Jesus said to his disciples: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” Have we lost the sense of urgency that Jesus felt? Think of St. Francis Xavier and other missionaries who left home and family never to see them again because they felt the need to spread the message of Jesus. They feared the eternal fate of unbelievers and felt impelled to bring the good news to them lest they be lost. In our age which has come to value other religious traditions as providing a path to God do we feel the same urgency to convert others to Christ or have we adopted a “you do your thing and I’ll do mine” attitude? As near as I can tell the message of Jesus is more needed than ever. In a world full of violence and hate, the call to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourself has as much resonance today as ever. Jesus now and forever is the way, the truth, the life.
