Scripture Readings: Is. 58:7-10; Ps. 111:4-9; 1 Cor. 2:1-5; Mt. 5:13-16
There was once a blind man who had gone to visit his friend in the neighbouring village. By the time they finished their meeting, it was late at night. His friend offered him a lighted lamp as he was going back to his house. The blind man laughed at his friend by saying that all nights and days were similar to him. He would prefer his stick to find his way back home. The friend insisted that he must take it so that others can see him in the darkness and they would not collide with each other. The man agreed and left his friend’s house with the lighted lamp. On the way, he was caught in the storm. He waited under a tree till the wind calmed down and then resumed his journey. All of a sudden, he collided with a stranger and both of them fell down. The blind shouted at the stranger, “Couldn’t you see the lighted lamp in my hand?” Are you blind? The stranger replied that he wasn’t blind but since the lamp was not burning, therefore, he could not see who was coming. The blind man replied with an apology and confessed that he was blind but did not realize when his lamp was put off by the storm. This story teaches us an important lesson. We need to become light or our light should shine in darkness so that we can make a difference in this world.
Today’s liturgy tells us how we can be the light of the world. Isaiah tells us in the first reading that our charitable acts towards the hungry, homeless and naked (the basic needs of man: Food, shelter and clothes) will shine our light in the darkness. The benefits of becoming light in the lives of others are many. God will hear our cry. He will answer our calls. He will heal our wounds. Everything will be made whole. The psalmist also gives us the same answer but other words. He says that the upright man who fears the Lord receives light in the darkness. God who is the light of the world will give His light to the upright man. Their relationship is like the sun to the moon. The sun shines by itself while the moon receives light from the sun. The upright man draws his light from God. In the second reading, St. Paul tells us how he became the light to the Corinthians. He preached the crucified Lord to them when they only showed interest in wisdom and philosophy. Paul had difficulty in preaching because the cross was the stumbling block to the Jews and the folly to the gentiles. Even today, the intellectuals do not want to hear about sin and salvation through the cross of Jesus Christ. Paul’s life and ministry became the light to the Corinthians.
All the three readings tell us how we become the light of God in the world. Isaiah tells us to be charitable, the psalmist tells us to be upright and just and Paul tells us to preach crucified Christ. The difference between Isaiah/the psalmist and St. Paul is the conviction in which they tell us. The conviction of St. Paul is in Jesus who tells his disciples (not the crowd) in today’s Gospel text that you are the light of the world. We need to realise that we have been already declared as the light of the world only on the merits of our faith in Jesus Christ. Our Christian faith calls to action. Our Christian life becomes the light to the world.
We have so many men and women of faith who became the light to the poor and the needy. We can take their example as the light of the world. I want to share with you one such Catholic hero who became the light to many. It is Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty, an Irish catholic priest who lived in the last century. He was born in Ireland in 1898. He joined the society of Jesuits in 1925. He studied canon law and philosophy. He took up diplomatic services and served as a Vatican envoy to Haiti, Egypt and Czechoslovakia. He returned to Italy during the second world war. He was appointed to visit the Italian prisoners of war camps. He helped all the prisoners irrespective of their nationality. He would pass on information about them on Vatican radio. He executed secret plans to hide more than 6000 Jews and allied prisoners from the Nazis in the convents, seminaries and churches. He dressed them like a priest and a nun and smuggled them to Italian families and inside the vatican city. Msgr. O’Flaherty became the reason for the Vatican escape line. He was threatened by Herbert Kappler, a head of Gestapo in Rome, not to cross the line or else he would be killed. Msgr. O’Flaherty roped in many influential people along with more than 500 priests and nuns in his life threatening work. After the liberation in Rome 1944, the Nazi officer Kappler was sentenced to life imprisonment with solitary confinement in Italy. Msgr. O’Flaherty visited him every month for ten years. As a result, Kappler received baptism by Msgr. O’Flaherty in 1959. Msgr. O’Flaherty died in 1963. There is a move to take his cause for canonisation. Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty became the light to 6000 Jews and allied prisoners along with Herbert Kappler who received Catholic faith.
Jesus calls us to be light in the world. Let our good works radiate the light of Christ. Let the words of Jesus echo in our hearts, “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” – Matt. 5:16
~ Fr. Alex D’Mello, Sindhudurg