The preeminent Catholic theologian of the modern era was a German Jesuit named Karl Rahner. His thought can be difficult to parse at times but in the end he bases everything on the experience of prayer that even the unlearned share. He wrote : “The Christians of the future will be a mystics, those who have experienced something, or they will not exist at all.” In other words, simply learning the catechism, knowing the answers is not enough to sustain the faith. We must have an encounter (as Pope Francis put it) with God, a connection with Jesus. This is not a new idea but the very foundation of Christianity. As Peter and John explained the faith to the skeptics. ” It is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.” Heeding the call to be missionary disciples, apostles in the providence of our daily life, is something even “uneducated, ordinary men” can do since all that is required to sharing how we have “seen and heard” the presence of God in our lives.
