"Finally, brothers, pray for us that the Lord's message may spread quickly, and be received with honor as it was among you; and pray that we may be preserved from bigoted and evil people, for not everyone has faith. You can rely on the Lord, who will give you strength and guard you from the evil One ..." (1Tes 3:13)
In this time of confusion and struggle, I think St. Paul gives us very good advice: Pray for one another and stay away from evil people. Not everyone believes in God and not everyone understands the meaning of the Love of God. One of the things we pray for by saying the "Our Father" is "and lead us not into temptation." This is a very important element that we have to pay attention to. If we ask this of God then it means that we cannot bring ourselves to temptation either. Every evil tries to contaminate the entire environment because it is its desire. We have to protect ourselves from this kind of influence. But St. Paul is saying more: "My brothers, never slacken in doing what is right. If anyone refuses to obey what I have written in this letter, take not of him and have nothing to do with him, so that he will be ashamed of himself, though you are not to treat him as an enemy, but to correct him as a brother." (1Tes 3:13-15)
This is the very important point. Sometimes we forget about it. We have to condemn what is wrong, but we also have to correct it. For the last few months I've been mostly taking about wrongdoings because they are so overwhelming, but now it is time to talk about how to correct them. It is not enough to say somebody is wrong. We must also show the correct way, the truth. I am always impressed with our Law Enforcement people who are always ready to correct you before they will take the next step. I think sometimes we can learn from them how to do it.
The truth never changes, but people do. So by following the words of St. Paul, let us be safe from the influence of evil and bring correct ways to our society. It is not enough to just separate ourselves from others. Our call is much bigger. We have to help them to find the truth and follow it. Each one of us is called to proclaim the Good News of Salvation in our own place - the true Word of God, not what we like in it. Let's pray for our enemies and do good things around us. No one is perfect, but together with the grace of God we can walk to our final destination.