I asked a friend this evening, “Do people read books anymore?”
“No. They don’t,” he replied.
“What’s the point, then?” I asked.
“The people who read books like those you or I or anyone of like mind might write have all read what we have to say by better people. And the thing is, nobody who needs to read your words ever will. The target audience is immune.”
I thanked him for the reality check and for confirming what I already suspected.
He added: “Everyone is overexposed and over-’published’ in these days of social media. The like-minded end up having conversations with the same pool of people. It’s all been heard.”
Witness and prayer
This friend of mind, I know, has eyes that see – maybe too much sometimes – but I know I can turn to him to get it straight. He went on to say something that stopped me dead in my tracks because I had been thinking the same thing for a long time without the words to express it:
“I once had a vigorous disagreement with a religious, who was absolutely right. He said, ‘The time for preaching and teaching is over.’ I was shocked by that,” he said, “but…he was profoundly right.”
“What did he mean by it?” I asked, still reeling a bit from the cold stiff truth.
“He meant it on a large scale, a metaphysical scale, a historical epochal scale. Not that one couldn’t teach and such…but that the preparations (for the future) are not evangelistic now. They are one hundred percent witness and prayer.”
Letting it sink in
I had to take this to prayer.
I crawled on my hands and knees into the “hidden room” (which is really just a three-by-twelve-foot pipe closet) where I had moved my kneeler and crucifix and icon to have a little bit more hidden-ness to finish my Rosary. I joke with my priest friends that the room could double as a priest hole if things get bad, or a kind of spiritual entombment where no one would even know where you were in the house if you wanted to be so hidden.
Though I crawl there in the middle of the night for late night prayer, I could probably make better use of it. It’s like a writer’s desk – you get the perfect desk, and then you find yourself with writer’s block all of a sudden.
I pondered: what did this religious mean, “The time for preaching and teaching is over?” My immediate reaction to the statement was Yes – but then, Why? Haven’t Bishop Barron’s Word on Fire videos brought many spiritually-curious people to an intellectual assent of faith? Haven’t we been learning to make “intentional disciples” in parishes and through workshops and conferences and retreats?
Furthermore, haven’t we been doing something to address the failure of catechesis by learning more about what the Church professes, teaching more about the truths of the faith, and evangelizing by having discussions on social media with non-believers? Haven’t we been preaching the good news to the poor, the imprisoned, etc. as a kind of spiritual product to improve one’s life, gain eternal life, and attain peace?
An in-between time
I’m sorry to be so negative, but I’m in a bit of a stripped-down state of being right now. The words my friend shared from the erudite religious — “the time of preaching and teaching is over” — point to a harsh and unsettling reality we are faced with as followers of Christ in war.
In fighting off demons of despair that are shooting arrows in my back, another wise friend sent me a scripture passage that made me exclaim once again, Wow:
And the places that have been desolate for ages shall be built in thee: thou shalt raise up the foundations of generation and generation: and thou shalt be called the repairer of the fences, turning the paths into rest (Isaiah 58:12).
But we are not in this state yet either, I suspect. We are in an in-between time.
The well-produced teaching and catechetical materials, the preaching to a pagan culture – I have lived through these endeavors and been a part of them myself. I don’t know how effective they are, or if they are making wrong assumptions about things.
I do have a friend who makes Rosaries and plants them for people in various places with instructions on how to pray it; he does this clandestinely. Someone he knew even picked one up and considered it a sign to come back to the faith. So, you never know.
One soul at a time
But we are not saving masses of souls here, we are pulling stray bodies onto the ark who, I’m sure, are ultimately grateful to be there. Like writing a book these days, it is, I’m afraid, ultimately futile. But those who have been saved by the effort would consider it anything but a wasted effort.
Every effort has its place. Of course we need to preach and teach when called for, one-on-one. But we are not going to convert the world by well-produced series on the history of Catholicism, or by using any of the tools of the modern age.
Those going to the front lines are getting mowed down by the culture because they are ultimately going alone with no shepherds to have their back, no critical mass to support them long term. The Steubenville degree and Thomistic defenses of Natural Law in a disordered society, I’m afraid, may not hold their weight against the breaches.
“We are living in the age of witness and prayer.” Bold witness and confident prayer, the kind that works miracles. What does this mean? What does it look like?
I attended First Friday Mass this evening, and there was a new face, a young woman who had fallen away from the faith and somehow found the only Latin Mass in the state and showed up. She seemed moved, hungry, but mostly just appreciating it as an outpost in an otherwise harsh cultural/spiritual wasteland, and one that she seemed especially grateful for.
We made small talk after Mass, and I told her we all hope to see her again. I gave her the Mass times. I told her that she was welcome and that the Mass is a respite from the war. I think she will be back. “That some might be saved,” St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his goal of being “all things to all men” (1 Corinthians 9:22).
More books?
Do we really need more books? More blogs and podcasts? More catechetical materials? More parish programs? Everything is being stripped down around us, so maybe it’s time to strip our faith down to the essentials as well, the powerful essentials rather than tepid peripheries.
To pray well; to witness boldly. To strip out what is not needed; to enter into the loneliness of stepping outside the kind of ‘matrix-esque’ mirage of technical engineering and just get back to square one.
Then we must count the cost and do the work ahead of us, knowing that our time is running short and things are ramping up – a time in which teaching and preaching may very well fall on deaf ears. A time in which prayer and witness are all we have.
15 thoughts on “The Time for Preaching and Teaching Is Over”
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I try to pray. I try to fend off The wolves in sheep‘s clothing. I try to pray some more. And fend off more of the wolves.
It’s getting ridiculous. Just look at Rome. It’s a freaking joke and a Carnival sideshow Of a mess.
My perception Now is that the wolves are inside the diocese. Fantastic.
Great! I felt the same–it was what I had a sense of, yet couldn’t quite put into words. Hit the nail on the head.
After 2000 years, it is more than obvious and a little sad that the CC has not come to terms with the fact that Islam, Eastern Deism, Judaism, and all Christianity, have retreated to their respective corners, hands raised in salute to a well fought fight each undertook, many, and in the first former, just over a millennium ago, proclaiming Truth to their followers.
After 2000 years, it is obvious that the Gospel has been preached in every corner of the
world and other than gaining a few and certainly losing too, none of the big four survivors
has any hope of gaining a majority, never mind converting the other to their specific theology. What the author might be saying is, it’s time, not to do battle with, but to entice the others as they do us, to become one by showing our works. We have our gifts, they have methods, and in the case of Judaism, the source of all there is to expound upon.
Each theology has a distinct form and purpose, to overlap the others, so that like a warm
comforting blanket our spiritual being may be covered against the reality of mortality. No
blanket is better than the other, we can only share each others to cover the gaps. There is
but one faith to bring it all together and its name is Catholic.
“ We shall do and we will hear “ is the response of the people to Moses to seal the covenant. The reversed order indicating there is more to come.
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I don’t know about anyone else, but my problem is that I too often settle for reading and intellectualizing about something rather than doing it. To all appearances, the times call for more emphasis on doing than on reading.
We don’t need more books is correct. We are inundated with book promotions from Catholic authors. It isn’t possible to identify the good versus bad.
I’m not sure what the author’s point is other than to reveal his obvious sadness and desperation, We each have our own unique spiritual journey. Exchanging ideas, insights, interpretations and experiences are all part it. That our reactions to and understandings of certain things will change over time is a given. Some more than others, some faster than others, some entirely, some barely at all. But why so much negativity? The gospel is joyful. Whether we joyously experience it alone, with a few other people or the whole world is not for us to decide. But if it’s causing the kind of distress so apparent in the author’s words, it is worth questioning whether the real crisis is the whole rest of the world or the author’s own faith.
You’re not alone wondering the author’s point. Rob Marco is a byline I will continue to look forward to, but this one had me scratching my head a little. I agree that a “Steubenville degree” does not always equate to a free ride on the gravy train, but neither does that mean a high school drop-out couldn’t turn nations. I disagree that the time for preaching and teaching is over.
I would give credit where credit is due, but I can’t remember who wrote recently about a math student who showed up late for class and copied down the problem from the chalk board. He solved it for ‘homework’ only to later find-out that it was the Professor’s example of a unsolved mystery. The Professor had him publish it. Really, the point of the story was that first impressions and attitudes are important.
An opinion: prayer and sacrifice increase God’s Grace; there is a positive correlation, and God responds abundantly.
Very interesting article. Thank you Rob. A similar ‘word’ has been in my heart for years: the time of ministries is ending. The seasons are changing, and in fact have changed. It’s now a time of more heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul. We will be doing as much, and more, for Jesus than ever before, but more organically, more simply, without the benefit and hindrance of so much structure.
That said, this story comes to mind: A man walked onto the beach where thousands of starfish had washed ashore in a storm. An older man was slowly, painstakingly throwing one at a time back into the water, not making a dent in the overall mass. The first man walked up to the older man and said, “Why are you working so hard? Look around you! What you are struggling to do doesn’t even matter in the end.” The older man picked up another starfish, threw it in the water, turned to the younger man and said, “It matters to that one!”
God places ‘starfish’ in front of each of us gifted to be called Christian. Our job is to do what we can for each, as God’s calls us and enables us. So go ahead, Rob, work on that book if you feel called to. In God’s economy nothing is wasted. In the meantime, thank you for paying attention to that “one soul at a time” in your presence, and to giving yourself to “prayer and witness”.
You are a blessing.
Evangelization, living our faith, has never been about converting the masses. Certainly some have, through the power of the Holy Spirit. But touching someone spiritually, to cause them to pause and reflect, to seek out Him who is the only one that can fill the hole in our heart and soul…that has always been about personal engagement. We’ve tried the modern tools, the slick books and pamphlets, the professionally produced videos and large conferences, and we’ve failed miserably. It is time to go back to basics, to the personal encounters, to touching people where they are personally. We may never know if they respond or not, but then, that’s not what God calls us to do. We simply live, engage, love, forgive, be bold in our proclaiming, and humble in our desires. God placed each of us in this exact time and place for a purpose. Now it’s up to us to discern that purpose, to reach out, to touch, to pray, to live, to rejoice, even in the midst of the societal implosion we are witnessing. We are called to be the light.
“A time in which prayer and witness are all we have.”
A wonderful read, thank you! And how very true the statement above. It’s back to basics.
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Matthew 24:14
… and then the end will come.
The end won’t come from us; it will be perfectly satisfying to the survivors.
All in one Book.