Word to the Wise
Monday, September 23, 2013 - Monday in the 25th Week in Ordinary Time
[Ezra 1:1-6 and Luke 8:16-18]No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel or sets it under a bed; rather, he places it on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.
SEPTEMBER 23, 2013 ST. PIUS OF PIETRELCINA [Padre Pio]
The parable of the lamp follows the parable of the sower and the seed in the Gospel of Luke. The direction of these parables is missionary! We might sum up the task as "spreading the Word!" The Gospel of Luke was put into writing in the mid-80's A.D.. By then, Christianity was spreading around the Mediterranean region and was becoming "domesticated" in some places. When this happens to any movement, there is a danger of losing the initial "missionary" zeal. On an individual level, faith can become a private thing, which is the equivalent of putting the lamp under a bed instead of on a lampstand.
The United States of America was considered a "missionary church" until early in the 20th century! The official change in status had the impact of making the church here feel as if it had "arrived" in the Catholic world. But it may also have fed into the extreme individualism of American character, and a certain "cutting edge" zeal was lost. The New Evangelization proclaimed by Popes Bl. John Paul II and Benedict XVI and truly demonstrated by Pope Francis is a challenge to all of us, especially in this country, to pull the lamp of faith out from under the bed and set it on a lampstand! I am reminded of the "Christopher Movement" that was very popular in the 1950's and its motto: "If everyone lit just one little candle, what a bright world it would be." AMEN