Feb 6: Light for the World

Joseph Mallord William Turner: Light and Color - Goethe’s Theory - The Morning after the Deluge - Moses Writing the Book of Genesis
The Tate Gallery, London, 1843

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 112:4-5, 6-7, 8-9

The just man is a light in darkness to the upright (Ps 112:4a).

Father, the psalmist tells us that the just man is a light in darkness. In John’s gospel, Jesus tells us that he is the light of the world. You, Father, through your Son, the Word, in the Holy Spirit, are light for us. As we continue to accept your life, always freely offered to us through the Word, into our own life, we become ever greater instruments of your light which cannot help but to shine out to those around us. Your light, Father, is seen by others through our actions, our concern for the poor, the oppressed, all of those in need. It is only through your life in us that we can do these things, and to accept your life into our own is always to allow your life to transform us more and more in the service of justice and peace. If we are light for the world, Lord, it is because you are light for us.

As we grow more and more in the life which you always in every situation offer to us, we are bathed more and more in your light. As the circle of light grows, our understanding of the mystery of your being also grows with it. The greater the circle of light, the more understanding there is. But, as the circle of light expands and grows larger, so does the perimeter of darkness surrounding it. We realize that there is always more and more to learn about you, Lord, who are all in all, inexhaustible in your life, in your being. There is so much more life to fill us and to make us ever greater sharers in you, Lord. Growth in you, Lord, is a pilgrimage that began in nothingness but that never ends.

Father, we pray that at every moment on our pilgrimage to you, there will always be more light to guide us as we say “yes” to growth in your life, and that your life, lived by us here and now, may also be light for others on their journey.

Through Christ our Lord. Amen.