"When you go out into the darkness, put your hand into the Hand of God, for that shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way." (Author is unknown)
Gospel text (Lk 8:16-18): Jesus said to his disciples, «No one, after lighting a lamp covers it with a bowl or puts it under the bed; rather he puts it on a lamp-stand so that people coming in may see the light. In the same way, there is nothing hidden that shall not be uncovered; nothing kept secret that shall not be known clearly. Now, take care how well you listen, for whoever produces will be given more, but from those who do not produce, even what they seem to have will be taken away from them».
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells his followers - and us - that no one who lights a lamp hides it but rather lets it radiate its light. We all have been blessed with the light of Jesus. He has made his father known to us and has brought his father’s light to us. What an awesome and humbling gift that is. It is also a gift that comes with responsibilities for sharing it with others.
Sometimes, we may want to keep that gift of light for ourselves or hide it from the world. We may mistakenly think that somehow we deserve that gift, but there is nothing that we do that makes us deserving of God’s love. It is a gift freely given to all of us. It is a gift that cannot be savored in a selfish way; it has to be allowed to radiate beyond us to all others that we encounter.
It is not easy to share our gift of light when we feel slighted by someone and we are angry. Other times it may not be easy when we are afraid of what someone else might think of us if we take a public stand and live our lives according to the teachings of Jesus. Some days, it may be a bigger challenge to share our gift and other days there may be a series of smaller challenges that are hardly noticed because we are so tied up with the demands of our daily lives. But, Jesus has called us to let the glory of his father shine so that all who encounter us may see his father through us.
“When you look at the inner workings of electrical things, you see wires. Until the current passes through them, there will be no light. That wire is you and me. The current is God. We have the power to let the current pass through us, use us, to produce the light of the world, Jesus, in us. Or we can refuse to be used and allow darkness to spread.” Mother Teresa quote
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