thoughts" "
The first day of the year is marked by a sense of novelty, by the consciousness that we are entering a new future, by the still virgin pages of the calendar. 2004 also marks the anniversary of Slovakia’s independence, and this anniversary underlines some concerns that are also shared by other post-Communist countries. Why? A common phenomenon also presupposes a common cause. The pro-Brussels propaganda addressed to the citizens of these countries increasingly recalls the glittering promises of earthly paradise diffused by the propaganda machine of the atheist system. The initial enthusiasm, now as then, is gradually being suffocated by the real situation. An inevitable consequence of economic globalization is, also in these countries, the rapid increase of the rich and the equally rapid increase of the poor. The situation is spontaneously attributed to European integration. The citizens of the post-Communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe and not just Christians have experienced the cruel consequences of an ideology based on a mistaken conception of the human person. Placing the party or the system above the individual is now equivalent to absolutizing economic progress and material prosperity. This necessarily means that its victims suffer either from spiritual deprivation (the rich) or material deprivation (the poor). The European Union lacks any clear ideology or any systematic conception of society, of the person, of the family, or of culture; it lacks the foundations on which a dialogue could be developed, and concerns or proposals expressed. What is unexpressed creates, on the contrary, subconscious anxieties and opens the way to demonization, scepticism and futile polarization. The lengthy discussion on the reference to God in the preamble of the European Constitution is not just a religious problem for the citizens of these countries. The absence of God expresses the void, above which the promised better future is to be built. The need for the transcendence of God is not a request of the Church or the faithful, but an intrinsic need of each human being. These propositions have been supported, in Slovakia, both by Archbishop Ján Sokol, in the homily he gave in the Cathedral of the capital and transmitted by national television, in the presence of the highest representatives of the State, and by Cardinal Ján Chryzostom Korec in his radio message to the faithful and to all the citizens of the country on 1st January. “The year we are entering will be the year of reforms, the year of changes, but also the year of struggle to defend our own identity and our own values”, both churchmen underlined. They also drew attention to the risk of the faithful and the faith being sidelined from public life, to growing social injustice, unemployment and poverty. In particular, Archbishop Sokol recalled that “true freedom also entails responsibility for ourselves, for our own family and for our own nation. Let us not forget that without our roots in Christianity, this year of rapprochement and unification may also fail. Let us not forget the prophetic appeals of the Holy Father!” Cardinal Korec, symbol of the totalitarian persecution, reminded the new generation of the profound causes of these tragedies and suggested analogies with the present situation. “Progress without God has already demonstrated its limitations”, he said and, citing Dostoyevsky, he confirmed: “constructing a great society without God will cause an enormous desolation, the whole building will collapse amid curses. Does Europe want for the third time to share the terrible experience of life without God? What Europe needs above all are witnesses of the faith. That is the field to which we need to make our contribution for the good of Europe!”. The concern being felt is a sign of waking from our sleep only to succumb once again to a situation which, in economic terms, will be even worse, at least for the majority, for many years to come, a situation in which we will need once again to struggle to promote moral and Christian values, and to defend life. Some are worried, others see a new field for the realization of the meaning of Christianity.
