Loneliness is epidemic in America today. With our hurried lives, we are increasingly disconnected from meaningful and rich relationships. In this so-called information age, with email, beepers, and cell phones that keep us in constant contact, many of lead lives of desperate loneliness. Our days are cluttered with superficial interactions, which leave our souls starving for love. This love hunger causes us to become prey of all manner of evil.
Cults often recruit from among the young who are without secure families and deep relationships.
They offer these young people an identity and a place to belong. Pornographers prey on the loneliness of men, offering phony intimacy that only leads to further isolation and ultimately to shame. The elderly fall victim to scam artists who offer false friendship in order to gain access to financial resources. Through a gift we all can give, a gift we learn of in our Advent message today. We focus on a woman named Elizabeth and on a man named Joseph.