It's interesting that I never before noticed my prayer book had so many illusions to the state of the country and the world. Now that our religious liberties are at stake, those comments seem to pop up a lot. It's also fascinating that over 30 years ago Pope John Paul II was saying such relevant things as these:
Practical materialism is "now aggressively imposed on everyone in subtle ways. The most sacred principles that were a sure guide of individual and social behavior - the sanctity of human life, the indissolubility of marriage, the authentic significance of human sexuality, the upright use of material goods made available by progress - are being displaced by false pretexts of freedom." --- JPII, Address, 29 September 1979.
About 6 months later he said, "On one hand the almost exclusive orientation towards the consumption of material goods robs the human life of its deepest meaning. On the other hand work often becomes an alienating experience, a constraint for man, subjected as it is to collectivism, since it is precipitously separated from prayer and deprived of its supernatural dimension."
However, he does express the "bright side" - "... as the third millennium as of the Redemption draws near, God is preparing a great springtime for Christianity and we can already see its first signs." --- JPII, Redemptoris missio, 7 September 1990
It rather goes with today's Gospel - go and give the Gospel to others and you will receive your due in return. We must evangelize, not just hear and read the Word of God, but PROCLAIM IT! It is the task and responsibility of everyone to do this in whatever ways possible, ie: detachment, good example, generosity, caring for the elderly/infirmed, etc. --- ICWG, vol. 7, p. 10
Complaining about it doesn't get the job done. Tiny steps do add up in the long run. "It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness." --- ancient proverb.
"I see dawning a new missionary age which will become a radiant day bearing an abundant harvest, if all Christians, missionaries and young Churches in particular, respond with generosity and holiness to the calls and challenges of our times." --- JPII, Redemptoris missio, 82
Be that light to the world today and always...
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