It is\nprovidential that this Sunday\u2019s Gospel reading has similar themes as the\nPresentation of the Lord from last week. Both Gospels speak of the \u201clight of\nthe world\/revealed to the nations.\u201d Last week, Simeon proclaims the Christ\nchild to be the lumen gentium – the light of the nations. And today, the adult\nChrist says to his disciples that they \u201care the light of the world.\u201d But how? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gospel\nopens with this verse, \u201cJesus said to his disciples.\u201d He does not say this to\neveryone or to anyone. He says it to his disciples. They are his followers.\nToday, that means those who are baptized. At baptism, the Church gives a\nbaptismal candle, whose flame comes from the Paschal Candle, with the words\n\u201creceive the light of Christ.\u201d This is not accidental or inconsequential. The\nChurch teaches that every baptized person \u201cis to walk always as a child of the\nlight\u201d and to \u201ckeep the flame of faith alive\u201d in their heart. Why? So that they\nmay rush out to meet the Lord when he comes.\u201d Being the light of the world\nmeans that we must first understand whose light we have. The light we have is\nnot our own – it is Christ\u2019s. We are living candles, lanterns, within whom the\nLight of the Nations dwells. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Light\nallows us to see what is around us. Light is bold and does not shy from the\ndarkness. On the contrary, \u201cthe light shines in the darkness, and the darkness\ndid not overcome it.\u201d The Christian\u2019s duty is to proclaim the Gospel boldly, to\nshow others the darkness of sin so as to bring them into the \u201clight of life\u201d –\nthe Lord Jesus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Exemplifying\nthis bold proclamation is St Paul whom we hear of in our Second Reading. Paul\nadmits he came to the Corinthians \u201cin weakness and fear and much trembling.\u201d\nAnd yet, what does he proclaim? \u201cJesus Christ, and him crucified.\u201d Paul has\nboth humility and boldness because the light of Christ lets us see the truth\nand accept it boldly. We see our sinfulness and inadequacies, and yet we see\nthe power of Christ and the cross. Although it is possible for us to snuff the\nflame of faith through sin, the Lord waits for us to rekindle the flame in the\nsacrament of penance. \u201cWhere sin abounds, grace abounds all the more\u201d\n(Romans 5:20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\ngreatest way for the light of the world to radiate from us is to proclaim this\nsame \u201cpower of God\u201d who conquered sin and death – Jesus Christ crucified and\nrisen. That way, we may be living candles bearing the light of Christ so that\nwe may say with Paul that \u201cit is not I who lives but Christ who lives in me.\nAnd the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who\nloved me and gave himself for me\u201d (Galatians 2:20).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Joseph Yuson<\/strong> \u2013 St. Joseph Seminary, Edmonton, Alberta<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fot. EmcotWPY\/Unsplash.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2207,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-strona-glowna-najnowsze","category-strona-glowna-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n