“Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but
only one wins the prize? Run so as to win.” 1 Corinthians 9:24
I am a young man. I have not witnessed a great many political
reformations in my life. Born in 1982, my experience has been the narrow
view of a native Houstonian who has never traveled outside the United
States, never has earned a college degree, and certainly has never lived
in a culture other than the commercial-based secular society that
permeates our surroundings today.
Ever since I have been alive, pornography, contraception, divorce,
gang-shootings, ‘neighborhood predators’, abortion, euthanasia, rejection
of Christ and religion, domestic abuse, school shootings, incest and rape,
public swearing and obscenity, and 24 hour news and entertainment, with
its never ending dramatization and incessant speculation, have been the
makeup of the American experience-indeed, not just America, but most of western
civilization. It is so commonplace that we get irritated with
those who remind us it is not right. It’s not the way it’s suppose to be.
After all, for those who complain that society is going to hell in a hand
basket, do they see any real chance that these things are going to
subside? Why not just learn not to complain?
It’s true, complaining does not get us anywhere; unless we take our
complaints to the Lord in prayer. However, the danger lies in not being
upset by these ’structures of sin’ as Pope John Paul II called them. If
we become jaded to the evil around us, we may begin to think that things
are not as serious as an honest assessment with a Christian mentality
would tell us. Maybe there is a real possibility that with another
election, another victory politically, maybe another change within the
Church, the whole tower of decadence that has been built will crumble.
Perhaps if we just go about concerning ourselves with our own business the
time will seem to pass by faster and before we know it, we’ll wake up one
morning and the linchpin in this apparatus of deceit and immorality
engulfing our society will be pulled.
But that attitude does not comprise Christian hope. All hope rests in Him
who does not change. The One, the True, the Good who awaits our union
with him in Eternal Beatitude. But that does not mean that our hope is
static.
Our hope is in the One who does not change, who will help us renew ourselves and to conform to Him. That renewal requires change here and now.
So yes our hope is already vindicated by God’s changeless Goodness even in
the midst of a crooked and depraved generation. But our hope spurs us to
effect the change that will conform even our society to Him: the
One, the True, the Good. We grow up in a society that has always been
against God. Seemingly, it will be for a long time. But unless we are
sensitive at all times to this injustice we will not hope for the change
necessary to dismantle the structures of sin.
How then are we to not exchange true hope in God for false and transient
hopes that society will change with a few more concrete actions-whatever they may be? To put
it another way, why not hope in God by hoping that the next victory in the
culture war will irreversibly tip the tide of public persuasion in favor
of God?
The answer is very simple. No change on earth is permanent. For example,
if we can cause the demise of no-fault divorce tomorrow by getting the
necessary legislation passed, what political structure can portend to
guarantee that this good and worthwhile reform will stay in place. Every
new generation contains a new set of human hearts, of human wills that can
turn to God or move further away from Him.
So we have a paradox. We must not hope for any temporal change to cause
a lasting good, but we must work for change at all times-through
conversion, through renewal of the church, through reform in
government-to effect justice by directing our hearts to changeless
Eternal Good.
As Pope Benedict XVI said so beautifully in his book, Jesus of Nazareth,
the beatitude that Jesus proclaimed, “blessed are those who mourn” is a
recognition of Our Savior that those are truly blessed who are sensitive
to the injustices around them and work to enact change in the culture to
right the wrongs. But Jesus anticipates that not all good reforms will
remain in this passing world, so he adds that even after all our attempts
to be salt to the earth and light to the world have fallen on deaf ears, we must continue to oppose injustice by being willing to mourn the evil around us. Did not Our Lord do this? Was he not crucified even though he had done good and labored for renewal? He would go to the cross mourning the injustices around him, and bearing witness by his willingness to suffer.
God does not give false hopes. He is the only Hope. And Jesus hoped in
God; He waited on the Lord. In the Bible to wait upon the Lord is to work
for justice, while not expecting success. Waiting on the Lord means
hoping in God even as we mourn.
For God says,”… they that wait upon the Lord will renew their
strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings. They will run and not
grow weary, walk and not grow faint.” Isaiah 40:31