“The Light of the World walks among us and we do not recognize Him”
The Monastery
There was once a monastery tucked deep back into a forest, far off the beaten path. The monastery had a reputation for being a place of peace and tranquility. An oasis of calm in the troubled world. and so in spite of the difficulties, people would make a significant detour to visit this holy place.
But after many years the monks began to grow jealous and petty, fighting over insignificant things and harboring anger and resent towards each other. As a result the peaceful calm of the monastery was broken and visitors became less frequent, eventually ceasing all together.
The Abbot of the monastery was deeply distressed over what was happening to his community. He prayed for the wisdom to guide the monks back to the quiet, contemplative life of peace and healing that they had once known.
One night the Abbot had a dream. An angel appeared to him and told him that the Messiah was among the ranks of the monks. The abbot awoke the next morning in a state of excitement. Who could the Messiah be? He knew it wasn’t himself, but who?
At the morning meal he shared his vision with his community. The monks grew silent as the looked at each other. The unspoken question hung in the air, “was this one the Messiah?”
From that day on the mood of the monastery changed. The monks sought each others forgiveness, old grudges were forgotten, and old friendships reestablished. They began to serve each other as they had in the past, replacing anger and animosity with peace and healing. No one wanted to be guilty of slighting the Messiah.
After a while the visitors returned, first one then another, drawn by the remarkable spirit of the place. As word spread the monastery became once again a place of respite from the darkness of the world. All because the monks knew, the Messiah was among them.
It may seem a quaint story but it highlights an important truth. Every human person is a child of God, every person is created in His image and likeness. Every person is deserving of simple respect and dignity. Every baptized person has God dwelling within him. If we understand that God, the Holy Spirit, walks among us in every person we meet, would that not change how we act towards each other?
The Dignity of the Person
Every person has value, and every person is here for a purpose. That person that annoys you so much may be here solely to smooth your rough edges, to help make you a saint. And you may be here solely to smooth someone else’s rough edges. How much does our self-centeredness prevent us from seeing beyond our own personal wants and desires?
In today’s Gospel John the Baptizer tells us “there is one among you whom you do not recognize.” Why do we not recognize the Savior among us? Is it because they appear ordinary, just another monk in the monastery? Or is because we have lost the ability to see the value and dignity and worth of the “other?”
In its most common translation, the first chapter of the Gospel according to John, verse 5, reads “the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” The word “overcome is interesting here. It is a translation of the word “katalambanō.” Other translations, such as Douay Rheims, translate the word as, “comprehend.” “And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” The darkness cannot conquer the light because the darkness does not understand the light. In two thousand years, not much has changed in this regard. The Light of the World walks among us and we do not recognize Him because we no longer understand Him. We are too caught up in our own private little worlds. By insulating ourselves from the world around us, we not only lose the ability to see the needs of others, we lose the ability to even recognize them.
Our society has created two ideologies that have nearly split our country in half. Each side claims the moral high ground. But which side, if either, can more easily understand the other? And which side simply cannot comprehend the arguments of the other, let alone discuss them?
There is a cycle in salvation history. When humanity reaches the point that is furthest away from God, when we have descended into the darkness of sin and ignorance, someone appears to lead us back into the light. It is in darkness that we lose the straight way and are in danger of wandering from the path. But the light is there to lead us, if we are ready to look for it.
We owe much of our salvation to one of our own, a person wandering around with us in darkness. But unlike the rest of us, she saw the light and although she may not have understood it fully, she knew that it came to save us.
It was Mary’s “fiat” that allowed the light into our darkness. Through Mary’s obedience the Light made Himself known.
Today, the Third Sunday of Advent, is known as Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete is Latin for “Rejoice!” For a brief moment during the season of Advent, we celebrate. We celebrate that we are halfway through this period of waiting with its’ penitential mood. We celebrate that we can see in the darkness a glimpse of the light that is to come. We celebrate Mary, our mother, who alone saw the light while the rest of us were blind, and brought it to us to banish our darkness.
Ave Maria
3rd Sunday of Advent