What’s Wrong with the World Today? Some Thoughts to Begin Lent

By: Elizabeth Tomlin

As I write this post in mid-January to help us prepare for Lent, I just watched rioters break into the US Capitol, and the nation is bracing for civil unrest on Inauguration Day. My family and friends are leaving social media in droves because of the lack of civility that happens when people zing slap-happy comments at one another from behind the security of a keyboard in a digital environment where thumbs up, care, and heart emojis so often reward rude behavior.

Meanwhile, we’re still in the middle of a pandemic. People are dying in record numbers. I wrote six sympathy cards this week, and I heard on the radio yesterday, that coronavirus deaths are nearing the number of Americans killed in World War II.

While a reprieve from COVID-19 is coming in the form of a vaccine, that vaccine, too, is sparking a storm of incivility. The USCCB issued a series of documents to help Catholics form their consciences when deciding whether to take the vaccine. Some Catholics are lining up to get the vaccine. Others are taking to social media condemning bishops and even Pope Francis himself for taking the vaccine.

All of this leads me to wonder: With our loss of interpersonal interaction in 2020, have we forgotten how to behave as sisters and brothers in Christ? Where is charity?

What’s wrong with the world today?

Several decades ago, the London Times asked this question of essayists and orators – people who by that days’ standards were “influencers.” G. K. Chesterton, the famous writer, philosopher, and lay Catholic theologian, responded to the Times. He wrote:

Dear Sirs:

I am.

Sincerely yours,

K. Chesterton

Those are sage words for our world’s problems, and I’m carrying them with me into Lent. There’s a lot wrong in our world today, but righting the wrong starts with me. Turning the well-known verse of Matthew 7:3 into first-person, “Why do I notice the splinter in my brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in my own eye?”

As I begin Lent this year, I do so recognizing that my sins brought about Good Friday. My sins alone were sufficient to necessitate Good Friday. I have personal ownership in the crucifixion. How thankful I am that God is merciful.  

This Lent, I’m going to work on fixing myself, because, in part, I am what’s wrong with the world. To that end, I will continue my New Year’s resolution to read the entire Bible in a year (even the meandering parts about cubits and genealogies). I’m going to step away from scrolling the cheap shots on social media. I’m going to pray for the graces needed to grow in virtue.

My small actions will not fix what’s wrong with the world, but they might fix the little sliver that God gave me to toil within until my journey in this life is complete. How are you beginning Lent?