Who is Reality?
Simone Riva - Last Friday, we all saw the news: a computer crash caused airports around the world to go crazy, just on days when many people were planning to go on vacation. It takes very little to upset our plans. What happened last week is just the latest example.
We know very well how reality can overwhelm us at any moment. So, how is it possible to face it without being crushed? This question shows all the good and bad things about our human position. It also shows that it's hard to give an answer that isn't hidden behind some plan. However, an unforeseen event occurred two thousand years ago that made it possible to change the question.
The Creator of everything, who is the most important meaning of reality, decided to be like one of us. With this event, the Creator inaugurated a definitive bond with his creatures, revealing what St. Paul writes in the second chapter of his Letter to the Colossians, namely that "reality" is Christ" (Col 2:17). Thus, in the face of life-shattering events that leave us speechless, the real question is: "Who's "Who's reality?
This is a strange question that doesn't sound familiar, but it is the only one that can help us understand what is happening. If events didn't have a final reason or protected a job, we would have to think we were controlled by circumstances, happy or unhappy, depending on how they happened. Instead, in the new way we see life that Christ has brought, everything is part of the big talk between us and Him. In a dialogue, there's room for everything: mistakes and anger, feelings and promises, questions and answers, silences and words.
Everything is included, even the computer crash that destroys everything and that we can't handle. Sometimes, we can't get our hands on the most exhausting things. They are often unexpected events, like illness, losing a job, the sudden end of a long-lasting friendship, how children live their lives, falling in love, and, in short, everything that somehow resists us. God created us free to enable us not to live as renouncers. Fr. Giussani says this in his text "The I, Power, Works": "The word that defines the greatness of man in relation to all reality is the word freedom [...] It is the word that comes immediately after the word God". Freedom is the best way to explore life without being a victim or an uninterested spectator. It's also a great help in knowing the ultimate meaning of everything.
Man discovers who he is in how he acts, responding to reality's provocations. In this way, God allows us to struggle even with Him. He is not ashamed, doesn't run away, doesn't need to cause more problems, but loves all our efforts to find the right reasons to stand up to Him without fighting back. Thus, we discover that the true name of freedom is dependence on Him, who is Lord of all. What liberation!
The author has not revised the translation. Published in the Monza Newspaper. Download.
