THE CONTEMPLATION OF LIGHT


SAINT SCHOLASTICA, VIRGIN

Gen 1:1-19; Ps 104:1-2,5-6,10,12,24,35; Mk 6:53-56

Purifying our Love for God

The Church puts the story of God’s creation of the physical world for us to contemplate. As the seraphs testified in the first reading from Isaiah yesterday, that the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, our understanding of how the visible world came into existence helps us to contemplate the glory of God, which creation shows forth. The central source of beauty and splendour of visible creation comes from their single source, namely, the Word of God. God uttered everything visible into existence. So, the physical things we see all share in the beauty of the Eternal Word of God. We get this meaning from the way the author began the story. “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Commenting on this passage, Saint Augustine made us understand that the beginning here refers to the Word, the beginning and source of all things. So, put differently, the passage informs us that God made the heavens and the earth in his Son, the Eternal Word. He is the beginning of all things, for he brings everything into being. The beginning is, therefore, not of chronology. The created things are beautiful because they are made in and through him.

The fact that the creation of visible light preceded the creation of every other physical thing shows their connection to light. The visible light reveals their beauty as the first earthly creatures, for God made the light before other things. “God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light. God saw that light was good, and God divided light from darkness. God called light ‘day’ and darkness he called ‘night.’” Thus, the physical light and darkness are contrary entities. God created light, while we understand darkness as the absence of light. The light reveals the physical beauty of material creation by colours reflecting from their material constitutions. Scientists have discovered that the material universe is expanding at the speed of light. The relationship and interconnectivity between material things constituting the material universe, governed by light as energy, is something of wonder for the human mind. In this sense, we also understand the light as the created wisdom with which God created all things material. The created wisdom embracing the material creation reveals the footprint of the Word.

The gospel tells of the appearance of Jesus Christ and his disciples at Genesaret. Just as the light attracts our attention with its beauty and makes everything it illuminates attractive; the same way the Son of Man attracts us and illuminates our innermost being. By his presence, he heals and casts out the works and presence of evil in us. The gospel witnesses these effects of Jesus on people. “And wherever he went, to village, or town, or farm, they laid down the sick in the open spaces, begging him to let them touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all those who touched him were cured.” Because Jesus Christ is the Eternal Light made man for us, his presence drives away every form of spiritual darkness from us. Because God created the physical light through the Eternal Word to serve the purpose of God, it is not surprising that physical healings follow spiritual healing. Thus, the more our knowledge of Jesus Christ, the more beautiful and divine we become. Saint Scholastica was made beautiful by her contemplation of Jesus Christ. She was born in Nursia around 480, as the twin sister to St. Benedict. She was dedicated to God from an early age and followed her brother to Cassino. She embraced the monastic vocation with her brother and spent her life in contemplation and following of Jesus Christ. She died about 547. According to Saint Gregory, Benedict saw a vision of her soul leaving her body in the form of a dove flying up to the secret places of heaven. We implore her prayers for the grace to dedicate our lives to contemplate Jesus Christ, our Eternal Light.

Let us pray: As we celebrate anew the Memorial of the Virgin Saint Scholastica, we pray, O Lord, that, following her example, we may serve you with pure love and happily receive what comes from loving you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.  

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