Energy Crisis

Monday of the Twenty fifth Week in Ordinary Time
Readings for Monday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1 Prv 3:27-34

Responsorial Psalm Ps 15:2-3a, 3bc-4ab, 5
R. The just one shall live on your holy mountain, O Lord.

Gospel Lk 8:16-18

Reflection:

For regular readers and subscribers, my apologies for the past weekend I was in Northern Michigan with family and internet access was unavailable so I did not publish my reflections.

We start this week with a litany of rules and sayings that are intended to frame our response to God. We remember what St. James said “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? (Js 2; 14). These sayings define those good works. Did you ever wonder where Paul’s wisdom came from as he instructed his various congregations about what they should and should not be doing? This is one of the sources.

We follow Proverbs with a short passage from Luke’s Gospel. At first blush and if we take the scripture out of context, it seems as if Jesus is saying that if you’ve got it flaunt it and if you have much you will be given more while those less fortunate will have what they have been given taken away. That sounds wrong if we think of it in terms of material wealth. But that is not what the Lord is talking about. He is speaking of faith.

If we think of it in terms of spiritual gifts, it starts making a lot more sense. Let’s take it apart a bit today. We start with;

“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.”

When speaking of the spirit, we hear that if we have been given an abundance of faith, we do not try to hide it by blending in with the secular society. Rather we make sure the light can be seen, we act on our convictions, we proclaim our faith by how we act and what we do. We have been called to be light to the world as Christ’s disciples. We cannot, must not hid that vocation.

“For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.”

Even if we are placed in circumstances were someone else tries to hid the light of Christ by saying; “You are not allowed to say anything about God, or Christ, or religion at all.” The light that is in us we shine out through our actions and in other ways. I was thinking about the “Politically Correct” stance taken by many organizations funded by government (including schools). There is frequently a ban on mentioning things religious which is enthusiastically and litigiously enforced by the ACLU and similar organizations. For the person who has been given the gift of the Holy Spirit and has the faith and convictions of our Lord, their actions will identify them to those they meet more certainly than any word they utter.

“Take care, then, how you hear. To anyone who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he seems to have will be taken away.”

Here’s the last piece and we need to look at it carefully. (I guess it even says that.) When we think of this in terms of faith we must assume the following is true. The more faith one has, and the more a person operates in conjunction with that faith, the stronger it grows. Any one who has had a crisis of faith knows that the later part is also true.

If one has little faith, darkness crowds in. Fear can overwhelm that small gleam of light that is faith. And there is no place in the darkest cave that can match the darkness that covers those with no faith.

There is a bunch more that can be said about the state of grace that lights our way but time prohibits. I leave it to you to find fuel for the fire.

Pax