GOD LOVES THE WORLD
Neither Claret not anyone else has been able to choose the era in which they would liked to have lived. Neither could he control the social and ecclesial crises unleashed by the politics of the 19th Century. In recent years have we have not been able to avoid the crises which, in one form or another, reach across most of our world.
Faced with these situations we may mourn, allow ourselves to be filled with fear, or stay quiet and do nothing, waiting to see what happens… Or we can understand and live the time that God offers us as the only one we will have and the great opportunity which we are offered to go through life doing good (cf. Acts 10:38). There are many possibilities, from extreme selfishness to altruistic generosity.
Apart from the distance of time and culture, Claret’s attitude before the world continues to be an example, especially when he speaks to us of the importance of studying and getting to know the society which we have the vocation to evangelise (cf. Aut 357). Neither he nor us live outside the world, and it is about the world and the people who God loved so much that he sent his Son so that all could live with the dignity which only he can offer us (cf. Jn 3:16).
‘Events will happen’ wrote Claret, the royal confessor. Neither he nor anyone else could foresee exactly how and when these events would take place. What he did do, and his example invites us to do, is to be aware, in the world in which we are living, of what type of society is currently emerging. And we ask ourselves how we can make God’s love visible in today and tomorrow’s world and society.
Do I fully share Jesus’ vision that God looks on the world and on all people with love? How do I live out this conviction in my life?
