" Let There Be Light "......

A LENTEN PILGRIMAGE  Rev. Fr. K M George   Lamp

"The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned."

(Matthew 4:16; Isaiah 9:2)

Suppose you are stranded in a strange and deserted place in the thick of night with no sense of direction or light or help. A normal human person is likely to panic. This can happen even in a lift that gets stuck with all lights off in a well-peopled building. Deep fear can grip you. Terror-stricken, some weak-hearted persons may even succumb to death.

Darkness casts the shadow of death. "To live in the region and shadow of death" is the most painful experience for human beings. A little glimmer of light, even very far, can bring hope and life to such people. 

"Let there be light" was the first Word of God according to the Bible (Genesis1:3).

Light was the very first creation of God.

When Jesus first appeared publicly in Galilee to announce the Good News of the kingdom God, He came as light for all those who lived in the land and shadow of death. A great prophecy was being fulfilled.

We know that light is the source of life on our earth. If there is no sunlight there will not be any green vegetation on earth. If there is no green vegetation all human and animal life will suddenly disappear from the face of the earth.

This is so in the spiritual life as well. Jesus Christ is our light as we grope in the dark. Christian faith is a faith of light and life. If we do not expose ourselves to the light of Christ, our spiritual life will soon be extinct. Terrifying darkness will overwhelm us.

An important synonym for baptism in the Greek language is "photisma" or enlightenment. In baptism a child is brought to the light of Christ, and is enlightened. So the child is born again to a new life - from the merely biological life to the spiritual life. 

We are all born again. That is something that we tend to forget. We forget our origin. We do not see the light of Christ. We do not like to live in the light of Christ. Without getting any reminder or follow up of that great new birth, without paying any attention to the ethical standards required of that new birth, some people seek to be born again and again...One re-birth, one baptism, is the ancient rule of the church. Let us not violate that rule. But internally we should continually be born again and again, always a new creation in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Lent for many may be a shadowy period because of its strict rules of fasting and abstinence. But as we walk in the shadow of death in this world symbolized by the Lenten time, we continually seek and meditate on the dawn of light, the only source of our life.

"You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness."

(I Thessalonians 5:5)