We are living through times of religious crisis. It seems that faith is fading like a drowning person in the consciousness of many, repressed by modern culture and the lifestyle of today’s man. But at the same time, it is easy to observe that in many people, the search for meaning is awakening again, the longing for a different life, the need for a God Friend.
It is true that a widespread skepticism has spread among us regarding great projects and great words. Religious discourses offering “salvation” or “redemption” no longer resonate. Hope itself has diminished, almost to the point of disappearing, that a Good News for humanity might actually be heard somewhere.
At the same time, a feeling grows in no few people that we have lost the right direction. Something is sinking beneath our feet. We are running out of goals and reference points. We realize that we can solve “problems,” but we are increasingly less capable of resolving “the problem” of life. Aren’t we more in need than ever of salvation?
We also live in times of “fragmentation.” Life has become atomized. Each person lives in their compartment. Far away is that humanism that sought truth and the meaning of totality. Today, the one who knows about life is not listened to, but the specialist who knows a lot about a parcel, but knows nothing about the meaning of existence.
At the same time, not a few people begin to feel unwell in this dizzying world of data, information, and figures. We cannot avoid the eternal questions of human beings. Where do we come from? Where are we going? Isn’t there somewhere to find a final meaning to life?
These are also times of scientific pragmatism. Modern man has decided (it is not known why) that only what science can prove exists. Nothing more. What escapes it simply does not exist. Naturally, in this simple yet unscientific approach, God has no place, and religious faith is relegated to the outdated world of the non-progressives.
However, many are becoming aware that this approach falls far short, as it does not respond to reality. Life is not a “great erector set,” nor is man merely “a piece” of a world that can be unraveled by science. Everywhere, the mystery is present: within the human being, in the vastness of the cosmos, in the history of humanity.
That is why the suspicion arises again: are not the “questions” that science remains silent about precisely what constitutes the meaning of life? Is it not a grave error to forget the answer to the mystery of existence? Is it not a tragedy to so naively disregard God? Meanwhile, the words of Jesus remain: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.”
José Antonio Pagola
Published in www.gruposdejesus.com
English version translated with AI