We all experience it.
A profound gap exists in our lives and our world.
No matter our religious background, ethnic heritage, socio-economic status, or location on the planet, we all know this tension from experience: There’s a gap between what the world is and what we wish, hope, or believe it could be.
If we’re honest, we likely feel the same tension deep within ourselves. On the one hand, I believe I am good and I have some things to offer this world. And yet, I wish, hope, or believe I could somehow become better, happier, healthier, more peaceful, more loving, or more effective.
More.
Or less: Less angry, anxious, busy, fearful, or doubtful.
The gap may be big or small, and it may change over time. We may interpret its significance differently and offer conflicting accounts of its causes and effects. But one thing remains undeniable: The gap between what we desire and what we experience is real. At some level, everyone knows the gap.
We humans have a singular (even impressive) ability to manipulate the gaps in and around us. We really can make the world, or our own world or someone’s world, better or worse. It’s an amazing power and responsibility.
Yet despite this power, we cannot eradicate the gap, though we do try!
In our efforts to confront the gap, we typically turn to one of two approaches.
We may try to squelch the very desire we feel for a “better world” or a “better life.” We lower our expectations, numb our pain, distract ourselves, or simply look the other way.
This method of dealing with the gap doesn’t work. Sooner or later, we remember that we’re deeply dissatisfied with some aspects of ourselves, others, or our world.
Or, if we can’t ignore or numb the gap, we strive frantically to make ourselves or others conform to our ideas about the way things “should be.”
This approach doesn’t work either, and it usually leaves behind a trail of new hurts and disappointments.
Try as we might to remove the gap—by deadening our painful awareness of it or by defeating it through perfectionism and coercion—the gap remains. The ultimate story of the gap lies far beyond human control and understanding.
Eventually (perhaps after we’ve faced enough failed attempts at “gap removal” in our lives), we may start asking some pretty big questions about the gap. Whether directly or indirectly, consciously or subconsciously, our confusing and painful experiences of the gap lead us to wonder about the deepest questions that have always rolled around in human minds. Who am I? Why am I here? What’s the purpose of this life? Where did all this goodness come from? And, at the same time, why is everything so messed up?
Cue all the prophets’, religions’, and non-religions’ answers.
What does Jesus say to all this? What’s the story we believe as Christians, as Catholics, that points us toward the fulfillment of our deepest longings?
In the face of the gap, Jesus preached and embodied the “Gospel,” which means “Good News.” Since then, the word “Gospel” (Good News) has become a code word to summarize the entire message of the Christian faith.
What is this Good News?
What is this Good News that . . .
. . . emboldened early Christians to endure torture and death while offering forgiveness to persecutors and giving praise to God?
. . . motivated St. Mother Teresa (and many others) to start organizations dedicated to the poorest of the poor?
. . . has propelled missionaries all over the world, throughout the centuries and today, to leave the comforts of a homeland in order to share its message with strangers?
. . . fuels the institution that gave rise to the concepts of education for all, the university, and hospitals and social services for the poor?
. . . leads some to trade the prospect of a family for heroic service to the Church?
. . . empowers others to commit unconditionally to spouse and children with the equally heroic love demanded by family life?
. . . compels the generous and sacrificial sharing of time, talent, and treasure for the sake of every just cause?
Many, many ways exist to capture the core truths proclaimed as Good News at the heart of the Catholic Faith.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church provides a concise summary in its opening paragraph, proclaiming that God created us in “a plan of sheer goodness” so that we could “share in his own blessed life.” God draws near to us. He calls us to himself. He seeks us out to share in his love. Though we were “scattered and divided by sin,” he calls us “into the unity of his family, the Church.”
To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his blessed life. [1]
Allow these ideas to prompt you into deeper reflection. The questions below can help.
• How does this summary of the Good News account for “the gap” between what is and what could or should be?
• What fundamental diagnosis, and ultimate cure, does the Church propose here?
• How does this paragraph give seeds of an answer to some of the questions of human searching: questions of origin, destiny, suffering, happiness, and purpose?
• Are there any phrases that illuminate your own experience, or prompt deeper questions, for you?
The above is an excerpt adapted from Nextstep, Volume 1 by the Evangelical Catholic. Get a free copy of this book by going to https://form.jotform.com/260397250460152
[1] All quotes are from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1.