BRIGHTEST LIGHT

Every day, I take an early walk and have coffee in our refectory. On my way, I pass by the dark corridors of the convent and one of our dogs, Luther, would bark at me. But upon turning on the lights, he would recognize me not as a stranger and would stop barking and playfully approach me. Luther has healthy eyes but because of darkness, the absence of light, he could not recognize me. Light is the principle of sight.

We experience blindness when there is no light. In life, sometimes we feel at a loss in the darkness of life's difficulties (Malachi 2:1-4). We may begin to be weary and ask "Where is God when confusing things happen in our life? Where is the light when we are in darkness?" The prophet Malachi assured us that God would send a Savior. God made promises. God fulfills His promises. He promised a Savior (Gen 3:14), and Jesus was sent to us. By His death he took away all the power of evil and death, and set us free (Hebrews 2:14-18). He promised to be with us always, and He gave us the Eucharist - His very presence among us.

God is faithful to His promise. He will fulfill them, if only we wait for His perfect time when He fulfills His promise to us. But while waiting, remembering the good things (those little promises he fulfilled in our life), can sustain us. I think this is what sustained Simeon and Ana in waiting for the promised Savior until their old age. Faithful Jews as they were, perhaps they always remembered the wondrous things the Lord had done for their forebears in Egypt. And so it is for us. When in darkness we remember the good things; the promises the Lord fulfilled in our life. Remember the bicycle you once so desired to have and He gave it to you. Remember your prayer for a loving spouse, and He gave a caring wife. Remember our life itself as Christians is a fulfillment of God's promise of salvation. Remember the moments when you experience the Light, and you will know where the Light is. If He was faithful, He cannot but remain faithful today and tomorrow, for God knows no change. What He was yesterday, he is today and tomorrow: a faithful God who fulfills His promises.

We tend sometimes to be overwhelmed by our problems and questions, casting darkness, putting off the light in our vision of God, growing frustrated with the promises of God. Pray, therefore, for the Light that would enable us to see, while remembering the fulfillment of God's promises in the past. If you are in darkness, remember the way God fulfilled his previous promises, and be prepared to see, to receive the brightest light in your life; for the light is brightest when it is darkest around us.