I offer the following reflection on light on based St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians, proclaimed on the 30th Monday of Ordinary Time, year 2.
Brothers and sisters:
Be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you in Christ.
Be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma. Immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is fitting among holy ones, no obscenity or silly or suggestive talk, which is out of place, but instead, thanksgiving. Be sure of this, that no immoral or impure or greedy person, that is, an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God.
Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient. So do not be associated with them. For you were once darkness,
but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. (Ephesians 4:32-5:8)
Light. What is so important about it? Why are we attracted to it? Why do children have a particular attraction to camp fires? Why are decorators so intrigued by lighting schemes, placement, fixtures, etc.? What difference does this all make? What purpose does light play in our lives? How are we ourselves light?
St. Paul is his letter to the Ephesians tells us to live as children of the light. We can look at this line and in an understanding sort of way, as if we truly 'get it,' say, "hmm... ok," and then having a sense of what that means and with a hint of determination - move on. But if that's all we do, then what good is that? So, if we are to live as children of light how do we strive to do that? Well, there are few ways or characteristics of light which describe how it is that we are to live as children of the light.
First, making present. One initial thing we can say about light is that it makes things present. When a lamp or another fixture illuminates a room, what is in the room becomes visible; i.e. made present. Now what is the light making present? This is the question! For example, designers strategically place lights in a room so that certain features or aspects of the room are highlighted or made present in a particular way. So it is with our spiritual lives. What are our lives making present? Things of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Are our lives making present God's presence? Or are our lives seeking to make present other things? Things of this world? Things lesser than what our God, our faith, our Church, or the image of God in which we have been made calls us to? For that matter, striving for the earthly life, is that even light? No, for darkness, blindness, and confusion can ensue. So, having said all this, to what extent are we being children of the light in that we are proclaiming God's presence with our lives?
Second, a focal point. *Seen a candle lately? Noticed the flame? Sometimes this happens when you get closer to a candle and notice the flame in a deeper way. Or have you found yourself outside gazing up to the sky on a warm, quiet, starry night and fixated on a particular star. For a moment all is still and almost perfect as you are drawn into pondering the deeper mysteries of life. In both star and candle the light changes and flickers and has its own being and at the same time we focus in on it. If another person were to focus in on our lives what would that person see? A candle burning brightly or one that is dark and cold? Do we realize that as we live out our faith that we have the potential to become, 'focal points' ? Not for others to focus on us specifically, but so that others may focus on someone who is following Christ and through that be inspired to do the same?.
Third point: the way. Ok, so have you seen your favorite flashing arrow on the road indicating a lane change due to construction today? Pleasant, right? There is a truth here. Despite our apparent appreciation for the traffic arrows we cannot argue the fact that they do tells us where to go and point us in the right direction. So to do our lives do the same thing. As beacons of light we are able to point others to Christ. Through lives of discipleship, faithfulness, love, devotion, sacrifice, hope, generosity, courage, service, etc. we point to Christ. As we point to Christ we have the potential to steer others in the right direction.
May God bless you!
*technical answer to this question: "Yes, when I was at Church on Sunday!"
1 comment:
Dear Father,
I have had some major changes in my life in the past several years that have challenged me in ways that I never thought I would be required to face. This has included a departure from my "material/external" experience of spirituality and the need to rely completely "within" to find my path, my oneness with God and peace with my soul. It is progressing (I hope).
Just out of curiousity I (being of the internet age), I decided to Google the following and to see where the first hit would take me. "What new path should I take where in the world would I go and what in the world would I do to be of service to God, live my potential and experience fullfilment?" I thought you may be interested to know that out of the 521,000 hits your page came up number one. Just prior to the changes I mention above I actually had an experience of "being the light" where i was nothing but light (completely hard to explain). I find your words completely familiar and know that this is exactly what I have to do (no I don't need to move to Ireland and become a herbalist!). Thank you for being there, another child of the light.
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