It seems to me that the heart of the problem is summed up in this quote from the book Faith, Truth, Tolerance:

“How on earth is it that faith still stands any chance of success [even for us who have been baptised]? I would say that it is because it finds a correspondence in the nature of man…. There is in man an inextinguishable, nostalgic aspiration toward the infinite. None of the answers which he seeks is sufficient; only the God who has made Himself limited in order to pierce through our limitation and to lead it to the breadth of His infinity is able to meet the questions of our being. Thus, again today, the Christian faith shall return to find man.”

I like this quote very much because it alludes to the fact that unless a person is certain, 100% certain, that Christ is an “encounterable Presence” that he/she encounters today – an “encounterable Presence” that fulfills the deepest and elementary desires of the human heart – He will merely be a name and the sacraments just another piece of catechetical information.

So yes, I agree that all the things you mention are vital but unless one has the awareness that the Living Christ begs for my yes, your yes, every moment of the day of every moment of our life, a yes born from the depth of our heart, those things, while vital, will be as useful as giving people suggestions on how to rearrange furniture on Titanic as it sinks.

But how does one develop this awareness? What method does Christ use to help us develop this awareness? You actually tell us in your post when you talk about your well meaning Protestant friend and Fr. Rutler.

What’s the method? That the Living, resurrected, Christ is imminent, becomes present to us, in the guise of a different humanity, a humanity He has possessed at baptism – i.e., the “new” man or woman that St. Paul mentions. For the encounter with Christ, the impact with the Living Christ, takes place when we encounter this “different” humanity, a humanity that strikes us because it corresponds to the structural needs of our heart.

This running into a different humanity is very simple and must be something that comes before everything, before any catechesis, reflection, or development. Why? Because Christ did not persuade simply because He catechized, but because He showed who He was. And if we look at our experience, we will see that we learned the truths of the Faith analytically and osmotically because we were fascinated by the encounter with this new humanity. And that’s the method we see Christ using in the Gospels! Think of Zaccheus, the way Christ looked at Zaccheus; Zaccheus did not understand anything from that gaze, but he understood everything. The same thing happened and must continue to happen to us because it’s only by following the magnetizing Beauty of Christ that’s hidden behind the flesh we bump into that we understand many things, but the important thing was that we, like Zaccheus, were struck by His gaze!

And so, I think the question we should all ask ourselves is: Do I believe that Christ is an “encounterable” fleshy Presence that I bump into today that fulfills the deepest and elementary desires of my heart?

Pax,

Henry

The glorious thing, if we are truly humble enough to accept it, is that we are ALSO what is right with the Church. In recognizing our sin, seeking repentance and living in grace, we are witnesses of the work God is about in us. And THAT is very, very right.