From the Enlightenment onwards, the
faith has been "challenged, rejected, put to the test"; it has been
subjected to the militant atheism of the last century the indifference
of today, which holds that "faith is irrelevant "," useless". Faced with this reality, evoked today by Benedict XVI, the Christian communities" should be made more transparent in their testimony of faith", they must "look to and help others to look to Christ, the true path that leads to God."
The General audience was once again dedicated to faith, specifically the "ways of coming to know God," "signs that lead to God," which the Pope indicated in the "contemplation" of creation, introspection to discover the "longing for the infinite," nourishing "life of faith."
"In the West, in a society that is considered Christian, faith was the environment in which we moved; the reference and adhesion to God were, for most people, part of everyday life. Rather, it was those who do not believe that had to justify their disbelief. In our world, the situation has changed and, increasingly, the believer must be able to account for the reasons of his faith", in the midst of What John Paul II termed as "subtle and insidious forms of theoretical and practical atheism ".
"From the Enlightenment onwards, the criticism of religion has intensified, history has also been marked by the presence of atheistic systems, in which God was considered a mere projection of the human mind, an illusion, and the product of a society already distorted by alienation. The last century has seen a strong and growing secularism, in the name of the absolute autonomy of man, considered as a measure and artifice of reality, but depleted of his being created "in the image and likeness of God."
In our time there is a particularly dangerous phenomenon for the faith: there is in fact a form of atheism that we define, as 'practical', which does not deny the truths of faith or religious rituals, but simply considers them irrelevant to everyday existence, detached from life, useless. Often, then, people believe in God in a superficial way, but live "as if God did not exist" (etsi Deus non daretur). In the end, however, this way of life is even more destructive, because it leads to indifference towards faith and the question of God".
In reality, " man is separated from God, is reduced to a single dimension, the horizontal, and this very reductionism is one of the fundamental causes of totalitarianism that have had tragic consequences in the last century, as well as the crisis of values that we see in our current reality ".
So the Pope asked, how do we respond, "with gentleness", as Saint Peter said to argument, " so that the man of our time can continue to question himself about the existence of God and travel along the paths that lead to Him".
Firstly, through "the world" and its "beauty". Quoting St. Augustine, Benedict XVI noted, "These beauties are subject to change. Who made them if not the Beautiful One who is not subject to change??" and Einstein, according to whom the laws of nature "reveal such a superior reason that all rational thought and human law is but a very insignificant reflection by comparison ". "Thus a first path leading to the discovery of God is careful contemplation of creation".
The second "word" is man. But "we risk losing in the noisy and distracted world in which we live: the ability to stop and take a deep look within ourselves and read that thirst for the infinite that we carry within, pushing us to go further and towards that Someone who can satisfy it. ".
The third word is faith. "Especially in the reality of our times, we must not forget that a path to knowledge and encounter with God is the life of faith. He who believes is united with God, is open to His grace, to the power of charity. So his existence becomes a witness not of himself, but of the Risen Christ, and his faith is not afraid to show itself in everyday life, it is open to dialogue that expresses deep friendship for the journey of every man, and knows how to bring the light of hope to the need for redemption, happiness, and future ".
"A Christian, a community that is industrious and faithful to the plan of God who loved us first, are a privileged path for those who are indifferent or doubt His existence and His action".