Center for Redemptorist Spirituality

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The Here and Now: The Kairós

We live in a historical moment that many perceive as quite unique, characterized by constant and fast change. But it seems that we are not just living in a period of change but in a change of historical period. I will be going into this later on during the week. Ours appears to be a period of transition into a new era. No one really has a clear picture of what the new will turn out to be. It is simply called postmodern for lack of a better metaphor or name. Among other things, this means that modernity is coming to an end, although it resists and struggles.

In this historical transition many forces are at work. The presence of the powers of darkness can be sensed though are often denied. The creative action of the Spirit is also present. Perhaps, in the pangs of birth, the cry of the new that is being born is stifled and not easily distinguishable. It wasn’t so apparent at the time of Alphonsus either. Discernment, then, becomes fundamental and urgent. In the Spirit of Jesus this discernment is carried out in community. Not one person has the full grasp on truth. We are called to come together in docility to the wisdom of the Spirit, to read the signs of the times and seek to detect the presence and action of God in events, etc.

A dominant force in action in the today’s world, for example, is the project of globalization. As such, as a process of linking the world and its cultures, it is not new. It’s latest manifestation seeks to impose itself rapidly and efficiently as a neo-liberal economic and political project to control the world. In this project the "free" market controls everything, making merchandise even of human life. Privatization is the key word for society and government. Humanity is valued as consumers in a market and society that offer their best as light. The system has developed its own theology and forms its own ministers in its own seminary structures. It offers an immediate eschatology, the end of history and the last man, as Francis Fukuyama calls it. He does not hesitate to state that liberal democracy constitutes the final point of arrival of the ideological evolution of man and the definitive form of government among men.

But who controls all of this and to what gods is sacrifice, including human sacrifice, being offered? What about the fact that poverty increases exponentially under the expansion of this globalization? What about the collateral damage of wars that this plan requires be engaged on the field and in markets so that it can bring about its promises? State, political and religious terrorism continue to offer human sacrifices. The poor are ignored in societies, they just simply do not seem to exist or seem to be far away in another universe for many. Justice is left by the wayside. A bishop in Brazil talks about the dark night of the poor. The industrial age has given way to the information, technological age, controlled one way or another by a few for a limited number of people.

In the midst of these events (and much, much more that has not been mentioned) the Spirit pursues another plan for globalization of quite a different character, that proclaimed by Jesus. Biblical studies have shown that Jesus does not present himself as the center of his own preaching. He proclaims the will of the Father as expressed in the term kingdom of God. This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand (Mk 1, 15). That they may all be one (Jn 17, 21). The difficulty and scandal here is that Jesus turns things around. The new in this project will be brought about by, and from the perspective of the most abandoned, the poor, the rejected or excluded by mainstream society. Luke underlines this dramatically: Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. ... But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation (Lk 6, 20.24). The goal of the kingdom is in continuity with the prophetic view of God’s reign but expressed with new images by the Gospels: the common union of all in and through the Spirit of Christ. The challenge to generate a new world in fraternity, solidarity and justice is calling at the doors of all Christians.

Unfortunately the eye of the needle has been made so large (or turned into a door so ample) that a whole herd of camels can go through quite easily. One cannot help but recall at this point Karl Rahner’s judgment that the Church was entering a winter of involution immediately after the spring of Vatican Council II. Another theologian speaks of fear and insecurity in the Church. There are those who, like the disciples of Emmaus, seek refuge and return to the comfort of present structures because they think that the promise of the new in Jesus has failed.

Christian Spirituality leads us to read the present period of history as a kairos. It is now the time to remember why God became in Jesus the God-with-us. It is now the time for developing the prophetic vision that opens our eyes to see the new of God, to recognize the signs of the kingdom being realized, and this is done in the Spirit. Second Isaiah, for example, in the midst of the confusion, the insecurity and the desperation of the Exile, discovered good news in events that seemed either insignificant or dangerous to others. The Book of Revelation does not hesitate to proclaim in God’s name Behold I make all things new (Rev 21, 5) at a time when Christians sought to understand their identity and respond to difficult historical challenges.

So, trusting in the Spirit, without fear, the spiritual person looks to recognize new paradigms, give new responses with the freshness that requires new structures and ways of acting and being. The prophets of the past were not reluctant to proclaim that God was manifesting himself in new ways, requiring a change in one’s way of thinking and behaving.

Christian spirituality comes about in the following of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, who leads us on the road towards the fulfillment of the kingdom of God (the will of the Father realized in history) in the Spirit, whose action and assistance makes it all possible.

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