DAILY DEVOTIONAL

Monday, November 12, 2018

To the disciples gathered on the Galilean hillside, Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven … “ – Matthew 5:14-16

It is stated as both a fact and hope …“Fellow Galileans, fellow children of Israel, you ARE the light of the world!”  And for we who seek to be radiant with the Presence of Christ, these words apply to us as well … wherever we might be found on the face of the earth … we serve as lantern and lighthouse to all the nations of the earth, for the new Realm of God is a universal realm.  The new Realm of God recognizes no borders.  The new Realm of God is an international community, one might say a supra-national community, not allied or alloyed with any form of nationalism or ethnicity.  We ARE a light to all the world, in all the world, for all the world.  And we are TO BECOME a brighter and purer Light to all the world, in all the world, for all the world.

The people listening to Christ on that hillside were keenly and personally aware of the Roman military occupation of their land.  And before the Romans, the Greeks, the Assyrians, Babylonians each in their turn and their time occupied their land.  And with each occupation, there were Galileans who were dispersed into foreign populations yet still were ever mindful of their history with God as children of Abraham and Israel.  Thus they were not isolated from other nations of the earth, but to the contrary, they served as a highway for the nations in their international commerce and in their wars and conquests.

To serve as a Light to the world, what might that mean?  The shining example, but an example of what?  The guiding light, but guiding who and to where?  The lamp in the night, but for what purpose.  The shining example … of love and mercy.  The guiding light … to both home and promised lands.  The lamp in the night … to behold more clearly both truth and wisdom.

We, in Christ, are to be radiant with the Pure Light of God, un-tinted by the prejudices of any one worldly culture, unfiltered by the limitations of politics and self-interest, dimmed by the ideologies of worldly power.

Loved Ones, we are to serve as and then serve all the better as the Light of the Radiant Christ.

Always in Christ’s Service,

Fr. Charitas de la Cruz