The first Christians were true salt of the earth, and they preserved people and institutions -- the whole of society -- from corruption. What can it be that has happened in so many nations? Why is it that Christians should now be giving the sad impression that they are unable to slow down and halt that wave of corruption that is burning in on the family, on schools, and on institutions ...? The Faith is still the same. And Christ lives among us now just as He did previously. His power is still infinite -- divine. Only the lukewarmness of so many thousands, indeed millions, of Christians, explains how we can offer to the world the spectacle of a Christianity that allows all kinds of heresies and destroys the strength and endurance of the Faith, and is the soulmate, in both a personal and a collective way, of compromise and of a spirit of comfort-seeking (P. Rodriguez, Faith and Life of Faith). It is difficult to explain many of the things that happen nowadays at a personal and at a public level, if we do not bear in mind that so many people who should be awake, watchful and attentive have allowed their Faith to fall asleep; love has been snuffed out in so many hearts. In many spheres, the "normal Christian" now generally means someone who is lukewarm and mediocre. Among the first Christians the "normal Christian" meant one who lived the heroism of every day, and when the occasion presented itself, accepted martyrdom itself: it could and did mean very often the surrender of one's very life in defense of the Faith ...
Let us fervently ask God for the strength to react. We will be the true salt of the earth if we keep up our daily conversation with God and if we go with ever-greater faith and love to receive the Holy Eucharist. Love was, and is, the moving force in the life of the saints. It is the whole raison d'etre of every life dedicated to God. Love gives us wings with which to soar over any personal barriers to our advance, or any obstacles presented to us by our surroundings. Love makes us unyielding when confronted by set-backs ... Love for God ... makes a molehill out of a mountain; it transforms the soul, gives it new lights and opens up new horizons for it; it makes the soul capable of achieving its highest desires and gives it capacities it had never as much as dreamed of possessing.
Tags: Catholicism, Christianity
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