Standing Tall in a World Adrift

     In my spare time (which is less than ideal right now with finals fast approaching) I've begun reading a terrific book, Thoughts for Daily Living, by the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen. What I like most about it is that it's "chapters" are only 2-3 pages long yet they are extraordinarily profound in their insights into how one can grow in faith. It is really the perfect kind of book to read for 10-15 minutes of daily deep spiritual reading.
   
    In his fourth chapter, titled "A Period of Drift", Archbishop Sheen rightly acknowledged that somewhere along the line our society drifted from its Christian roots. He writes:

The great difference between a Christian or moral civilization and our post-Christian civilization is this: The former regarded the world as a scaffolding up through which souls climbed to the Kingdom of Heaven...there was always a set of values and a cargo of judgements by which the actions of the political and economic and social world could be judged at any one moment. These measurements were distinct from the world in which we moved, just as the tape-measure is apart from the cloth. One knew whether or not he was making progress because there was always a fixed point of arrival.

     In contrast, our modern world is unsure of what or where it is aiming. He continues:

We keep changing [the fixed points] and calling them progress. It is like playing basketball with a changing target; the point of the game at one moment is shooting the ball through the hoop; the next minute it is to hit the referee...nobody seems to be sure about the purpose of life, hence many become discouraged about living; any trip loses its zest unless there is a destination.

     Keep in mind that Archbishop Sheen was writing in the 1950's. How much more does his words ring true to our ears today!? I am reminded of a prayer I once read that a Christian minister gave before a session of the Kansas Legislature in 1996. It reads, in part:

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and seek your direction and guidance. We know your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that's exactly what we've done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that we have ridiculed the absolute truth of your Word and called it moral pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbors' possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our fore-fathers and called it enlightenment. Search us O God and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. 

     No doubt this man's prayer is controversial, and there are parts of it I do not agree with completely. Nevertheless, I think its broader message has merit. Our secular culture today has nothing with which to measure itself objectively. As such, it becomes so very easy for us to justify evil. When we lose Heaven as a final destination, we create for ourselves a foretaste of Hell here on Earth. We become disgruntled with the journey of life and allow our egos to have dominion over our actions rather than God. We turn into frustrated children, seeking to have our desires fulfilled rather submitting to God's perfect plan for us.

     God has designed each and every human life to be fully capable of happiness. True happiness is not gained by amassing worldly possessions or honors, but rather through a full and voluntary submission to God's will as he has revealed it to us. I have learned from experience that it is only when I try to interfere with what God is calling me to do that I feel real despair and desolation of spirit. By holding firm to our Catholic values amidst the winds of our fickle culture, we can find an inner peace that allows us to endure the trials of life.