Jesus Christ comes to illuminate our lives with a new vision that remakes all of us. Today’s OH antiphon reminds of the need for a new light that all of us have inside our hearts and souls. Today’s first reading also expressed the joy one feels at the anticipation of God’s arrival.
At this time of year as the friars pray morning prayer together in our chapel, the rising sun is just peeking through the treetops and shines in through the window. Because of where my chair is in the chapel, that morning sun hits me straight in the face in December. It is so bright that it is annoying and on a cloudless morning it is difficult for me to read the prayer book. One morning the other friars were teasing me saying that I looked like I had a halo.
Mary embraced that new light even though it was annoying and disruptive in her life. Mary immediately goes to service her cousin Isabel who is six months pregnant. Even though both women have had their lives and plans burnt away, they are full of a new joy. Mary’s joy is so intense that she forgets her own needs during the initial months of pregnancy and goes to Isabel to serve her. At their meeting, their greeting is full of joy. Isabel who is in the final months of pregnancy is so full of joy that she bursts into a blessing. Even the unborn John is infected by their joy and jumps in his mother’s womb.
Both women allow themselves to be illuminated and surrender their own desires and hopes to God’s pal of salvation. Through Mary we received the Prince of Peace and through Isabel we received John the Baptist. All that burning, disruptive, annoying light produces a new joy in us all. It is important to be open to God’s plans so that we can experience real joy and share it with others.
Image: “Caribbean Sunrise” by blinkview is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.