This is not an easy question in light of so much troubling news lately. The Church has come to realize that the world is no longer the faith-friendly place it once was.
We as the people of God must once again adopt a “mission mindset” — going out into the world with the message of Jesus, loving God and neighbor. We must find that love of Christ in our hearts, so we can share it in word and action with everyone we encounter.
“Secular” can be defined as relating to worldly things or things that are not regarded as religious or sacred. However, this does not mean that God is not present in secular society. Did we not learn in our early religious education classes that “God is everywhere”?
God has not abandoned us. God is that still, intimate voice that calls out to us and to our world. We are asked to listen to that voice, sometimes to be that voice for others, and to be a light in the darkness and bread broken for others. When we seek God, we will find him even in places we do not expect.
On the way to pick up my grandsons at their school, I pass by a public park where many homeless folks camp out. It is not unusual to see bicycles and grocery carts piled high with all the belongings that someone has under a tree, or someone sleeping on the grass.
One particular day, I saw a small group of people helping to push their friend in a beat-up wheelchair. They were carefully maneuvering him to a shady spot. There was genuine joy in several of their faces. I don’t know if it was because they were able to help, or because this was someone they had not seen in a while and were reconnecting with.
At that moment, I saw God in the actions and faces of people who cared for each other and wanted to help one another. Just as God cares for each of us in our difficult times, he walks with us and accompanies us, so he is present in a world that doesn’t always acknowledge him.
Another way to see God’s presence in secular society is to look at the sacrifices people make for one another. Our world seems to be moving more and more toward comfort, pleasure, and looking out only for ourselves. Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice on the cross, gave his life for our salvation. When we make ourselves one with him through our sacrifices, we bring Jesus to our world.
When I see a wife taking care of a sick husband, or a spouse with tender care and concern, I see Jesus. When I see older siblings care for their younger brothers and sisters so that mom or dad can have a little break, I see Jesus.
One of the most powerful sacrifices I’ve seen comes from the tragedy in Highland Park’s Fourth of July mass shooting in Illinois (USA) this year. A father died shielding his two-year-old son from the bullets raining down on them. It is such a tragic story, but a sacrifice made out of love. We don’t know too much about this child’s mother and father, who both died, but we know they loved their child and were willing to die so that he might live.
Many daily experiences can discourage or encourage us. God is present right where he appears to be absent. This is his presence as Jesus Forsaken (see Mt 27:46, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). Chiara Lubich often spoke of Jesus Forsaken and his cry that can be found in our secularized world, in the division among Christians, etc.
“The Movement has acquired a very rich experience that shows how human suffering, especially spiritual sufferings, is contained in this particular suffering of Jesus,” Chiara wrote in 2006.
“Aren’t those in despair similar to him? Those who are alone, who feel empty, disappointed, or have failed, those who are weak? Isn’t every painful division among individuals, among churches, or between sections of humanity with contrasting ideologies, the very image of him?
“Isn’t the atheistic, secularized world, which has fallen into every aberration, an image of Jesus Forsaken who made himself sin — as St. Paul says — and who loses even his closeness to God?
“By loving Jesus Forsaken, we find the reason and the strength not to flee from these evils and divisions, but to accept and embrace them out of love for him, and to then offer our personal and collective remedy.”
God is also present as Jesus Forsaken where he seems to be very absent: the war in Ukraine, the growing polarization in many countries, and the aftermath of COVID. Let us remember that God is everywhere!
Let us remember that God dwells in our hearts, as well as in the hearts of people of every race, creed, culture, and situation. Let us always be alert and look for God’s presence. You may be surprised where he shows up.
“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you — oracle of the Lord — plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope. When you call me, and come and pray to me, I will listen to you. When you look for me, you will find me. Yes, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jer 29: 11–13)
Frère Roger Schutz of Taizé once spoke with Mother Teresa of Calcutta about the fact that the Gospel seemed to be dissipating from the wider culture. Mother Teresa had a simple response: “We must start over.”
In order to find God in the world around us as it is, we must simply look for him, expecting to find him. And we must tell others what we see.
Joe Hensley
(Living City, USA)
Quotes are from “Our response to today’s collective and cultural night,” Chiara Lubich’s message to the Volunteers of God in Budapest on September 16, 2006.
The author serves at St. Jude’s Catholic Church in Lakewood, Colorado. He is married and has 2 adult children and 6 grandchildren.
