DAILY MEDITATION: "Light came into the world"

Liturgical day: Wednesday of the Second Week of Easter

Gospel text (Jn 3,16-21): God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him will not be condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. And this is the verdict, that the light came into the world, but people preferred darkness to light, because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come toward the light, so that his works might not be exposed. But whoever lives the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God.

"Light came into the world"

Fr. Damien LIN Yuanheng
(Singapore, Singapore)

Today with the myriad of opinions in modern living, it may seem that truth does not exist —truth about God, truth about gender issue, truth about marriage, moral truths, and, ultimately, truth about me.

Today's gospel passage identifies Christ to be "the way, and the truth, and the life" (Jn 14, 6). Separate from Christ, there is only desolation, falsehood and death. There is one and only one road to heaven and it is called Jesus Christ.

Christ is not just another opinion. Christ is Truth itself. To deny truth is like someone who insists in closing his eyes from the sun-light. Whether he likes it or not, the sun will always be there; but the poor fellow has freely chosen to close his eyes from the sun of truth. Likewise, many spend themselves in their career with sheer willpower; they claim to fulfill their full potential, forgetting that they could only attain the truth about themselves by walking with Christ.

On the other hand, according to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, "each person finds his good by adherence to God's plan for him, in order to realize it fully: in this plan, he finds his truth, and through adherence to this truth he becomes free (cf. Jn 8, 32)" (Encyclical Letter "Caritas in Veritate"). The truth of each one is a calling to be a son or daughter of God in the heavenly home: "For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1Thess 4, 3). God wants free daughters and sons, not slaves.

Truly, the perfect “I” is a joint project between God and I. When we strive for holiness, we begin to reflect the truth of God in our lives. The Pope said it beautifully: "Each saint is like a ray of light that shines forth from the Word of God" (Apostolic Exhortation "Verbum Domini").

Source: evangeli.net