A principle for effecting change in
our world these days that you may have heard is “Think globally, act locally.”
This idea suggests that the way to change the world is to start within
ourselves and close at hand. We have to
learn to see things from a broader perspective even as we work within our own
sphere of influence. This idea puts into
our hands the simple truth that each one of us always has the power to make a
difference.
The Baltimore Catechism that taught many how to express the Catholic
Faith in succinct ways gives some answers that remind us to keep the broadest
possible vision in view:
Q. Who made you?
A. God made me.
Q. Why did God make
you?
A. God made me to know
Him, to love Him, and to serve Him in this world,
and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
and to be happy with Him forever in the next.
With these questions and answers at
the beginning of the Catechism, the Church places before us the realization
that we belong to God and that God has a plan for us. That offers us a perspective as broad as you
can get – from the point of view of God Himself. When we start there, everything else is put
into proper perspective.
Why does the Church encourage some
sorts of behavior, such a fidelity, honesty and integrity? Because it expresses who God creates us to
be.
Why does the Church say “no” to some
behaviors and activities that the world applauds or invites us to do? Because they are not in accord with God’s
plan for us or with His reason for the realities involved.
One way to change the world, and to
cooperate with God’s efforts to prepare us for life with Him in the next, is to
accept the disciplines of the Church so as to learn and develop the virtues
that free us to live for God. We all
have “family rules.” The Church is a family
that has its rules. We may complain
about the rules and wish they were different than they are. But if we follow them, we will discover that
we reach our true goal more quickly.
As the Feast of the Exaltation of
the Holy Cross reveals to us, Christ Himself became obedient, even to death on
the Cross. For this very reason, He was
highly exalted and became the Redeemer of the world. By loving in the face of rejection and suffering,
He lifted us up to a capacity for Life with God.
When we work to shape our thoughts
with the mind of Christ and His Church, we open ourselves to a new way of
living. By living now in accord with the
Love revealed through the Cross of Christ, we become sharers in divine life and
bring Hope to the world.
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