The Story of the World
Dr. Janet E. Smith, Chair of Life Ethics, Professor of Moral Theology
MOSAIC, Summer 2006

Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, in his book Catholic Matters, states,

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the story of the world. The great problem is that the world does not know its own story. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not an imposition upon the world but the proposal to the world of its own story. For the Catholic Christian, the world is not alien territory but a creation of love that has tragically alienated itself from its Creator. The mission of the Church is to call the world home. (154)

The story that Christians have to tell is counter to the story of selfish self-indulgence told by the modern world. Rather, it is a love story; a love story that likely includes a huge dose of suffering, of carrying the cross. The Christian story always requires self-denial and living for others.

When we think about evangelizing the Christian story to a culture that does not believe in absolute truth, to a culture that seeks to avoid suffering through satisfying whatever appetite is making its demands at the moment, the prospect of success can seem daunting.

It has often been said that if we don’t worship God we will worship anything. It may be to the evangelizer’s advantage that the modern world’s denial of truth has led the world not to embrace some big, horrible falsehood that masquerades as truth, as it has in the past, such as Marxism. Rather, in denying truth altogether, the modern world flees into endless meaningless amusements that ultimately do not satisfy. What Christianity really has to offer is meaning. There are big stakes to the choices we make in this world; there are eternal consequences to our choices. We are the stars in a blockbuster drama.

In the modern age, we Christians don’t have to put our truth up against some rival truth. We need to put meaningfulness up against meaninglessness.  Indeed, we have a story to tell that explains the meaning not just of the world, but also of each one of us.

Part of the banality of our times is the pathetic attempt to promote phony self-esteem; to convince people that what is so interesting about them is that their favorite color is purple or their favorite game is soccer. What the Christian knows is that everyone is invaluable and infinitely precious to the Lord. Thus, what is most interesting about us is the story of our journey with the Lord. God is constantly working in the lives of each of us to draw us towards him.

Evangelizers must convey to all those being evangelized that writing the story of their encounter and walk with Christ is a story of import and interest way beyond anything they could imagine. That story will likely feature all sorts of detours, that is, a myriad of sins: fornication and adultery, laziness, greed, gossip, lying and violations of all the Ten Commandments in some form. It may include abortions or bad decisions about how to deal with a loved one’s end of life issues.

But if our story also includes repentance and reform, it is a truly beautiful story. That is the only meaningful story we really have to tell.

Dr. Janet E. Smith is the Fr. Michael McGivney Chair of Life Ethics. She is an internationally recognized writer and lecturer on bioethics.