The Problems Facing The World Today

We face many problems in the world today. Violence is everywhere you turn, such as the unfortunate events that happened in Paris, this week. We are constantly seeing trails of broken families. There are millions of lives being ruined by drug and alcohol addictions. In the world today, sometimes being a Catholic is hard. We get criticized for our views. Since starting Diaconate formation, one main question always gets asked, “Why are you doing this?” It seems like honesty, loyalty, and integrity are out- of- place in today’s world. The world has become a place where thinking about what is good for others is being replaced by individualism. There is a constant thought of “What is in it for me?” We cannot grow this way. “No community, whether as small as a family or as large as a nation, can grow with this attitude. Individualism always weakens the community and causes the rest to suffer.” Many of the problems, the world is facing is due to God not being the center of people’s lives anymore. “We are failing to do as Christ did, reach out and meet people in their need, their brokenness.” People are failing to recognize the good of the Catholic Church.

God has ways of reaching you when you are broken. For me, it was through my 12 –year-old son, Nate. Nate is not one to show any emotion. A couple of weeks ago, I was as Eric Clapton phrased it in one of his songs, I was tore down, and I was almost level with the ground. I was in the midst of adjusting to the workload of a new semester and having to give up teaching religious education which I love doing. I started to question whether I was on the right path. Was I doing the right thing? It was really affecting me. My wife says to me, “You should read Nate’s homework.” Nate’s assignme...

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...of roses from the heavens; I will spend my heaven by doing good on earth.”

One can say what happened between my son and I could just be a son concerned about his father and it would be a valid point. One could also say that maybe, he is just a very caring child, which he is. But, to me, he showed what the meaning of church really is. He showed compassion and concern. Not only did he show it, he acted upon it. This is a problem for some Catholics. Many can criticize the church, but, in a world like ours today, we need more people to show the kind of heart my son did this week. I wish I could say that he learned all of this from good parenting, but I can’t. He is the person he is today from being a part of God’s family, the church. God has ways of reaching all of us, for me it was through my son’s homework. I wish the rest of the world would let God reach them.