Lumen Cæcis—Light for the Blind
In the First Reading (1
Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a), we hear how God sends the prophet Samuel to go anoint a
king He has provided for Himself among the sons of Jesse. This should
remind us, Christians, of how God, after giving us life, provided us for
Himself at our baptism, making us priests, prophets and kings. He made us
His children who are to offer up prayers and sacrifices to Him (priests), to
proclaim His message to the world (prophets), and thereby to order the world in
justice according to His purposes (kings). While we live on earth, we have a
mission.
So, how do we fulfill
this mission?
The simple answer is by
becoming saints. And we know that we become saints by living holy lives;
that is what it means to know God, to love Him and to serve Him, the reward of
which is to see Him forever in Heaven. Mother Church has always reminded us of
this call and mission, as we hear in the words of the Second
Vatican Council:
Therefore, in the Church, everyone … is called to holiness, according to
the saying of the Apostle: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (Lumen
Gentium, 39).
It is very crucial
that we become saints, that we live holy lives. For one thing, if we, as
Christians, fail to fulfil this mission, then we would have denied the world a
much-needed light. Christ, Himself our Light (Jn 9:5), calls us the “light
of the world” (Mt 5:14), a light that shines in the darkness (cf. Jn 1:5)
of a world so pervaded and blinded by sin, by war, by hatred, by pride, by
lust, by foolishness. We know that it is often very easy to dwell in the
darkness, to satisfy our desires, to follow our every evil inclination, to be
what we want and do what we want, but that would mean to extend and expand even
more, the reign of Satan.
As Christians, we have
been given a light—we have been made a light. Once we were in darkness, but by
our baptism, God has made us a light (Eph 5:8). This light is not given so that
it should be hidden (Mt 5:15). We must put it on top of the hills (cf. Mt 5:14),
we must show it to the world. This great gift is not given as some sort of
selfish, private privilege; it is given for the world, for all God’s creation.
He, as a loving Father, sees how too often many of His children are blinded by
sin, so He makes of us a “light for the blind (lumen cæcis)” so we can
show them the way back to their divine purpose.
As already implied,
the first way we shine this light is by living holy lives, by following
the commandments of God. Still, we know all too well how we often desire this
but are immediately faced with our immense weakness. Should we then abandon
this holy enterprise? No, we cannot! Because we also know that God, who has
called us to this lofty mission, has also provided the necessary helps we need:
He gives us grace; His Holy Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness (Rom 8:26);
through the Church, He gives us a treasury of prayers and devotions to raise
our minds and hearts to Him that He may communicate to us His strength, first
and highest among them is the Holy Mass. And then there is Confession when we
fail through sin; and then there’s the saints who are proofs that to become a
saint is indeed possible, and who help us with their example and prayers. We
find that, once we set out to fulfill our God-given purpose and mission, we
shall never want for anything (Ps 23:1) because indeed God’s grace is enough (2
Cor 12:9), and despite our weakness we are strong in Christ our Master (2 Cor
12:10).
Following from this,
through prayer and spiritual direction, we must seek out the path that God has
chosen for us, something the Church calls our vocation. It is important
to note that all of us share the same vocation or call to holiness, but
we can walk this path in different states of life: God made us to serve him in
different ways, some people are called to the hierarchy or ordained
ministry of the Church as bishops, priests and deacons; others to the married
state of life; still others to the celibate state (consecrated life) as,
for example, religious men and women. As St Catherine of Siena put it, we must “become
who God meant us to be and … set the world on fire”.
It is by discovering our vocation and living it fully that we can “walk as children of light” (Eph 5:8) even when everything around us is darkness. St Francis tell us that “all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle”. At school, in class, in our workplace, in our home—wherever we are—we need to be that light that guides God’s people back to the right path; God needs us to be His saints who bring Christ, the lumen (light) to the gentes (nations).
Cover image: Christ in the Carpenter's Shop by Georges de La Tour (1593-1652)Thus it is evident to everyone, that all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity; by this holiness as such a more human manner of living is promoted in this earthly society. In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ. They must follow in His footsteps and conform themselves to His image seeking the will of the Father in all things. They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbour. In this way, the holiness of the People of God will grow into an abundant harvest of good, as is admirably shown by the life of so many saints in Church history (Lumen Gentium, 40).
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