[L]et us imagine that tomorrow morning all people in the world come into contact with the light of God in themselves; that they all wake up full of God’s love for themselves, each other, and the whole of the world. Would that change of heart change the world? No, it wouldn’t. It would only be a beginning. The world would still have to be changed in its structures. Justice and peace would still have to be established. We would have to forgive the past and to become reconciled with one another. We would need conventions, seminars, workshops, symposiums, and meetings to work out new arrangements and networks. We would have to change the educational and health systems, the use and distribution of resources, transportation, communication, environmental policies, agriculture, industry, and the arts. Good will on its own does not guarantee a political system that does justice. That system would have to be invented, tested, and developed. The good will would help in doing it, but the City of God would still have to be built. The celebration of being together would still have to be organized.
That good will does not exist. Or better, it does, but it is still hidden, tucked away in our hearts and minds. How many of us . . . are aware and live the dynamism that made Abram and Sarai leave their old life and seek a vision they barely glimpsed [Gen 12]? How many Christians live the dynamism that made Mary accept her role, and Jesus live, die, and rise? Our first mission task is to discover and advertise that dynamism in ourselves and in one another.

Fr. Joseph G. Donders, Charged with the Spirit

Joseph G. Donders (d. 2013) was a member of the Missionaries
of Africa and professor of mission studies at Washington Theological Union.