Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Tine
“You are the light of the world.” (Mt 5:13-16)
Friends in Christ!
After last week’s Gospel in which Jesus spoke to his disciples about the Beatitudes, or the “blessed life,” this Sunday we continue in his famous “Sermon on the mount.” Jesus uses two main images to describe this blessed life: salt and light.
In prayer, I felt most drawn to the image of light. I’ve been drawn in the past to Jesus as the light, as the Gospel of John begins by calling Jesus “the true light that gives light to the world.” Yet in today’s Gospel, Jesus calls us “the light of the world.” In a sense, this doesn’t sit right with me, and certainly as Christians we can fall into a sort of triumphalism, where we think of ourselves as somehow better than others.
Yet the last line gives us an important insight into Jesus’ teaching. We must let our light shine so that others may glorify our heavenly Father. Our light gives glory not to ourselves, but to the Father. For me it is helpful to look at children, or at pictures from my early childhood. The joy and freedom that I discover comes from the fact that the child knows itself to be truly loved by its parents. That love produces light and life that irradiates outwards.
I think for us it is the same. We are the light in as much as we discover and reclaim our belovedness: being beloved sons and daughters of the Father. To reclaim our belovedness means to discover that we are worthy and loved not for our gifts, successes, or possessions. The Father loves you because you are his. And nothing can ever change that.
We are therefore invited to reclaim our belovedness, and in so doing, allow the light of Christ to shine forth in us and our lives. Our light is the Father, shining in us, and his Spirit who inspires us to live the life of the Son. As St. Paul said: “We do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord. For it is the God who said, “Let light shine in the darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2Cor 4:5-6)
May God bless each one of you and may we all discover our belovedness more and more!
Patrick Travers
