The three Christian virtues – Faith, Hope and Love – are what hold individuals, families, and entire societies together. These are the attitudes that give life meaning and purpose. It is time for Christians, to take up the cross every day, for this society is deeply wounded and in need of a real Christian response to this madness. What is that response? Jesus gave us the greatest commandment:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39.

That is the truth, from the mouth of God. And, we must be brutally honest with ourselves. There are not enough of we Christians actually doing these things, actually living this way. We must repent and turn back to God. This is the only way to turn this society back to God and sanity. We have been given the words of eternal life, but are we heeding them? We have been shown the way, the truth and the life, why is that not evident in all that we do?

Mother Teresa of Calcutta cares for two young orphans

Jesus gave us a clear picture of what the Christian response ought to be: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me” (Matthew 25:35-36). This is what Christian love is to look like in the real world. This is what we are supposed to be living like. And that sort of love is transformative.

We Christians have been called to live in a manner different the world; to be in the world, but not of it; to live out of our faith in the hope that comes from God alone, not from money, or power or fame; to live in, and out of, a love that transcends differences, that conquers fear, and that sees the face of Jesus in all others and desires to serve him by serving them. So let us live like We take such a call seriously.

Ann Voskamp, in her book One Thousand Gifts says it quite simply: “Live every day like you are terminal. Because you are. Live every day like your soul is eternal. Because it is.” That is what the Christian response should be in the face of the evils that seem so prevalent in our world. We are in this world by the grace of God. We are to live in this world in thanksgiving every day. We do this by accepting the paradoxical reality of our post-Edenic lives. For in reality, it is only when we willingly pick up our crosses and follow him that we discover the true and lasting joy that belongs to the children of God.
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