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Preface

“It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”

The Christopher motto

This book aims to help people of every background and circumstance to add spiritual meaning and purpose to their daily lives. A particular objective is to remind persons like you that God has given you a special mission in life that He has assigned to no one else. It is up to you to discover what this mission is. If you think, pray, talk, and act with the conviction that you have a personal mission, you are bound to lead a worthwhile life and leave the world better than you found it.

A match struck in the darkened Metropolitan Opera House one winter morning in 1933 helped spark the idea that led to the founding of the Christopher movement twelve years later.

I was visiting the manager of the Metropolitan, and he invited me to see the interior of the opera house. When we entered the vast and empty auditorium, he asked me to wait in the rear while he went ahead to turn on the house lights.

In a second he had disappeared down the darkened aisle, and I could no longer follow his movements. For minutes I waited. Then suddenly, far up on the stage, a single flame flared as the manager lit a match to avoid stumbling over a prop or a piece of scenery. I will never forget the sight of that tiny flame as I stood in the last row of the orchestra.

Insignificant as the light of a single match was, it was enough to pierce the darkness. I could not help reflecting that all that was needed to banish the darkness completely was to multiply that flicker a million times. In a moment, the manager did just that. Crossing the stage he turned on all the switches, flooding the great opera house with light. Instantly the darkness was gone.

The power of that tiny pinpoint of light made a deep and lasting impression on me. It brought to mind ideas such as the following, which prepared the way for the Christopher movement:

• Partaker in the Divine. In every human being, Almighty God instills a small but important bit of divine power.

• Every light in every human counts. People will make great progress toward changing the world for the better as one person after another recognizes his power to light at least one tiny flame.

• Each person is needed. Many people will quickly abandon the feeling that they do not count and will lead forceful, worthwhile lives once they realize how much their pinpoint of light is needed. With it, they can pierce the gloom and raise the standards of public and private life.

• A mission to fulfill. Christ reminds us constantly that every person without exception has a mission to fulfill. That mission is to bring the light and warmth of His love to the world: “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:16).

Through the years, the simple objective of the Christopher movement has been to encourage millions of people to be “candle lighters” who will do something positive and constructive to right what is wrong with the world.

— Father James Keller, M.M.