February 8 – 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Leo XII1 teaches that one of the duties of Roman Pontiffs is to be watchmen over Christ’s flock: to reject the evils that threaten it, as well as to warn the faithful against the snares of the Church’s enemies, driving them out and thwarting them with their authority. This is the prophetic mission of those who, like Isaiah in this Sunday’s first reading, are charged with being sentinels, defenders and heralds of God’s rights.
Indeed, the prophet warns against the danger of turning away from mortification and renouncing the mastery of the passions, and emphasizes the need to purify charity in order to return to the way of God, where the light will shine like the dawn (cf. Is 58:8). How can this be achieved in a paganized world?
It is in the natural order that men support each other in the satisfaction of their basic needs. But this cannot be reduced to mere gestures of philanthropy. Leo XIV reminds us of the union that must exist among men as a factor of true freedom: “All of us are alive today thanks to a relationship, a free and freeing relationship of human kindness and mutual care.”2 This is the freedom of the children of God, the charity that frees the human heart from the bonds of sin and which, for St. Augustine, constitutes the threshold of the light of truth: “He who knows the Truth knows that Light; and he that knows it knows eternity. Love knows it.”3
In this sense, this Sunday’s Liturgy could be defined as a prophetic denunciation.
St. Paul proclaims the superiority of divine precepts over human wisdom: “For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2). We Christians too, thanks to Baptism, must proclaim that the Cross is the true wisdom, in contrast to that of the world. It does not satisfy the desires of the learned and powerful, who consider it madness, but it will fully satisfy the weak and be their strength.
In the Gospel, Our Lord emphasizes the great vocation of His followers: “You are the light of the world” (Mt 5:14). And today, more than ever, light should be the motto of Christ’s disciples, glorifying the Father through their words and examples.
The theme of light is present throughout biblical revelation. In Genesis, the separation of light and darkness is narrated as the first act of the Creator (cf. Gn 1:3-4), and at the end of the history of salvation, God Himself will be the light of the blessed (cf. Rev 21:24). In the first reading, Isaiah proclaims the light that will shine on the people, as long as they follow the divine will.
In his most recent apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te, Pope Leo XIV points to this light as a characteristic of the first monks who illuminated their time “through the fullness of charity.”4 This is, more than ever, the mission of all those who exercise a prophetic mission, whether they are pastors or faithful, all the baptized, members of the Church. ◊
Notes
1 Cf. LEO XII. Quo graviora, n.1.
2 LEO XIV. Homily, 1/6/2025.
3 ST. AUGUSTINE. Confessionum. L.VII, c.10, n.16.
4 LEO XIV. Dilexi te, n.57.
