From darkness comes a Light that is within each of us

From darkness comes a Light that is within each of us

We all have heard that Christ is the Light that overshadows any sign of a darkened world.  “What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and darkness has not overcome it.”   (Jn 1: 4 - 5).

When this light begins to shine upon the man who sat in darkness and the shadow of death, in the darkness of evil and the shadow of sin, he is shocked, he calls himself to account, repents of his misdeeds, and says: “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  Great is this salvation, my brethren, which fears neither sickness nor lethargy and disregards pain.  We should then in the fullest sense not only with our voice but with our very soul cry out, “The Lord is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear.”  (excerpt from John the Serene , bishop - taken from the third week in Ordinary Time for Thursday).

If our sense of what Jesus said to his disciples in the Priestly Prayer before his Passion, has meaning for us, absorb the truth when he says, “I pray for them, but also for those who believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me.”  (Jn 17: 20 - 21).

Each moment any of us reaches out through the written word, preaches the Good News from a pulpit, or lifts the burden of sin from someone through our compassion of love, the light that is there also lifts away the darkness of fear and is Christ himself touching all of us.  

Never for one moment should we let the needs for the poor, poor in spirit, wait for someone else to reach and anoint the person who cries for attention and it is Christ who through us lifts the dark of doubt from the needy.  “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.”  (Mt 5: ).

It always makes me wonder why so many people who could be the next writer or homilist that hold back from using their talents that the Holy Spirit is sending that prophet of 2026 that he has sent to reach that one person who is in need of hearing about Christ.  You may be the only one that the Spirit is delegating to lift that poor person and find their way to grace.

This is not the first time I have put in a request for someone who has the ability to write and holds back.  The Holy Spirit does not discriminate whom he calls when the need exists to reach a person that you might be the only one who can do the job.  

Most people who write are not a C.S. Lewis writing Mere Christianity or St. Augustine exposing himself with Confessions.  It isn’t a contest to find the best authors but the one writer who reaches a person whose words will make a difference in a needy person's life.

My one experience as a deacon that has never left me feeling useless was when as a member of the chaplaincy at Mercy Hospital in Pittsburgh I was sent into a patient room where a woman had not received the Sacraments for 13 years, which were not of her choice.  I wasn’t going to stop in her room since the hour was late for me to conduct a communion service before taking the Holy Eucharist to the patients I had already seen.  The Holy Spirit insisted I go in and speak with her.  I did and the irony is she was to be discharged the next morning.  Had I not listened to the Spirit, I might have been asked by Christ after death why I didn’t listen to what the Holy Spirit was sending me to accomplish.  She did receive absolution from the chaplain and the Eucharist that same evening when I returned to her room.  

It’s imperative that we recognize the Spirit’s call and then accept the mission he is sending us on, even if it is the only task that we were called to do,

Ralph B. Hathaway