Fr. Don's Daily Reflection - April 30, 2024
Psalm 62: “In you alone is my soul at rest. My help comes from you.”
Early on the then bishop of Rome, Benedict XVI said that his task was “to make the light of Christ shine “ not his own light but that of Christ. Similarly, some decades earlier John XXIII hoped that the Vatican Council would clear away all that obscured the light of Christ's face.
In John's Gospel Jesus says: “I came into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me might not remain in darkness” ( Jn 12). We pray in one of the Psalms: “Your word is a light for my path.” The 'word' means both Scripture and the Lord. Through his life and teaching he sheds light on the confusion that obscures our direction and decisions. His light and life do not give us a collection of intellectual certainties but a deep assurance in the midst of sin, suffering, and sorrow.
John Henry Newman memorably traces the ideal response in a poem, “The Pillar and the Cloud.” Our trust in Christ the light leaves the details of life's journey to God's loving care, rather than asking for a blueprint.
Newman writes:
Lead, Kindly Light, amid the circling gloom/ Lead Thou me on!/ The night is dark, and I am far from home —/ Lead Thou me on!/ Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see/ The distant scene—one step enough for me.
(A bit later he tells us it took him some time to come to this total trust):
I was not ever thus, nor pray'd that Thou/ Shouldst lead me on./ I loved to choose and see my path, but now/ Lead Thou me on!
Psalm 27: “I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness / in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord; be strong; / be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!”
