Doctor Coffee

we need to change that sign immediately

we need to change that sign immediately

we need to change that sign immediately

we need to change that sign immediately

we need to change that sign immediately

we need to change that sign immediately

we need to change that sign immediately

Thank you Father Ben

It is very easy to see the brokenness of our world and say, “things are much worse now than ever before.” Our news headlines show that there are evils, pains, tragedies, wars, attacks, conflicts, natural disasters, depression, addiction, catastrophes, heartaches, and much more.
 It can often seem like every news headline brings awful news. It’s easy to ask: “What happened to the good in this world?” and “Where did the goodness go?”
As a Roman Catholic priest, I hear many peoples’ concerns through various pastoral ministries. There are many people who feel like things are much worse now than ever before. The following approach is what I often share with people who find themselves questioning our present times.   
Our nightly television news and daily newspapers may have headlines which describe horrific evils, but I would like to add that the Bible doesn’t shy away from humanity’s brokenness either. Genesis, the first book of the Bible, has no problem describing how out of whack, how disordered, and how evil our world has become as a result of sin. Adam and Eve grasped for the forbidden fruit. Since then, there has been division, decay, and death. This original sin gets passed on from generation to generation. Adam and Eve’s son, Cain, kills his brother Abel. God then asks Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” Like his fallen parents, Cain doesn’t speak to God honestly and transparently. Instead, the effects of original sin have overwhelmed him. Cain arrogantly responds to God, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Sadly, this question has been repeated again and again.   
Are things far worse now than before? Let’s just briefly look at the last 100 years when individuals and regimes have arrogantly asked, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, Josef Mengele and the Nazi regime. The groups behind the genocides in Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, Germany, Nanking, Russia, and Turkey. Mao Zedong. Joseph Stalin. Pol Pat. Terrorist attacks. World Wars in which 75 million people died as a result of World War II and another 35 million died during World War I. 
I think we should be careful to say, “the world is far worse now than it used to be.”
St. Augustine ran into this hopeless and pessimistic view over 1,600 years ago. He wrote, “You hear people complaining about the present day and age because, they claim, things were so much better in former times. I wonder what would happen if they could be taken back to the days of their ancestors. Would we still hear them complaining? You may think past ages were good, but it is only because you are not living in them.”
St. Augustine is dead right. We need, therefore, to change our pessimistic view. We need to know that sin, evil, and death have been around for quite some time now. We also need to know that there is a light shining in the darkness. God is active and present in our fallen world. 
There have been Catholic saints in every generation. In the midst of sin, destruction, war, hardship, concentration camps, slavery, unjust political systems, plagues and much more; saints have emerged from the rubble of a fallen and broken humanity. The saints model to us how to overcome the difficulties, the tragedies, the hardships, the sufferings, the evils, and the disasters of our fallen world. 
When someone only sees the evils of our world, it means that they have lost sight of Christ who is active and pouring Himself out for others. I recommend for us to look to the saints in the midst of the brokenness of our world. It is in the saints that we see grace prevail. It is in the saints that we see a light shining in the darkness. It is in the saints that we see Christ alive and well. Maybe there is breaking news. Maybe Léon Bloy was right, “The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.”

Fr. Ben Daghir is a priest for the Diocese of Erie. He is a graduate of Elk County Catholic High School in Saint Marys, Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, and St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. He considers writing one of his favorite hobbies.