“Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you. Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Is. 60:1-3). This prophecy was fulfilled 2,026 years ago when, in the darkness of winter, a star guided three Magi from the East, who had traveled from afar with great urgency and purpose, seeking the newborn King that had been prophesied down through the ages. They found him lying in a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes, in the little out-of-the-way village of Bethlehem.
We all understand the physical contrast between darkness and light. In a metaphorical sense, light represents knowledge or wisdom, while darkness signifies ignorance. We associate very real emotions with light and darkness as well. Darkness inspires thoughts of the unknown, the unseen dangers that we fear will devour us. Light makes all things visible, knowable, even beautiful. But the contrast we are challenged to consider here is the contrast of the darkness of sin and death and the Light of Christ who pushes back and defeats the darkness, a Light that no darkness can overcome: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn. 1-5).
We hear in John’s Gospel that Jesus says of himself, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12). And here, we who call ourselves followers of Jesus, are called upon, in our own day and time, to know, to love, and to bring this same light of Christ into the darkness of our world, a world in desperate need of that Light.
It requires no stretch of the imagination to see that we are living in very dark times. The statistics show that the number of people attending church is falling precipitously. Polls concerning the practice of religion have determined that the number of those who identify themselves as “Nones”, meaning observing no faith of any kind, far exceeds those who identify with any faith. G.K. Chesterton once wrote: “When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.” Think idolatry. The author, Peter Kreeft, puts it this way: “When people abandon religion, they often become fanatics about their politics, whether right or left.”
Our culture is more and more secular with each passing year. Those who truly know what it means to call oneself a Christian are challenged to bring the light of Christ into the darkness of the world, which seems to be getting darker every day. Here is our challenge as Christians: If we are, at this time, unable to see the light of Christ in the world, or in the face of our fellow human beings, no matter how lost in the ‘shadows’ they are, we must pause and go to prayer.
The Holy Spirit challenges us to reflect within ourselves, to identify anything that remains dark within us, any fear or anger, or prejudice that binds us, prevents us from becoming the persons that God wants us to be. We can call upon that same Spirit to help us to see the darkness for what it is, to help us remove that darkness, to strengthen us in our sincere efforts to let go of all that is not consistent with the light of Christ. In this way, we can, finally, begin to practice the commission of Jesus, to love one another as He loves us, even when we are still weak. “With God on our side, who can be against us?” (Rom. 8:31)
It is fear that blinds us. But the joy of the Gospel liberates us. It gives us courage and keeps us bold, attentive, and creative in our ability to understand and to live the way of life that Jesus models and calls us to live here and now. Only love is credible. Only love is trustworthy. Only love is truly powerful. We are told, are we not, that “God is love” (1 Jn.4:8)? It is this love that binds us together in a bond that is both pleasing and fulfilling. It is this love that is the Light of the world. This Light is the only power that can truly heal and save the world from the darkness of the idols of ego and ideology that so dominate our world today.
We are meant to be stars, ablaze with the love of Christ, bearing the light of Christ within us to all those we encounter in our daily lives, beginning with our families. Come, Holy Spirit! Amen.
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