GOD'S LITTLE LAMP

Monday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time

Lk 8:16-18

When we light a lamp and cover it with a bowl, the lamp is put out. It lacks oxygen. Oxygen is needed for fire.

When we light a lamp and put it under a bed, we set the bed on fire. Eventually, the room where the bed is and the house where the room is catch fire too. A single, burning lamp under a bed spells catastrophe.

But who lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to place it under a bed? Only a fool does.

A lamp is lighted to give light. It is, therefore, meant to be exposed. A lamp is burnt not to burn. Care is, therefore, taken to keep its flame at a considerable distance away from anything. Exposed but at a distance – the lamp.

Our good deeds are like the light of a lamp. They must be exposed and those who see them or benefit from them give the glory to God. So that they give the glory to God and not to our selves, we have to be at a certain distance from our good deeds. If we keep on attaching our selves to our good deeds, our good deeds lose their light under the shadow of self-glorification. No longer giving light, our good deeds can make people blind. He who does good deeds and flaunts it is a fool. But he who refuses others to see or benefit from his good deeds lest God be glorified is a greater fool.

A lamp covered with a bowl is useless. A lamp under a bed is misplaced. Let us make our good deeds useful by putting them at the right place. Put them at God’s disposal. Use them to glorify God not the self.

If the motive for our good deeds is other than the greater glory of God, it will show. There is nothing hidden that will not be made clear and nothing secret that will not be made known, the Gospel warns us. We better be honest with our motive for every good deed we do.

Now this reflection really made me think before sending it to you. May my motive be, always and only, ad majorem Dei gloriam (“for the greater glory of God”). If it is not, forget me. Remember God. He is the light, not me. He is the one that keeps me burning. All I want is to be God’s little lamp.