S1 E8: The Gift of Light

Transcript

Carol Vassar:

From SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut, I'm Carol Vassar, and this is Living in Faith, Hope, and Love. Each week, our Pastor, Father Mark Suslenko, delves into Scripture, shares insights from the saints, prophets, and theologians, and discusses practical ways to cultivate faith, strengthen hope, and embody love in the world around us. Through his reflections and spiritual encouragement, this podcast aims to inspire you to live your Catholic faith with joy and purpose. Welcome. 

We live in a world where there is no shortage of despair, hurt, pain, loneliness, and brokenness. It’s a complicated and confusing world where so many struggle to find their way through this world’s darkness. Yet through our baptism, we are called to be light to those in the dark and help them wherever and whenever they come into our lives. Our Christian light is a gift to be given to others, according to Father Mark, and he talks about just that in his podcast today. First up, though, we hear the Gospel reading for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord for February 2, 2025. It comes to us fromLuke, Chapter 2, verses 22-32: 

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.  Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.  He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”

The Gospel of the Lord

“The Gift of Light,” by Father Mark S. Suslenko, Pastor, SS. Isidore and Maria Parish, Glastonbury, Connecticut

Father Mark Suslenko:

Today's feast of the Presentation of the Lord has also commonly been referred to as Candlemas. Day, that time in the church's calendar when it stops and blesses the candles that would be used liturgically throughout the year, but also devotional candles as well. Scripture tells us that Jesus is the light of revelation. So, candles in our faith have a very powerful symbolic value.  And so when we begin to reflect upon the whole concept of light, that, too, can provide some very fruitful reflection for our spiritual growth.  

Jesus is the light. 

First of all, light illuminates our path. not only the path of our eyes so that we don't stumble and fall in the darkness, but the path of our minds and our hearts and our souls as well. It is common to hear the word enlightenment as a phrase which describes someone becoming more aware of things than they were before, gaining a particular type of wisdom and insight. 

So illuminating the path of our life is crucial  to being successful as a human being,  and Jesus,  being that light,  gives us the opportunity to then take that light, which is given to us in baptism, and to use it to illuminate our own way, to  enlighten how we see ourselves,  how we see our paths to one another,  and how we go forth into the world  as Christians, too. 

Light illuminates our path.  

The other very interesting thing about light is that it always exists for others and not for itself.  If light didn't have something to illuminate, there would be no purpose for it. So if the whole concept of reality was reduced to two entities, darkness and light,  there would be no purpose for light, because darkness would be quite content  on its own. 

If you refer back to the early stages of Genesis, the condition of the whole of creation was in darkness before God brought light to it.  So, light exists for others, not for itself. So, being Christ bearers, having received the light of Christ, we are then called to be that light for others, and that changes up how we view ourselves, how we view life. It's no longer just about us. Our lives are meant to be lived for others, to bring that light to others. Let's face it, we live in a world where there is no shortage of darkness, no shortage of despair, or hurt,  or pain,  or loneliness,  or woundedness,  or brokenness. There is no shortage of people who simply do not know who they really are and struggle to find their way.  

In the midst of all of this confusion is the question of who am I?  And the world struggles so desperately to provide an answer.  However, as light bearers, as people who bear that light of Christ, we can be healers to this broken world. We can help to take that which is broken and make it more whole. We can bring redemption to sinfulness, joy to sorrow, and show people a different path to resolving conflict. Therefore, our job is not necessarily to react to all that is going on around us and becoming more angry and frustrated ourselves, but to act in positive, concrete ways that can leave a trace  of the light of Christ behind us.  

The light exists for others and not just for itself.  

And lastly, light is not always a welcome gift. It is something that quite often is resisted. If we're very honest with ourselves, we all have these little corners, that we don't want to look at within.  These are corners of greed, of hypocrisy, corners of sinfulness, of brokenness, corners where pride exists, corners where we struggle with lust, corners where we don't act in the manner in which we want to act and hide from who we really are.  When the light of Christ pierces into our soul, we don't like always that illumination to occur, because it's going to show us things about ourselves that we would rather not see, and so we resist.  All of us have to admit to truly be people of the Gospel requires a lot of sacrifice, and sometimes it's easier to just pull down the shade  and live in the secrecy of our darkness, pretending that all is well and there's no more that I need to do. 

And so light illuminates our paths. It exists for others, not for itself, and it's something that is often resisted because it shows us things that we do not want to see.  But yet we're given this gift of light. We do not provide it ourselves. Baptism has provided that for us, and Christ has placed the light of his presence in each one of our souls. 

St. Augustine has a great analogy about that light.  And remember, especially those who are younger, St. Augustine grew up in a time when you walked in the room, and you didn't flip a switch or tell Alexa to turn the lights on. There was an age in which rooms were illuminated by lamps, usually fueled by oil.  And so, Saint Augustine said, if somebody lights a lamp for you in your house, would you not want to do all you can to keep that lamp filled with oil?  And there's a lot of truth in that for our spiritual lives, Christ has ignited the light of his love in our hearts and souls.  Would we not want to do all in our power to keep that filled with oil so that that light can continue to shine brightly?  Because it's very difficult, especially in this day and age, to go out into this world and be that Christian who is a healer and not a divider. And that means working earnestly at our spiritual lives, coming frequently to the sacraments to be nourished, and doing all in our power to make sure that we are spiritually well and ready to do the work that is before us. 

The light of Christ doesn’t just illuminate our own paths, but the path on which we trod that brings us to one another and to God as well.

Carol Vassar:

Father Mark Suslenko is the pastor of SS. Isidore and Maria Parish in Glastonbury, Connecticut. If you like what you've heard today, please subscribe to Living in Faith, Hope, and Love on your favorite podcast app, and take a moment to leave a review.

SS. Isidore and Maria is an active parish community, so whether you’re a long-time parishioner or are just getting to know us through this podcast, we welcome you to join us at Masses or any of our other community events and services. Visit our parish website - isidoreandmaria.org - for a full schedule of Masses, services and other happenings. That's isidoreandmaria.org. We're also active on Facebook and Instagram.

On behalf of Father Mark, I'm Carol Vassar, and we thank you for listening to this episode of Living in Faith, Hope, and Love.