When we are at the foot of the cross, we are standing at the very place where the old anthropology came into being. All of our social and psychological reflexes are programmed to have us emote toward that event in such a way as to reconstitute the old anthropology. So if we simply show up at the scene and the (Holy) Spirit is not there (or we have our ears plugged so the Word cannot penetrate) to inform us on how to respond to it we will simply put our fists in the air and say, "right on" as we do away with one more heretic or one more blasphemer or one more insurrectionist. It (the cross) is so close to the scene at the source of the old anthropology that it is very easily turned into precisely that again. So the Spirit has to be there. Gil Bailie
Aramis here: The key to becoming fully human, and thus not falling into the soap opera of mimetic entanglements that lead inevitably to the sacrificial killing, is grounding ourselves in Christ. For those who choose to turn away or rebel against Christ - as they will find themselves in the midst of another killing event, they will have no model to follow to instruct how to finally turn this long page of history. This is all linked to what it means to be a person.
Personality is essential to man. This truth becomes clear, however, and can be affirmed only under the guidance of Revelation, which related man to a living, personal God, which makes him a son of God, which teaches the ordering of His Providence. When man fails to ground his personal perfection in Divine Revelation, he still retains an awareness of the individual as a rounded, dignified and creative human being. He can have no consciousness, however, of the real person who is the absolute ground of each man, an absolute ground superior to every psychological or cultural advantage or achievement. The knowledge of what it means to be a person is inextricably bound up with the Faith of Christianity. An affirmation and a cultivation of the personal can endure for a time perhaps after Faith has been extinguished, but gradually they too will be lost. Romano Guardini
Aramis here: Christians themselves, must come to understand that Christianity is not just another religion in the list of world religions. God has blessed each of us with His Son so that we may give our lives back to him in praise, worship, and obedience - not only choosing, but also being a witness to Life. (BTW: To me, in response to Athos' post on Shangri-la I have come to see it not as a place, but a state of being - being a person. In my bouts with stroke, divorce and cancer I have had the blessing to experience, if only in small glimpes - I have come to witness to Life and I think it beats out any Shangri-la imaginable.)
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