Posted by Paul Edwards (Fr. Paul) on Dec 01, 2011 | Comments (0)


Advent III John 1:6-8 "He was not the light, but he came to bear witness to the light."

Here we go again. What is “The Light”? If you want to treat it as a physical light, then go at it. Then tell me how much sense or impact it can make in anyone’s life. The physical light is a metaphor for the real spiritual Light of Christ.

The Creed states we believe in all things, seen and unseen. We do not believe in all things seen and unseen. We only believe in all things that exist, seen or unseen. Some things that exist are physically seen by our rational head. Other things that exist are spiritual and unseen. They are sensed by our conscious heart.

What do we know about this spiritual Light of Christ? First of all, the light is in all of us. We do not have to do anything to get it. It is inclusive and unconditionally given to us. The problem is the light has a rational and conscious switch. When we are in the rational head, we can see the physically seen. When we consciously switch open our heart to the Light, we can sense the spiritually unseen. This Light is a real Light. It just needs to be turned on. Rationally, we are looking for the outside light to feel good about the event. Spiritually, we are looking for God’s grace feeling to see the light in the event.

We can understand light when we compare it with darkness. What is spiritual darkness? Spiritual darkness is the opposite of spiritual light. Sometimes when we are in a dark but familiar room we can walk around in darkness. The problem comes when the furniture is moved without our knowledge. We then run into it and become confused. It is time we switch on the light.

Spiritual darkness is when we make decisions outside of the Light of the Presence of grace. As long as the territory is familiar we may be alright. However when things are moved around we begin to stumble. That is the time to switch on the spiritual light. Our greatest problem is we do not know where the switch is. We hear sermons on what we need to do, turn on the Light of Christ, pray more, serve more, love more, give more. We need more sermons on these Sundays, before the Light comes into the World, that will be on how to turn on the Light and Love switch.

Why not make this Advent a real advent experience. Be prepared to switch on the light. The best way I know is to wonder what difference being out or in the Light of Christ makes in our Christmas preparation? You, I, we are NOT the light. We are come to bear witness to the Light.


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