Darkness and light

Sometimes I get discouraged, bogged down, frazzled. I begin to wonder if life has meaning. My sense of God’s loving presence fades to grey. But I have a promise: Jesus says, “A little while later you will see me.”

If I look back over the years, I see that periods of grey have alternated with periods of brightness, when life had meaning and direction. At other times, life looks very black: I lose a job, a home, a loved one.

But in the midst of my anguish, I remember the promise: impossible as it may seem, these dark times will come to an end. “A little while later you will see me.…You will cry and weep; you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into gladness.”

Lord, help me to hang on through the darkest hours until I see your light again.

At first hearing, Jesus’ command to his friends sounds too easy to be true. Jesus tells them that they are to love. But this is easier said than done and certainly more complicated than the list-specific “shalts” and “shalt nots” of the Ten Commandments.

If we try to learn love from watching television and movies, love looks easy. Simply take pleasure in someone and, when the warm feelings fade, walk away. If we learn love from watching and listening to Jesus in the gospels, our task is much harder.

Jesus’ love is total giving—life-giving, giving to the one being loved. By our love we give joy to others without regard for our own feelings. But even more deeply, love is a giving of our self. This is the beginning of laying down one’s life for another.

But if we are to give such love, we must first know love. We must begin to grasp the depth of God’s love for us—for every part of us. In the Sunday liturgy we gather precisely to learn, remember, and celebrate this love; and in celebrating we come to know it in the depth of our being.

Today, while basking in God’s abundant love, let us focus on the sign of peace. Forget the timid wave—grasp a hand. Make eye contact. Look into the yearnings within the other person. It is there that the love and peace of Christ will truly find a home.

Margaret Bick