Light in the darkness
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
A few months ago, our lives changed drastically. From one day to the next, everything was different. We woke up one day with a new lifestyle that required social distancing. There has been confusion, insecurity, fear, sadness, uncertainty, and even violence.
It has been a hard and painful time for everyone. Life, as we know it, led us to another horizon that we did not expect. It has been, and continues being, a path in which we have had to learn to live in a different way with many limitations, restrictions, doubts, despair, and regrets.
If we look for answers in the political realm, we only hear the confusing noise of contradictory opinions. If we seek answers in science, there is still no clarity. At times, it even creates more confusion. And in such a way, the deepest doubts launch us in a desperate search for answers that only faith can give us.
For a Christian, and especially to the one who listens to God’s call, his hope and response in this difficult time that we live in are only found in Jesus Christ. It is He and only He who gives us strength day by day to continue our journey in this world. It is Jesus Christ the eternal Word that shines in the dark. He is the living water that quenches our thirst. He is our God and Lord who walks with us.
Hence, whoever discerns his vocation to the priesthood must be detached of his human hopes in order to embark on the wonderful adventure of faith in the One for whom all things have been made, and for whom everything has consistency.
The vocational response to any adversity, no matter how dark it may seem, is found in the One who is the very mystery of life. Jesus Christ is the eternal Word revealed to men, by which we obtain life and our being has its deepest meaning.
It is Jesus Christ who continues to call real men who are protagonists of history, and who sends them to tell the world that He lives and that His love fills everything. Therefore, for the discerning young man in this time of confusion and violence in the world and in our nation, the answer is found in the One who is the Light.
This is a time of response to Jesus Christ as the light that illuminates the world and the water that satisfies humanity’s thirst for eternity. For this reason, in the midst of this confusion and time of great challenges, it is necessary for the young man who feels called to the priesthood to be attentive to the signs of the times that need hope, not an empty hope, but rather one that emerges from the voice of the One who is the eternal Word, and in whom mankind finds its fullest realization.
To you, young man who feels called to the priesthood, do not be afraid to open your heart to God. In these difficult times, your brothers and sisters need decisive men who would speak in His name and who are willing to leave everything behind to follow the Lord, and to illuminate the darkness of a humanity that is in so much need of Him.