What are people seeking after? Matthew Kelly tells us if we listen
carefully, if we look closely, we will discover people are hungry. “We were
created to love and be loved, and there is a restlessness, a longing for more,
a profound discontent with our lives and with our culture. We sense that
something is missing, and deep within we know that nothing we can buy and no
worldly pleasure will satisfy our restlessness.”
If you listen to the conversion stories from people who have brought God
into their lives through his Son, Jesus Christ, a key factor in this conversion
was finding fulfillment in the saving grace of the Lord. It was connecting with
the truth that Christ represented in his humanity and divinity. Yet many people
who hungered and found the truth in Christ have fallen away from practicing
their faith – from living a Christ filled life. Why?
Matthew tells us that people are starving for “authentic Christianity,”
a sincere and genuine life. He notes that in a time when people should be
embracing Christianity for the truth that Jesus personified in his life and
through his teachings, Christianity is often seen as part of the “culture of
appearance and deception.” The proliferation of words, symbols, and images that
make up our modern communication is overwhelming people. We are overloaded with
information and are simply trying to survive life. Non-Christians and
non-practicing brothers and sisters are sending a message to Christianity –
“Don’t tell me – show me!”
This cry for authenticity was found in Matthew's examination of Mahatma
Gandhi’s life, who he believes strove to live an authentic life and whose
statement on Christianity made an indelible impression on him. He notes that it
was widely known that Gandhi read the New Testament daily and often quoted the
Scriptures. When asked by a reporter why he had never become a Christian Gandhi
said, “If I had ever met one, I would have become one.” Matthew says in his own
way, Gandhi was saying, “Don’t tell me – show me.”
The chapter closes with a restatement that there is a “universal hunger
for the authentic, a longing to be and become and experience all we are capable
of and created for.” How do we find this path to authentic living? What has to
change in our lives to experience authentic living?
A Reflection
This opening chapter brought the current phenomenon of Pope Francis into
clarity for me. Why has the world, not only Catholics, but other Christians and
non-Christians, become so absorbed with this Servant of God? Could it be that
what they see in this humble man is an authentic life being lived? Isn't Pope
Francis “showing us – and not telling us?”
Question: What resonates for you in the words of Matthew Kelly on the hunger for
authentic living? Let us know what you think.
In peace,
Dan Scofield
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Going deeper - Click on this link
to read a couple of articles on Pope Francis - stories that might inspire you
to find your own path to an authentic lived life.
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