The sudden changes that can happen over a week shift our focus dramatically from our own domestic concerns to the international stage. There is an urgency that can shift our attention from what is important in life. This does not neglect the impact of international events on our daily life but they can shift our attention from what is central to who we are called to become.
There is a need to notice how the fruit we produce is based on building up a store of goodness in the choices we make. The daily news cycle can focus on the evil intent of people's hearts and their consequent behavior. We notice too easily the sinful behavior of others rather than on the work that God entrusts to us each day.
What I believe is necessary is a renewed appreciation of how God works with us in our shortcomings and ways that we can build the resilience of the heart. This is not by burying our heads in the sand and ignoring the events around us but rather by seeking a reconciling spirit. The essence of which is to labor for the good of the whole community rather than stoking tensions that can threaten to tear us apart. It calls us to display the virtues of patience, honesty, and courage rather than hostility, anger, and vengeance.
The central question is that we need to decide what will help us to grow in virtue rather than stoking the inner critic which seeks to destroy us and the rest of humanity. We need to focus on the truth with a spirit of compassion and hope. Our prayer seeks to become a way of opening our hearts to others in a way that establishes a world that is not at war with itself. As Pope John Paul II said in Novo Millenio Ineunte 52 at the dawn of the Millenium to build a spirituality of communion rather than a spirit of individual success at the expense of the welfare of all. We seek to discover what unites and restores the dignity of the whole earth not just what claims the pieces that we claim as our own.
No comments:
Post a Comment