Psalm 27

Today’s psalm 27 celebrates our passage from darkness into light. It announces that we don’t belong in the darkness; it reminds us that we are heirs to the kingdom of light, and urges us to remember that we belong in the light because the Lord is our “light and salvation.”

In the movie, the Wizard of Oz, the three heroes and the heroine emerge from the Enchanted Forest just after narrowly escaping the clutches of the wicked witch of the west. They think they’re in the clear until the wicked witch lures them into a field of deadly poppies where they all but succumb to the poppies’ poison. It takes the intervention of a snowstorm sent by Glinda (the good witch of the east) to awaken the quintet. As they rise from their slumber, they see Oz, the Emerald city, gleaming in the distance. Suddenly, a chorus begins to sing about the sun and the light. They are out of the woods. They have passed from darkness into light.

As Christians we are called to live in the light. At every baptism, we rejoice in the victory of light over darkness, of life over death. Now, being in the limelight all the time is not easy. Our blemishes show, our mistakes are often all too obvious. It is only natural that now and then we may tend to prefer the shadows; to leave the light to someone else. But the call of Christ is not a call to timidity or darkness; it is a summons to courage and brightness.

We can reject this light, but no one can ignore it. Jesus tells His followers that they are the light of the world and, like bright lamps; they should let their light shine before others. How often Christians bury the light of the Gospel in lives of mediocrity! How often the light of the gospel becomes dim through compromise or accommodation with the world in which we live! We must take every precaution that this does not happen to us; we must keep our lamps burning brightly, awaiting the Lord’s invitation to join Him in heaven.

Let us not fear to turn on the light. Since the Lord is our light and salvation, whom should we fear?

Fr. Hugh Duffy