Are you darkness or are you light? Do you light other’s candles, or do you snuff them out? Jesus Christ has always been a polarizing figure precisely because he cuts to the very heart of our humanity. He’s compared to a sword so sharp it separates bone from marrow. We are given stark choices – follow God and be light or deny God and be darkness.
Listen to Saint Paul share this contrast with the Ephesians in Chapter 5 of this Sunday’s readings.
Brothers and sisters:
once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret; but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it is said, "Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light."
Notice Paul doesn’t say we were once IN darkness and are now IN light, but rather, we were once darkness itself, and are now light in Christ.
Father of Grace and Mercy – we were once darkness, and are now light in you and through you. Help us be fed by your brilliance, so we may be light amid the darkness. Amen.
#lent #darkness #light #lightoftheworld