A Light in the Darkness

Inspired by a Homily

Good evening/morning everyone.

As you notice, the liturgical colors of this fourth Sunday in Lent are rose (pink if you prefer).

“Laetare means “rejoice” — in the Latin text. On Laetare Sunday the Church expresses hope and joy in the midst of our Lenten disciplines of fasting, prayer, and almsgiving.

This change in color gives us a reminder of the joy at Easter, just before we enter into the “somber days” of Holy Week and the Passion of our Lord. It reminds us of Gaudete Sunday in Advent, where the liturgical color is also rose, giving a pause in the penitential season leading to Christmas joy. So, we rejoice that light is entering the world –  in the darkness and passion of Jesus leading to Easter resurrection. 

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a student at Western Washington University, just up the hill. Of the many classes I attended, one of my favorites was a psychology class named “Perception.” This was a class presenting and analyzing how our senses perceive the world around us. We had a few field trips for this class and one of those was to the basement of Miller Hall, part of Red Square.

The instructor took the whole class to the large storage room in the basement for an experiment and experience of light and darkness. Upon entering, everything was lit-up and we settled into our seats. After a few minutes the instructor turned off the lights and all was blackness – no light was in the room and you could not see even your hands in front of your face. He continued to lecture from his seat for ½ an hour as our eyes adjusted to the total darkness.

Our gospel reading tells the well-known story of Jesus conversing with Nicodemus, one of the leaders and elders of the Jewish religious ruling class. The reading contains the famous verse of John 3:16, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” a beautiful summary of Jesus’ mission in offering salvation to the world. John, contrasting light and darkness as a major theme of his gospel has intriguing things to say about Jesus’ entrance into history.

St. John writes about a “verdict” , an outcome of Jesus the Messiah coming into the darkness of the world. Jesus is the light, but the world preferred the darkness because their works were evil and better kept “under-wraps” as it were. This is how sin works, isolates and hides our hearts – becomes an incubator for darkness and evil.

How many times in our lives has the deception of the evil one, and the fragility of our hearts kept us in sin and addiction, believing that there is no way out, that God could not penetrate the darkness we were enveloped in? We thought the only way to live was/is to be in a seemingly never-ending cycle of being trapped and unable to escape, with no hope of deliverance?

John contrasts the darkness of the world with the light of Jesus’ incarnation and resurrection, stating that works done in the strength and love of the Holy Spirit are surrounded by light. It is a place of freedom and joy that works done in the full light of Jesus are “clearly seen as done in God.” Jesus has given us the Sacrament of Reconciliation to bring the light of Jesus into the darkness of our folly, of our sin. This Sacrament is a healing and miraculous source of life.

The theme of light and darkness is apparent throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. Genesis 1:2-3, “Darkness covered the waters…  and God said let there be light…” Revelation 22:5 “Night will be no more, nor will they need light from lamp or sun, for the Lord God shall give them light….”

And light was exactly what our class in the basement of Miller Hall was looking forward to. After the 30-minute interval in the basement of Miller Hall, after our eyes became accustomed to the darkness (again not being able to see anything), the instructor lit one tiny tea light in the middle of the large room. That one small bit of light lit-up the whole basement. Our eyes were immediately drawn to the light and all around us was made visible once again. 

It was remarkable how that small candle could reveal everything in the room. We were relieved to be out of the darkness and see one another again and the way up and out of the basement.

This Sunday of rejoicing, this Laetare Sunday, we are assured that even in the darkest of places, Jesus brings light, forgiveness and a way forward. Paul states in our second reading, God created us as His handiwork, He shapes us and forges us in life to display His splendor, light and power – to live in the freedom of being “children of God.”

We dedicate ourselves to the Lenten disciplines of fasting, almsgiving and prayer as we approach Holy Week, remembering the darkness that filled the world then, and still does in so many ways. We also remember the light of Jesus and how His light dispels darkness and replaces it with faith, gratitude, and hope.

The power of Jesus’ resurrection to transform our hearts continues to astonish me. Jesus, in the power of the Holy Spirit, aided by the intercession of Our Blessed Mother, shows a brooding and entrapped world the freedom, love and light of God’s children as we forgive and pray, living as children of light that no darkness can overcome. We do this by reminding one another and sharing with our neighbors in word and deed that,  

“… God, so loved the world that He gave His only 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.” (John 3:16-17).