Do you speak up boldly for God and for the truth when needed? If not, ask for the grace and courage to do so. God needs prophets like you! - Daily Reflections December 10,2013

WHAT SHALL I CRY OUT?

 

We live in pluralistic times. In these complex times, the virtue of charity has assumed another name — tolerance. In the name of tolerance, it has become politically incorrect to speak about certain “controversial” topics. The point has come when the word “controversial” has become equated with “verboten,” meaning forbidden. Anyone who ventures out and speaks the hard truth is turned into an instant pariah, and declared as uncharitable, categorical, intolerant, chauvinistic, and other unsavory titles.

       Tell all that to a prophet who minces no words, pulls no stops, and applies no brakes when speaking about compelling issues!

       But wait! Tell all that, too, to a people hungry for good news, a people who need very badly to hear something, for not to hear anything about their plight appears to be the suffering of the worst kind any people can ever go through.

       Today, Isaiah does precisely that. He speaks with a sense of urgency! Today, we are that people. Isaiah talks to a people who could very well use much of what he had to say. He talks to a people in dire thirst, longing for words to comfort a hurting soul.

       We are a people very much in exile like the Israelites were. We are banished from a world of freedom to a prison of tolerance and so-called “political correctness.” We are not free to speak our minds against irreverent singers and entertainers, but, in the same vein, are almost compelled by the current culture to allow them to sing of their love and allegiance to Judas Iscariot. We are in bitter exile, unable to talk against so-called artists who dabble at not just irreverent, but patently anti-Christ works of self-expression that are made to pass as art.

       Isaiah today would not be bullied into silence. For his word is not his, but God’s. We are a people born of the Word! We are asked to cry out in God’s name! Isaiah did his part. What about me? What shall I cry out? Fr. Chito Dimaranan, SDB

 

 

REFLECTION QUESTIONS: Do you speak up boldly for God and for the truth when needed? If not, ask for the grace and courage to do so. God needs prophets like you!

 

Lord, help me to stand for Your truth and speak out against what is evil and unjust.