Luke 8:16-18 How Did We Get Here!Jesus said to the crowd: “No one 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. For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible, and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.”
So, what happened? How did we get to this point? How did the West turn so anti-Christian, especially anti- Catholic? Whatever happened to the artistic world? It was once in love with God? Whatever happened to the music industry? Once upon a time a composer would dedicate his opus to God! Whatever happened to the literary world? At the beginning of the twentieth century, hundreds of British authors converted to Catholicism! Today, you would hardly notice it!
How did we get here?
Pope Benedict recently admitted what we must all admit. He said to a group of old friends and former students, “My generation did not evangelize enough!” It takes a humble man to admit the truth. It’s too true! But it’s not totally true. I would have added “our generation” as well!
That’s how we got here. And we must change it. We can no longer hide our faith! We can no longer hide our joy, our uniqueness or our true love. The World depends on the Son, like the earth depends on the Sun. If we do not begin to evangelize we will repent by repeating the darkest moments of history.
My dear friends, you cannot fight a war with one hand tied behind your back and have no doubts: we are fighting a war for hearts and minds. If won, it will truly end all wars!
Let us break the shackles that tie our hands. Those who hate God have tied both our hands behind our backs by giving us rules that fly in the face of the very freedoms we are supposed to cherish: Freedom of speech. We are currently living off of the fumes of our ancestors. Our nation, like it or not, was built on solid Christian principles. Those who came to this great nation did so in order to escape religious persecution. We all know what they sought: The right to worship freely and the right to speak one’s mind (the right to criticize).
Little by little we are losing our rights. Already we are not free to speak our mind for we may very well be labeled with a made-up mental label as homophobic! (By the way, this word exists in Microsoft’s dictionary, but the word Christophobic does not!)
We now we are not free to exercise our faith, for if we do not fall in line, then we may summarily be executed (fired) or “highly encouraged” to leave our job! We all know that the new key word of our Land is not “freedom” but “correctness”, like political correctness. This is a very dangerous thing, and we have done very little to demolish it. Far too often, we hide our light to save our life!
Our nation was built on good ground - solid Christian ground. Our young are our top soil and we have begun to lose our top soil. You can see it in our children’s test scores; the lowest SAT scores ever! You can see it in our children’s eyes. They come tired, weary, depressed and full of despair. So many are suffering from the chaos of broken families, dysfunctional families and/or irregular families. Some call it “the modern family” or “the new family.” There is nothing modern or new about broken! (Except that it has become institutionalized and given a stamp of approval)
Those who push the secular agenda are clever. If we cannot show “progress” by passing the test, then we will have to change the test. But human nature can never change. What is done in the dark always comes out in the light. Regardless of the century or millennium, children still need food and water in order to think. They still need light in order to see. They still need a mom and dad in order to live.
If left alone, humanity tends towards (progresses towards) decay and destruction. There is only One that stands in the way of progress and we know who that is. Let’s give the West what we all need: faith, hope and love. Let’s give them God!
There is no reason left to hide. It’s already dark!
