FAITH IN CHRIST:

Lord Baden-Powell once said "To neglect to hike – that is, to travel adventurously – is to neglect a duty to God. God has given us individual bodies, minds and soul to be developed in a world full of beauties and wonders."

Nothing can separate us from His love that comes to us through Jesus. As Catholics and Scouts, we prepare to celebrate the 2000^th anniversary of His Birth. He invites us to trust in him and to realize that we walk with him. I recently read that it is called "the zero effect."

Historians have noted that some people grow anxious as they approach years ending in zero, such as 1970 or 1990. Perhaps the zero years are feared because they suggest that one era is ending and another, yet unknown, is beginning. In any case, the more zeros there are, the greater the anxiety. So tension rises at the end of a decade; more so at the end of a century; and most of all at the end of a millennium.

The end of a millennium is sometimes perceived as a time of threat. Talk about the end of the world is common, especially when the year has more than one zero. Historians write that as the first millennium of Christian history drew to a close many people even grew hysterical. They were convinced that Christ would return to judge the world at the stroke of midnight on January first of the year 1000.

Now the second millennium is ending, an extraordinary "three-zero" year is coming. The doomsday predictions are being resurrected. Some Christians speak of living in the last days. Others speak of Marian apparitions hinting that the end is near. Even in non-Christian circles, speculation about the end of the world has been fed by predictions from such diverse sources as an ancient Mayan calendar stone, the sixteenth-century writer Nostradamus, the twentieth-century psychic Edgar Cayce, and alleged recent contacts with extraterrestrial visitors trailing the Hail Bop Comet.

There is a calmer, more optimistic voice calling out to focus attention on the year 2000. The Church perceives the millennium as a significant time, but not in the popular sense. Listening to the words of the Gospel; we know not the day nor the hour, the Church sees the millennium as a time of fulfillment. While others cry, ""Repent – for the end is near," Pope John Paul II declares, "Repent – for a new beginning has come!" While others prepare for doomsday, he calls the Church and indeed the whole world to prepare instead for the third millennium, with a burning hope that God the Father, through Christ and His Spirit, is still at work to renew His beloved creation. The year 2000 is actually a door of divine grace. If we will cross this "threshold of hope" into God’s purposes, we can take part in a "new springtime" that heralds the transformation of ourselves, our Church, our nations, and our entire planet. (cf. Celebrate 2000!: arranged by Paul Thigpen.)

"I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly" John 10:10b)

How precious is the gift of life! In our Scouting journey we come to a deeper understanding and appreciation of its importance. How necessary to respect it in all its forms. We can take so much for granted – the air we breathe, the water we drink, the health we enjoy, the beauty of the earth. God gives us life to enjoy and he gives us opportunity to grow, to achieve, to find joy and to find happiness. Through Jesus, God gives us the ultimate opportunity – the path to eternal life – life with God and each other forever.

In response to today’s pressing issues of identity, direction, and fulfillment John Paul wrote his apostolic letter Tertio Mellennio Adveniente (TMA – "As the Third Millenium Draws Near"). The Christian response to these issues is Jesus Christ: yesterday, today and forever.

At Christmas we proclaim that in the fullness of time Jesus was born and that in Christ there is the fullness of eternity. Our times have been both marked and redeemed by this birth.

"And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us…" (John 1:14).

This genuine descent of the Eternal Word into human existence is the redemptive event. Jesus Christ is unmistakably God and undeniably one of us. This identity of true humanity and true divinity in Jesus Christ triggers the whole drama of redemption. In Jesus Christ God has entered our history in a dramatic fashion. Humankind was created, in the beginning, in the image of God; but through the sin of Adam, humanity became disfigured and lost its way. In the person of the new Adam, who joins the uncreated and the created, the image of God is restored. Not only does humanity have a renewed dignity, but in and through Jesus Christ there is a deep unity with every human being.

Jesus Christ is the source of reconciliation and solidarity among peoples. The good news is that by this descent of the Word into our world, by the compassionate and embracing love of Jesus and by the compelling parable of the cross, no human is unaffected. Each person is of unsurpassable worth, each is precious, each is united in the redeeming goodness of God.

B-P once said "God has given us a world to live in that is full of beauties and wonders and He has given us not only eyes to see them but minds to understand them, if we only have the sense to look at them in that light."

When hiking, have you seen an eagle on the trail? We can learn from eagles and from so much in nature. One day a fisherman watched as a mother eagle dropped a young eaglet into the canyon below. The eaglet plummeted and fluttered. It appeared that it was about to be dashed to its death on the rocks below, when out of the sky plunged the father eagle and caught his offspring on his broad back. Then he flew up high and dropped the young one again. This time the mother caught the little one on her back. The routine was repeated until the little eagle learned to fly. God gives us opportunities to try our wings so that we might learn to fly on our own. Certainly the Scouting experience is one of these learning and growing opportunities.

As Chaplains and Faith Animators, we know that Scouting education is a ministry close to the heart of the church. In the Apostolic Letter, John Paul touches upon the mystery of Christ as teacher. Jesus is the fullest expression of divine teaching: "In Christ this pedagogy achieves its purpose: Jesus does not in fact merely speak ‘in the name of God’ like the prophets, but he is God himself speaking in his eternal Word made flesh" (TMA6). For Christians, Jesus is the Mystery of God turning a human face toward all of humanity. For John Paul this turning a human face toward humanity reveals the desire of God to reach into human history and to shed light on our journey back to the Tree of Life: "…it is not simply a case of man seeking God, but of God who comes in person to speak to man of himself and to show him the path by which he may be reached" (TMA 6).

The metaphor of path suggests the real possibility of blind trails, false trails, stumbling stones strewn along the trail. We speak in our third eucharistic prayer of the "pilgrim church on earth," thus emphasizing our communal journey along the trail lighted by Christ as teacher. The question that speaks to our heart is: How do I , as a Catholic Scout or Scouter, follow the Lord? And, what kind of person will following the Lord make me?

Importantly, these questions reveal our need for Christ to teach us and to show us the trail, thus drawing us toward the mystery of grace. The universal yearning of the human heart for fulfillment drives every person’s steps along the pilgrim journey – our trail to Eternity. This journey, however, risks being a meaningless wandering without a goal. Without a goal the image of "pilgrim" makes little sense. A pilgrim moves toward a goal, a destination. This destination makes the journey sensible. Furthermore, a destination offers hope when the journey proves difficult, calls for charity and compassion to fellow pilgrims, and, importantly, calls into question choices made along the trail. Admittedly, this description of the pilgrim journey fits many world religions. What, then, makes Christianity unique? One response to this question is that the revelation of God in Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit renders the human journey uniquely intelligible: "In Christ, religion is no longer a ‘blind search for God’ (cf. Acts 17:27) but the response of faith in God who reveals himself. It is a response in which man speaks to God as his Creator and Father, a response made possible by that one man who is also consubstantial Word in whom God speaks to each individual person and by whom each individual person is enabled to respond to God" (TMA 6).

In Jesus Christ, God sets up a dialogue in which "all creation responds to God," and in which "in Christ all humanity and the whole of creation speaks of itself to God – indeed gives itself to God" (TMA 6). Likewise, God speaks to humankind, and even more wondrously, God seeks the human person out. Along the darkened and blind pilgrim paths, the Lord, the loving shepherd, seeks the lost sheep (TMA 7). So, in the Risen Christ, in whom we live and move and have our being, our pilgrim journey takes shape. Our response in faith to the revelation of Jesus, the Christ, shapes our pilgrim way.

In Catholic Scouting, wonderful programs and structures have been developed to meet the religious education needs of God’s people as we journey with and to the Lord. No matter what the shape of the process is, the purpose remains the same: life in Christ. All religious education, all sacramental celebrations, all religious scout programs, share this in common; they seek to help the scouts to discern and interpret the ongoing revelation of God in their lives through interaction with all of creation.

The life of Jesus provides us with insight. While Jesus was certainly one who led a deeply reflective, spiritual life, his prayerfulness had a human face. His convictions manifested themselves in the community and were experienced by others as loving gifts. While the Gospels frequently report that Jesus is off by himself to pray, he is even more often engaged in caring for others, teaching about God, reaching out and ministering to those who come to him. Jesus is clearly prayerful, and his inner journey leads him to be involved in the community and present to others in helpful and giving ways. In effect, Jesus teaches us to live the scout oath and motto.

Jesus’ example must be what we strive to learn. Personal prayer is an essential component of a Catholic Scout’s life. Ongoing efforts to learn more about our world and our faith are healthy signs of growth. But unless our learning and our prayerfulness show themselves as gifts to the community, our goals may become self-serving.

In planning for the challenges of the religious education for scouts of the next century, it is important to focus our efforts on the lifelong nature of the journey. Our resources would best provide for such a yearning by providing diverse, flexible and ongoing support for Catholic Scouts and Scouters in every stage of life’s journey. Scouts, leaders and the Scouting units – all are pursuing the development of a high quality Christian life and look to us to guide them and to nurture their faith.

In the Gospel of John we read:

"I have called you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father. It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you." (15: 15-16)

One day a kindergarten teacher asked her class, "What is a friend?" One little boy answered, "A friend is someone who knows you and still likes you" If he is right, then "what a friend we have in Jesus."

Jesus knows our most secret sins and still He loves us. When He prayed on the cross, "Father forgive them . . .," He was praying also for all of us. "The blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin." Jesus promised us life with Him forever. He is a real friend.

Christ also gives us friends on the trail. They are God’s gifts to us and through them God seeks to care for us and love us. They are not perfect, but like us, through Christ’s death and resurrection, they live forgiven. We thank God for good friends.

The late Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, the Bishop of my ordination, in his book Called to be Catholic: presented this challenge for us as Christians facing a new millennium; "Jesus Christ, present in Scripture and sacrament, is central to all that we do; he must always be the measure and not what is measured."

The loving choice of God to speak to us, to turn the human face of Jesus toward us, reveals the desire of God to go "in search of man, created in his own image and likeness," because, "he loves him eternally in the Word and wishes to raise him in Christ to the dignity of adoptive son" (TMA 7). The power of this love draws each of us into discipleship. To encounter Jesus is to encounter the invitation to eternal life. To encounter Jesus is to encounter the desire of our Loving Creator to love each of us into eternity. God as Love - Desiring – To Love draws us to his heart as the journey’s end, the vital place of eternal communion.

B-P told us "A Scout is active in doing good, not passive in being good".

As Scouts and Scouters, we know that the acts that one chooses shape her or his character and, likewise, one’s character shapes the acts one contemplates and one actualizes. The goal ideally is to form the character that the actions spontaneously emerging from that character manifest the stamp of the loving heart of the Divine – the end shapes each step of the pilgrim journey. One hears echoes of St. Paul’s call to put on the mind of Christ.

The challenge comes in shaping one’s character to guide the choices encountered along the way.

Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. Like Martha we stand in the dusty road to Bethany, aching with the mortality of ourselves and our loved ones, and we hear Jesus tell us that he is the "way, the truth and the life." In this faith proclamation that Almighty God in Christ Jesus loves us into eternity grounds our celebration of the Jubilee, then we submit ourselves to the discipline of following the Lord, and we know that our journey ends united in the heart of the Trinity.

Ecclesiastical Assistant - CICE America