The Bible is filled with references teaching that we need to wake up. Jesus taught that being awake is a call to spiritual vigilance. As St. Paul said, “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep.” Romans 13:11. He wasn’t talking about literally being asleep. He was writing in the metaphorical sense of seeing the world and our role in it as Christ saw it and taught his followers to see it. “Awake thou that sleepest…and Christ shall give thee light.” Eph. 5:14.
The duty to wake up is not just a Christian tenet, it can be found in most major religious teachings. In Buddhism, the very name, Buddha means awakened one. In other words, it refers to a person who understands the true nature of reality. And like Jesus’ teachings, this instruction applies to everyone.
Given this teaching, why is being awake talked about as a bad thing when it is given the pejorative term, “woke.” When a fundamental religious teaching is weaponized, ridiculed and demeaned, one should ask, what’s going on here?
That is precisely the question that Pope Leo XIV was trying to answer when he wrote, “To be called ‘woke’ in a world that sleeps through suffering is no insult — it is the Gospel. Woke means awakened by compassion. Guided by truth. Humbled by grace. Committed to justice — not just for some, but for all.”
The original meaning of “woke” was to be aware of social injustice and to stand against it. To weaponize the term is not only wrong, but not at all consistent with the teachings of Christ. We must all “awake to righteousness.” ICor.15:34. As Pope Leo clearly pointed out, the road to that awakening is to practice compassion and love for all mankind.
Jesus spent his ministry pointing out the systems that perpetuated injustice and he stood against the powers and systems that allowed that injustice to do harm. We must all strive to do likewise.
— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Charles Wellington is a lifelong student of the teachings of Christ Jesus and regularly meditates with the Great Plains Zen Center in Monroe.
