To honestly live our Christian faith today is to be a pilgrim in the true sense of the word. We know that our final destination is God. The journey is uncertain; there are many doubts , hesitations and mistakes. This is a hard time.
As a pilgrim, there are times when we only have hope that God is with us and that we are on the correct path. These are tumultuous times. We feel so often that we are like the Hebrew slaves that Moses lead out of Egypt. We have only God to lead us: a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night!
There are so many serious issues that confront us. There will be many people in our Church who just turn their backs on the big issues of the day and retreat into the safety of a ‘private spirituality.’ This is a fearful but dishonest response.
Be honest with yourself. You cannot deal with all the issues. There are many times when you feel that you are trying to get a drink of water out of fire hose! Too much water! Too much pressure!
In each of the issues, look for God. What is the Spirit of God trying to teach us? Lead us? Support us? Look for God in the mess of life.
The atmosphere is warming up. Will humanity survive? And we know the cause of grobal warming?? How is the Spirit of God leading us back to value all living creatures, the earth itself as connected to human well-being? What are the values and teachings that our Catholic tradition brings us? What tools, what spirituality does our Catholic experience provide us?
Does the average parishioner even know about the teachings of the encyclical (2015) Laudato si?
The question of the survival of the earth (and every living creature within) should be a burning issue for the Christian believer. Where is God leading us on this question?
All the peoples of the first world (one fifth of the world’s population) must come to grips with their colonial past. In all countries that the Europeans moved into there was the mistreatment of the original populations. Everywhere aboriginal peoples have been treated very badly. Then there are the three hundred years of slavery to the Americas. Canada also has a touch of the slave history. What is God trying to teach us with this dark and violent history?
Daily in the media we are bombarded with stories of violence against women. This hits very close to home. What insights and action plans does God want to give us in the face of this violence?
God fills the earth and every part of it. Our task is to be alert for the movements of the Spirit of God in all these difficult questions. How is the Spirit of God acting to be our light? Our strength in these storms?
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