Will Smith smacked Chris Rock at the Oscars. You didn’t even have to know the Oscars were on or have seen a single movie nominated to know that this happened and was at the top of the news for days. (It was still on the front page of the New York Times a week later.) This incident exposed the depths of my phone addiction as I clicked on link after link unintentionally to a “news” story that had just about zero impact on anyone’s life — beyond apparently increased sales for Rock’s comedy shows. (Again, something I don’t need to know.) This media frenzy was a bit like a siren warning us all to step away from our screens.
And it’s timely. We’re about to enter into some of the holiest days of the year. Holy Week and Easter (Western, and then Eastern), Passover, and Ramadan all overlap a bit. Not everyone reading this is Christian, but I suspect that, unless you have a deep hostility possibly encouraged by Christians behaving badly, you probably wouldn’t mind Christian neighbors who take their faith seriously. Blessed are the poor in spirit. . . . Blessed are the merciful. . . . Blessed are the peacemakers. Right now, I don’t think the world is overwhelmed with Christians living this life. These final days of Lent are an opportunity for us to do better — to remember what it is we Christians are called to. The Gospel is radical and shows us the possibilities of self-sacrificial love. It is life-giving. It forgets the self out of love for the other. It requires a constant journey of getting to know God and wanting to serve Him through others.
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