Much havoc has been wrought by error and ignorance. The Prophet Hosea, looking at his people and seeing them far from the happiness to which they were called, wrote: My people languish for lack of knowledge.5 How many do we see who are in sorrow, in sin, in disconsolation, in the greatest disorientation, for lack of the truth of God! Many people allow themselves to be carried away by fashions and by the ideas imposed by a few who are in places of great influence, or they are dazzled by false reasoning, with the complicity almost always of evil passions.
The enemy of God and of souls has used all possible human means. Thus we see how some news is disfigured, how others are silenced, how devastating ideas about marriage are propagated through powerful television serials, or how they try to ridicule the value of chastity and celibacy, how abortion or euthanasia are advocated, or how distrust of the sacraments is sown and a pagan idea of life is given, as if Christ had not come to redeem us and to remind us that Heaven awaits us. And this is done with incredible constancy and determination. The enemy does not rest.
We, who want to follow in the footsteps of the Master, will not stand still, as if things were irreparable and nothing could be remedied. History can be given a different course because it is not predetermined to evil and God has given us the freedom to know how to lead it to Him. This is everyone's task: every Christian, wherever he may be, has the mission to lead men out of their ignorance and errors. Although there are professions that can have a greater influence on public life, we all can and must sow good seeds with sympathy, with kindness, with opportunity, in our own family, among our friends, among our colleagues at work or in our studies, in the sphere in which we move: by courageously showing the beauty of the truth; by unmasking error; by providing others with the appropriate means of formation, such as retreat courses, study circles, spiritual direction; by advising a good book with doctrinal content; by encouraging others by one's own example to behave as good Christians. Many will feel strengthened by our serene and firm conduct, and will be able to confront the avalanche of bad doctrine that we see around us; they themselves will become lights of light for others who walk in darkness. And we will see how in so many cases those words of Tertullian referring to the pagan world, which rejected the doctrine of Jesus Christ, are fulfilled: they cease to hate, those who cease to ignore6.
We should make the most of the thousand opportunities that ordinary life offers us to sow the good seed of Christ: on a trip, while reading the newspaper, while chatting with our neighbors, while discussing the education of our children, while participating in a professional association, while casting our vote in an election.... On many occasions, they will arise spontaneously, as a part of life; on others, with the help of grace and with human grace, we will know how to provoke them. In this way we serve Christ; we are his voice in the world.
Hablar con Dios