ADVENT WEEK 3: THOUGHTS

Light in Darkness

“But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory. Mark 1: 24-26

The Chinese have a symbol—yin-yang—in which one circle is divided along the diameter and colored half white, half black. Perfectly, evenly, along the diameter a semicircle of light is taken from the dark and a semicircle of dark is taken from the light. Even the halves are not completely pure for a small circle of white dots the dark half and a small circle of light dots the black.

Of course it is only with the light that we can see at all in the darkness. Yet is it not also the dark that defines the light, the background that brings the object to sight, the shadows that reveal reality? The angels sang to the shepherds on a dark night. Their heavenly voices shone across a black sky. The sinful world groans as it waits for the coming of the light.

See the light in the dark.
See the dark in the light.
See.


What light shines in your darkness?
What darkness inhabits your light?
Where is your Lord?