Sister Susan’s Reflection: Christ is Our Light

A number of times in the past few weeks, as I opened my blinds in the morning, I have been met with the dawn light - often pink, contrasting beautifully and softly with the snow.  At other times, the dawn is grey, blending with the whiteness as a charcoal drawing does.

At some point the pink glow turns to orange flame as the sun rises in its fullness of glory.  It may not stay steady that way in our vision, because the winter clouds move in or come and go throughout the day.

I have been mesmerized by that light, that beauty. The sun pokes through the trees, just at the tip of them, almost at it most southeast point; within minutes it can be seen fully – the glory of a new day.  In “O Holy Night” we just sang:  “Yonder breaks a new and glorious morn”.  Stunning.  Where would we be without the sun?  We wouldn’t be!  We could not exist without it.

This is our Christmas sign, and message:  Jesus, the Son of God, son of Mary, and let’s not forget faithful Joseph, is our SUN – that which without it, we are not! 

Christ the Light – Lumen Christi – as we just sang, is what we celebrate here, at this Christmas Vigil, at the Christmas Feast tomorrow, for the next 12 days, and every day of every year to come in our lives.

Christ is our Light:  born as a babe in arms, raised as a young and faithful Hebrew son, who became an itinerant preacher as he recognized his own calling and gift. He was a Child and Son of his Father, God.

He was born as we were. He showed us in every passage of Scripture what it means that he is like us. 

We are meant to be like him. We too are born to be light – to open our own eyes, and the eyes of others, to see goodness where it is only dark, justice where there is only pain and evil, peace in place of conflict, and tenderness in place of hardness of heart. 

This past year we have seen things that took our breath away at times – not in a pleasant way:  the pandemic where so many have died because they could no longer breathe, racist acts which roared like a lion and brought death and destruction to many, chaos in our government and division in our country – it has not been a friendly or loving year for so many people, but certainly a memorable one. 

But tonight, it is different. We sang – “The stars are brightly shining.”  We know this week there was a special star. From our vision on Earth, when the planets of Jupiter and Saturn closely aligned with one another, God gave us a very bright star - a phenomenon to behold.  

This is truly a Holy Night for the world. A night Divine – a night God-filled.

Filled with:
the singing of angels,

the bleating of shepherds’ flocks, the songs of multiple choirs singing tonight and as they did through past ages, blending with our music and that of the heavens, the oceans, the stars, the animals, and the crying of babies – born in the same way as Jesus was.

This night takes our breath away differently.  The light shines brightly on this Feast of the Incarnation, presenting to us something else which gives us Hope and Joy.  In the Incarnation, God takes flesh, Christ is here, salvation is now, and life is a gift for eternity.  

We could not be more blessed than we are with the gift of this Holy Night, and our presence here together to celebrate it.