Carrying the Light

Dear Friends,

In the early morning when I pray, I like to have a candle lit. Its dancing light is a sign to me of God who dances with joy because of us.

Here in the north, Advent begins in a month of deep darkness. Only at the very end of Advent, does the daylight begin to increase in tiny fragments. It behooves us to light our candles during Advent, for our personal morning or evening prayer, especially with the unspeakable destructiveness of war and animosity raging in our world.

                Blessed are you
                Who bear the light
                In unbearable times,
                Who testify
                To its endurance
                Amid the unendurable,
                Who bear witness
                To its persistence
                When everything seems
                In shadow
                And grief.                                (Jan Richardson)

John the Baptist, whose vitality we experience in today’s Gospel, was one who carried the light into the wilderness in unbearable times, when people did not know what to make of their lives. They did not recognize God’s presence within them and around them. But John brought them the light that moved them to see, to welcome God.

As his story evolves in the Gospel, John also suffered the ravages of an interior wilderness, but he was faithful to God and to his cousin, Jesus the Word Made Flesh. He died because he would not back away from what he knew to be true.

When we find family life stretched almost beyond recognition, when the integrity of our soul is tried by experiencing or witnessing tragedy, the voice of the Lord speaks to us and through us to others.

Light the candle. See God dancing with joy because of you. Be the light others can see by and be moved.

~Sister Joan Sobala