Christmas: Light in the Darkness

When I look at the world today, with its wars, conflicts, exploitation of the weak and downtrodden, the lust for power of leaders and politicians, the promotion of vested interests, the narrow nationalism of fundamentalist forces, I feel helpless about doing anything that might make a difference. But, Christmas reminds me that when Jesus was born, he brought his light into the world. I love the quotation from the Bible, John 1:3-5: which says: “Whatever has come to be, found life in him, life which for humans was also light. Light that shines in the dark, light that darkness could not overcome”. So, there is hope

Jesus comes as the light in our lives. In the Bible light and darkness are in sharp contrast to each other. The light symbolizes, all that is pure, holy, righteous, as well as salvation, spiritual growth and discernment. It signifies the gift of life from a loving creator who cares for his creation; and wisdom and spiritual enlightenment. It also signifies hope, which is redemption from darkness.

Darkness on the other hand symbolizes all that separates us from God. But despite the suffering of a fallen world, we can still experience the light of Christ in our lives. Christmas reminds us that we need to plug ourselves in to a connection with God, who is our ultimate power source. This connection is available to everyone., We connect with God through faith in him, keeping his precepts and commandments, turning away from sinful ways and practices and total surrender to him.

The Christmas story reminds us, that we have to reexamine the way we speak of darkness. The greatest illumination is found where darkness is profound. The deeper the darkness the greater the intensity of the light. We sometimes experience metanoia or a complete turning around of our lives because of the Light of truth that illumines our hearts and minds.
The darkness we experience can be physical but more importantly it is spiritual. If we put our total trust in Jesus, we will find that he is indeed the Way, the Truth and the Life. He shows us a way through the darkness.

In today’s world torn asunder by growing violence, prejudice, wars over sovereignty, territorial ambitions, great power rivalries, violent confrontations and hate practiced against people who may be different from us or people who profess other religions, we sorely need the light of Christ to overcome this looming darkness.
Christmas brings us a message of hope. That finally God will take all things to himself. That he will bring in a reign of peace, and act as the protector of the marginalized and vulnerable. Today’s world is manipulated by politicians, media and especially social media, which can reach people instantly, anywhere in the world within minutes. In this scenario, we have to often counter the false narratives spread by media and some large companies that have built up empires at the cost of the people, that enslave the minds of people making them lose hope.

Let us this Christmas act as agents of hope, creating little islands of peace around us, by standing up for the right, specially for people who are treated unjustly and always work towards arresting the spreading darkness in the world.
Darkness however can also be talked about spiritually when it describes some of the struggles of the soul as in the life of John of the Cross, a medieval saint who wrote the famous poem, “The Dark Night of the Soul”. Many of our greatest mystics and saints have gone through periods of great spiritual darkness where darkness always precedes the light. In this context, we can talk about the darkness that does not separate us from God, but only leads to a more profound experience of the light.

Whatever the context in which we speak about darkness, the light of Christ dispels all forms of darkness. That is why Christ is called the Light of the world. Do you want to experience this light? Then turn your hearts and souls to Jesus, who alone can bring this promise to pass.

Authored by: Janina Gomes