What is below was inspired by Bishop Barrons reflection on the Sep 17th Gospel and the book I have been reading by SR. Angela De Fatima Coelho INSIDE the LIGHT.
Let me start with Bishop Barrons reflection. “In today’s Gospel Jesus observes that the people of this generation criticize Him as a friend of tax collectors and sinners. Jesus came as God’s own self into our dysfunctional world. He came to bring the light of God’s presence and love to the far country of sin and death. Accordingly, he went to the poor, the disabled, the marginalized, the forgotten, those crippled by sin.”
These words are applicable to Charlie Kirk. He is a modern day St. Paul who went out to evangelize a world in need. Like St Paul he was fearless; it was love and concern for the Soul that drove them both. Charlie Kirk challenged the culture not on his terms but on the terms of Jesus Christ.
He was respectful to all he came in contact with. His point of view was directed towards leading people to the truth, not some made up truth but an objective truth rooted in the divine and the transcendental. A truth that leads our souls to salvation from our transgressions and the life that awaits us after we pass from this life.
The timing of Charlie Kirk’s presence at this point in history, just like our presence here, is not an accident. We are each uniquely disposed for the time and place we live our earthly life. Living a life ordered to seeking our salvation and those we come in contact with, creates a world that embraces the good, the true, and the beautiful.
Living a life centered on self brings about personal destruction and societal decay. In the words of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Charlie Kirk chose to embraced his calling according to his faith and what is placed upon the heart of every soul that is divinely created in the Father’s image and likeness. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I dedicated you.” Jeremiah 1:5
These are not idle words and they have a profound significance to the purpose and meaning in the lives of those who come to embrace them. Charlie Kirk embodied these words and truly understood what God called him to be.
Like Charlie we are all called to a purpose; some will be great some will be small, but everyone is important in the plans God has for us. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11
God came to us we did not go to Him. Jesus came to show us “The Way.” He inspired a small group of men and woman to carry on His work after He Ascended into heaven. He imparted upon St. Paul through a rather stern rebuke The Truth and led him to understanding his purpose.
All these and countless others endured death rather than deny the divinity of Jesus Christ. This witness inspired countless men and woman to follow in their footsteps. Some are very recognizable to us but most live quiet lives, serving within their communities as husbands & fathers, wives & mothers all with a genuine concern for the salvation of their families and their neighbors. Some are inspired to do more; to reach out to the fringes just as Jesus did and challenge them to the purpose they did not know was within them. Charlie Kirk was one who chose to inspire. He recognized that the culture was transforming our transcendental horizons with the fragmented remains of self will.
This transformation has been gradual. We can trace its to the Age of Enlightenment and the assertion of reason over everything else; where God is no longer necessary or needed for man to understand himself. As Friedrich Nietzsche would infamously say, “God is dead.” Others like Marx and Freud contributed to these ideas of reason over a reliance on God. Moving to today, we have sacrificed reason on the alter of “Self”; where “Self Will” is the only master of truth.
Theologian David Bentley Hart puts this rather succinctly, “We live in an age whose highest moral value…. is determined, by overwhelming consensus, to be absolute liberty of personal volition, the power we each have to choose what we believe, want, need or should possess.”
Sister Angela De Fátima Coelho writes, “Full of himself the post modern superman lives to serve self at all cost. He lives isolated, a fragmented existence addicted to immediate satisfaction…. because he recognizes that he cannot fully direct what happens to him, he harbors a powerful fear of existence, he cannot escape his fundamental emptiness…… such a situation is devastating not only to the individual but also to society.
He placed us in paradise only to have us reject it. His time since has been spent to gather us back in.
This is the world Charlie Kirk sought to engage and educate to a better way to live. It is a mission to save souls and unlock the human potential that remains hidden when we deny our divine creation. His ideas were not new they are as old as time itself.
Rest in peace good and faithful servant: “Those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31
Image from Wikimedia Commons
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