Sunday, January 20, 2008

Christened to be Light

Message from Fr. Jose Koluthara, C.M.I.

Lord Jesus, Lamb of God,
“Show me your holy secret of how to expose my light to the world in hidden acts of light and love”

(from the prayer of Edward Hays)

Three voices speak this Sunday to remind us who we are, whose we are and who God intends that we become. These voices speak against the backdrop of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. Like Jesus, we, who are baptized in his name, are chosen by God, named as God’s children and filled with the Holy Spirit.

Paul in his greeting to the believers at Corinth (Cor 1:1-3), will reference the gift of our consecration by God. Set apart at baptism and empowered by daily grace, each of us is intended for a holiness that will illumine the way of our contemporaries toward God. Isaiah, in today’s 1st reading (Is.49:3,5-6) will again invite us to identify with the servant of God commissioned to be a light of salvation to the nations.

At the time of our baptismal initiation into Christ and the church, light was an integral symbol of the ceremony. A smaller candle was lit from the Easter Candle that represents Christ, the Light of the World. This small candle was then offered to the newly initiated with a prayer that each receive the burning light and sustain the grace of baptism throughout a blameless life by keeping God’s commandments and remaining prepared to meet the Lord in his second coming among us.

But what does it mean to be light in our world? In brief, it means that we must allow ourselves to be consumed. Eberhard Arnold, co-founder of the first of the Bruderhof communities in 1920, has explained the challenge of being light in this way (Salt and Light, The Plough Publishing House, 1998). A light on a candlestick consumes itself to give light to all in the house. It serves the intimate unity of the household because its life consists in dying.

The light that Jesus kindles in a follower of his is not produced merely by intelligent recognition, systematic clarity of thought or sharp discernment. What matters, what produces light, is to live within God’s heart. The light of God’s heart creates community and draws people together. However, this light cannot radiate brightness and strength without being consumed. Holding out the example of Jesus, Lamb of God, Arnold insists that those who experience the world’s suffering and guilt with the crucified Christ, are able to serve the world, with the light and the strength of the risen Lord.

Christ himself is this light and he did not hide his light under a basket or bed. Those whom he has called, consecrated and christened to be light cannot hide, either. And so, let us press ourselves into the service of being consumed so as to illumine the way to Christ for our world.

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