Anguish: Wilkerson, Giussani and the New Evangelization

This evening one of my Facebook friends posted this video (really it's an audio with subtitles) by David Wilkerson.


David Wilkerson used to be one of the preachers I followed, regularly reading his messages and newsletters. His book The Cross and the Switchblade was one that impacted me as a young charismatic, and I have respect for this man.

For the most part, I can echo just about everything he says in this message entitled A Call to Anguish, perhaps all but the last few sentences where he speaks of the need to build walls and hunker down inside. This isn't what Jesus' ministry was about. Yes, he did avoid people who were trying to kill him when it wasn't time, but we can have the assurance that this was about obedience to the Father rather than a fortress mentality. I'm not going to make too much of that, though, because it was almost an aside after the rest of his address.

I can hear in this, though, God's mercy to me in calling me to become a Catholic. While what Wilkerson says is, I believe, very true: life-giving ministry, life-giving ... life is given birth to through an anguish, a deep, burning desire that consumes us, literally purifying us as it consumes our dross. But Wilkerson's address is deeply intense with no real joy to be found in it. This was my experience as a Protestant charismatic. Ready to be spent for God, ready to "give it all," but without the joy of the Incarnation to really, deeply know Jesus right next to me, loving me in my humanity, in my life. I'm not saying this lack of knowledge is Wilkerson's problem, because if you read The Cross and the Switchblade, you can read of his experiences. But this was my problem. I believe that the charism expressed in Fr. Giussani, Communion and Liberation, gives me the balance. He expresses this deep passion, this deep desire, yes, a deep anguish and longing, and yet I can't help but think at the same time about the joy that characterized him as well. Perhaps we in CL could stand a bit more of the purifying anguish, rather than seeking after "the joy," or what we find pleasing. And I say that not so much as a judgment against anyone in CL I've actually met but more as a reflection based on what I've heard Fr. Carron try to emphasize to us in the Spiritual Exercises.

I hear in this message not only God's mercy to me, but I hear again a call that has been gently rapping on my heart for several weeks now: I hear a thirsting, desiring and longing among our separated brethren for the fullness of Christ's Church. We ALL need to share what God has done in our lives and the treasures He has given us, but we Catholics have an obligation, a serious obligation, to get proactive in our bearing witness to Christ's Church. We need to be aware, first, of the treasure we have been given. Then our love must compel us. I believe people are getting very ready to hear that God does indeed have more for them in mind than they know. We need to know how to explicitly call people to faith in Christ Whom we have met in His Church.