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A REDEMPTIVE WORLD VIEW
In a Genesis Creation Account, the author repeats the word “good” at the end of each day; then he encapsulates the Days with this verse:” God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was vey good.” The sceptic might ask does this verse imply the war in the Gaza Strip with thousands of civilian casualties is good. The answer, of course, is no, but how many know and believe this truth. In this article we will establish through theological and historic insights that the world is in the Lord’s hands and, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, our guardianship too.
First, we must understand that in scripture “world” has two meanings. There is the world that God created good, and there is the world still influenced by sin. It is this second world that has fallen under a world view through which some have lost a sense of the Transcendent.
We must also understand world view as how we explain reality. In the Middle Ages the Catholic Church was central so the world view was theocentric. But the rise of science in the 16th and 17th centuries replaced the theocentric view. Next in the 18th and 19th centuries came the Enlightenment in which reason countered faith. Slowly faith in the Transcendent was slipping into the background.
Catholics especially spoke out against the above trend. In the mid-nineteenth century, Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum upheld the dignity of human person, eroded by the above trend.
Subsequently, at the turn of the century Pius X spoke out even more strongly against a godless world view. His encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis (“Feeding the Lord’s Flock” (1907) is powerful in content and tone because Pius was responding to the Modernists who saw no difference between the truth of human social sciences and Revelation. Pius X had no choice, for creeping Modernism was even influencing traditional clergy, and thereby was eroding the very Magisterium of the Church.
The Church from Pius X’s time up to Vatican II, early sixties. maintained a structure and life she had fostered for centuries. An example is the Latin liturgy. She survived two World Wars. In the thirties as the Nazi grip on Germany deepened, Pius XII for peace signed a Concordat with the German government, but this decision backfired on the papacy for Pius came under fire as Hitler’s pope. Years of scholarship finally brought out the truth: Pius really harboured the Jews in Rome.
In the late 50’s the winds of change were blowing through the Church. Pope John XXIII called Vatican II to modernize and update the Church. Theologians like Karl Rahner and Yves Congar worked with secular scientists to integrate them into Catholic thinking. This attitude worked with some theologians, but others like Hans Kung, Edward Schillebeekx broke away to some degree from Catholic Tradition.
After all the above, we need to revive the Christocentric world view not by a Church oath but through the grace of the Holy Spirit manifested in Catholics with these attributes:
1.A living faith rooted in the Lord Jesus. A devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary.
2. Faith and service grounded in prayer verbal and silent.
3. Knowledge of issues affecting Church and State.
4. Understanding a world view has evolved in science and technology. Emphasize the positive use of artificial intelligence.
5. Being ecumenical-respecting other churches in which the Holy Spirit moves too.
6.Uphold Catholic beliefs but be aware that pluralism is now a reality.
7. Emulate Catholic models: Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Henri Nouwen, Pope Francis.
8. Discern reading carefully. Let the Magisterium be our guide.
9. Be positive. Support truth, the dignity of the human person.
10. Embrace grace, goodness, kindness. humility and mercy inherent in the Paschal Mystery.
The starting point for all the above is our Baptism. Through water and invocation of the Holy Spirit, we become soldiers of Christ in a world that has lost a sense of the Transcendent. Baptism cleanses us of original sin, but since the Fall in Eden we still experience its effects: In the Word Among Us (July/August 2025) we read: “Baptism is not just the washing away of our sins. It also grants you a share in the priestly, prophetic and royal mission of Christ. As soldiers of Christ, we enter the refining furnace of redemption. We become a new creation.
True followers of the Lord are born in struggle. St Paul says in the closing of his letter to the Galatians that engaging in a debate over circumcision or non-circumcision leads nowhere: “For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation” (Galatians 6:15).
I conclude with a hymn I sang in my prayer group in 90’s. The hymn is addressed to the Holy Spirit: “Refining Fire, my heart’s desire…I want to be holy, set apart by you….” This is our goal: no matter the state of the Church or society the Lord is all in all. By embracing the Paschal Mystery, we are both living our faith and reaching out to the suffering whether they are on the Gaza Strip or next door.
We affirm a redemptive world view rooted in the Presence of the Lord who makes us a New Creation.
Bernard Callaghan
bandscall@eastlink.ca
REFERENCES
Holmes, Derek J. The Papacy in the Modern World 1914-1978. New York: The Crossroad Pub. C0., 1981.
The Holy Bible NRSV, Catholic Edition. Nashville: Harper Collins,1995.
The Word Among Us July/August. p.30.
A REDEMPTIVE WORLD VIEW
In the Genesis Creation Account, the author repeats the word “good” at the end of each day; then he encapsulates the Days with this verse:” God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was vey good.” The sceptic might ask does this verse imply the war in the Gaza Strip with thousands of civilian casualties is good. The answer, of course, is no, but how many know and believe this truth. In this article we will establish through theological and historic insights that the world is in the Lord’s hands and, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, our guardianship too.
First, we must understand that in scripture “world” has two meanings. There is the world that God created good, and there is the world still influenced by sin. It is this second world that has fallen under a world view that some have lost a sense of the Transcendent.
We must also understand world view as how we explain reality. In the Middle Ages the Catholic Church was central so the world view was theocentric. But the rise of science in the 16th and 17th centuries replaced the theocentric view. Next in the 18th and 19th centuries came the Enlightenment in which reason countered faith. Slowly faith in the Transcendent was slipping into the background.
Catholics especially spoke out against the above trend. In the mid-nineteenth century, Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum upheld the dignity of human person, eroded by the above trend.
Subsequently, at the turn of the century Pius the X spoke out even more strongly against a godless world view. His encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis (“Feeding the Lord’s Flock” (1907) is powerful in content and tone because Pius was responding to the Modernists who saw no difference between the truth of human social sciences and revelation. Pius X had no choice, for creeping Modernism was even influencing traditional clergy, and thereby was eroding the very Magisterium of the Church.
The Church from Pius X’s time up to Vatican II, early sixties. maintained a structure and life she had fostered for centuries. An example is the Latin liturgy. She survived two world wars. In the thirties as the Nazi grip on Germany deepened, Pius XII for peace signed a Concordat with the German government, but this decision backfired on the papacy for Pius came under fire as Hitler’s pope. Years of scholarship finally brought out the truth: Pius really harboured the Jews in Rome.
In the late 50’s the winds of change were blowing through the Church. Pope John XXIII called Vatican II to modernize and update the Church. Theologians like Karl Rahner and Yves Congar worked with secular scientists to integrate them into Catholic thinking. This attitude worked with some theologians, but others like Hans Kung, Edward Schillebeekx broke away to some degree from Catholic Tradition.
After all the above, we need to revive the Christocentric world view not by a Church oath but through the grace of the Holy Spirit manifested in Catholics with these attributes:
1.A living faith rooted in the Lord Jesus. A devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary.
2. Faith and service grounded by prayer verbal and silent.
3. Knowledge of issues affecting Church and State.
4. Understanding a world view has evolved, in science and technology. Emphasize the positive use of artificial intelligence
5. Being ecumenical-respecting other churches in which the Holy Spirit moves too.
6.Uphold Catholic beliefs but be aware that pluralism is now a reality.
7. Emulate Catholic models: Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Henri Nouwen, Pope Francis
8. Discern reading carefully. Let the Magisterium be our guide.
9. Be positive. Support truth, the dignity of the human person.
10. Embrace grace, goodness, kindness. humility and mercy inherent in the Paschal Mystery.
The starting point for all the above is our Baptism. Through water and invocation of the Holy Spirit, we become soldiers of Christ in a world that has lost a sense of the Transcendent. Baptism cleanses us of original sin, but since the Fall in Eden we still experience its effects: In the Word Among Us (July/August 2025) we read: “Baptism is not just the washing away of our sins. It also grants you a share in the priestly, prophetic and royal mission of Christ. As soldiers of Christ, we enter the refining furnace of redemption. We become a new creation.
True followers of the Lord are born in struggle. St Paul says in the closing of his letter to the Galatians that engaging in a debate over circumcision or non-circumcision leads nowhere: “For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation” (Galatians 6:15).
I conclude with a hymn I sang in my prayer group in 90’s. The hymn is addressed to the Holy Spirit: “Refining Fire, my heart’s desire…I want to be holy, set apart by you….” This is our goal: no matter the state of the Church or society The Lord is all in all. By embracing the Paschal Mystery, we are both living our faith and reaching out to the suffering whether they are on the Gaza Strip or next door.
We affirm a redemptive world view rooted in the Presence of the Lord who makes us a New Creation.
Bernard Callaghan
bandscall@eastlink.ca
REFERENCES
Holmes, Derek J. The Papacy in the Modern World 1914-1978. New York: The Crossroad Pub. C0., 1981.
The Holy Bible NRSV, Catholic Edition. Nashville: Harper Collins,1995.
The Word Among Us July/August. p.30.
A REDEMPTIVE WORLD VIEW
In the Genesis Creation Account, the author repeats the word “good” at the end of each day; then he encapsulates the Days with this verse:” God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was vey good.” The sceptic might ask does this verse imply the war in the Gaza Strip with thousands of civilian casualties is good. The answer, of course, is no, but how many know and believe this truth. In this article we will establish through theological and historic insights that the world is in the Lord’s hands and, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, our guardianship too.
First, we must understand that in scripture “world” has two meanings. There is the world that God created good, and there is the world still influenced by sin. It is this second world that has fallen under a world view that some have lost a sense of the Transcendent.
We must also understand world view as how we explain reality. In the Middle Ages the Catholic Church was central so the world view was theocentric. But the rise of science in the 16th and 17th centuries replaced the theocentric view. Next in the 18th and 19th centuries came the Enlightenment in which reason countered faith. Slowly faith in the Transcendent was slipping into the background.
Catholics especially spoke out against the above trend. In the mid-nineteenth century, Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum upheld the dignity of human person, eroded by the above trend.
Subsequently, at the turn of the century Pius the X spoke out even more strongly against a godless world view. His encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis (“Feeding the Lord’s Flock” (1907) is powerful in content and tone because Pius was responding to the Modernists who saw no difference between the truth of human social sciences and revelation. Pius X had no choice, for creeping Modernism was even influencing traditional clergy, and thereby was eroding the very Magisterium of the Church.
The Church from Pius X’s time up to Vatican II, early sixties. maintained a structure and life she had fostered for centuries. An example is the Latin liturgy. She survived two world wars. In the thirties as the Nazi grip on Germany deepened, Pius XII for peace signed a Concordat with the German government, but this decision backfired on the papacy for Pius came under fire as Hitler’s pope. Years of scholarship finally brought out the truth: Pius really harboured the Jews in Rome.
In the late 50’s the winds of change were blowing through the Church. Pope John XXIII called Vatican II to modernize and update the Church. Theologians like Karl Rahner and Yves Congar worked with secular scientists to integrate them into Catholic thinking. This attitude worked with some theologians, but others like Hans Kung, Edward Schillebeekx broke away to some degree from Catholic Tradition.
After all the above, we need to revive the Christocentric world view not by a Church oath but through the grace of the Holy Spirit manifested in Catholics with these attributes:
1.A living faith rooted in the Lord Jesus. A devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary.
2. Faith and service grounded by prayer verbal and silent.
3. Knowledge of issues affecting Church and State.
4. Understanding a world view has evolved, in science and technology. Emphasize the positive use of artificial intelligence
5. Being ecumenical-respecting other churches in which the Holy Spirit moves too.
6.Uphold Catholic beliefs but be aware that pluralism is now a reality.
7. Emulate Catholic models: Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Henri Nouwen, Pope Francis
8. Discern reading carefully. Let the Magisterium be our guide.
9. Be positive. Support truth, the dignity of the human person.
10. Embrace grace, goodness, kindness. humility and mercy inherent in the Paschal Mystery.
The starting point for all the above is our Baptism. Through water and invocation of the Holy Spirit, we become soldiers of Christ in a world that has lost a sense of the Transcendent. Baptism cleanses us of original sin, but since the Fall in Eden we still experience its effects: In the Word Among Us (July/August 2025) we read: “Baptism is not just the washing away of our sins. It also grants you a share in the priestly, prophetic and royal mission of Christ. As soldiers of Christ, we enter the refining furnace of redemption. We become a new creation.
True followers of the Lord are born in struggle. St Paul says in the closing of his letter to the Galatians that engaging in a debate over circumcision or non-circumcision leads nowhere: “For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation” (Galatians 6:15).
I conclude with a hymn I sang in my prayer group in 90’s. The hymn is addressed to the Holy Spirit: “Refining Fire, my heart’s desire…I want to be holy, set apart by you….” This is our goal: no matter the state of the Church or society The Lord is all in all. By embracing the Paschal Mystery, we are both living our faith and reaching out to the suffering whether they are on the Gaza Strip or next door.
We affirm a redemptive world view rooted in the Presence of the Lord who makes us a New Creation.
Bernard Callaghan
bandscall@eastlink.ca
REFERENCES
Holmes, Derek J. The Papacy in the Modern World 1914-1978. New York: The Crossroad Pub. C0., 1981.
The Holy Bible NRSV, Catholic Edition. Nashville: Harper Collins,1995.
The Word Among Us July/August. p.30.
A REDEMPTIVE WORLD VIEW
In the Genesis Creation Account, the author repeats the word “good” at the end of each day; then he encapsulates the Days with this verse:” God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was vey good.” The sceptic might ask does this verse imply the war in the Gaza Strip with thousands of civilian casualties is good. The answer, of course, is no, but how many know and believe this truth. In this article we will establish through theological and historic insights that the world is in the Lord’s hands and, through the grace of the Holy Spirit, our guardianship too.
First, we must understand that in scripture “world” has two meanings. There is the world that God created good, and there is the world still influenced by sin. It is this second world that has fallen under a world view that some have lost a sense of the Transcendent.
We must also understand world view as how we explain reality. In the Middle Ages the Catholic Church was central so the world view was theocentric. But the rise of science in the 16th and 17th centuries replaced the theocentric view. Next in the 18th and 19th centuries came the Enlightenment in which reason countered faith. Slowly faith in the Transcendent was slipping into the background.
Catholics especially spoke out against the above trend. In the mid-nineteenth century, Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum upheld the dignity of human person, eroded by the above trend.
Subsequently, at the turn of the century Pius the X spoke out even more strongly against a godless world view. His encyclical Pascendi Dominici gregis (“Feeding the Lord’s Flock” (1907) is powerful in content and tone because Pius was responding to the Modernists who saw no difference between the truth of human social sciences and revelation. Pius X had no choice, for creeping Modernism was even influencing traditional clergy, and thereby was eroding the very Magisterium of the Church.
The Church from Pius X’s time up to Vatican II, early sixties. maintained a structure and life she had fostered for centuries. An example is the Latin liturgy. She survived two world wars. In the thirties as the Nazi grip on Germany deepened, Pius XII for peace signed a Concordat with the German government, but this decision backfired on the papacy for Pius came under fire as Hitler’s pope. Years of scholarship finally brought out the truth: Pius really harboured the Jews in Rome.
In the late 50’s the winds of change were blowing through the Church. Pope John XXIII called Vatican II to modernize and update the Church. Theologians like Karl Rahner and Yves Congar worked with secular scientists to integrate them into Catholic thinking. This attitude worked with some theologians, but others like Hans Kung, Edward Schillebeekx broke away to some degree from Catholic Tradition.
After all the above, we need to revive the Christocentric world view not by a Church oath but through the grace of the Holy Spirit manifested in Catholics with these attributes:
1.A living faith rooted in the Lord Jesus. A devotion to our Blessed Mother Mary.
2. Faith and service grounded by prayer verbal and silent.
3. Knowledge of issues affecting Church and State.
4. Understanding a world view has evolved, in science and technology. Emphasize the positive use of artificial intelligence
5. Being ecumenical-respecting other churches in which the Holy Spirit moves too.
6.Uphold Catholic beliefs but be aware that pluralism is now a reality.
7. Emulate Catholic models: Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Henri Nouwen, Pope Francis
8. Discern reading carefully. Let the Magisterium be our guide.
9. Be positive. Support truth, the dignity of the human person.
10. Embrace grace, goodness, kindness. humility and mercy inherent in the Paschal Mystery.
The starting point for all the above is our Baptism. Through water and invocation of the Holy Spirit, we become soldiers of Christ in a world that has lost a sense of the Transcendent. Baptism cleanses us of original sin, but since the Fall in Eden we still experience its effects: In the Word Among Us (July/August 2025) we read: “Baptism is not just the washing away of our sins. It also grants you a share in the priestly, prophetic and royal mission of Christ. As soldiers of Christ, we enter the refining furnace of redemption. We become a new creation.
True followers of the Lord are born in struggle. St Paul says in the closing of his letter to the Galatians that engaging in a debate over circumcision or non-circumcision leads nowhere: “For neither does circumcision mean anything, nor does uncircumcision, but only a new creation” (Galatians 6:15).
I conclude with a hymn I sang in my prayer group in 90’s. The hymn is addressed to the Holy Spirit: “Refining Fire, my heart’s desire…I want to be holy, set apart by you….” This is our goal: no matter the state of the Church or society The Lord is all in all. By embracing the Paschal Mystery, we are both living our faith and reaching out to the suffering whether they are on the Gaza Strip or next door.
We affirm a redemptive world view rooted in the Presence of the Lord who makes us a New Creation.
Bernard Callaghan
bandscall@eastlink.ca
REFERENCES
Holmes, Derek J. The Papacy in the Modern World 1914-1978. New York: The Crossroad Pub. C0., 1981.
The Holy Bible NRSV, Catholic Edition. Nashville: Harper Collins,1995.
The Word Among Us July/August. p.30.
With a B..A and an M. A, in English, Bernard, a retired teacher has been publishing short stories and religious articles since the early nineties in magazines and online. He favors articles on prayer and scripture.
