It has been said that electricity transformed the night into day. Yet all the variations of invented light cannot overcome the darkness of evil and its shadows of sin, suffering and death. All of life’s disappointments and discouragements move like a fog to obscure the joy of life. No matter the historical achievements of the past, the complex enlightenment of the mind does not come from lofty thoughts. They are gifts from the Creator.
In the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, Genesis 1:1-4, it is written: “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth and the earth was without form or shape, with darkness over the abyss and a mighty wind sweeping over the waters. Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness.”
God created the entire universe out of nothing and out of love. The breath and word of the first “big bang.” The second “big bang” by the same breath and word of God is the creation of each soul at conception. Again, God says, “Let there be light.”
In the first chapter and first verses from the Gospel of St. John, it is written: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. A man named John was sent from God. He came for testimony, to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
Even in the Easter season of double “alleluias,” we still pray fervently that the works of evil cease and the common good prevail. Yet the path out of Eden has been a challenging road back to Paradise. Until then and only with the grace of God, do we persevere through the sin of the world and the sin within.
An image I have often used is a room. When we walk into a room and it is dark, we do not look for a darkness switch to turn off the darkness. There is no such thing. That is why prayers to turn off the darkness of evil in the world seem to go unanswered. In the room, however, there is a light switch. When we turn on the light, the darkness vanishes.
Even in a cave where it has been dark for so long the fish are blind, one lit candle makes that ancient darkness flee. Darkness has no power in the presence of light — except the power we give it. In the words of an ancient proverb, “It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.”
The inner light of the soul is a switch given to us at baptism. We are recreated as “children of the light.” Grace, the power of God’s favor, is our ability to make the assent of faith and turn on the light. The sacraments of reconciliation and Eucharist are two of the most reachable light switches. The person and real presence of Jesus Christ is the light that is victorious over the powers of sin and death.
At the Easter Vigil, one lit candle was the source for hundreds of lit candles spread throughout the darkened church. The radiance of the risen Christ shines in and through our hearts into the darkness of the world.
The joy of faith walks through the shadows of a mortally flawed life when every experience of the darkness of Good Friday gives way to the light of Easter.
