Here is a short story from his book Rediscovering Catholisism.
"More than ever, non-Christians and non-practicing Christians are sending you, me, and all of Christianity a message. Though they are not aware of it, they are indirectly giving witness to the Gospel. For within the message, there is a profound challenge for you and me to embrace a life rooted more fully in the example and teachings of Jesus Christ. Their message is clear, unmistakable, and disarmingly simple. Our siblings, parents, and children are sending us this message, as are our friends, neighbors, and colleagues. They are saying, whispering, crying out, “Don’t tell me, show me!”
Their plea comes from a longing deep within them and represents their great hunger. They don’t want to see another television evangelist, they don’t want to read another book or hear another tape about Christianity, and they don’t want to hear your amazing story of conversion. They want the real thing. They want to witness someone, anyone – just one will do – living an authentic life. Someone whose words are spoken by the authority of his or her actions. Someone striving humbly but heroically to live by what is good, true, and noble in the midst of and in spite of this Modern climate.
They are not sending us this message merely to sound the childish cry of “hypocrite.” Rather, theirs is a natural cry – a cry for help. They are saying to us, “Don’t tell me, show me!” Because they are so hungry for a courageous example of the authentic life, a life lived to the fullest, in this day and age. Seeing the conflicts and contradictions of our lives, they cry “hypocrite” out of their hurt and anger, because the disappointment of discovering that we are not living the life we espouse robs them of their own hope to live an authentic life. They are calling out to us like sheep without a shepherd, wanting to be fed, wanting to be led to the pastures of kindness, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, acceptance, freedom, and love.
I have heard this cry a thousand times, but the words of one man echo in my mind like a bad dream that keeps returning to haunt a terrified child. They are the words of Mahatma Gandhi. He is a man for whom I have great admiration – a man whom I believe strove with all his might to live an authentic life. I have studied his life and writings extensively, but one passage stands out. It speaks to me with a clarity that pierces my heart.
In relation to the well known fact that Gandhi read from the New Testament everyday and often quoted the Christian Scriptures, a reporter once asked him why he had never become a Christian He answered, “If I had ever met one, I would have become one.” In his own way, Gandhi was saying, “Don’t tell me, show me!” and simultaneously revealing his yearning for an example of an authentic life.
With all this being said, I believe there is also a desire within each of us to live an authentic life. We desire not only to witness authentic lives, but also to live an authentic life ourselves. We genuinely want to be true to ourselves and true to God. At times, we have perhaps resolved to live such a life with all the fervor we could muster. But, distracted by the sweet seduction of pleasure, possessions, or power, we have wandered from the narrow path. We know the truth, but we lack the discipline and strength of character to align the actions of our lives with the truth (Matthew 26:41). We have given ourselves over to the thousand different whims, cravings, and fantasies. Our lives have become merely a distortion of the truth we know and profess. We know the human family’s need for kindness, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, acceptance, freedom, and love, but we have divided our hearts with a thousand contradictions and compromises.
At every moment, the entire modern world kneels before us, begging, pleading, beckoning, for some brave man or woman to come forward and lead them by example of an authentic life.
Amidst the abundance of this age, which at times may seem all-prevailing, there is a great hunger in the people of today. We have a universal hunger for the authentic."
– Matthew Kelly, Rediscovering Catholicism
0 comments:
Post a Comment