Reflection
I talked with an elder Jesuit recently who said that as he looks at all that’s happening in our world today, he has lost all hope. I was shocked, but I could see in his eyes that he meant it. Even this highly respected priest and man of faith felt despair.
I get it, though. I often lament and mourn because it seems that our world is shrouded in darkness. Mass shootings and murders, ever-increasing political turmoil, war and aggression, brutality, hatred and prejudice. Truth is in short supply, as self-proclaimed “experts” abound, erroneous information goes viral, science is relegated to the level of opinion, and one authority declares “this” to be true while another declares exactly the opposite. As John wrote in his epistle, “the whole world is under the power of the Evil One.”
Yet in that same epistle, John wrote, “We know we belong to God…We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us discernment to know the one who is true.” And in John’s gospel, we read, “He must increase; I must decrease.” Is this the key?
Perhaps hope, instead of being based on circumstances or on human motivations, is based on the “one who is true.”
God has not abandoned us, even when we (like Jesus) cry out our feelings of being abandoned. Nor has God stopped working in and through faithful disciples, including each one of us.
As Mr. Rogers’ mother told him when he cried to her about all the evil in the world, “Look for the helpers.” And indeed, there are still good people in the world, standing up for what is right, true, pure, just, and holy. Can I? Will I? When?
That is all we can do. We can’t control other people, much less global leaders. The way to fight despair is to notice the helpers and then stand up and become one of them. How and who can we help, right now, today, this week? How can we raise our voices? How can we decrease and let Christ increase? How can we be a sign bringing light to a dark world?
The Christmas promise, in which “the people in darkness have seen a great light,” doesn’t end when the Christmas season does. In ways big and small, let’s be bearers of light and hope, so everyone may see that we truly do belong to God.
