by Bishop Raymond A. Lucker
Diocese of New Ulm

As I get older, as I read and reflect on the Gospel message, as I teach and share my experience with others, as I pray, my faith becomes much simpler. It becomes less complicated .

Years ago as I taught teachers and adult leaders in the church, I thought that Christian doctrine was very complex and multifaceted. Our theology manuals had the answers to every question imaginable. We organized our teachings into all kinds of lists. Later I came to realize that all is centered on the revelation of God and our response in faith. Even more, all is focused on Jesus, the Lord.

Once you are touched - really touched by a few basic truths of faith, your life will be different. That is what I found out when I came really to know God's love for me and God's invitation for me to respond to that love. St. Paul speaks of "God's plan" (Eph 1, 9), "God's secret plan" (Eph 3, 3). It was a plan "to be carried out in the fullness of time to bring all things in the heavens and on earth into one under Christ's headship." (Eph 1, 9-10)

For us the plan of God means that we share in God's life. That is, made one with God. We are members of the household of God, "members of the same body and sharers of the promise."(Eph 3, 6) How wonderfully simple, yet profound!

God's plan, centered in Christ, is to share divine life with us so that as members of the Body of Christ we would live and act as Jesus did. God wants to have a relationship with us. God unconditionally, faithfully loves us and just wants our love in return with our total being, and then love one another as Jesus did. Jesus is our head, we are all members of the body, the church which is on pilgrimage. Poor, sinful, human beings, we are united with Christ in changing the world.

I see thousands of young people wearing bracelets with the inscription WWJD - What Would Jesus Do? They were distributed at the Diocesan Youth Rally. They are available at religious goods stores. This is another simple but deep expression of our faith. We believe in Jesus. How can we live more like Him in our daily lives? How can our lives be more centered on God who is within us? How can we be more concerned with compassion, forgiveness, peace and justice towards others?

This summer I was teaching a course in theology at the College of St. Catherine. It took a lot of energy, but it was a chance for me to renew my own faith, especially through sharing it with a group of young people. I stressed God's revelation and our faith, and the central message of the Catholic Church. I told them that this was a course in Catholic theology and to study theology one first needed to believe. Theology then attempts to understand our faith, express it in contemporary language, apply it to our own lives and the society in which we live.

Each time we met I gave the class a chance to share their own relationship with God, as I did mine, and to reflect on how God touches us each day. They responded with great interest as I stressed the central truths of faith. They asked, "Where do we find them?" I said that they are summarized in the Apostles Creed, in the Ten Commandments, in the Sacraments, and in the Prayers of the Church. Several remarked on how the experiences of this course touched their lives and that they were led to look into their faith more deeply.

One who was baptized but never raised a Catholic said, "This has really made a difference. What do I do now?" I said, "You need to find a community of faith." Others in the class invited her to join the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. I find that young people respond with awe and wonder to the central and profound message of the Good News.

A couple of weeks ago a famous German theologian, Bernard Haring, died. He was probably the most influential Catholic moral theologian of this century, moving moral theology from a legalism and casuistry to an emphasis on conversion and a positive response to the invitation to follow Jesus. He decried clericalism, the misuse of power and authority and bureaucratic centralism. He stressed the importance of human freedom and responsibility in making moral choices and called for the following of Jesus, the servant of God. Jesus was "one of us" he wrote, inviting us to join Him as the humble, nonviolent, healing, and suffering servant-Son of God.

Haring was a friend to me and affected the lives of thousands and thousands of people. His message was simple yet profound.

September, 1998