DAWN ON OUR DARKNESS
Victor Frankl was a prisoner of the Nazis in World War II. One early morning he and some other prisoners were digging in the cold hard ground. As he was struggling to find a reason for all the sufferings and slow dying, suddenly he became totally convinced that there was a reason, though he could not fully understand it. He writes in his book Man’s Search for Meaning: “At that moment a light was lit in the distant farmhouse which stood in the horizon, as if it were painted there in the midst of the miserable grey.” At that moment, he says that the words of the Gospel flashed into his mind: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out” (Jn1:5) from that time Victor was a different man, for it gave him hope and dispelled his despair.
There are times in our lives when we are thrown into darkness. When we do something wrong and try to hide it, our deeds are in the dark: but the light of Christ can reveal our deeds as they are, moving us to acknowledge our guilt and repent. When we don’t know what to do or what to say, our minds are in the dark: but his light can remove that ignorance, urging us to help those who are in pain or to speak on behalf of the poor unmindful of the consequences. When we don’t see any purpose in life, our life is in the dark: but his light can help us to find meaning in our life. When we fear death because we don’t hope for anything beyond the grave, our death is in the dark: but his light can reveal him as our resurrection. Hence when our light is low and the heart is sick, we must seek the light of Christ.
How do we know that it is day and for us the night is over? When we look at our neighbor and recognizes in him or her our own brother or sister, then it is day for us; then we are in the light of Christ for love of neighbor is the heart of Christ’ message.
Mgr. Salvinu Micallef
National Director