its core. Perhaps, if the Church would emphasize the core of Christianity more and its official rules, regulations, red tape and rigmarole less, more people would seek God and flee from godlessness on the Catholic escape route. By emphasizing the strata instead of the core, the Church is building hollow planets. Hollow planets are unstable. They implode.
God is not dead. Indeed, God is very much alive. However, the conversation about God is dead. Killing the conversation about God is tantamount to killing God. The enemies of the Church understand this. The Church does not.
“Every moment spent on the official rules, regulations, rigmarole and red tape of the Church is a moment not spent on acquainting us with God. Every resource spent on the official rules, regulations, rigmarole and red tape of the Church is a resource not spent on acquainting us with God. The only way the war for our souls is won is by re-aquainting us with our God.”