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The Christophers’ “Light One Candle” Blog Arrives at Aleteia

Candle

Tony Rossi - published on 05/08/17

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After more than five wonderful years at the Patheos Catholic channel, today I’m launching The Christophers’ newest blog incarnation at Aleteia. I’m grateful to be a part of this outstanding online community and grateful for the opportunity to share our work here.

If you’re new to our work, you may be wondering – Who or what are The Christophers? Are they a family like The Simpsons? (No, we’re not related.) Are they a religious order? (No again.)

In fact, we are a media organization and movement created by Maryknoll Father James Keller in 1945 because he believed that all people – not just clergy and religious – could and should be Christ-bearers (the meaning of the word “Christophers”) in the way we live our lives.

Father Keller also adopted as our motto the old proverb “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” All our ministries (radio/podcasting, literature, youth contests, Christopher Awards, etc.) focus on promoting that idea.

Maybe on the surface, that motto sounds hokey to you, but it contains a lot of wisdom. Consider this story from the newsletter “Apple Seeds,” which explores the concept:

“The students of a rabbi approached their teacher with a deep concern about the prevalence of evil in the world. Intent upon driving out the forces of darkness, they requested the rabbi to counsel them. He suggested that they take brooms and attempt to sweep the darkness out of the cellar.

“The bewildered disciples applied themselves to sweeping out darkness, but to no avail. The rabbi then advised his followers to take sticks and to beat vigorously at the darkness to drive out evil. When this likewise failed, he counseled them to go down to the cellar again and to protest against the darkness by shouting at it.

“When this, too, failed, the rabbi said, ‘My children, let each of you meet the challenge of darkness by lighting a candle.’

“The disciples descended again to the cellar and kindled their lights. They looked, and behold! The darkness had been driven out.”

Each of us face darkness in our lives, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by it. Hopefully, the stories and reflections you’ll read here will better help you to find and pursue the light.

(Photo via VisualHunt)

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