PEOPLE OF THE LIGHT

Friday in the 1st Week of Advent
Mt 9:27-31

The faculty of sight is not enough to make us see. We may not be blind but sometimes our sight is blurred or, worse, even totally gone. It is not because our eyes are defective but because the light is not enough. To see an image, to read a book, to behold a person we need light, not only eyes. Thus, though we have a 20/20 vision, we still grope in the dark, we complain of hazy vision, we search for light and more light.

By now, houses, commercial establishments and the streets are already well lighted for the holidays. The city is no brighter than during this time of the year. The evening glitters and the lights are simply fascinating to behold. Indeed, Christmas is a feast of lights!

But the true light that should enlighten us is the light that truly makes us see. Among other characteristics, that kind of light does not call attention to itself; it is always at the service of the subject of our vision. It is like the sun. We do not look straight at the sun lest we go blind. Rather we see the presence of the sun through the light it sheds upon the world.

Jesus is the Sol Invictus, the Victorious Sun. In fact, December 25, the day we annually celebrate the birth of Jesus, used to be the pagan feast for the sun god. It is the end of the winter solstice, when nights become shorter and days become longer again, when light of the day triumphs over the darkness of the night. The early Christians were geniuses to mark the birth of Jesus, the Light of the world, on this pagan feast because Jesus is the real Sol Invictus. He Himself is the light; and in His light, we see light. At Him alone can fix our eyes without hurting them, without us going blind. The Psalm today tells us this. The Gospel affirms this.

There are many dark corners in the world today. Sometimes, the whole world seems to be a dark place to live in. The strove lights, the neon lights, the flash bulbs, the glow and glitters of the holiday decors – they are all helpless and hopeless to cure the world of its blindness. We can only restore the sight of our neighbors if we cure the world of its blindness by shining upon it the light of Jesus. Let us make Jesus shine through us.

Let us be what we are meant to be: a People of the Light.