Fight the darkness

Lately I have witnessed the great battle going on around us. It is not the corny stuff of novels or comic books, but very real and very deadly. People are consumed daily by a menacing darkness, but it is not the work of a magician or some sinister conspiracy. The darkness eminates from each one of us. We are the perpatrators. We are the monsters. We are the ones that plunge lives into pain and our world into shadow.

How can we fight the darkness, Lord? What weapons do you give us in this fight. Can we believe that hope, faith, and love are enough? What armor are we given to protect ourselves from all this evil?

I do not know these answers yet, and I do not think they will come quickly. I think you have told me that they lie along the long journey in the footsteps of Jesus. It is not that we are victorious, though we are. It is not that the world is changed, though it is. It is that we follow this road that through its difficulty transforms us into the likeness of our Lord and Brother.