Malachi 3:1-4; Psalms 23(240; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40
The Light of the World
Dear friends, today is the 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time. However, since it is also the 2nd of February and the Feast, we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of the Lord to the temple that takes precedence. Mary and Joseph adhered to the law to give Moses presents the child Jesus to the Lord in the Temple. Barely did they know that the child they would show was the Son of God himself who was coming to cast darkness away from the world. Today is also a significant feast for all the baptized and the consecrated religious men and women. By the Baptism, we were presented to the Lord and marked with the indelible mark of the children of God. Do you feel that you belong to the family of God?
The theme of choice today is the Light of the World. Light is a very important thing in the lives of all creatures. Plants need the light to process their food so that they can grow. The food chain that keeps human beings and animals alive goes back to plants. Most normal human beings require light to carry out most of their activities, and very few require darkness. In the 90s when vintage film cameras were still with us, I learned that developing a film to produce photographs required darkness. Only evil prefers darkness over light (Ref: Jn 3:19)
The concept of light and darkness in the Holy Scriptures is stressed beyond the common meaning of day and night. Darkness stood for evil, such as slavery, injustices, oppression, poverty, disease, corruption, Ignorance of God, and sin among many others. These are the things that crippled the development of humanity before the coming of Christ and continue even today because many still prefer darkness over light. Many traditions, laws, policies, and systems were built upon discrimination against one group by the other. It is a battle of extreme opposites. For example, where there is extreme richness you will find also extreme poverty. The most powerful dominates the weak. Those educated thrive on the foolishness of their kin. No one really wants his brother or sister to be as successful as they are. Do you?
God sent his only begotten son to bring back the original light that illuminated the world during creation. The people who are accustomed to darkness must learn how to walk in the light. Those who never tasted freedom can enjoy self-determination. Sometimes we may think that people deliberately choose darkness over light. On the contrary, everyone thinks that what they are doing is the correct thing. Pride is what keeps us in darkness? Are you still too proud to accept the Kingdom of God.
On the one hand, people who have never seen the light will never also know what walking in the light is like. On the other hand, people who erroneously think that they are walking in the light will never know what the true light is. You may be living in a total lie as we speak now.
It is difficult for human beings to agree on what is good and what is evil because there are many factors involved. People tend to interpret reality depending on their beliefs, cultural heritage, ideologies, or because someone they believe in has said so. All these factors could make our perspectives erroneous. Vices like tribalism, racism, gender discrimination, etc., have been determining how human beings relate and do business in the world. None has been able to overcome these factors, even in the Church itself among the people who claim to be sons and daughters of one father. This is because still many have not yet experienced the true light. If it all did, life would be different. Do you think so?
For the last five and half years, I have witnessed how difficult it is to tell the community that some of the traditional practices that have been with them for many generations are erroneous. The attitude you get is that you have no idea at all why they practice them. In a world of deep relativism, it is difficult to have common values. There seems to be no common denominator except the one that comes from above. The mission of Jesus on earth was to preach the kingdom of God and its universal values for the conversion of individuals. Therefore, we can confidently conclude that the Gospel should not be influenced by any culture but rather should influence all cultures to make them one.
Today also consecrated religious men and women come together to celebrate and renew their consecration to the Lord. Whereas married people live their Baptismal consecration in their families, religious men and women do so in communities. The community life observed by the latter is supposed to play a prophetic role in the world, that human beings can overcome all self, tribal, national, or racial interests and work together for a common cause. Do you think that this has been achieved?
As a Priest, I understand that my mission is fundamentally to share the light of Christ with the people I serve. I also understand that I need to have that light in me and understand how it works first before I can convince them to follow it. The biggest challenge is to make the light outshine my subjectivity and ego in myriads of aspects. This needs a lot of attention, patience, and discernment of the promptings of the Holy Spirit so that whatever I say or do in the name of the mission is truly God’s will. It is very easy for my feelings, ambitions, limitations, fears, and other individual circumstances; to affect the way I carry out the mission. However, if the intention is to do the will of God, He will always find a way of guiding these words and actions so that they may serve their purpose.
Dear friends, Simeon longed to see the light of the nations and when he did, he wished to die before darkness could corrupt it. When Jesus showed his glory in the form of light to Peter, James, and John they did not want to go back. The question for our reflection today is, have you seen the light? If you were Baptized and you lost your appetite to pray or go to Church, my dear brother and sister, you did not see the light. Let us seek the light of Christ and we will surely never want to go far from it.
Blessed Feast
Fr. Lawrence Muthee, SVD
SVD JAMBO KENTAN 