Our Lady of Perpetual Crisis

The newspaper that morning had been filled with the usual headlines, several of them devoted to what was commonly called The Emergency.  Things had got desperately out of control, the headlines reported: the school systems, the budget, the pollution, the crime, the weather...why, everything, in fact, was a complete mess, and citizens everywhere were clamoring for a major - no, a dramatic - improvement in government.  'Things must change NOW! was the slogan plastered on billboards all over the city (it was a very old slogan), and although Reynie rarely watched television, he knew the Emergency was the main subject of the news programmes every day, as it had been for years.

(The Mysterious Benedict Society, p. 2-3)

Sound familiar? It does indeed reflect the general news media, regardless of which trough one takes in the daily news.  

Much, worse, however, are entire religions devoted to the culture of perpetual crisis.  Christian media outlets reflect this popular devotion in spades, as do a host of organizations dedicated to making money off the crisis du jour.  And to be clear, this devotion transcends denominational, sectarian, and spectrum differences.  Consider:

* Traditonalists in the Roman Catholic Church have as their crises this year the actions of the Vatican that first outlawed private Masses in St. Peter's Basilica, followed by more general restrictions on the celebration of the Missal of St. Pius V.  That they care more for their private Masses than actually providing Mass regularly to people in the Amazon and other regions of the world is indicative of the self-absorption that dominates the group.  And the fact that they refer to the Missal of St. Pius V as the "true" Mass is indicative of the heresy rampant in the movement, the phrase indicating a denial of the fact that the Church by definition must provide valid and efficacious sacraments to the faithful.  

* More progressive brands of Christianity have their own crises of the day related to women's ordination and sexuality issues.  The Church's stance and practice on these issues has been remarkably consistent since its inception such that any appeal to the Tradition would yield precious little in terms of a theological foundation for any change on these issues.  

Both groups have been engaged in crisis theology since the early 1960s, each raising vast amounts of money to support organizations and various vagandi clergy in their unauthorized ministries of ego massage parlor franchises.  

Crisis theology is a cult of atheism.  At its root such thinking does not at all believe in God nor in the Church, but rather it centers all of our attention on ourselves and one's power status in the Church and society.  

Before Jesus began his public ministry he underwent a series of temptations in the desert.  Each temptation represents something different that serve to detract us from God.  The temptation to turn stones to bread appeals to our desire for comfort for our bodies.  The temptation to throw oneself from the Temple seeking angelic help is an appeal to our vanity in performing parlor tricks instead of really trusting in God.  And the temptation to all the kingdoms of the world is our desire for power and vanity that is in reality the worship of evil.  Jesus succeeded in rejecting all these allures not only in this moment in the desert, but throughout his ministry in rejecting the crowds and the appeals of the political groups of his day.  

In the life of Jesus there is no appeal whatever to crisis theology, for crisis theology is a surrender to all the temptations of the evil one.  There is no trust at all in God, nor any recognition of the transitory nature of this life and world in crisis theology.  As in The Mysterious Benedict Society, the crisis is created by humans in an effort to seek control over others.  While we yell and scream in the midst of the storm, Jesus sleeps in the boat, and when he is awakened by us - not the storm - Jesus rebukes us first for our lack of faith and only quells the storm afterward.  Even a real storm isn't a crisis, for God is present and the storm will pass.  So rest in the boat with Jesus and ignore the crisis provocateurs.