Luke 21: 25
Jesus
said to his disciples, “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on
the earth dismay among nations . . .”
*
As
Catholics, as Americans, as human beings, we live in difficult times. Every
time I drive into Manhattan across the George Washington Bridge on a sunny day
and look at the New York City skyline, I remember a time that is gone forever.
Day
after day I watch the news and read the papers and my heart is heavy. Heavy for
the young soldiers who will never come home from Iraq and Afghanistan; for the
innocent Israelis blown apart by suicide bombers, and the innocent Palestinian men,
women and children killed by retaliatory strikes that missed their mark. Heavy
for the victims of murder and kidnapping; heavy for the children who were molested
by those predator priests who betrayed a sacred trust, and whose supervisors
allowed it to happen; and heavy for those innocent priests whose lives have
been destroyed by false allegations. These are some of the signs of dismay that
I see in the sun, the moon, the stars, and on our earth.
But
Jesus is speaking to us about times like these in the above Gospel. He is
telling us to not let our hearts become disheartened and overwhelmed by the bad
things that happen around us. As disciples of Jesus in the 21st
century we must have both of our feet firmly planted in reality. That reality,
unfortunately, is that the world has an abundance of evil and suffering; but that
as true disciples of Jesus, we must never lose faith in the power of goodness
and love, and the potential for redemption.
Jesus
calls each of us to be agents of that redemption. He calls us to bear witness
by our actions that the love of God can indeed flow into the world through
ordinary people like you and me. He calls us to not just balance out the evil
and suffering in the world, but to transform and redeem it.
Today
is a good day for us to recommit ourselves to live out our Christian faith in
such a way that each of us is a beacon of God’s light and love.
Two
thousand years ago Jesus was born into a world filled with evil and suffering.
Let us remember that we, as his disciples, are part of his unfinished mission.
And let us renew our hearts to be true to that mission — to bring God’s light
and his love into the darkest most dismal corners of our world.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Readers
of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on
Amazon.com:
Just
to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday Life
Synchronicity
as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for Spiritual Direction and
Pastoral Ministry
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