One of four faith leaders interviewed for spiritual guidance they might give when someone is struggling during hard times, Archbishop Bernard Hebda said faith is most important in those very moments.
“Coming from the Christian tradition, we’re just going to be celebrating the birth of Jesus, and he was born at a really difficult time,” the archbishop told Esme Murphy of WCCO-TV in Minneapolis for a program titled “Talking Points.”
Jesus was born into poverty in Bethlehem, at a time when that city was controlled by the Romans and things could seem so bleak, “and yet, that’s precisely the moment that we believe God intervenes into our history,” Archbishop Hebda said.
“In my own experience, it’s really in those darkest moments that faith is most important,” he said.
WCCO’s Murphy noted it seems to be a particularly difficult time in the world for people to hold onto faith, with war in the Middle East, crime and violence in communities and many people struggling to make ends meet. Offering advice ranging from a willingness to change perspective, be inspired by the good people do as they help others and reaching beyond the self to assist others in need were Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman with Temple Israel Minneapolis, Imam Asad Zaman, the executive director of Muslim American Society of Minnesota and Bishop Patricia Lull with St. Paul Area Synod, ELCA.
Archbishop Hebda’s full comments can be found at this link to WCCO’s YouTube channel.
