Light in all its many forms is a gift from God. Isaiah offers the people of Israel an image of light pouring over them, blanketing them in God’s splendor: the glory of the Lord shines upon you! The exile of the people had been a time of darkness; now, upon their return to their homeland, they themselves will serve as a beacon of God’s glory for all the world, a revelation of God’s goodness: Nations shall walk by your light, and kings by your shining radiance. And the emotional consequences of God’s gift are powerful: your heart shall throb and overflow, Isaiah tells them, so that the blessings of the Lord will be made manifest to all. Indeed, as Psalm 72 notes, monarchs from the world over will come to pay tribute to the God of Israel: the kings of Tarshish and the Isles, the kings of Arabia and Seba come to bear witness to the justice and profound peace of Israel’s compassionate God.
A like glory is seen by the magi in Matthew’s Gospel when, following the light of the star, they arrive at the place where the child is. Light in this story is not only a physical entity – the light of a celestial body– but also the realization of the child’s significance: they prostrate themselves and do him homage because they realize they have found the ruler who is to shepherd God’s people Israel. In other words, they see the light! And light in the form of revelation is also the subject of St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: the mystery was made known to me by revelation, he tells them, and it is his responsibility to make this revelation known to the world, namely, that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise of Christ Jesus. It is no longer just the people of Israel who are blessed with God’s light, but all the world.
Where, since Christmas, have we seen the glory of the Lord revealed? Where have our own epiphanies, our sightings of God’s action in our lives, occurred? How can we be that light, the glory of God, revealed to the nations? How do we participate in the revelation that is God’s love for all people? How can we be stewards of God’s grace, and for whom? For we too are called to live salvation so manifestly that it becomes the universal language spoken by our very existence, and thereby bring God’s love, and God’s light, to bear upon the world. May we be a light to the nations, that God’s may indeed reach to the ends of the earth!
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
We must not seek the child Jesus in the pretty figures of our Christmas cribs. We must seek him among the undernourished children who have gone to bed at night with nothing to eat, among the poor newsboys who will sleep covered with newspapers in doorways.
Let us not tire of preaching love; it is the force that will overcome the world.
--St. Oscar Romero
Image source: Lee Silk Kaercher, Waiting for the Wise Men, https://maryloudriedger2.wordpress.com/2019/12/18/waiting-for-the-wise-men/
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Each time I hear these words [of Simeon], I – as I imagine Mary and Joseph did – grow strangely uncomfortable. Listen to them again: “Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.” Beautiful words, to be sure, but also troubling, for let’s not kid ourselves, when Simeon asks that he be allowed to go, he’s asking to die.
And so, I wonder, why does Luke record this strange scene and song? Why would he move from the beauty and light and joy of the nativity straight to Simeon’s morbid request for death?
Take note: St. Luke is clear that Simeon is able to speak of death so honestly only in the light of the coming of the promised messiah, only, that is, by the confidence that in this helpless child God has come to redeem Israel and save all the world… Simeon perceives that in the Christ-child God has kept God’s promises; that in this babe, set for the rising and fall of many, God has acted once and for all to address the question and specter of death with the promise of life.
And so, Simeon does not ask for death; rather, he accepts it courageously and confidently in the light of God’s promised salvation. And he does so only upon seeing and holding God’s promise in his hands, only after touching and feeling the promise of life which God granted to him through Christ… and which God grants also to us.
And so, we continue singing Simeon’s song simply because it tells of God’s great love for us, a love that even death cannot destroy. For, like Simeon, we also need to hear and see and touch and feel God’s promise, the promise that God will be with us and for us forever, the promise announced in the birth of that innocent babe.
--David Lose
Image source: http://ohclectionary.blogspot.com/2014/02/presentation-of-jesus-in-temple-feb-2.html
Quotation source & complete article
For every believer, and especially for Christian families, the humble dwelling place in Nazareth is an authentic school of the Gospel. Here we admire, put into practice, the divine plan to make the family an intimate community of life and love; here we learn that every Christian family is called to be a small ‘domestic church’ that must shine with Gospel virtues. Recollection and prayer, mutual understanding and respect, personal discipline and community asceticism and a spirit of sacrifice, work and solidarity are typical features that make the family of Nazareth a model for every home.
--St. Pope John Paul II, Angelus, December 30, 2001
Image source: El Greco, The Holy Family (1595), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Family_(El_Greco,_Hospital_de_Tavera)#/media/File:El_Greco_028.jpg
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