We live in a world where we are constantly asking “What is wrong with people?”
In fact, several recent stories have had me saying it nearly daily. This brings on so many feelings of outrage, sorrow, sadness, worry, and brokenness.
These feelings can be good in a world that seems to lack both empathy and compassion. Why? Because without empathy and compassion, we are in danger of becoming numb and apathetic.
Reflecting on this, I did some research on what the Church says and I found these words from Pope Francis from a homily for the Canonization of Blessed Junípero Serra, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Washington, D.C. on September, 23 2015. These are the key points:
Rejoice in the Lord always! Paul tells us to rejoice; he practically orders us to rejoice. It is as if Paul could hear what each one of us is thinking in his or her heart and to voice what we are feeling, what we are experiencing. Something deep within us invites us to rejoice and tells us not to settle for placebos which simply keep us comfortable.
At the same time, though, we all know the struggles of everyday life. So much seems to stand in the way of this invitation to rejoice. Our daily routine can often lead us to a kind of glum apathy which gradually becomes a habit, with a fatal consequence: our hearts grow numb.
We don’t want apathy to guide our lives… or do we?
We don’t want the force of habit to rule our life… or do we?
So we ought to ask ourselves: What can we do to keep our heart from growing numb, becoming anesthetized? How do we make the joy of the Gospel increase and take deeper root in our lives?
Jesus gives the answer. He said to his disciples then and he says it to us now: Go forth! Proclaim! The joy of the Gospel is something to be experienced, something to be known and lived only through giving it away, through giving ourselves away.
The spirit of the world tells us to be like everyone else, to settle for what comes easy.
Faced with this human way of thinking, “we must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and for the world” (Laudato Si’, 229).
For the source of our joy is “an endless desire to show mercy, the fruit of our own experience of the power of the Father’s infinite mercy” (Evangelii Gaudium, 24).
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