Unless you’ve been hiding from everything that is news (in which I am slightly envious of you), you know that this is not a very pleasant time to be around.
Roe v. Wade was overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, but there are a lot of angry and active people seeking to alter the consequences of that decision and make allowable abortion the law of the land.
There was another mass shooting, this one in Highland Park, Ill., and on the 4th of July. Seven people were killed, including the parents of a two-year-old child, now an orphan.
Political divisions remain and strengthen as both parties bicker over what has more priority now, the events of January 6, 2021, or a questionable economic state.
And let’s not ignore more officer-involved shootings, a WNBA star in legal trouble in Russia, not to mention ongoing international issues such as the Russia-Ukraine conflict and Great Britain’s recent political messes.
If you’re a TV news producer like I was in a “past life,” this is all rundown gold, but if you’re an average living, breathing, coping human being, this is not good.
This is not how God wants us to live and act in the world that he gave us.
How do we fix this? How can feeble little us fix any of this?
We can start right now.
Looking inward
It’s been said time and time again that our witness can change the world.
If we live out a good Catholic-Christian life, everyone will see how joy-filled we are, want “some of that,” and find themselves following Christ.
Great. All we have to do is live. All we have to do is go about our daily lives and one by one, people will notice and get better.
Eh. Not so fast.
How about before we set the world on fire with our love, we make sure that we are what we want the world to be.
Are we, you, I, any of us a bright shining example of what we want everyone else in the world to be?
Can we honestly head out and be the witnesses that we think we’d like to be?
If you knew you being you would one-by-one rub off on everyone, would the world be a better place?
I want you to really think about that.
I’m guessing most of us aren’t the most evangelizing “influencers” right now, either internally or externally.
We aren’t living out a strong witness nor are we really contagious right now. Let’s fix that first.
Getting right
Before we fix the world, we ought to fix ourselves.
(BTW, if you don’t need to be repaired in any way, shape, or form, and you’re a luminous example of what we all need to be, then GET OUT THERE AND GET TO WORK! I’ll see you when you get back).
Not so much is it what we want ourselves to be and the world to conform to our idea of flawed human perfection, but what we are supposed to be.
The world isn’t good around us, but I don’t think we are either.
There may be an urgent need to help others and heal the world, but we, as those witnesses, need to be better and stronger ourselves.
Pray. Go to Mass. Read the lives of the saints. Go to Mass. Volunteer. Go to Mass. Read the Bible. Go to Mass. Go to Confession. Go to Mass. Go to Mass.
No, it’s not all about us, but we’re being called to be good examples to others.
Let’s make sure we are those good examples.
Thank you for reading.
I’m praying for you.