As I write this it is safe to say that there is more fear, insecurity, uncertainty, and distrust of authority than at any other time in my lifetime of over sixty years. This can be said for the United States and for most other countries in the Western world, probably the entire world.
Why? The secular and worldly thinker will come up with a veritable flock of cackling, screeching, barking, whining and screaming excuses. They will all be wrong.To understand our tenuous position, one must go to the order of causes rather than mere effects. The serious illness we see manifest socially, economically, and politically has its origin in the moral and spiritual realm. To be blunt and to the point, it concerns that "dour combat with the forces of evil" that haunts the entire history of humanity. We have divorced God in the public sphere. We have evicted the Owner of the house, forgetting that nature abhors a vacuum.
If we reject the One that is Goodness and Truth, then it is guaranteed that He will be replaced by the one who is the "father of lies and murderer from the beginning," as Jesus referred to the ancient adversary of man, Satan or the devil. If you don't believe that you don't believe in the existence of either the enemy or the war...You will have little chance to survive.The newest spectator sport in America is watching the disintegration of the great nations of the world on the cable news networks.
Each day there is more drama and adventure in the news than the wildest of fiction. Every day you have to worry "What's next?" Mass murders multiply, in the workplace, in schools, public places, private homes. It is a frightening and sobering spectacle.
The pundits marvel: How could it happen? Who could do that? The unthinkable becomes commonplace. The largest corporations vaporized in the twinkling of an eye. The net worth of millions of people cut in half in a matter of months. The politicians bluster and threaten. CEOs of major corporations fired by politicians, one wonders if the banking industry, the auto industry, the energy industries, etc. will soon be nationalized. Will the United States end up like some insolvent Third-World country. Will we bring wheelbarrows full of dollars to the checkout counter at Walmart soon for a few household items?
Why wonder?We’ve divorced God... Countries call abortion the 'law of the land.' Can such societies that espouse what is tantamount to genocide be pleasing to God? Can they survive for long?Please recall that this:During Holy Week we celebrate the victory of Jesus Christ over all of this avalanche of sin, Satan, and death. He nailed it to the Cross. "Dying He destroyed our death. Rising He restored our life."
It is necessary that we enter into the Paschal mystery one person at a time, fully and seriously. Live in a state of grace. Do not persist in sin, for your life and mine is shorter than we think. The only way a family, a school, a parish, a city, a country, or a world can be healed is one person at a time.
All of the suffering and darkness of Good Friday finds its meaning in the burst of Light that is Easter morning. All of the fear, the insecurity, and the uncertainty; all of the betrayal, the mockery, and the suffering are vanquished by the glory of the Cross. No pain, no gain! No cross, no crown! No battle, no glory.
So stop worrying! Trust the Lord Jesus...After all, He is the Savior, and only He is the Savior. Place your trust in Him. All of this is really small potatoes. It simply provides a proving ground for saints. That's all. We have no lasting dwelling in this valley of tears. It is the crucible wherein imperfect human beings are transformed by the fire of trial and the power of grace into the pure gold of God's holy ones.
In the twinkling of an eye this will be over and we'll stand before Jesus, Who will wipe away every tear, and having been faithful to our Faith we'll hear those beautiful words:"Well done my good and faithful servant! Now at last enter into the joy of your Master's house."
A blessed Holy Week to you, and may the Light and glory of Easter comfort you in your struggles and confirm you in your faith.
Fr. John Corapi
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