The challenge of truth for Catholics navigating today’s world

The challenge of truth for Catholics navigating today’s world

We have all surely experienced how difficult it can be to engage socially and politically as Catholics. Our faith pushes us into the uncomfortable position of prophetically challenging all political parties and calling everyone to conversion. Today, it can be especially difficult to exercise this prophetic mission, simply because the situations we should critique — the basic facts of the matter and their context — can be so difficult to ascertain (and contemporary media sadly makes our task even more difficult). This is a serious difficulty, since Jesus commands us not to judge by appearances (cf. Jn 7:24).

‘The Lord is with you’

‘The Lord is with you’

Gabriel is not the first messenger of the LORD to greet someone with the phrase “The LORD is with you” (Lk 1:28). An anonymous angel hails Gideon, a young man from a poor and insignificant family, as the lad desperately hides his family’s wheat harvest from the marauding Midianites: “The LORD is with you, you mighty warrior!” (Jgs 6:12). Gideon then receives his commission to save Israel from the hand of its enemy and to be a judge over the 12 tribes.