Wednesday Gospel Reflection

Genesis tells us that God began his act of creation with light: “‘Let there be light’; and there was light.  And God saw that the light was good.” 

A simple exercise can convince anyone that God is right: close your eyes and imagine never opening them again.  Then open them, and you will immediately see that light is good.  Without light, nothing can be seen, light is in fact that by which all things are visible.  But as with the physical, so with the spiritual.  The Gospel of John echoes Genesis by describing the Word, though whom all things were made, a Word that is the “life of men” and is the “true light that enlightens every man.”  Such a Light is very good indeed!  By this Word and this Light, we can know and see Truth and Goodness that are otherwise indistinguishable in darkness. 

What a wonderful thing, how astonishing a gift it is to be able to know Truth and to experience Goodness!  Compared to the chaos of confusion and the cruel banality of evil, the Light of Christ is even better than any physical light. And so it is with sadness that we encounter this line from today’s reading from the Gospel of John: “the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”   The distractions of everyday life can make us forget the goodness of the Light of Christ.

The Easter Vigil liturgy thus reminds us of the power of the Light of Christ.  The light of the Paschal candle spreads from one single flame to the candles of all those present without diminishment.  The Lumen Christi lights up the whole Church and reminds us that “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (Jn 1:5).  The darkness has not overcome the light because the love of God, as made known to us in the Son, embodied Word and Light, is more powerful than any evil deed.  In other words, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”