Tag Archives: Karl Rahner

In The Name Of Jesus

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A new year—new beginnings—a time to re-enter the ‘blog’ world!

Here are some thoughts from Karl Rahner on this mysterious threshold of crossing into a new year:

“One can fall into despair or melancholy when one realizes on New Year’s Eve that yet another part of one’s earthly life is irrevocably past. But time passes on toward God and eternity, not toward the past and destruction. And so—in God’s name!…But we Christians know the definitive name of God: Jesus. For that is the name which that child received who is God and the eternal youth of the world, who is a man and as such the eternal countenance of God. Let us sign the cross of this Jesus on brow, mind, and heart. Let us say with relief: our help is in the name of the Lord! And then stoutheartedly let us cross the threshold of the new year. If his name shines above it, even its darkest hour will be an hour of the year of the Lord and of his salvation.”

Amazing stuff! Even the darkest hour can be received and overcome because ‘this is the year of the Lord.’ May we move forward in confidence and enthusiasm—’full of God’—because this is his year and he is near.

Spiritual Renewal

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Karl Rahner has some challenging words for us:

“Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day” (2 Cor. 4:16). Isn’t our life’s experience just the opposite (and this is our secret worry)? Though the outer nature is still quite well preserved, the inner nature is decaying more and more day by day. Hasn’t our inner nature, too, become old and tired? Doesn’t our spiritual “nature” disappoint us more and more? (The Great Church Year)

Perhaps, as we move towards the new year we can reflect on this inner challenge: Can we maintain an inward vitality reflecting the ‘eternal youthfulness of God’ even while chronologically aging? Or to put it another way, ‘Can our faith remain young even while we grow old’?

 I truly like St. Paul’s positive approach and assume he was not jesting but attempting to evoke in us a resounding ‘Yes’.