You have to admit that looking at the news gives you plenty of reasons to be alarmed. Very little of the enormous good which happening throughout the world is reported. Bad news attracts subscribers to social media and sells papers.

Continual bad news also presents us with enormous problems, which few individuals feel capable of remedying, which produces the sick reaction of people clamouring for quick fixes. Christ never advocates quick fixes. He calls members of the Church to set out daily following him on the long journey of carrying the cross. But he guarantees that his burden is easy and light and we will find rest for our souls. Remember that you are part of the Church, a member of Christ’s own Mystical Body.

In the widespread climate of alarm and worry, Pope Leo offers the world the Encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas. Some commentators accuse him of being utopian, an optimist, a dreamer of a golden future. His teaching is not wishful thinking; it is based on the victory of Christ. Christians know that God is in charge of human history and leading himanity into fully sharing the love-life of the Godhead. We cannot fail to be people of hope.

I quote directly from two paragraphs at the end of Encyclical:



Paragraph 243. "Mary’s song (The Magnificat) accompanies our commitment. Before Elizabeth who announces to her that she has become the mother of the Lord, Mary bursts into a hymn of praise and joy. Her soul magnifies the Lord, and her spirit rejoices in God her Savior, for he chose a young, poor and humble girl for his plan of salvation.

Mary suddenly sees all of history through the lens of this revelation. Nothing has changed around her; the socio-political situation of her time remains the same. The Romans continue to control her land, and her people are still subjugated and humiliated. Yet, everything has changed within her, and this allows her to see what is invisible. God has already shown the strength of his arm; he has already scattered the proud, cast down the mighty, lifted up the lowly, filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty-handed. He has already helped Israel, his servant.

God takes the part of the lowly. His plan is one that is often hidden beneath the opaque context of human events that see ‘the proud, the mighty and the rich” triumph. Yet his secret strength is destined in the end to be revealed.

Paragraph 245. With the same faith as Mary, let us become “weavers of hope” in our world, sharing who we are and what we have, so that the presence of Jesus may grow among us and his Kingdom take shape. In the humble fidelity of daily life, even the era of AI can become a time in which the Holy Spirit brings about the civilization of love in our lives. Indeed, the Lord continues to make all things new and offers every era the possibility of becoming part of salvation history in the light of the Incarnation.