Bishop Barron says we're in the last act of a five act play. Act I is Creation, Act II is The Fall, Act III is the Story of Israel, and Act IV is God's Rescue Operation, with the climax in the coming of the Messiah.

We're now in Act V which he calls the mop-up work. We're to join the army of Christ and do our part to increase good and decrease evil. If the previous four acts are not understood clearly, we won't know what we're doing in Act V or why we're to do it.

For example, in Act I we see that human beings are created in God's image. That image though is not only something that humans are but also something that humans do. What do I mean?

God's plan was to share His world with humans and to have His reign and His rule and His will be brought out in the world through human beings who can harness potential and guide it towards new things that would never have just grown.

Think of how if a patch of forest is left on its own to grow, it won't just self-produce a garden with tomatoes for the world. Only humans can bring that about.

To be clear, God doesn't need us to do anything because He is sovereign; rather He wants to do things through us. Hopefully you get the point.

Anyway, Acts II and III tell of our failure, and this is really where understanding Act IV is important. God sending His only son makes the above possible for us to do now. God becomes the human that we're made to be and then through Him (and through following Him), we can become the humans that we are made to be.

But it's hard, right? Why does it need to be?

Well, as Father Mike Schmitz has said, God is our personal father and He doesn't want a bunch of pets. He wants children who are like Him, and we can only become like him if we endure all the trials, and yet still say, I trust you. That's part of the adventure, or the privilege, of this five act play.