WHERE IS OUR SOURCE OF LIGHT?
The
evangelist John, in line with the Gospel we have read in the Second Sunday of
Advent, unfolds further details regarding Jesus’ cousin, Elizabeth and
Zachariah’s son. Indeed, the evangelist reminds us the dialogues John the
Baptist entertained with the Priests and the Levites, who came to him from
Jerusalem to question his identity: was he the awaited Messiah, God’s anointed
one? “No” –John answered– “I’m [simply] a voice of one crying out in the desert
‘make straight the way of the Lord’ as Isaiah the prophet said” (John 1:23). While
praying this New Testament passage, St Augustine wrote: “John is the voice, but the Lord is the Word who was in the beginning.
John is the voice that lasts for a time; from the beginning Christ is the Word
who lives forever. Take away the word, the meaning, and what is the voice?
Where there is no understanding, there is only a meaningless sound. The voice
without the word strikes the ear but does not build up the heart.” (Serm 293, 3: PL
1328-1329).
John the Baptist –writes the evangelist– “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” (John 1:7). This passage
echoes the Prologue of the same Gospel: “The true light, which enlightens
everyone, was coming into the world” (John 1:9).
When we compare the Gospel reading of this Third
Sunday of Advent with the apparition at La Salette, we find a striking
parallelism between John the Baptist and Our Lady. They both came to testify to
the light. Both John the Baptist and Our Lady are Christ-centered. They find
their consistency in being “second” and not “first”, and in pointing to the One
who is the light, so that, enlightened by Him, we can become and be light. They
both are “voices” pointing to the One who is the “Word” made flesh.
We often talk about “New Evangelization” and about
news ways to share our faith in our contemporary society. But both John the
Baptist and Mary remind us that one thing is actually essential: to be exposed
to the One who is the Light in order to follow him and have the light of life: “I
am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but
will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12)
In this Third Sunday of Advent we are invited to
ask ourselves: where do we find our source of “Light” so that we can become and
be “light?”
Our Tradition has always pointed out two main sources, i.e. the
Eucharistic table and the table of the Word of God (especially the so called Lectio
Divina). While most of us are quiet familiar with the first one, what about
the second one?
What place has the Bible (studied and prayed) in our own lives?
How much time do we devote to be exposed to the Word of God?
God bless you.
Fr. Flavio Gillio, M.S.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Dear Friends....
Please share with us your comments of our
Daily Reflections.
How has it touched you?
How has it helped you in your Lenten journey?
You may post your comment here
or confidently share with me
@
E-Mail it to us at
lasaletteshrinedirector@gmail.com