We're being tested

Maybe you heard about this one. The federal government recently told a Catholic hospital in Oklahoma to blow out the sanctuary candle in its chapel. The candle is required to be there to show that the Blessed Sacrament is in the tabernacle. If they refused they were told that they would be required to stop serving elderly, disabled, and low-income patients because they would lose their government funding for Medicare, etc. (which is another issue entirely). The complaint was based on the "danger" of a flame being unattended. Yes, there are safety measures taken (as in any Catholic Church or chapel where the Sacrament is reposed), but that was ignored.

The government eventually backed down (after quite a bit of clear reference to America's well established religious freedom laws), but it goes to show that they are trying once again to strip religious freedom from the Church. It may seem like a small thing because it is just a single candle, but it is a part of our faith. Canon Law requires it, and it is a powerful testimony to what we believe about the Eucharist. If we give them an inch you know they will take a hundred miles.

It would not be the first time that a godless government "tested the waters" to see just how much they could push the Church until we cave to the pressure. What many do not know is that the whole Covid fiasco was a test also. The government (and the plague gods who were running the show) yelled "mask"and "close the doors" and waited to see how many complied. St. George is a fairly small parish, so I doubt we were on their radar, but that does not mean we have nothing to worry about. What will the next "test" be? Are we ready for it, and how will we respond when it comes?