“Sing a new song to the Lord,” we pray in today’s
responsorial psalm, Psalm 96. A Savior
has been born for us. God has taken on
flesh and dwells among us. A Light has
entered the darkness of our world, a world made dark by sin, specifically by our
lack of love for our brothers and sisters. St. John says to us in today’s first
reading, 1 John 2: 3-11, “Whoever says he
[or she] is in the light, yet hates his [or her] brother [or sister] is still
in the darkness. Whoever loves his [her] brother [or sister] remains in the
light, and there is nothing in him [or her] to cause a fall. Whoever hates his
[her] brother [or sister] is in darkness; he [or she] walks in darkness and does
not know where he [or she] is going because the darkness has blinded his [or
her] eyes.”
As I reflect on John’s messages, I need to seriously examine
to what extent I fulfill the commandment to love my fellow human beings. The love I show to any brother or sister is
the love I show to God. The love I withhold, I also withhold from God. To the
extent that I lack love, I also lack the light. I then walk in darkness and do
not know where I am going “because darkness has blinded” my eyes. When surrounded with darkness, within or
without, I am likely to be overcome with fear and hopelessness. My words and actions then spread a
darkness. The solution? Basking in the Light Who is
Christ the Lord and being rejuvenated by God’s grace that comes to me through
the Scriptures, the liturgy, the sacraments, and through acts of humility,
repentance and, yes, love and reconciliation with those I am called upon to show
love on a daily basis!
To whom do I need to reach out in love, asking forgiveness? In what
ways am I called upon to walk in the light, that is to walk humbly with my God, to do what is right and to
love tenderly (See Micah 6:8)?
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