Worrying about the World

Imitating the lives of the saints to save the world

08/08/2024

Mt 16:13-23 Jesus went into the region of Caesarea Philippi and he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" They replied, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the Kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Then he strictly ordered his disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised. Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke him, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do."

Do you ever worry that the world is going you-know-where in a hand-basket? Recently, I have had intermittent conversations with people who are rightly fretting about the political divisions and discord in our country. The whole world is eying anxiously the escalating war in the Middle East.

Everyone has noticed the plunge in the stock market and fears a recession. Personally, I worry about the return of legalized abortion. And what on earth are we going to do with the approximately 600,000 frozen embryos that come from the procedure known as IVF? Looking at the world, we have plenty to pray about and do penance for.

Well, I believe God also worries about the world. And his solution is to send saints, planted like seeds to slowly transform the culture and make it more Christian. Today’s feast of St. Dominic is a perfect case in point. St. Dominic was born on August 8, 1170 in a time similar to ours full of political, religious, and moral upheaval. He established a new religious order that was neither monastic nor like the secular clergy, but a hybrid of both.

And these Dominicans would preach the fullness of the faith while also practicing intense prayer (promoting the rosary) and penance (embracing evangelical poverty). What St. Dominic started in 1215 is still going strong today. In other words, the saintly seed of Dominic had sprouted into thousands of Dominicans in order to save the world, and to make it more Christian.

We see Jesus is also worried about the world today, and his solution is to plant the seeds of saints in order to save the world. Jesus elicits from St. Peter a confession of faith in his divinity, and establishes him as “the rock” on which he would build his Church. This Church would be so strong and stalwart that Jesus declares: “the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

Notice that Jesus’ solution to the world’s problems is not political or military or scientific. That is what his apostles expected. And why St. Peter takes Jesus to task about his suffering and death – what good would that do? the prince of the apostles was asking. Jesus remonstrates with him saying “You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do.” That is, Jesus would save the world by raising up saints who practice unceasing prayer and bodily penance.

Okay, so what does this mean for us? Well, I think it means two things. First, it means we must keep our eyes on the saints that God is raising up today, and follow their lead. Read and reflect on the life of St. Teresa of Calcutta. Learn about the life and ministry of Pope St. John Paul II.

Be inspired by the courageous witness of Blessed Stanley Rother, a priest of the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City, who died in Guatemala caring for the poor in 1981. His bishop had told him to come home when the political climate was growing dangerous. But Fr. Rother replied, “The shepherd should not run away when the sheep are in danger.” Blessed Stanley Rother was shot and killed in his rectory by armed gunmen on July 28, 1981.

In other words, the real battle lines in the war for the world is not drawn in Washington D.C. and who occupies the White House. It is not determined in Palestine and whether there is a one-state or two-state solution. It is also not created in scientific laboratories concocting new ways to manipulate human nature in violation of the natural law.

Instead, the real battle is being raged in the lives of the saints, who work quietly like seeds planted in the soil of society, gradually transforming the world. And the second thing, therefore, is to recognize that God is calling each of us to become saints as well, dedicated to prayer (like the rosary) and penance (like the spirit of poverty). That is how you make the biggest difference when you find yourself worrying about the world.

Praised be Jesus Christ!