Friday of the First Week of Advent
As we move closer to the Winter Solstice, when the length of time with the sun in our sky is at its shortest and the night at its longest, today’s readings speak to me on numerous levels. I’ve tended to dread the time change and earlier sunset with less natural light in the late afternoon and early evening, making it seem much later in the day than it actually is. And I struggle to resist the temptation to turn on all the lights to make the house as bright a possible. But I hear today’s readings as a call to enter into the darkness of Advent.
Yes, in the first reading from Isaiah we hear the prophet proclaim, “...out of the gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see…”, but if we’re always literally in the light, be it sitting in our well-lit homes or walking through well-lit stores and shopping malls, or looking at our well-lit phones, computers, televisions, etc., I wonder if we’re missing out on something. What if we’re missing out on truly experiencing the darkness of Advent waiting. I feel challenged to sit in the darkness of night observing the light of the moon and stars, or the single flame of an Advent candle. In the stillness and quiet where our focus can be both narrowed and broadened, maybe that is where our true longing for Christ our Light can be born.
In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, Jesus declares to the two blind men seeking sight, “Let it be done for you according to your faith” and then “their eyes were opened.” What is our faith calling us to? I pray that, like the blind ones in today’s readings, we can “come out of the gloom and darkness” not through artificial means of light but through a deepening of our desire for Jesus’ light in our hearts, in our lives. Truly believing, as the psalmist declares, “The Lord is our light and our salvation.” Let us seek that light in the depths of this dark Advent season so that we may more fully celebrate the birth of the One True Light.
—Eileen Miller