Triumph of Goodness over Evil (Monday, Week 5, Year 1)

-

Prior to creation “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (Gen. 1:2)! At the beginning of creation, “God said, ‘Let there be LIGHT’; and there was LIGHT” (Gen. 1:3). Let's pay particular attention to these words: FORMLESSNESS, DARKNESS and LIGHT. The word “FORMLESSNESS” conveys an idea of drabness, shapelessness, tastelessness or gloominess. When something is without form, it means that it is uninteresting, bland, tasteless and shapeless. Correspondingly, the word “DARKNESS” connotes NEGATIVITY or EVIL. On the contrary, the word “LIGHT”, in the main, connotes GOODNESS or POSITIVITY.


In Genesis 1, we have a beautiful story of how God created and introduced light into the primeval darkness; how He created order out of a disordered space; and how He called THINGS into existence out of NOTHING. The creation and introduction of LIGHT into the primordial DARKNESS kick-started the triumph of GOODNESS over EVIL. And that is why it was continuously mentioned in the course of the creative process that “God saw that what He created was good”. And “He rejoices in His works” (cf. Psa. 104:31b).


God did not wrap up his creative activity in the book of Genesis. He goes on recreating; bringing order into disordered situations; introducing light into every form of darkness; and making goodness triumph over evil. This He has continued in and through Jesus Christ. And that is why Matt. 4:23 highlights that Jesus went about “preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom and healing every infirmity among the people”. John 1:9 describes Jesus as the true light that enlightens all people. The primary function of light is to dispel darkness.


In the Gospels, Jesus continues to dispel the darkness of ignorance that envelopes our minds. He goes on crushing the manifestations of evil in our lives. Mark 6:53-56 is a resounding testimony of the triumph of goodness over evil, and of light over the darkness of sickness in the lives of those who touched the fringe of Jesus’ garment.


The Jesus that healed many in the past is the same Jesus who continues to work in our time. Certain aspects of our lives have been invaded by darkness. Some vices have obviously kept us groping in the dark. Some attitudes have reduced us to nothing. We must seek out the healing rays of Christ’s LIGHT. He desires to recreate us and introduce some order into our disordered situations. In the Gospels, many sick people made a bold step of faith towards Him, and got healed. They cooperated with Jesus; and got what they wanted. Jesus needs our cooperation in order to heal and recreate us. The God who created us without our cooperation cannot save us without our cooperation (St. Augustine). Make that bold step of faith for your healing and liberation!


Prayer:

Lord, I surrender myself to You. Disperse every shade of darkness in me with the healing rays of Your LIGHT. Recreate me and make me whole again, Amen!


Have a blessed day and week!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gifts versus the Giver (Monday, Week 20, Year II)

-
Image
A gift, by the virtue of what it is, is given. In other words, there must be a giver. Gift can come or be in the form of a good friendship or relationship, material thing, good job, personal talent, and so on. Every cherished gift is the delight of our eyes, the pride of our power and the desire of our souls. The gifts that we possess should then remind us of the giver. It smacks of arrogance and ingratitude when gifts are used without acknowledging or making reference to the giver. For the Jews, the Temple or Sanctuary was the delight of their eyes, the pride of their power and the desire of their souls. It was a precious gift which they jealously guarded. However, they adorned the Sanctuary but did not truly adore the One for whom the Sanctuary exists. They were too attached to the “gift” (sanctuary) but were completely detached from the Giver of the gift – from Yahweh. Ezekiel prophesied to them that this sanctuary which was their delight will be profaned and taken away from them. M
Read more

Persecution and Triumph, the Two Realities of Christian life (Saturday, Week 33, Year 2, The Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary)

-
Image
The book of Revelation is full of symbols and imageries that need to be carefully interpreted for us to understand the message they communicate. In today’s first reading (cf. Rev. 11:4-12), John was told about two olive trees and two lamp stands serving as witnesses to the Holy One. Who or what do these two sets of witnesses (olive trees and lamp stand) stand for? When we read further in order to understand what happened to these two witnesses, it may be a bit clear to us that the “two witnesses” may be pointing to Moses and Elijah, judging from what they did on earth and what they stand for. Moses stands for the Law; and Elijah stands for the Prophet. Anyone who bears witness as Moses bore witness to the Law of God must be persecuted by the beast as the first reading (from the Book of Revelation) recounted. Anyone who bears witness to the messages of truth as Elijah and other prophets did must be persecuted just as the prophets were persecuted. Persecution is a fate that awaits every
Read more

Enkindle the Embers of Unity, Quench the Fire of Disunity (Wednesday, Week 22, Year A)

-
Image
For some time now, we have heard Paul talk about the spiritual and the unspiritual: what it means to live and operate on the level of the Spirit (the spiritual) and on the level of the flesh (the unspiritual). Paul was very emphatic about this topic possibly because he was addressing a group of people who were too intellectual and academic in their approach to the things of God and all of that. Remember that the Corinthians were Greek; and the ancient Greeks were known to be too particular and more interested in intellectualism, sophistry, philosophy and human wisdom. And we must not forget that Paul has been very suspicious of over-reliance on worldly/human wisdom in understanding and appreciating the things of the Spirit. To rely more on human/worldly wisdom is a sign that one may be operating on the level of the flesh; and to operate on the level of the flesh breeds a whole lot of vices such as division or sectionalism, hedonism, and so on. In today’s section of that letter to the C
Read more