From the Prayer Journal of Fr. Jack Tolley

How are we supposed to be Christians in a non-Christian world? 
​I placed this reflection from Forward Day by Day in my 1992 Prayer Journal.  It was written by an unknown author.
It's tough being a Christian today and has been for many centuries. It gave my a lot to think about.
Blessings and love,
Fr. Jack. 
 
How are we supposed to be Christians in a non-Christian world?
Maybe we should concentrate on maintaining as pure a faith as possible. If we are to be salt, and retain our saltiness, a case can be made for defining ourselves against a culture which does not, by and large, embrace our faith. We would know that within the Christian community the faith was purely taught.   But then what would happen to the world? If we kept ourselves separate from it and did not allow it into our midst, we would have no opportunity of transforming it. We could only harangue the world from a position outside of it. And, as our separate state continued, we would know less and less of the world's language. We would be less and less understandable. So maybe we should be completely part of the world. Learn the language. Understand its workings. Be part of things.  But then our saltiness would be so diluted that nobody could taste it.  Not us and not the people we're trying to reach. We'd be one of many civic groups peddling programs for improving the world solely on the world's terms. No good.  It's not easy to retain our saltiness, the love of Christ, joined to a genuine love of the world.  IN it, but not OF it.