A speech from Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver on religious tolerance and the common good that he delivered to Catholic students is now posted at
FIRST THINGS:
But the problem is that much of American culture right now is built on an adolescent fiction. The fiction is that life is all about you as an individual-your ideas, your appetites, and your needs. Believe me: It isn't. The main interest big companies have in your wants and mine is how to turn them into a profit. Part of being an adult is the ability to separate marketing from reality; hype from fact. The fact is, the world is a big and complicated place. It doesn't care about your appetites. It has too many of its own needs, and it won't leave you alone.
God made you for a purpose. The world needs the gifts he gave you. Adulthood brings power. Power brings responsibility. And the meaning of your life will hinge on a simple, basic choice. Will you engage the world with your heart and brains and faith, and work to make it a better place-not just for yourself and the people you love but also for people you don't even know whose survival depends on your service to the common good? Or will you wrap yourself in a blanket of noise and toys and consumer junk, and stay a child?
God gave you a free will. How you use that gift is your choice—but it's a choice you won't be able to avoid. And that choice has consequences.
Read the whole thing.
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