This Little Light of Mine, I’m Gonna Let it Shine! 

The Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 112) gives the key to all the readings today: “The just are a light in darkness to the upright.”  Isaiah 58:7-10 puts the emphasis on living in the light. In us it shines through our actions. We Christians, especially Catholics, are certainly at fault for not sharing our faith in words. We are sometimes embarrassed to show devotion. We don’t take seriously enough the warning of Jesus, “Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.” But our greatest failure is in living out the faith in action. 

Isaiah says, “If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech….” We may accuse ourselves of these sins on the personal level—if we ourselves take advantage of others, lie, or destroy acquaintances’ reputations. But do we take responsibility for the ways we, as a nation, oppress and exploit others economically? Do we repeat the accusations against politicians and public figures that are proliferated on the internet and in the media without checking them out? Do we listen to those talk shows that, with a thin veneer of humor, are nothing but negative humor and hate? Hate divides and is the work of the devil. Those guided by the Spirit follow the principle St. Ignatius of Loyola enunciated so well: 

Every good Christian ought to be more eager to put a good interpretation on a neighbor’s statement than to condemn it. Further, if one cannot interpret it favorably, one should ask how the other means it. If that meaning is wrong, one should correct the person with love. And if this is not enough, search out every appropriate means through which, by understanding the statement in a good way, it may be saved. (See Spiritual Exercises, no. 22: “Presupposition”; tr. George Ganss, S.J., Loyola Univ. Press, 1992.) 

How much would this practice alone help to heal the divisions between “conservatives” and “liberals” in the Church? Not to mention politics! 

It is in Matthew 5:13-16 that Jesus tells us we are the “light of the world.” At the same time, he tells us we are the “salt of the earth.” In the Bible salt brings out the taste in food and preserves it. Metaphorically, it is that which keeps human relationships peaceful and makes speech gracious and intelligent. 

Jesus says salt is “good for nothing but to be thrown out” when it goes flat. But light is useless when it is invisible, hidden “under a bushel basket.” So, he says to us who know him, “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” 

This is the answer to the mess the world is in. Christians need to let the light that is in them shine in the darkness. We need to speak out the truth revealed to us. And let it become visible in our actions. Jesus identifies letting the “light shine” with people seeing our “good works.” Not to give us credit for them — that doesn’t seem to enter his mind — but to “give glory to your Father in heaven.” In heaven. Our “works” should visibly be inspired by ideals so far above ground level, beyond cultural human values, that people will recognize we are empowered “from above.” By our Father in heaven. 

Letting our light shine doesn’t begin in the marketplace, the voting booth, or in the ranks of political protest. It begins at home. In our circle of closest friends. If we don’t share the light of our insights and personal experiences of God with those nearest and dearest to us, something fundamental is lacking in our Christian life and ministry. 

How many fathers share with their sons and daughters, not what their children should think about God, but what they themselves feel? How many children have any clue what their parents’ real experience of God is? How many people share this with their friends? With those they date? How many of our neighbors know anything about our religion or what it means to us?  

For that matter, how many spouses talk deeply with each other about their experience of God? Or lack of it? (To show one knows what is missing is already to reveal faith and hope). Would it be far-fetched to say that a root problem in Christianity is that Christians don’t swell the light by expressing faith, hope, and love in family life?  

And what kind of circle of friends do you have if you are not eager to come together regularly to discuss the Scripture and share your responses to it? If all you have in common is drinking, TV, sports, and small talk — or even large talk that shies away from God — you aren’t real friends to each other. You are just casual acquaintances in the departure gate, whiling away the time until your flight is called. 

In 1Corinthians 2:1-5, Paul tells us what Christian communication is. We don’t exclude intellectual conversation — no one was more “theological” than Paul — but we aren’t really sharing as Christians in the “communion of the Holy Spirit” until we go beyond “the persuasive force of ‘wise’ arguments” and build each other up with the “convincing power of the Spirit.”  

Why do we find it so threatening to pray together? To talk about the fruits or failures of our prayer? Don’t we have a common God? Don’t we share the same Father? Isn’t Jesus the Teacher, Friend, and Lover of us all? Weren’t we all given the gift of the Spirit who dwells in our hearts? So why do we exclude the Father, Son, and Spirit from our conversation as if they were weird relatives we are ashamed of? 

Prayer Prompt: Consider topics that we don’t tend to discuss, as Christians, in social circles. Some examples might include the idolatry of sports; the insanity of conformity to the culture; enslavement to work; the trivia of style in grooming, dress, and housing; addiction to the latest technology, etc.” Ask the Holy Spirit, “Enlighten me. Am I hiding the Light of Christ under a bushel basket?” What one small thing can I do to let the Light of Christ shine this week?   

— Fr. David M. Knight

View today’s Mass readings, Lectionary #73, on the USCCB website here

Fr. David M. Knight (1931-2021) was a priest of the Diocese of Memphis in Tennessee, a prolific writer, and a highly sought after confessor, spiritual director, and retreat master. He authored more than 40 books and hundreds of articles that focus primarily on lay spirituality and life-long spiritual growth.