“No community is healthy where it is ever necessary to distinguish one politician [from] his fellows because ‘he is honest’ . . . [Moreover, it is not] enough that a public official should be honest. No amount of honesty will avail if he is not also brave and wise. The weakling and the coward cannot be saved by honesty alone . . .”

Leadership requires two virtues that seem very simple until they become very inconvenient: honesty and courage. All of you have earned the right to be here today by winning the trust of the people of Philadelphia. But along with that honor comes a duty of humility, integrity and public service. So let’s settle our hearts for just a moment in prayer.

God of justice and mercy, thank you for the gift of life, and the opportunity to serve the people of our city. Help us to act with character and conviction; help us to listen with understanding and good will; help us to speak with charity and restraint. Give us a spirit of service. Remind us that we are stewards of your authority. Guide us to be the leaders your people need. Help us see the humanity and dignity of those who disagree with us, and to treat all persons, no matter how weak or poor, with the reverence your creation deserves. And finally Father, renew us with the strength of your presence and the joy of helping to build a community worthy of the human person. We ask this as your sons and daughters, confident in your goodness and love. Amen.

From “Invocation Delivered at Philadelphia City Council Meeting,” by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., October 20, 2011.

Knighthood is an institution with very deep roots in the memory of the Church.  Nearly 900 years ago, the great St. Bernard of Clairvaux described the ideal Christian knights as Godly men who “shun every excess in clothing and food.  They live as brothers in joyful and sober company (with) one heart and one soul.… There is no distinction of persons among them, and deference is shown to merit rather than to noble blood.  They rival one another in mutual consideration, and they carry one another’s burdens, thus fulfilling the law of Christ.”

Bernard was anything but naïve.  Writing in the early 12th century, he was well aware of the greed, vanity and violence that too often motivated Europe’s warrior class, even in the name of religious faith.  Yet he wrote at a time when large Christian populations still existed in the Middle East and suffered under Muslim armed conquest, discrimination and persecution.  In fact a trigger for the medieval Crusades — which began in Bernard’s lifetime — had been the harassment of Christian pilgrims to holy sites in what we now know as Israel and Palestine.

Many of the Crusaders who rallied to the liberation of the Holy Land did so out of genuine zeal for the Cross.  Europe in the Middle Ages was a continent where Christian faith animated every aspect of daily life.  But Bernard also knew that many others who left for Crusade had mixed or even ugly motives.  In his great essay “In Praise of the New Knighthood” (c. 1136), he outlined the virtues that should shape the vocation of every truly “Christian” knight: humility, austerity, justice, obedience, unselfishness and a single-minded zeal for Jesus Christ in defending the Church, the poor and the weak.

Life today may seem very different from life in the 12th century, but human nature — our basic hopes, dreams, anxieties and sufferings — hasn’t really changed.  The Christian vocation remains the same: to follow Jesus Christ faithfully, and in following Jesus, to defend Christ’s Church and serve her people zealously, unselfishly and with all our skill.  As St. Ignatius Loyola wrote in his “Spiritual Exercises” — and remember that Ignatius himself was a former soldier — each of us must choose between two battle standards: the standard of Jesus Christ, humanity’s true King, or the standard of his impostor, the Prince of This World.  There is no neutral ground.

Here’s my point:  The Church needs men and women of courage and Godliness today more than at any time in her history; and this is why the Catholic ideal of knighthood, with its demands of radical discipleship, is still vividly alive and still urgently needed.  Whether one belongs to a wonderful fraternal service order like the Knights of Columbus or the Knights of St. Peter Claver; to an historic knightly order like the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher or the Knights of Malta; or to one of the Holy See’s own pontifical knightly orders like the Knights of St. Gregory the Great; the essence of knighthood is the same: sacrificial service rooted in a living Catholic faith.

That spirit of knighthood is available to all of us.  It’s a vocation every Christian was made for.  And it will never go out of style.

“The Church is not just a collection of individuals convened around a sacred text. She is a community — a community rooted both in God’s Word and in sacrament. No matter how many other things bear good fruit for the Gospel in our day, there is no on-going presence of Jesus Christ in the world without the Church; there is no Church without the Eucharist; and there is no Eucharist without the priest. We need priests: good men, well formed; men of joy and courage; men who love Jesus Christ, love the Church and are eager to serve God’s people. And — equally important — we need a community of faith which will foster and encourage these men, and support them as family in their sacrifices.”

I’ve thought about those words many times during this Year for Priests, but especially this month. On May 6, I dedicated a new Spirituality Year residence for men considering the seminary, an effort made possible only by the extraordinary generosity of major lay donors and faithful Catholics across northern Colorado. And on May 15, I had the privilege of ordaining five outstanding men as new priests for our people: Fathers Matthew Book, John Green, David Nix, José María Quera and Michael Rapp. Another five more men educated by St. John Vianney Theological Seminary for other U.S. dioceses will be ordained by their own bishops later this month and in June. Together, our two archdiocesan seminaries — St. John Vianney and Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary — have become a source of new life in the archdiocese, forming a new generation of dedicated priests. These new men will build on the legacy of service created by the scores of good, unselfish priests who lead our parishes today and led our communities in decades past.

It’s never wise or fair to compare one diocese with another. Like any family, each local Church has its own set of unique strengths, resources, problems and challenges. But we can be thankful that God has blessed northern Colorado in a powerful way. At a time when the Church is struggling for many different reasons in some parts of the world, we have a brotherhood of good priests, strong seminaries, committed lay and religious workers, and tens of thousands of generous Catholic families who take their faith seriously and sacrifice to advance the Gospel through the work of the Church. These are tremendous gifts. We should never take them for granted.

I mention this for two reasons. Here’s the first. As we draw toward the close of the Year for Priests next month, we need to remember the many remarkable blessings we already have. The Church always needs renewal and reform because all of us — clergy, lay and religious — are human, and therefore sinners. As the Holy Father has reminded us, we need to be vigilant over our own hearts and actions, and we need to root out evil wherever we find it, including within the Church herself. This is a serious duty. But it’s not ultimately “news.” In fact it’s been the difficult reality of Christian life, to one degree or another, from the time of the Apostles themselves.

Here’s the second reason. As we head toward Pentecost Sunday — the great day of celebration that commemorates the birth of the Church — I ask you all to remember the priests of the archdiocese in your prayers, especially the five men newly ordained. Without the Church, there is no witness of Jesus Christ in the world. Without the Eucharist, there is no Church. And without the priest, there is no Eucharist. Please thank God for the priests who serve us; thank Him for sending new priests into the vineyard; and ask Him to surround his Church, his priests and his people with his joy and protection.

First, the bill passed by the House on March 21 is a failure of decent lawmaking.  It has not been “fixed.”  It remains unethical and defective on all of the issues pressed by the U.S. bishops and prolife groups for the past seven months.

Second, the Executive Order promised by the White House to ban the use of federal funds for abortion does not solve the many problems with the bill, which is why the bishops did not — and still do not – see it as a real solution.  Executive Orders can be rescinded or reinterpreted at any time.  Some current congressional leaders have already shown a pattern of evasion, ill will and obstinacy on the moral issues involved in this legislation, and the track record of the White House in keeping its promises regarding abortion-related issues does not inspire confidence.  The fact that congressional leaders granted this one modest and inadequate concession only at the last moment, and only to force the passage of this deeply flawed bill, should give no one comfort.

Third, the combination of pressure and disinformation used to break the prolife witness on this bill among Democratic members of Congress – despite the strong resistance to this legislation that continues among American voters – should put an end to any talk by Washington leaders about serving the common good or seeking common ground.  Words need actions to give them flesh.  At many points over the past seven months, congressional leaders could have resolved the serious moral issues inherent in this legislation.  They did not.  No shower of reassuring words now can wash away that fact.

Fourth, self-described “Catholic” groups have done a serious disservice to justice, to the Church, and to the ethical needs of the American people by undercutting the leadership and witness of their own bishops.  For groups like Catholics United, this is unsurprising.  In their effect, if not in formal intent, such groups exist to advance the interests of a particular political spectrum.  Nor is it newsworthy from an organization like Network, which – whatever the nature of its good work — has rarely shown much enthusiasm for a definition of “social justice” that includes the rights of the unborn child.

But the actions of the Catholic Health Association (CHA) in providing a deliberate public counter-message to the bishops were both surprising and profoundly disappointing; and also genuinely damaging.  In the crucial final days of debate on health-care legislation, CHA lobbyists worked directly against the efforts of the American bishops in their approach to members of Congress.  The bad law we now likely face, we owe in part to the efforts of the Catholic Health Association and similar “Catholic” organizations.

Here in Colorado, many thousands of ordinary, faithful Catholics, from both political parties, have worked hard over the past seven months to advance sensible, legitimate health-care reform; the kind that serves the poor and protects the rights of the unborn child, and immigrants, and the freedom of conscience rights of health-care professionals and institutions.  If that effort seems to have failed, faithful Catholics don’t bear the blame.  That responsibility lies elsewhere.  I’m grateful to everyone in the archdiocese who has worked so hard on this issue out of love for God’s people and fidelity to their Catholic faith.  Come good or bad, that kind of effort is never wasted.

The Senate version of health-care reform currently being forced ahead by congressional leaders and the White House is a bad bill that will result in bad law.  It does not deserve, nor does it have, the support of the Catholic bishops of our country.  Nor does the American public want it.  As I write this column on March 14, the Senate bill remains gravely flawed.  It does not meet minimum moral standards in at least three important areas: the exclusion of abortion funding and services; adequate conscience protections for health-care professionals and institutions; and the inclusion of immigrants.

Groups, trade associations and publications describing themselves as “Catholic” or “prolife” that endorse the Senate version – whatever their intentions – are doing a serious disservice to the nation and to the Church, undermining the witness of the Catholic community; and ensuring the failure of genuine, ethical health-care reform.  By their public actions, they create confusion at exactly the moment Catholics need to think clearly about the remaining issues in the health-care debate.  They also provide the illusion of moral cover for an unethical piece of legislation.

As we enter a critical week in the national health-care debate, Catholics across northern Colorado need to remember a few simple facts.

First, the Catholic bishops of the United States have pressed for real national health-care reform in this country for more than half a century.  They began long before either political party or the public media found it convenient.  That commitment hasn’t changed.  Nor will it.

Second, the bishops have tried earnestly for more than seven months to work with elected officials to craft reform that would serve all Americans in a manner respecting minimum moral standards.  The failure of their effort has one source.  It comes entirely from the stubbornness and evasions of certain key congressional leaders, and the unwillingness of the White House to honor promises made by the president last September.

Third, the health-care reform debate has never been merely a matter of party politics.  Nor is it now.  Democratic Congressman Bart Stupak and a number of his Democratic colleagues have shown extraordinary character in pushing for good health-care reform while resisting attempts to poison it with abortion-related entitlements and other bad ideas that have nothing to do with real “health care.”  Many Republicans share the goal of decent health-care reform, even if their solutions would differ dramatically.  To put it another way, few persons seriously oppose making adequate health services available for all Americans.  But God, or the devil, is in the details — and by that measure, the current Senate version of health-care reform is not merely defective, but also a dangerous mistake.

The long, unpleasant and too often dishonest national health-care debate is now in its last days.  Its most painful feature has been those “Catholic” groups that by their eagerness for some kind of deal undercut the witness of the Catholic community and help advance a bad bill into a bad law. Their flawed judgment could now have damaging consequences for all of us.

Do not be misled.  The Senate version of health-care reform currently being pushed ahead by congressional leaders and the White House — despite public resistance and numerous moral concerns — is bad law; and not simply bad, but dangerous.  It does not deserve, nor does it have, the support of the Catholic bishops in our country, who speak for the believing Catholic community.  In its current content, the Senate version of health-care legislation is not “reform.”  Catholics and other persons of good will concerned about the foundations of human dignity should oppose it.

Our vocation as Christians is not simply to pass along good morals to our children, or convey a sense of God’s hand in the world. These things are vital, of course, but they don’t exhaust our purpose for being here. Our mission is to bring the world to Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ to the world. Each of us is a missionary, and our primary task is the conversion of our own hearts and the hearts of others so that someday the whole world will acknowledge Jesus Christ as humanity’s only savior and Lord.

That’s a big job. We can’t do it by just talking about it, any more than Christ could redeem us by writing an essay on sin. The Gospels have power because they tell the story of what God did; what his only Son did; and what Christ’s followers did. The Passion accounts of Christ’s suffering and death move us so deeply because they show in bitter detail how unashamedly God loves us.

This is the hot spark at the heart of every other sincere attempt to tell the story of our redemption. God spared not even his own Son in saving us. No wonder the cross draws the eye of great artists again and again down through the centuries. The blood of the cross reminds us that—at least on one day in history—love had no limits. And since then, everything has been different.

God built the Church we’ve inherited through the love of generations of believers. Their witness made our faith possible. It’s now our turn to shape the future by the zeal we bring to our own daily witness. It’s our turn to act. It’s our turn to live our Catholic faith with all the courage and strength Christ brought to loving the Church he founded.

Later this month, Feb. 26-27, Catholics from around Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region will gather in Denver for our annual Living the Catholic Faith Conference. This is one of the most important teaching, learning and fellowship events of our life as a diocesan community of faith.

With a list of outstanding sessions and speakers—Dr. Tim Gray on “the vocation of a teacher,” Dr. Janet Smith on “the family as a path to holiness,” San Antonio’s Auxiliary Bishop Oscar Cantu heading up an excellent Spanish-language track, along with a variety of very practical and timely workshops—the conference is the perfect place to nourish our faith and renew our discipleship.

The 2010 conference theme is “I have chosen you” (Jn 15: 16), and the constant improvement in attendance and content of this valuable conference over the past decade witnesses to the hunger our people have to hear and do God’s will.

The Church depends on God who will always protect her. But she also depends on you and me—teachers, pastors, deacons, catechists, parents and devoted single Catholics—to carry Christ’s mission into the world. Words are cheap. Actions matter. It’s time to live our Catholic faith as the apostles did—and through it, to reshape the world.

The 2010 Living the Catholic Faith Conference is the place where that work can begin.

That’s a real e-mail from a real person.  The man who sent it last week was either very candid or very foolish about his anger: he added his real name and e-mail address.  I’ve withheld them here because I like to hope that most people, or at least many of them, are better than the poisonous things they sometimes write. But this e-mail does teach a useful lesson, because it’s not just a case of a random bigot getting in touch with his inner bully.  Instead, it’s a snapshot of the anti-Catholic bitterness that drives some of the loudest voices in the current health-care debate.

Let’s remember that the Founders encouraged an active role for religion in the nation’s public life.  Let’s recall that freedom of speech for Catholics, their leaders and their Church is constitutionally protected, just as it is for all citizens.  Let’s also finally remember that Catholic-baiting is one of America’s oldest and most favored forms of hatred.  The irony is that some of today’s ugliest bigots posture themselves as socially “progressive” and work in politics or the mass media, or both.

Catholics entered this year’s national health-care discussion with good will and a long track record of public service.  Catholic medical care is a national network.  Most Catholics, as part of their Christian faith, see decent health care for all persons as a social obligation.  They’re eager for some form of good health-industry reform.  But “reform” isn’t a magic word.  It isn’t an end in itself.  The content of the reform matters vitally.

For months Catholic leaders have worked vigorously with congressional and White House staff to craft sound health-care reform legislation.  Service to the poor, the sick and the suffering is part of the Church’s Gospel vocation.  The bill passed by the House on Nov. 7 was a step toward a goal that is shared, in principle, by most Catholics.  Like most bills, it was a mixed success.  Critics argue that it lacks adequate conscience protections; that its penalties are extreme and largely unknown to the public; that it’s too complex; that it violates the Catholic principle of subsidiarity; and that it’s financially damaging and unsustainable.

These concerns are serious; they demand our reflection.  There is nothing “mandatory” for faithful Catholics about supporting or opposing this legislation in its current form.  That’s a matter for personal decision.  But the House bill does seek to address the health-care crisis in a comprehensive manner; and it does —at least, so far—meet a minimum moral standard that makes Catholic support possible.

Those two words, “so far,” bring us back to the point of this column.  The House health-care bill—the Senate will now develop its own version—meets the minimum threshold for Catholic support for one simple reason:  Catholic pressure forced abortion and abortion funding out of the legislation.  Abortion has nothing to do with advancing human health.  Abortion and public funding for abortion, no matter how discreetly it’s hidden, have no place in any genuine health-care reform.  This has been a key moral principle for Catholics every step of the way in the health-care discussion.  With Roe v. Wade likely to be secure under this president, excluding abortion and its funding from reform legislation would be a modest, sensible compromise for “pro-choicers.”  It might prove that something like common ground on abortion policy really is achievable in a Washington that describes itself as post-partisan.

Instead, the opposite has happened.  The abortion-driven anger dumped on Catholic beliefs, leaders and the Church at large since Nov. 7 would make the Know-Nothing bigots of the last century proud.  We’ve seen it from members of Congress, the news media, the abortion industry, and sad, deluded people stuck in their rage like the man quoted at the beginning of these remarks.

Here’s the moral of the story:  Catholic witness has a cost.  When we’re willing to pay it, we prove who we are as disciples—and the nation benefits.  When we’re not, life’s a lot more comfortable.  But that was never the point of the Gospel.

In the Old Testament, the most dramatic example of renewal through God’s word is the story of Josiah, which is found toward the end of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.  Josiah was perhaps the greatest of the Davidic kings of Judah.  He ruled at a time when the leaders and the majority of God’s people had assimilated to the worst elements of the pagan culture surrounding them.

Josiah’s grandfather was King Manasseh, whose 55 years of leadership over Israel marked one of the darkest periods for the people of God.  Scripture tells us that Manasseh “did what was evil in the sight of the Lord,” which not only included pagan idolatry but also child sacrifice.  He offered up even his own sons in sacrifice in the valley of Hinnom, and since the word in Hebrew for valley is “Ge” it was known as the valley of Ge-henna, a name that the New Testament uses as a metaphor for hell.

It’s sobering that God’s own people could be so deeply degraded by a pagan culture that they would sacrifice their own children.  But obviously we don’t need to look very far to find modern parallels.  Manasseh’s son Amon continued the sins of his father, and was murdered by his own servants after only two years of rule.  That left Amon’s son, Josiah, as the ruler of Israel at the age of 8 years old.  Josiah had everything going against him: a culture that had imbibed for almost two generations the worst of pagan beliefs and behaviors; a family that was far from the Lord; and huge responsibilities and power handed to him at a very young age.

Yet, Scripture tells us that “while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father” (2 Chr 34:3).  Here’s the lesson in those words.  To renew the Church and the world we need to begin with ourselves. It’s tempting to see the moral problems of today’s wider culture and want to begin our work there, outside ourselves, focused on others.  But all authentic reform begins within our own hearts.

Josiah purged the pagan altars from Jerusalem and the rest of Israel.  Much of the Temple had been abandoned.  Some of it had been adapted for various pagan cults.  Josiah ordered the Temple to be purified and renovated.  While cleaning out the Temple, the high priest Hilkiah discovered the “book of the law” (2 Kgs 22:8), referring to God’s word, specifically Deuteronomy and perhaps the rest of the Pentateuch.  When the book was read to the king and the people, it was the first hearing of the Torah for that generation.  In other words, things had become so perverse that Israel had completely lost the word of God, this last copy being found in the nearly abandoned Temple.

When the “book of the law” was read, Josiah responded with humility and penance, and rent his clothes (2 Kgs 22:11). The people were moved by his example.  They renewed the covenant and turned away from the paganism they had accepted.  Josiah’s reforms succeeded.  He destroyed the pagan shrines in the valley of Hinnom, “that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech” (2 Kgs 23:10); he restored the Temple and its worship; and by his leadership the rift between God and his people was healed.

Renewal happened because Josiah recovered God’s word and made it available to everyone.  As Scripture says, he read the word of God to “all the people, both small and great” (2 Kgs 23:2).  This is why in our own day Vatican II said that “The Church forcefully and specifically exhorts all the Christian faithful … to learn the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ, by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures” (CCC, 133; DV 25).

We need to remember the lesson of Josiah’s witness; that is, that we need to hear God’s word, not just one day a week but everyday, until it soaks deeply into our souls.  This is what Josiah did, and any personal and ecclesial renewal requires that each of us recover the daily practice of praying with and hearing God’s word.

He also co-founded Mpower Pictures, which in 2007 released the extraordinary portrait of a young man’s conversion, Bella.  This year, McEveety and his Mpower colleagues bring The Stoning of Soraya M. (www.thestoning.com) to limited screens across the country on June 26.  Don’t let the summer go by without somehow seeing this film.  Superbly written, directed and photographed, with compelling lead performances by two astonishing actresses, The Stoning is the most moving screen story I’ve seen in years.  Once you’ve watched it, you’ll never forget it.

Based on real events, the movie is adapted from the book of the same name by the French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam.  In the aftermath of the Iranian revolution, a husband grows tired of his young wife, who has borne him two sons and two daughters.  Under Islamic law, a man may have up to four wives — but he’s also obligated to care and provide for each of them properly.  Interested in a potential child bride and unable to afford the added expense of a second wife, the husband maneuvers his wife into tending house for a recent widower.  Then he falsely accuses her of infidelity, after blackmailing other male village elders, including the mullah — the town’s religious leader — into colluding in his lie.

The rest of The Stoning needs to be experienced to be fully understood.  But it leaves an impact that will stay with viewers for days.  An aunt of the wronged young wife recounts her niece’s story to a passing journalist — Sahebjam (played by Jim Caveziel) — who smuggles it out of Iran and eventually publishes it.  To this day, the Teheran regime denies that events like those reported by Sahebjam have ever happened.  But multiple sources have confirmed that violence against women continues not only in Iran but in many countries around the world.

While The Stoning implicitly shows the deep differences between Christianity and Islam regarding the role of women, the film is not a critique of Islam.  Quite the opposite:  What happens to Soraya is an abuse of Islamic law fueled by revolutionary extremism, personal corruption and rural tradition.  The film is clearly not for children; nor is the brutally graphic sequence of public “justice” near the story’s end for the faint of heart.  But as a work of truth and drama, The Stoning is simply an extraordinary piece of story-telling and motion picture craft.

During the years I served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, I came to see in a new and vivid way how unusual our nation really is.  For all its flaws, the United States has a respect for religious freedom, equality under the law and the dignity of the individual that very few other societies can rival.  We need to take pride in those qualities.  We need to remember the moral and religious roots from which they come.  We also need to protect those qualities and advance them without apology in our dialogue with other cultures.

The Stoning of Soraya M. succeeds above all because it is a moving drama of abused innocence and eventual vindication.  But it also reminds us of the soul-destroying power of a lie; how tempting and easy it can be to victimize the weak; how precious the truth is; and how vigilant over our own hearts each of us needs to remain if we want to be human — even when we claim to believe in God.

+Charles J. Chaput is the Catholic archbishop of Denver.  This column will appear June 17 in the newsweekly Denver Catholic Register and on the Archdiocese of Denver web pages.

The views expressed in this article represent that of +Charles J. Chaput only and are intended for his own Colorado community.  They do not represent the Catholic Church in the United States or any other Catholic bishop.

The legs of that stool are faith, hope and love—and these three great “theological virtues” are what I pray God will fill each of us with this Easter season.

Faith gives meaning. Human beings were made for a purpose; only faith provides it; and without it the soul will die. Faith is not simply doctrines, though these are essential. Faith is not sentiment, or knowledge, or law, though all these play a vital role in our life of faith. Faith is the certitude that God exists and loves us, because he has revealed himself in the one way which doesn’t leave much room for disagreement—his palpable presence in our lives.

Of course the irony, as C.S. Lewis once wrote, is that the hardest thing to believe is something we’ve just preached or defended to another. Before ascending to his Father, Jesus told his disciples to preach and teach the good news. That command includes us. But giving the truth away to another person leaves an empty place in our hearts. The only way to refill that space is to turn back to God and beg him again for his presence. This is one important reason why we pray.

Hope gives joy. Every Christian sooner than later discovers that his or her own skills are too poor and sins too stubborn to be the disciple the world needs … unless the Easter miracle is true and the resurrected Jesus, once dead but now alive again, is real and present in our lives. Hope sinks its roots in faith and flowers in joy. At the end of the day, there are no unhappy saints. Easter is the great feast of hope, and since the empty tomb, we’re all living in the morning of the Resurrection every day. We’re part of an endless triumph of life—a message which sets itself, in this world, against a culture of death. The task of every believer is to be a witness to the Resurrection—an agent of hope.

Finally, love gives life. Christ’s love on the cross gave life to the world on Easter. All love is fruitful. Every person’s life animated by love is fertile and creates new life according to his or her unique vocation—some in the flesh, some in the spirit, but new life nonetheless. The better we love, the more we become the hands of God, sculpting the new beauty of a redeemed creation. Love draws us into God himself. And from our hearts, love calls out two other virtues which spring from it: humility, which allows us to forget ourselves and cherish the dignity of others; and courage, which enables us to live and speak the truth … not as a weapon, but as a gift. It isn’t enough to speak the truth. We need, as Paul wrote, to speak the truth in love.

The spiritual life of every Christian should be fired by the words Jesus shared with his apostles on the night he was betrayed: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). Christ’s suffering and death on Good Friday bore fruit in our salvation. When we seek to love with Christ’s intensity—as the apostles did; as every disciple is called to do—the light of Christ’s resurrection will enter our families and begin to transform every life we touch.

Such love changed the world once. It can do so again. May God grant all of us a blessed Easter season—and the faith and hope, love, humility and courage to live Easter every day of the year.