Remembering Christ

Bear with me, this introduction to the topic at hand is long.  And yet, I feel it is important.

Were I to say, “The Holy Spirit provides a sense of Anamnesis in the heart of Man,” very few people would really understand what I say.  Anamnesis is a Greek term, coined by Ratzinger (to the best of my knowledge), and refers to a very specific and technical operation within Man’s soul whereby he recognizes good from evil, and seeks to do good.  That sounds an awful lot like just the conscience, and most people keep with that.  Yet, it is much more accurate to use the Greek term, Anamnesis, because “recognizing” is something akin to remembering.  You are re-cognating something already written in your heart.  In this way, the Holy Spirit does not introduce knowledge of good and evil into our hearts; He reminds us of an inclination towards the good that we are created with, but have lost and forgotten through Original sin, and consequently our own Actual sins.  Now, we see the relevance of my introduction: the activity of the Holy Spirit in the individual heart of Man is the same activity of the Holy Spirit in these churches through the continued activity of pastoral evangelization.

Redemptoris Missio, paragraph 33 states that there is only one missionary task of the Church, though there are diverse activities within that mission.  Her one task is to introduce Christ to the human heart.  And, where He is already introduced, it would seem a case study in bad time-management to spend resources and effort in introducing Him again.  It only seems so, however, if you discount human nature and the ways in which Man learns.  “Evangelization,” writes JPII, “is linked to generational change.  Generations come and go which have distanced themselves from Christ and the Church, which have accepted a secular model of thinking and living or upon which such a model has been imposed.  Meanwhile, the Church is always looking toward the future. She constantly goes out to meet new generations.  And new generations clearly seem to be accepting with enthusiasm what their elders seemed to have rejected (Witness to Hope, What is the New Evangelization).”  This passage presents a cycle within church communities, a cycle which could go very right - or very wrong if left to the natural way of the fallen world.

Say a faith community is strong in their belief and their relationship with Christ.  They receive mutual strength and encouragement from each other, go out and spread their faith, and worship together.  All is well, until the next generation enters the picture.  They have different interests, different culture, and even a different way of thinking.  They hear the words their parents and the church tells them, but it does not ring true.  They cannot understand what it is about their parents’ that causes them to believe such archaic things.  And so, they fall away from the faith.  The parents, in turn, become exasperated by their childrens’ apostasy, and they too fall away from the faith - or, at least, their faith becomes the empty shell of practices and habits their children accuse them of.  This is the wrong end of the natural cycle, the end which comes about, if not for the saving work of the Holy Spirit through continued evangelization.

The Holy Spirit reminds us of what we already know.  He makes present again something in such a way that new ears, new hearts, can hear it.  Continued pastoral care to already evangelized communities makes it so that the parents are encouraged, and that their own faith is secure and revitalized.  The children, for their part, hear their own faith from new perspectives and in language close to their understanding.  The cycle that ends as a Shakespearean tragedy (everyone’s faith dies) is, with the Holy Spirit, changed to a comedy: even those who suffered trials are now invited to the wedding feast, or are rather part of that feast.

Where does all this leave us?  The renewing work of the Holy Spirit through Anamnesis means, “that Christ is forever young.  It means that the Holy Spirit is incessantly at work (Witness to Hope).”  Every age is re-introduced to Christ; indeed, every age needs to be introduced to Christ again, as if for the first time, as we see in our own age.  “The Father and the Son,” writes JPII, “are at work in the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth, and truth does not cease to fascinate man, especially the hearts of the young.”  Because of this, even in the face of empirical and reportable data concerning the rise of the agnostic youth, “we should not consider statistics alone. For Christ, works of charity are important. Despite all of the losses the Church has suffered, it does not cease to look toward the future with hope.  Such hope is a sign of the power of the Spirit.  And the power of the Spirit must always be judged in the light of these words of the Apostle: ‘Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!’(cf. 1 Cor 9:16) (Witness to Hope).”  Let us continue to be instruments of the Holy Spirit, being the vessel He may choose to stir the Anamnesis in the hearts of Man.  And, in our darkest days, may we too have such Christian brothers and sisters who will provide the Holy Spirit that same opportunity in our own lives.