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Deacon Tom writes
This Little Light of Mine
Casting out the demons from the man in the Synagogue
in Capernaum is how Mark recounts the early days of Jesus’ ministry. The people
who witnessed this event took it as a sign of Jesus’ authority. Today our world
is still plagued by demons that seem to have adapted well to our circumstances.
And they are just as real and destructive and pathetic today as they were in
Jesus’ time. We know them by the fruit of their works: hunger, poverty, war, ignorance, etc. and they continue to raise
havoc with many of our brothers and sisters, keeping them wrapped up in fear
and seizing them with a perpetual sense of hopelessness.
How are we who claim to be disciples of Jesus respond to the evils we
witness either on our media or in personal experiences? Or asked differently,
how do practice our faith in a positive manner? Are we minimalists, adhering to
the practice of attending Mass once on week on Sunday? Or, do we go above and beyond the
minimum by engaging in the corporal works of mercy – you remember them, don’t
you? … feeding the hungry; giving drink to the thirsty; clothing the naked;
sheltering the homeless; visiting the sick; ransoming the captive, burying the dead on the
corporal side. Or, perhaps you prefer helping others on their spiritual journey
by teaching them, counseling them through their doubts; w warning them they have wondered of
the straight and narrow; bearing wrongs patiently; forgiving
offenses willingly; comforting the afflicted; praying for the living and
the dead.
St. Thomas Aquinas regarded the
works of mercy as various forms of almsgiving. Furthermore, he considered these
works to be a duty, an obligation we owe to one another predicated on the
golden rule to do to others, as we would have them due to us.
There are many ways in which followers of Jesus can respond in a
positive way to the evils we see and experience in our daily life. What is
important is that we do something to respond to the many faces of evil in our
world. Doing nothing is not an option! We know the scriptures. We know what
Jesus asks of us. AND, we know the consequences of choosing to turn our heads. We
find them spelled out clearly in Matthew 25:41:"Then he shall say to them
also that shall be on his left hand: Depart from me, you cursed, in everlasting fire which was
prepared for the devil
and his angels.
For I was hungry, and you gave me not to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me
not to drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in; naked, and you covered
me not; sick and in prison,
and you did not visit me", etc.
It is easy to be overwhelmed with all the evil that we see each day. It
is easy to think that there is nothing we can do to change it… that the problem
is too big and we don’t have the means to stop it. That way of thinking is the
work of the devil. Apathy, indifference, inactivity, feelings of hopelessness,
inadequacy, or that we are too old, or too young and the like on our part tips
the scales even more in favor of the evil one. There is a saying that we should
call to mind should such thinking enter our minds… “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” As
friends of Jesus nothing could be more truthful. Christ is the light of the
world who came to chase away the darkness, the chaos, the evil in the world. By
his life and his ministry he set the example that we are to be lights too, to
cast away the darkness and to resist the evils in our world, little by little,
each and every day. May we always
be faithful in following his example.
Enjoy the day!
Deacon Tom
