Life’s Challenges Brings Hope and Joy As The “Light” Of Jesus’ Birth Brings Us Salvation

 

Dear friends of ours from the Chicago area who my wife and I have known for 52 years reminded us recently through a personal sharing why we need God in our lives.  Now more than ever during times of what we believe to be impossible, we need to see the “Light” of what John the Baptist talks about in the Apostle John’s Gospel this Sunday.

To protect the identity of our friends I will refer to them as Anthony and Alice, not their real names, who have shown us how to overcome unimaginable adversities by their trust in God through joyful hope, prayer and thankfulness.

Anthony and Alice have a history of major medical issues since the middle of their 50 plus years of marriage that have been filled with multiple surgeries, numerous hospital stays and long rehabilitation periods.  This year was no different in that Anthony has been in and out of the hospital since late winter.  Alice also had an out-patient surgery earlier this year that due to complications ended in a month-long rehabilitation.

In the meantime, Anthony’s brother and his wife died from Covid-19 within 10 days of each other several months ago.  Due to the pandemic and their own health issues, neither Anthony nor Alice were able to be there.

And yet, as Alice shared these tragedies, the difficulty in trying to cope and anger at the lack of care at times, she also talked about how hers and Anthony’s faith in God is getting them through this period of joyful hope with prayer and thanksgiving of how family has pulled together in these multiple challenges.  She is mirroring St. Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians about these three basic Christian attitudes that serve as a foundation for holiness and bring discernment in challenging times.

Isaiah in today’s first reading is talking to the Israelites returning home from their 70-year captivity in Babylon to a land that has been destroyed and desecrated which will need to be rebuilt.  He tells them to “rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul” because God is renewing the covenant with them to provide “glad tidings for the poor, healing for those who mourn, liberty for captives and prisoners and a jubilee year for all.”

It is in St. John’s Gospel that we begin to understand through John the Baptist’s humility how we need to be in sync with God so He can shine down His light on us during the good and trying times we face.  No one on this earth can console us like God can because He is aware of everything that everyone is predisposed to in their lives; the good and the bad.  It is for that reason that we must become less so Jesus can be more so that as Pope Francis writes in his “Gospel of Joy” we can bring the joy of Jesus to the entire world.

This week, let us look deep into our heart and soul and ask ourselves: How do I experience God as the “joy of my soul”?  When was there a time in my life that I experienced deeply the faithfulness of God?  How does the way I live my life testify to the “Light” of Christ?  We may not be able to duplicate the sharing of Alice in what she and Anthony face.  But, if we can see something of God’s presence in our lives, we might begin to understand why the “Light” of Christ’s salvation helps us to overcome and even appreciate the challenges we tackle to help others realize God’s love is there for us always.

 

Reading 1: Isaiah 61:1-2, 10-11
Reading 2: First Thessalonians 5:16-24
Gospel: John 1:6-8, 19-28