26 March 2018
Monday of Holy Week
Some lights are natural, some are artificial and some are supernatural. Natural lights include celestial objects and lightning and fire. Artificial lights include light bulbs and the screens of electronic devices. Supernatural lights include God and his angels and saints. “The Lord is my light” (Ps 27:1).
What does it mean to say that “the Lord is my light?” It means first of all an awareness of interior darkness that cannot be dispelled by natural or artificial lights. And what is this darkness? It is the true mystery of every human person. Why else is it that two people can see the same sunset, look at the same stars, and watch the same movie, yet one chooses to do something right while the other chooses to do something wrong? There is a mystery inside every human person, even a person we think we know well, such as ourselves.
From time to time, our interior darkness needs to see the light and to be seen under the light. Hence the importance of sacramental confession. Hence also the importance of The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, which contain some methods of letting the light in to those hidden places. Meanwhile, we must be careful not to prefer darkness to light (cf. John 3: 19-21). This means preferring natural or artificial light over supernatural light.