All In The Light Of Christ

5 Sep

“Everyone shines, given the right lighting.”  ~ Susan Cain

My young imagination would always get supercharged whenever I would hear that “the earth was a formless wasteland and darkness covered the abyss.”  (Gn 1:2)  The images of darkness and light are both very vivid.  The word “dark” connotes all kinds of things that are negative and frightening.  We talk about our dark days when we think about earlier lives of sin.  We say that we keep people in the dark when we deprive them of the information necessary to them.  We use the dark to frighten people, to unnerve people, and to brainwash people.

Images of light are associated with truth, with illumination/wisdom/integrity, and with clarity, just to name a few.  When we talk about being in the light, we think about living by God’s commands, living in truth and justice, in purity and piety.

The light can illuminate.  It can pierce the darkness.  It can accent things to make them clearer and to present them in the best possible way.

We are called to live in the light of Christ.  That light is necessary if we are to shuck off the darkness of sin and death.  We do not belong to the dark of the tomb.  We belong to the light of the resurrection.

The light has to be something more than a conversation piece, though.  It has to be more than a vocabulary word.  Living in the light has to be a reality.  If we allow ourselves to become overwhelmed by the darkness that is a permanent part of the world, we can become so immersed that we fail to see the Light of Christ.  Yes, His light can burn away the darkness.  But it will not do so if we keep our eyes closed to it.  As powerful as the light is, we can shut it out.  As powerful as God is, we can shut Him out of our lives.

Do all that you can today to live in the light of Christ.  And, in God’s compassion, shine the light onto others by your good words and deeds so that they may feel the glow of Christ’s love and come to respond to His invitation.

FAITH ACTION:  Put the people you encounter into the right light that they might shine in all that they do.