My parish hosted a “teen service week” this summer. The theme for our week was St. Ignatius’s saying “Go forth and set the world on fire.” I love this quote. It has the energy and zeal of youth, of justice, of mission.
Unfortunately, since he wasn’t a renowned scholar, Ignatius might have plagiarized a bit. In a famous story about St. Dominic, his mother, prior to his birth, is said to have dreamt of a dog carrying a flaming torch in its mouth that “seemed to set the earth on fire.” The author of Luke also has Jesus proclaim “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning!”
Saints like Dominic and Ignatius were spark and tinder. They took up the cross and followed Jesus. Their preaching, teaching, and ministry enflames hearts and warms souls to this day. Have you felt their fire? What is one thing you can do today to rekindle it or keep it burning?
—Mark Bartholet is witness to the blessing that is the youth at St. Peter Catholic Church, a Jesuit-staffed parish in Charlotte, NC. He asks that you pray for them and any working for the Kingdom of God.