+ We have a magnificent second reading today from the letter of St. Paul to the Ephesians. It is one of the most simple and yet profound passages in scripture. It is the cause for much hope and rejoicing. It is also very short, instructive and quickly gets to the heart of the matter; and the heart of the matter is this: you now have a choice: live in darkness or live in light: LIVE IN LIGHT: live in the light of Day, the light of Christ – who is Light!
The passage begins in a very ominous sort of way, (St. Paul is talking to the Ephesians and us) whose meaning can easily be glossed over: you were once darkness it shouts out! YOU WERE ONCE DARKNESS – not, you possessed darkness, or darkness overshadowed you, or you were stumbling around in the dark – but rather: YOU WERE DARKNESS because the sin of the origin of the human race was your inheritance at birth; and you yourself compounded that darkness by living oftentimes as a selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed human being.
But now you are commanded to live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. You are also – all of you – commanded to take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; it is shameful even to mention the things done in secret by those who wallow in darkness – but they will be exposed by the light – everything will become visible when the light of Christ shines on it – either now, or one day to come – when a judgment will be made on all our deeds – and the secrets of our hearts – our true, unmasked, undefended motivations will be seen for what they really are.
The verse before the gospel exhorts us to follow Jesus so that we may have the light of life – so that we may not be darkness any longer, so that we may choose Jesus in faith and let him be our shepherd every step of the way of the rest of our lives. The shepherd boy, David, who became king, prefigured Jesus who will one day be king of everyone – he is and can be our king today if we choose him. This Shepherd King has the power to heal, the power to restore sight to those born spiritually blind because of the Original Spiritual Sin – he has the power to draw people to the light which is himself. We rejoice that he has called us thusly (especially this year's class of catechumens); we rejoice that he will light our path with his own light; we rejoice that he is calling all members of our parish to the brightness of his glory.
Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light!
May Christ give us light, and be our light – today!
God bless you!
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