A World View of Hope

Today people accept different world views. Some have a materialistic view of the world, which is all about material things that you can see and have. Others have a consumeristic world view. They believe that their reason for being is to possess the newest, the shiniest, the most advanced things produced. At its worst, this world view even consumes other human beings. Some people propose an individualistic world view, that says only they have importance, and leads them to care little for others. Other people espouse a world view that is socialistic. They believe that the social system or government can control everything and the individual is subservient to it. Some have a strictly political world view or an economic world view.
           
We have just celebrated the Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. This great feast manifests another world view – one that is sacramental.  Jesus was baptized by His cousin John the Baptist in the waters of the River Jordan. Our Lord did not undergo this baptism so that He would be sanctified.  Rather, He sanctified the waters of Baptism for each and everyone of us. The Sacrament of Baptism and the other six sacraments that He gave to His Church flow forth from His Passion, Death and Resurrection.  This world view shows us that He is always with us and pours out His life on us.
           
The sacramental world view shows us that just as Jesus descended into the waters of the Jordan, He also comes into our world, and sanctifies it by His very Presence. He comes into our soul, our heart, our life, our family, our world, and puts everything in right order by the power of His love and mercy. Jesus comes to us by means of those Seven Sacraments, which are real encounters with Him. His presence in the sacraments sanctifies our world and unites us to Him. This changes everything for us. We can never see ourselves or the world only according to those other world views. We know our view is one which shows that Christ has entered into our world, and that we are so loved by Him that He offers us eternal life with Him in the world to come.
           
Nothing else can compare to our sacramental world view. Christ’s presence, especially His substantial Presence in the Holy Eucharist, gives us new and lasting hope in a world that often denies Him, who is Love Incarnate. In the end, our sacramental world view is the only one that shows us what life is really all about.  It shows us that He never abandons us.  He is with us always.

Most Reverend William J. Waltersheid
Auxiliary Bishop of Pittsburgh