In every generation there is evil. One particularly frightening manifestation of evil is the resistance to God and aversion to moral goodness in all its forms. These include religious apathy, the intellectual cynicism that poisons the well of Christian goodness, the idol of consumerism, and many other signs that cause individuals to grope in the dark for something that will give meaning to their lives. Such are the earmarks of an evil generation. If we look at Jesus’ example, we find that he did not give the men and women of his generation the “sign” that they wanted. Jesus did not tell the crowds what they wanted to hear. He told them what they needed to hear.
For many of those around us, we may be the only possible link to Jesus, to his Church, to moral truth, to the truth, which sets people free. By our baptism, we are committed to transmit this truth, in the most effective way possible to all those around us. Jesus places a personal hope in each one of us. Jesus came to bring fire to the earth and he wants to set it ablaze everywhere through us. He has entrusted the torch to us. We are Jesus’ hope, Jesus’ fire, Jesus’ hands.
One of the greatest joys in our life is to be a channel through which we communicate Jesus’ light and truth to someone who is lost in the darkness. Let us do our best to make Jesus the center of our daily lives. Let us take advantage of the life that Jesus has given us to make him known and loved by all those around us with the urgency of St. Paul who says: “The love of Christ obliges me.”
