First some history

Many are just waking up to hearing about being “woke”. It originally highlighted the need for those with dark skin to be vigilant when traveling in white areas. On the other hand, those who follow politics today now use the word a lot. The problem is that I”woke” means different things to those on the left and those on the right.

Since Michael Brown’s 2014 death in Ferguson, “woke” has evolved into a single-word characterization of one’s political ideology, It’s used as a shorthand for political progressiveness by the left, and as a denigration of leftist culture by the right.

On the left, to be “woke” means to identify as a staunch social justice advocate who’s abreast of contemporary political concerns. On the right, “woke”like its cousin “canceled” — bespeaks “political correctness” gone awry, and the term itself is usually used sarcastically.

Given the ambiguity, for now, I cannot answer the question of whether Catholics are, or should be, “woke”.

Moving beyond the politically “woke”

I can say that for some time I have been thinking of Lent as a time, not for giving up things, but waking up. It is like an alarm clock calling us to wake up to dignity of being sons and daughters, brothers and sistersnot just in the “next life” but even now. Even now, we are challenged to live as the sons and daughters, brothers and sisters we are.

Love even your enemies! certainly calls for a change in our thinking beyond the political left or right!  The word Jesus uses for his wake-up call is “repentance”. Its root meaning is “change your way of thinking”.

Of course, waking us is a lifetime task, not just seasonal. Lent is an opportunity to refocus on who we are and how we treat one another. It is a time to refresh our commitment to living God’s vision.

With utter simplicity, Jesus spelled out two commandments – love the Lord your God… and your neighbor as yourself. Now that is a truly radical process! It is not something we wake up to once and for all. We will only be fully “woke” when we “pass over” into the eternity of God’s kingdom. Until then we are caught up in the process of daily dying to our self-centeredness and waking up to being and loving the Body of Christ.

A lifetime of waking up

 Waking up does not happen once and for all in our Baptism. In our earliest hours and days, we thought we were the center of our universe. We spend the rest of our lives overcoming our self-centeredness.

First comes the shock to learn that we need people who care for us in “community”. Over time we realize families come in different colors and dressed differently than our “tribe”. Another awakening is that no one, not even ourselves, is perfect. Each one of us struggles and needs loving support.

Unfortunately, we still get caught up in thinking everyone must look like us, think like us, celebrate like us. We struggle to learn from and be enriched by our differences.

So, yes, Catholics should be “woke”…  and waking! We will struggle until the day we die to wake up to the implications of being individually and collectively the Body of Christ. Only in this way, will we transcend our polarized understandings of being “woke”.

Catholics as a profoundly “woke” people

  • How “woke” are you to living in God’s Kingdom even now?
  • What do you need to wake up to in the way you think of others who seem differentl?
  • How is Pope Francis calling us to wake up to the challenges of God’s Kingdom even now?

Click below for an audio version of this Vincentian Mindwalk