Sowing Light (10/9/2021)

[Fifth article in a series on living Christ daily through the prescripts of the Peace Prayer]

“LORD, make me an instrument of your peace…Where there is darkness, let me sow light.” Never has the world been illuminated by so much artificial light, yet it suffers more from darkness than ever before. The light from bulbs cannot bring the transformative light that only comes from knowing Christ. “I am the light of the world,” He told us in John 8:12. As our modern culture turns away from the values of our past, rejecting faith traditions for spiritualism, the largest religious group in America are those who identify their faith tradition as “None.” And the darkness grows daily.

In Zechariah’s canticle of praise, he proclaimed: “By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” As disciples of Christ, we recognize that prophesized light as Jesus Christ. And as his followers, we must bring His light to bear upon the cultural darkness. We must witness to Christ in word and in deed. We must strive to let our lights shine in the darkness. We cannot be passive disciples who save the light only for ourselves. We must intentionally seek to display the light of Christ we have been gifted with since our baptisms. His is the light that no darkness can put out, not even the darkness of a tomb.

As children we learned and sang “This Little Light of Mine.” As adult disciples, we must do all we can to allow the light of Christ to illuminate all of our encounters and conversations. We must not be shy about our faith. The early Church grew from a small crowd on the day of Pentecost to a formidable entity by the end of first century. The love of Christ lived out daily by the followers of Christ illuminated the path to conversion as much as the preaching and proclaiming, though both were ultimately necessary.

With great joy and hope we must enter into the world, into our workplaces, into our stores, into our sporting, recreational and entertainment venues, living the LORD Jesus Christ. The darkness that marks our world at this time is not inevitable but it also will not eradicate itself. Let us work to bring Christ to others and others to Christ, as Pope John Paul II encouraged.

Until tomorrow, love well.