Walking in the Light (Monday, Advent 1)

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Introduction

We celebrate the mass of Monday in the first week of Advent: we are being reminded that God is light; and that we should walk in that light which will reveal to us certain things that we may not have understood about God.


Reflection 

One thing that rarely came to the mind of a Jew was that there would be a time when the Jews would be united with the Gentiles. It is just like telling a white racist that there will be a time when they will reunite with the Black race as brothers and sisters. In the first reading (cf. Isa. 2:1-5), the supremacy of the God of the Jews is established as a mountain towering over and above other mountains; but in the latter days this God will no longer be seen as the God of the Jews only but as the God of all the nations and races. 

The “mountain” is a metaphor for a place of worship: God’s mountain will be higher than every other mountain and hill; it will stand as LIGHT for other peoples and races to see and then flock to it. The “small-small” mountains and hills that have divided humanity will no longer be relevant: only one mountain will stand tall and that will be the mountain of the Lord. And once this becomes a reality, wars will vanish; peace will come to stay; swords will be converted into ploughshares and so on. And all the people will now walk in one LIGHT, the Light of the Lord. How I wish all the nations of the world will learn this truth and stop all wars and divisions and hatred on account of religious, tribal and racial differences and so on! A time will come when one mountain will be only relevant: other mountains will phase out; a time will come when one LIGHT will be more radiant than others; a time will come when it will be clear to all of us that it is one God that created us and thus there shouldn’t be any need for killings, discrimination, sectionalism and scandalous divisions.

Just one man in the gospel (cf. Matt. 8:5-11) already realized that such a time would come; and had already begun to beat his sword of division and sectionalism into a ploughshare of faith, peace and tolerance. And who was that man? The Roman Centurion! That Roman centurion, who was not even a Jew, believed that Jesus (a Jew) could help his servant who was sick. A soldier, a high ranking officer, believed that even his slave, regarded as nothing (in the ancient Roman Empire) also has the right to live. We see in this centurion a man who has settled for peace, for love, who has begun already to walk in that one LIGHT of God, who has come to a certain belief that God created all of us (whether a Jew or a slave) and that God is for all of us and can work through any person no matter the religion or status. When Jesus noticed this exceptional faith, he exclaimed, “Truly I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you many will come from east and west and sit at table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of God”.

Are we ready to beat our “swords” into “ploughshares”? Is our faith so big to accommodate the belief that God is for all and values all and can work through any person? If we really have such faith, then there shouldn’t be intolerance, wars and divisions on the basis of belief or race or ethnicity or whatever.

All these things that divide us in this world have nothing to do with our eternal destiny: money, fanatical religious beliefs, material things of life and so on. We must leave these pieces of baggage behind: they will weigh us down in our heavenly journey; they won’t be of any profit to us. Let us rather embrace peace, love and harmony. These are the things that will be of profit to us as we journey to our eternal home.    

                    


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