A part of my 12 Days of Christmas is to work a jigsaw puzzle. The picture you see is this year’s puzzle at its current stage of completion. There is something meditative about a jigsaw puzzle. Somehow, doing one helps me put the year ending in perspective and open myself up to what a new year might bring.
How do you work jigsaw puzzles? I start by separating colors and finding the pieces with a straight edge. Beginning with the corners, I put together the outside of the puzzle. Then I work on some easy part of the middle, organizing by color, analyzing by shape. Soon the design begins to come together. There are always times when it seems I can go no further. Then, a piece is found or I take a break…and the process continues.
Somehow, as the focus on finding a piece helps my brain let go of accumulated clutter, applications of the puzzle process help me review the year. It is as if I put it to rest as the picture emerges on the table.
This year, as I’ve put thoughts together, I’ve also been thinking about today’s readings. The Gospel is one of the most beautiful passages ever written, the beginning of the Gospel of John:
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
The Eternal God, born in Jesus in the manger, existed from the beginning. He was the “logos,” translated in our Bibles as “the Word,” though scholars tell us “logos” has a richer, wider meaning. Jean Vanier describes it this way:
“The Gospel of John begins with an extraordinary poetic, mystical vision of the healing of humanity, which in some way condenses the history of salvation and serves a a capsule version of the whole of this gospel. It is called the “Prologue.” It is centered on the Greek word “Logos,” which is normally translated as the “Word.” This is not incorrect, but “Logos” has a much wider meaning, referring not only to the spoken word but also the idea and thought behind the spoken word, the vision, the plan and the wisdom that inspire it. It is the “Word” that has the power to change, create and transform. “Wisdom” and “Word” both describe divine activity.”
“The darkness has not overcome it.”
As I reflect on 2018, both in the world at large and in my own life, it is easy to see the struggle between God’s Light and the darkness of Evil—whether that be in events in life, political struggles, or violence in word and deed rampant in the world. There are times I choose not to listen to the news. Yet, in my life, in internal struggles, in the little dramas of each day—“the light shines in the darkness.” There has always been light for my path. EVERY DAY. Maybe somedays it was the light of a match, flickering in the wind, but it was always there. Maybe some days I didn’t open the blinds on the windows of my soul to see it, but it was always there.
The Light of Christ was ALWAYS part of the design. It was ALWAYS God’s plan to overcome evil with good, with God’s designs, rules, example, and Spirit. ALWAYS.
The darkness pulls us to believe otherwise. The Gospel of John names it:
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him
Sunday we heard the Gospel of the flight into Egypt. The day after Christmas the Church celebrated the martyrdom of Stephen and on Friday the deaths of the Holy Innocents. We hear all year long how the religious leaders of Jesus’ time rejected him—and eventually had him crucified.
When Jesus lived on earth as part of history, the darkness of evil rejected him, the design “Word” of God.
That was 2000 years ago. The darkness did not win then. It will not win now.
Today…and tomorrow
Then there is this wonderful passage,
But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision
but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us…
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son,
full of grace and truth.
The Word’s Presence on earth as Jesus (and as sacraments today) gives us the power to become children of God—children of Light, of Love, of Goodness.
And the darkness does not, cannot overcome us.
A deep, comforting, energizing thought as I put the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle of 2018 to rest and make ready for 2019.
Happy and blessed New Year…as we walk as God’s children, children of the light.
Prayer:
Lord, thank you for all your goodness to me in 2018. Thank you for the gift to be opened day by day of 2019. Thank you for coming to be “God-with-us,” Emmanuel. Thank you for showing us “the Way” to live as children of the light when you lived and died among the Hebrew people. Thank you for your Church which guides us today. Thank you for the gift of time in 2019 to live as a child of God. Lord, help me to live as a child of God, a child of the Light each and every day of 2019. Forgive me for all the times I lost sight of your light in 2018. Lead me, guide me, Lord.
Jean Vanier quote from Drawn into the Mystery of Jesus through the Gospel of John, New York: Paulist Press, 2004, p 18.
