Tomas Halik’s book is subtitled: “Christian Faith in an Age
of Uncertainty.” I believe the word “My”
should be inserted at the start of that phrase, for this book speaks largely
about Mr. Halik’s faith --- or lack of it.
The sacrament of reconciliation “experience has shaped my
perception of the world,” he begins, and his subsequent words bear that
out. He deeply focuses on sin and
failure, and dismisses most efforts at faith as frauds. He thinks that true faith is rare. Charismatic or other faith movements are mere
cults he says. Faith movies (The
Passion) or large faith gatherings? --- frauds to make money; “better to fill
the stadiums with crying people for football games.” He seems to have forgotten that people rarely
state their good deeds in his confessional, the miracles and importance of God
in their lives, or of the living of the Holy Spirit in their faith communities. In confession he hears man’s failures, and he
thinks there are no successes. Nor does
he ponder much on God’s successes.
Halik states that Jesus’ promise that faith can achieve the
impossible excludes miracles or the presence of the Holy Spirit, but rather the
“impossible” that Jesus defined is a simple trust --- forgiving and “even
loving my neighbor,” or being generous: things that are “crazy in the eyes of
the world.” His idea of faith sounds
like a ‘60’s movement, with all its negative views of the world at large ---
and all the positive views that WE know the way. Halik speaks strongly of HIS knowledge of the
way things are, and of the ways of God.
He writes of a faith that can do HIS definition of the impossible, but
he appears to deny the possibility of God doing the same.
Halik, a clinical psychologist, analyzes God and
religion: “God for me remains hidden in
paradoxes.” He is a pessimist on the
future of the Church in Europe. He speaks
of no personal relationship with God, and rejects the possibility of others
having one. He concludes with the
statement: “For the era on whose threshold we stand, my guess is that hope will
be what is needed most of all.” And he
seems to have so little of it. How sad
for him. Out of the depths, I cry to Thee O Lord …
Mr. Halik’s subtitle spoke of an age of
uncertainty, but I perceive the book is only about Mr. Halik’s
uncertainty. Still, he discusses the
paths of our culture which disturb us, but he offers no solutions for the
culture, or for us. For me, this started
me thinking and praying on what I can do, and in particular the question: What
was I made to do? Like Mr. Halik, I
often perceive that I know the answers and the way things should be done. But I don’t.
And admitting that is the first step toward humility. From a certain point of view, you could
describe Mr. Halik’s definition of “the impossible” that Jesus promised us as
merely living in deep humility, rejecting the priorities of the world and self,
seeking to do the will of God while trusting in Him. But he never used the word humility in his book. But this book DID get me thinking about that
word, and its meaning in my life.
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