Why the Mission is Urgent: The World is Crying

February 3, 2021

Fr. John Riccardo

Last week, we tried to get greater clarity on the mission of the disciple. Jesus sends us out in order to...do what exactly? This week, let’s address the matter of why the mission is urgent. 

In ACTS XXIX we have what we call “Three Fundamental Convictions” that animate our ministry. The first of these convictions we call, “The world is crying.” Now, to be sure, the world has been crying ever since that fateful day in Eden, when our first parents were tricked by the devil into rebelling against God, unknowingly and unintentionally selling our race into slavery to powers that we cannot compete against. That said, there is something unique about the times in which we live, especially in this country. 

2018 was the first time in one hundred years that the life expectancy in the United States declined for a third consecutive year. The last time that happened was 1918. What was happening in 1918 that was causing this decline? Two things especially were happening: the conclusion of World War One and the Spanish Flu, which was responsible for nearly 50 million deaths worldwide. What, though, is the cause for this decline in life expectancy now? We are not fighting a world war, and, while COVID is a genuine crisis that has caused immense suffering on so many levels, it began after 2018, the year of the third consecutive decline in life expectancy. 

 Sociologists argue that the cause of the declining life expectancy today is due to what are called “deaths of despair.” There are three such “deaths” they highlight: suicide, cirrhosis of the liver in young adults, and opioid addiction. The suicide rate has increased every year for the past 13 years. Suicide is up 30% since 1999, and 40% in rural America during that same time frame. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 10–14-year-olds in our country, and has nearly tripled in this age range since 2007. Again, remember, these statistics were before COVID. In one report from the CDC in the summer of 2020, 10% of Americans they surveyed had seriously considered taking their lives in the previous month. Amongst those between the ages of 18-25 that number was 25%. 

The second and third “deaths of despair” are no less catastrophic. The number of people between the ages of 25-34 who die annually from alcohol related liver disease has nearly tripled between 1999 and 2016… with an average annual increase of around 10%. And despite our country making up only 5% of the world’s population, we consume 80% of the world’s opioids. The world is truly crying; wailing might be a better word. 

 To be candid, the world has no hope apart from the rescue mission Jesus has accomplished and sent us out on. The world is bound under the powers of Sin and Death, and there is nothing we can do on our own to free ourselves from these. The cultural turmoil, upheaval and violence of 2020 only makes the urgency of the mission clearer. Politics is very important, law is very important, policies are very important, but none of these can fix the problem. The key to problem solving is to define the problem, and the problem is the human heart. “More tortuous than all else is the human heart. Beyond remedy, who can understand it” (Jeremiah 17:9). “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person” (Mt 15:18-19). 

 Only God can—and does—fix the human heart. And He desires to use us, Jesus’ disciples, as agents of this re-creation, healing, and transformation in the lives of those around us. 

 Next week, we’ll turn to our second conviction.