A Voice Crying Out in the Desert
Last week it was the situation in North Korea that was the headlines on the news. Then came the white nationalist activity in Charlottesville, VA. Yesterday brought a car driving through a crowd of people in Barcelona Spain. Today (August 18th) there has been a stabbing in Turku Finland with two dead and six wounded.
What is it going to take to change all this?
Here I think of the ministry of John the Baptist as told in Matthew 3:1-3
In those days John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert of Judea [and] saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” It was of him that the prophet Isaiah had spoken when he said: “A voice of one crying out in the desert, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’”
Fighting does little to solve problems. What is needed is a voice of reason and truth to be that voice of “one crying out in the desert.” There are too many people who are “hotheads.” Trading jabs and threats doesn’t help. We need to speak up for what our faith teaches.
We live in a world of diversity. People come from different races and geography. People hold different beliefs. Trying to live in a pluralistic society with so many different beliefs, relativism is becoming the popular approach. Relativism says you can believe whatever you want as long as no one gets hurt. This leads to many people being silent on many issues.
The problem is that silence is often interrupted as either agreement or you don’t care. If we want the world to change for the better, we must be willing to step out and be the voice of reason and God’s Truth. At our Baptism, we are anointed as priest, prophet, and king. Some are called to be prophets like John the Baptist but not all but we can all work to “prepare the way of the Lord.”
“Preparing the way of the Lord” begins with telling people about Jesus and his love. To tell them that Jesus died for our sins. We can all do that much. We can also pray for our bishops to be a voice for peace and for the dignity of all live.
I strive to help people know the Lord in the words I preach, offer in my presentations, or here on my blog. I also take seriously my responsibility as a priest in the Sacrament of Reconciliation to help people know God’s forgiveness. I try to speak when prompted by the spirit to issues in our world ranging from the situation in North Korea that I spoke about in my homily last Sunday to the issue of physician assisted suicide. I’m sure there is more I need to speak of in the homily and here on my blog. Pray that I always offer the words that the Holy Spirit calls me to speak.
Do you remain silent or do you offer the love of Christ to the world? You may not know or understand all church teaching but are you willing to say there is a right way and a wrong way and that God is the one that decides what is right and just?
Peace,
Fr. Jeff