Breaking the Word

Monday, January 07, 2008

Monday After Epiphany
Light and Shadow

Readings: 1 John 3:22–4:6; Psalm 2:7bc-8, 10-12a; Matthew 4:12-17, 23-25

Test the spirits to see whether they belong to God…

In the wake of the solemn feast of the Epiphany, the Mass readings and prayers for today contain many references to the Light. Most notably, the gospel contains a quotation from Isaiah (8:23-9:1): the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light… The congregation to which I was sent to minister over Christmas had a quite literal experience of this verse shortly before the beginning of one of the dawn Masses. There was, apparently, a problem with the overhead projector, which caused the circuit-breaker to trip. For several long minutes, the whole church was plunged into pitch darkness. You can imagine the cheers when the lights finally came on…

But joy is not the only result of the Light’s coming. The beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in the gospel also brings with it another crucial benefit. In the words of Psalm 36:9, with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light… The light of Christ enables us to distinguish more clearly light from shadow. Or, in the words of the first reading, Christ helps us to test the spirits that are at work in the world, to see whether they belong to God…

To do this, we need to contemplate the effects of the Light’s presence. We need to consider the words and works of Jesus. In today’s gospel, the most obvious and comforting of these is, of course, healing. We’re told that great crowds gathered from all over the country and followed Jesus because he cured every disease and illness among the people. But physical and emotional healing is not the only sign of the Light’s presence. The gospel also tells us that Jesus preached the challenging message of repentance and reconciliation. Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand. Among the great crowds who flocked to him, we may wonder how many actually heard this deeper message. How many actually correctly read the miracles worked by the Lord as signs of a deeper truth, a more urgent calling…

There is yet another aspect to the Light’s coming that is just as demanding and no less essential. We find a hint of this at the beginning of today’s gospel, which speaks of the arrest of John the Baptist. Not only does the Light come to heal and to reconcile, but the Light also brings this about in a very distinctive way, by submitting, in love, to the humiliation of the Cross…

Like the community to whom the first reading is addressed, we too live our lives in the midst of a diversity of spirits, voices that prompt us to think, feel and act in very distinctive ways. And doesn’t it also remain true that there continue to be false prophets among us? Isn’t it crucial for us to be able to distinguish light from shadow, to continue to test the spirits against the Light who is Christ?

How are we being called to do this today?

1 comment:

AnonymousTue Jan 08, 08:13:00 am GMT+8
It's been said that darkness is not a reality; it is but the absence of light. That is why, I guess, we are all familiar with the relief that follows when "the lights come on again", dispelling the darkness.

Today, I reflect on those who, through no fault of their own and certainly not through their own choosing, operate in darkness - the darkness of depression, of self-doubt, of envy for instance.

In nature, nocturnal animals live and hunt in pitch darkness of night employing sharp, God-given senses. Their Creator, I am sure, acres for and loves them as much as the creatures of day.

For individuals operating in darkness, the light of Christ works in inexplicable ways to bring about healing, repentance and reconciliation.

Still on the subject of repentance and reconciliation, Fr Chris' observation resonates with me. Even for myself, it is always healing that is in the forefront of my prayers but not repentance and reconciliation. Why? I guess I only have to ask for healing whereas repentance and reconciliation demand sincerity and resolve and, above all, my co-operation with the Holy Spirit.

Come Holy Spirit of light to renew your creation.
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Breaking News: Ordinary Time

Apart from those seasons having their own distinctive character, thirty-three or thirty-four weeks remain in the yearly cycle that do not celebrate a specific aspect of the mystery of Christ. Rather, especially on the Sundays, they are devoted to the mystery of Christ in all its aspects. This period is known as Ordinary Time. Ordinary Time begins on Monday after the Sunday following 6 January and continues until Tuesday before Ash Wednesday inclusive. It begins again on Monday after Pentecost and ends before Evening Prayer I of the First Sunday of Advent. This is also the reason for the series of liturgical texts found in both the Roman Missal and The Liturgy of the Hours (Vol. III - IV), for Sundays and weekdays in this season. ~ General Norms for the Liturgical Year & Calendar, 43-44

From 36th Jesuit General Congregation

It is our union with one another in Christ that testifies to the Good News more powerfully than our competences and abilities.... In our individualistic and competitive age, we should remember that the community plays a very special role since it is a privileged place of apostolic discernment.... The Jesuit community is a concrete space in which we live as friends in the Lord. This life together is always at the service of mission, but because these fraternal bonds proclaim the Gospel, it is itself a mission. –Companions in a Mission of Reconciliation and Justice (CMRJ), nn. 7-9.

With the poor, we can learn what hope and courage mean.... In our communities and apostolates, we hear the call to rediscover hospitality to strangers, to the young, to the poor, and to those who are persecuted. Christ himself teaches us this hospitality. –CMRJ, nn. 15-16.

At the heart of Ignatian spirituality is the transforming encounter with the mercy of God in Christ that moves us to a generous personal response. The experience of the merciful gaze of God on our weakness and sinfulness humbles us and fills us with gratitude, helping us to become compassionate ministers to all.... For us Jesuits, compassion is action, an action discerned together. Yet we know that there is no authentic familiarity with God if we do not allow ourselves to be moved to compassion and action by an encounter with the Christ who is revealed in the suffering, vulnerable faces of people, indeed in the suffering of creation. –CMRJ, nn. 19-20.

(T)he Society must respond more decisively to the Church’s call for a new evangelization, giving special emphasis to ministry to and with the young and with families.... A special gift Jesuits and the Ignatian family have to offer to the Church and her mission of evangelization is Ignatian spirituality, which facilitates the experience of God and can therefore greatly help the process of personal and communal conversion. –CMRJ, nn. 22-23.

In many societies, there is an increased level of conflict and polarization, which often gives rise to violence that is all the more appalling because it is motivated and justified by distorted religious convictions. In such situations, Jesuits, along with all who seek the common good, are called to contribute from their religious-spiritual traditions towards the building of peace, on local and global levels. –CMRJ, n. 28.

Pope Francis has emphasized the fundamental connection between the environmental crisis and the social crisis in which we live today. Poverty, social exclusion, and marginalization are linked with environmental degradation. These are not separate crises but one crisis that is a symptom of something much deeper: the flawed way societies and economies are organised. The current economic system with its predatory orientation discards natural resources as well as people. For this reason, Pope Francis insists that the only adequate solution must be a radical one. The direction of development must be altered if it is to be sustainable. We Jesuits are called to help heal a broken world, promoting a new way of producing and consuming, which puts God’s creation at the center.... The multifaceted challenge of caring for our common home calls for a multifaceted response from the Society. We begin by changing our personal and community lifestyles, adopting behaviour coherent with our desire for reconciliation with creation. – CMRJ, nn. 29-30

From 35th Jesuit General Congregation

From General Congregation 35

By sending us to 'those physical and spiritual places which others do not or have difficulty reaching,' the Pope entrusts to us the task to 'build bridges of understanding and dialogue,' according to the best tradition of the Society, in the diversity of its ministries.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 6

To be missioned to this work 'at the New Frontiers of our times' always requires that one also be rooted at the very heart of the Church. This tension, specific to the Ignatian charism, opens the way to true creative fidelity.
- Decree With Renewed Fervor and Dynamism, n. 13

In every mission that we carry out, we seek only to be where (Christ) sends us. The grace we receive as Jesuits is to be and to go with him, looking on the world with his eyes, loving it with his heart and entering into its depths with his unending compassion.
- Decree on Identity, n. 15

For ultimately, there is no reality that is only profane for those who know how to look. We must communicate this look and provide a pedagogy inspired by the Spiritual Exercises, that carries people - especially the young - into it.
- Decree on Identity, n. 10

Our ministries of proclamation of the Word and the celebration of the Life of Christ in the sacraments continue to be fundamental for our mission and our lives together as Jesuits.
- Decree on Mission, n. 19

The complexity of the problems we face and the richness of the opportunities offered demand that we engage in building bridges between rich and poor and establishing advocacy links of mutual support between those who hold political power and those who find it difficult to voice their interests. Our intellectual apostolate provides an inestimable help in setting up these bridges, offering us new ways of understanding in depth the mechanism and links among our present problems.
- Decree on Mission, n. 28

Jesuit community is not just for mission, it is itself mission.
- Decree on Mission, n. 41

In this global context it is important to highlight the extraordinary potential represented by our character as an international and multicultural body. Acting consistently with this character can not only enhance the apostolic effectiveness of our work but in a fragmented and divided world it can witness to the reconciliation in solidarity of all the children of God.
- Decree on Mission, n. 43

Faith in Jesus Christ teaches us that self-realization comes from self-giving and that freedom is not so much the power to choose as the power to order our choices toward love. At the same time, love for Jesus Christ and the desire to follow him call us to trusting commitment. Commitment to the Word Incarnate cannot be separated from commitment to the concrete manifestations of the Word that are at the center of our lives, the Church and the Society which exists to serve the Church.
- Decree on Obedience, n. 19