LIGHTING UP OUR LAMPS

SUNDAY, FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME  

Isa 54:7-10; Ps 112:4-9; 1 Cor 2:1-5; Mt 5:13-16

Let your Light Shine before Men

God made us in his own image, and we have understood this to mean that God made us rational. It is one thing to possess a rational nature, and another to live a rational life. So, we have considered our rationality to imply that we are made to contain or house God. Rationality, which is the ability to reason to knowledge of truth, would have to know the truth to live rationally. The scriptures present God as the Truth, from whom every living thing came to be. Since creatures that God made are truths by their being, the implication is that God made us to know creatures enroute to the knowledge of God, their maker and ours. The duty to know the truth is attached or inherent to our nature. This duty requires that we pay attention to both creation and God. From creation, we learn the same truth of God in a mediated way, but from God, we receive direct enlightenment of truth. However, the two are the same, as they originate from the same source and concern God. Therefore, truth is the light which illuminates our rational nature and makes it radiant and God-like. Thus, the divine project of making man and woman like God is achieved only through the enlightenment of truth. Subsequently, we consider physical creation as a school of divine transformation and development of man and woman.

Proceeding from this fundamental perspective, we firmly believe that God’s intention to make man and woman in the likeness of God was never interrupted by the original sin, but that it was part and parcel of the planned project. This is clear from our understanding of God’s knowledge of all things, even before they occur or come into existence. In our previous reflection, we presented the Garden of Eden and the trial that took place therein as a training of the divine model that is man. That God made man rational implies that he has to employ his intelligence in making choices and determining himself within the ambit of his free will and rational nature. The rational nature of man would be a myth or a farce without the trial of our ability to reason, know, and determine ourselves, which would make us like God. Man’s failure in the original examination only revealed the need for more education and training, for us to make more informed choices. Making more informed choices brings us to shine brighter each time. This is what God reveals through the prophet Isaiah. “Thus says the Lord: ‘Share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor, clothe the man you see to be naked, and do not turn from your own kin. Then will your light shine like the dawn, and your wound be quickly healed over. Your integrity will go before you and the glory of the Lord behind you.”

The actions demanded of us by the Lord are evident everywhere in natural things; we do not see or learn from these natural things God created for our education because we are not paying attention to creation and to God. Plants produce their fruits to share with us and take care of their needs. Likewise, animals in different species freely and happily share their produce with us in praise of God. We are the one creature that hoards things for self in negligence of our kind and God’s will for us. This tardiness in sharing ourselves and our possessions is a consequence of sin and its corruption of our nature. Hence, the redemptive grace of our Lord Jesus Christ frees us from our slavery to self and evil. It changes our focus and attention back to God and his creation, and enables us to love God above self and every other thing. Our Lord, therefore, called his disciples salt of the earth. “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt becomes tasteless, what can make it salty again? It is good for nothing, and can only be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.”

We can lose the saltiness, because it is not within our nature, made to be a container of the salt that is God. We are called salt insofar as God dwells in us through his Word and Spirit. In the same sense, Jesus calls us the light of the world. “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill-top cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lamp-stand where it shines for everyone in the house.” The analogy is apt and clarifies our explanation above. The Word of God is the Light because He is the Truth. We are called light when we contain Him and live by His Spirit. The light of the lamp can go off, and the salt can lose its saltiness; we can lose the truth of God when we get distracted from Jesus Christ. Saint Paul considers himself a light on the lamp-stand to enlighten the Corinthian Christian community and all of us. He preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ to them without any admixture of self or the wisdom of this world. “When I came to you, brothers, it was not with any show of oratory or philosophy, but simply to tell you what God had guaranteed. During my stay with you, the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ.” Like Saint Paul, we are called to receive, contain, and transmit the Gospel of Christ Jesus for the salvation of all whom we come in contact with. Our words and lives must reflect our belief in the incarnation, human life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Anything outside these spreads the darkness of error and not Christ.

Let us pray: Keep your family safe, O Lord, with unfailing care, that, relying solely on the hope of heavenly grace, they may be defended always by your protection. 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.