Let your light shine

Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A

One of the most condescending put-downs is when you tell someone, “Don’t try to be so holy!” I guess it would be far too generous to accord any value to these words. But in all fairness, what the person may have wanted to say is that we shouldn’t be flaunting our piety in public. Did not the Lord Himself caution us to not parade our good deeds among men? Although, the ‘good deed’ may always be a good thing, showing off or virtue signalling, is always a bad thing. The former springs from charity, the second is a form of boasting which springs from pride. Nonetheless, the danger is that the advice risked reinforcing modern culture’s penchant for relegating faith to the private sphere. In a world, where the “coming out” of the closet of every sordid lifestyle is celebrated, it is ironic that many would insist that faith should remain locked up in the darkest dungeons.

Detrich Bonheoffer in The Cost of Discipleship writes about this idea of the privatisation of faith when he says that flight into the invisible is a denial of the call. In other words, when Christians think they can conceal their faith and just sort of fade into the background, when the Church ceases to be a prophetic sign confronting the evils of every era with her life-giving message, when we buy into the idea that conforming to the values of the mainstream will ensure our survival or at least buy us more time, we have literally denied what it means to be followers of Christ. Pope Francis, in his first encyclical, Lumen Fidei, reminds us that our Christian faith is unabashedly and unapologetically public. To privatise faith or to hide it is to make a travesty of it. The Church is no secret society. We are meant to be the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world.”

These metaphors are meant to stir things up. We are meant to make a difference in the world around us rather than simply conform to the values of the culture that surrounds us. Jesus tells us, “Your light must shine in the sight of men, so that, seeing your good works, they may give praise to your Father in heaven.” To paraphrase, “Christians must come out of their closets!”

In the gospel of St John, Jesus tells us, that “He” is the light of the world. It’s good to remember this. You cannot make yourself the light of the world. You are the light of the world only because of your relationship with Him. It is the light of Christ that shines in us, not some self-created light. To shine the light of Christ is Christian witnessing. To shine our own light is narcissism.

If we are of the light, why would so many choose to remain in the darkness? The answer lies in the effect the light has on us. Many choose to remain in the shadows and in the darkness because the light can be repulsive – it exposes filth and scars. It was this very quality of light that our Lord so vividly described in John 3:19-20, “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.” Yet, this very light can affect us in a different manner. Light reveals truth, the beauty of truth. It reveals truth about ourselves. We never see ourselves truly until we see ourselves in the context of Christ. In His light, we come to recognise that we are sinners in need of a Saviour. He is “the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,”; He is “the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

But today, so many Catholics have the tendency to dull the light. Instead of standing out, we choose to blend in, to hide our distinctiveness, to be discretely Christian. Eventually, we confine our faith to the private and personal sphere. I believe many Catholics today suffer from a certain moral bi-polarity. We behave ‘churchy’ in the church setting and ‘worldly’ when we are out there in the world. We don't seek to demonstrate the contrast between the light of our faith and the world’s darkness because we don’t see the necessity. We simply resign ourselves to an amphibious existence. We eventually learn to blend in with the surrounding darkness rather than shine as we should.

This, of course, is the exact opposite of the truth. The truth is that we let our light shine the brightest when the contrast is the greatest. In order for light to be noticed, it must shine in darkness. Remember the caution of our Lord, “No one lights a lamp to put it under a tub; they put it on the lampstand where it shines for everyone in the house.” None of you may have the opportunity to preach a stirring sermon from the pulpit, but, you get to do it every day in the ordinary circumstances of life. The marketplace, your workplace, your school or college, on social media, your neighbourhood, and every social or public engagement provide you the greatest opportunities to shine, that is, to demonstrate the difference it makes in having Christ in your lives.

Being “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” is not easy. It’s not meant for wussies. In fact, you would have to face derision, rejection, humiliation and sometimes even death. But to die for Christ is always worth it. Pandering to a lie for the sake of mere survival and social acceptance, is not.

Being “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” can happen in so many simple and varied ways.
When we respond in kindness to our enemies, our salt gives taste and light shines.
When we give a person who has erred another chance when the world wouldn't, our salt gives taste and our light shines.
When we tell others that the most important thing in our lives is Jesus Christ and not success, and then live so they can see that it’s true, our salt gives taste and our light shines.
When we risk looking the fool for Christ where others dare not, our salt gives taste and light shines.
When we stand up for the Truth even though deception and silence seem so much more profitable, our salt gives taste and our light shines.

Our contemporary world continues to work towards dulling the taste and dimming the lights of religious expression. Our Holy Father Pope Francis is convinced that “there is an urgent need, then, to see once again that faith is a light, for once the flame of faith dies out, all other lights begin to dim.” (Lumen Fidei No. 4) So we live like Jesus, we fight the battles with darkness. We bring truth to the blind and ignorant. We bring hope to those burdened by sin. We bring acceptance to the forgotten and unloved. To those confused about life, we bring God’s word. To the sad, we bring joy. To the impatient, we bring a reason to be calm. To the morally confused, we bring the certainty of revelation. Bring taste to a morally bland world! Let your light shine! Not that you enjoy the spotlight. No, shine so that Christ may be better known. When we imitate Christ’s love, mercy and generosity, the world will be a brighter place and seeing our good works, all peoples will glorify our Heavenly Father.