Have you seen the commercials for “portable lights?” They have high-intensity halogen bulbs and are powered by batteries. If we can believe the commercials, these small lamps can light up entire spaces just be sticking them on a wall. When there is a power outage, two or three of these portable lamps are able to light up an entire house—so they say.
We seem to be living in the middle of a “power outage” in the world. It seems that many people of our age are wandering around in the dark trying to make sense of their lives. In the midst of the darkness God supplies “portable lights.” And, guess what, we are those lights. He sends us to people and situations where light and love is needed.
Today, the feast day of the “great encourager,” St. Barnabas, the Church reminds us that we, like this great apostle, are God’s lights in the world (Matthew 5:13-16).
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house.”
Jesus shares with us the unique title that belongs to Him alone—“light of the world.” At baptism God planted Jesus in our hearts so that his light might shine through us to the world. Though there are times in which we prefer to go into hiding and escape the world, God desires otherwise. He looks around a dark world and finds lampstands where he can place each of us. What are these lampstands? It may be a family setting, a workplace, a parish church, a nursing home or a coffee shop that we frequent. God places us in various places, not so we will change and control them, but so that he might shine his light there.
“Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”
Notice the word, “must.” Jesus is not giving us a suggestion. The world is in desperate need of his light. We must let his light shine in us. Why? So that people will see God’s love in us and turn to him as their source of hope. Each day, he stirs his light in us anew and then sends out a “battalion of lights” into the nooks and crannies of the world. This is his plan for inserting his presence in the world. Do we realize how important we are?
When our own lights seem to be going out, we reach out to one another to help fan the flame of the Holy Spirit inside us. In one of the verses of the song “This Little Light,” we sing with resolve, “I won’t let Satan put it out, I’m gonna let it shine.” Yes, the prince of darkness, wants to keep God’s light out of the world. In spite of his tactics, he has failed to do this for over two thousand years. In fact, after every one of his attacks, the light of Christ shines ever brighter in the Church.
Let us realize our great call to be God’s “portable lights” in the world. Let us seek eagerly the specific lampstands where God wants to place us, and, then take our positions there with confidence and expectation. Through each of us “tiny lamps” God is changing the world.
“All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation by our God”(Ps 98:3).
