In one of the documents of Vatican II, there is a line that says, “When God is forgotten, however, the creature itself grows unintelligible” (Gaudium et Spes 36). This is something that we can see so clearly in our world. We live in a society that has largely forgotten God, a society that has overwhelmingly rejected God. And we can see the effects of this on a daily basis.
The difference between right and wrong and good and evil seemed to have vanished. In our world, the things that we as Catholics believe and know to be good, true, and beautiful, are seen as hateful, intolerant, and bigoted. The things that we believe to be common sense have been flipped upside down and twisted.
We see this reality all around us. Ending the lives of babies in the womb is viewed as “reproductive healthcare” and “women’s rights.” The sacrament of marriage, a union between a man and a woman, is attacked, with the belief that two men or two women can be married because “love is love.” With surgery and different clothing, men can be women and women can be men. IVF and contraception are seen as totally fine and children become treated like commodities rather than gifts from God. There is no absolute truth and people do whatever makes them happy, whether it’s right or wrong. These are just a few of the many areas where we see an unintelligible society due to forgetting God.
What are we as Catholics to do in a world that seems so far from God? We must cling to the truth and remain close to God, staying strong and standing firm in our convictions. We must not be swayed by the lies of the devil that are pushed so strongly around us. We must be willing to stand up for the truth and follow the path towards God, even when it seems like most people are going in the opposite direction.
God is truth and as Catholics, we have that truth on our side. May we always strive to walk in His knowledge and wisdom and never fall so far as to forget Him.
Faith and The Good Stuff 