In light of this painfully broken or dysfunctional, whichever description you prefer, world we live in we continually long for peace and connection. How many people, deep down, are lonely. Social media has created a culture of artificial relationships. "Friends" are cyber friends and while true friends and family members benefit from such things, in the end the forming of human relationships, face to face, person to person, has definitely declined. The dumbing down of education in many parts for example has decreased the sense of self-initiative and self reflection. The really important questions to ponder such as "Who is God?" "Why am I here?" "What is my real purpose?" "Is there more beyond this life?" are rarely reflected upon. Life offers too many instant pleasures and brief, simple answers that it leaves us shallow and unfulfilled. The increasing secular influence which promotes individual choice and abstract morality is very enticing for those who resist restrictions such as objective moral choices and a search the THE truth in God alone. Respect for human life because it is human and created by a loving God has vastly decreased. The abortion rate is staggering as to how many lives have been ended as they barely began. Do we care? Many do, yes, but many think nothing of it - "out of sight, out of mind."
There are so many, even Catholics among them, who simply live on the surface of life. Regular attendance at Mass, each week, has fast become the exception and not the norm. It is the exception and not the norm to see someone entering a confessional these days on a regular basis. The numbers of weddings in Church have so clearly decreased - ask any parish priest.
Certainly, though, not all is bleak and lost. There are among us many lights, signs of faith, and still those who "get it." Active parishes with Spirit guided ministries, World Youth Day, an increase in new religious orders or established religious orders who have returned to their original charism are refreshing. While the Church is facing head on the scandals of child abuse among clergy there are still many good and faithful, hardworking and holy Pastors among us.
In the end, we must always be people of prayer and rely on God for all things. The prayer below I found and thought it to be helpful:
There are so many, even Catholics among them, who simply live on the surface of life. Regular attendance at Mass, each week, has fast become the exception and not the norm. It is the exception and not the norm to see someone entering a confessional these days on a regular basis. The numbers of weddings in Church have so clearly decreased - ask any parish priest.
Certainly, though, not all is bleak and lost. There are among us many lights, signs of faith, and still those who "get it." Active parishes with Spirit guided ministries, World Youth Day, an increase in new religious orders or established religious orders who have returned to their original charism are refreshing. While the Church is facing head on the scandals of child abuse among clergy there are still many good and faithful, hardworking and holy Pastors among us.
In the end, we must always be people of prayer and rely on God for all things. The prayer below I found and thought it to be helpful:
An Act of Attention
Lord, in this world of so many messages, I feel over-whelmed.
Sometimes I barely hear your voice amid the clamor
of today's discouraging news.
In what can seem unrelenting darkness,
I strain to see your light.
Help me each day to pay attention:
to notice which words, pictures, and attitudes are forming me.
Give me the grace to use my ears to hear you,
my eyes to see you.
Grant me the courage to challenge falsehood,
to distinguish honesty from hypocrisy, to see goodness
where it lives, and to overcome world-weariness
and despair.
Amen
(Richard Reese: writer and retired editor-in-chief
of Catholic Digest magazine)
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