Wednesday, Second Week of Easter

There has been much darkness in our world we recent months with wars and conflicts bringing death to men, women and children trying to go about their daily lives. We might find it easy to agree with the statement in today’s gospel reading, ‘though the light has come into the world, men have shown they prefer darkness to the light because their deeds were evil’. Yet, as an Easter people we must remain people of hope, convinced that ‘the light shines in the darkness’ and the darkness will not overcome it, in the language of the opening verses of this gospel of John. Jesus spoke of himself as the light of the world. We believe that as risen Lord he continues to offer the light of God to our sometimes dark world. This light of God is the light of love, a love that Jesus fully revealed as he was lifted up on the cross. It was out of love that God sent his Son into the wold, a sending that involved a giving on God’s part and a self-giving on Jesus’ part. Our calling is to keep coming into the light, in the words of today’s gospel reading, to keep opening ourselves to the light of God’s love shining through the risen Lord, and then to bring this light into the world. In today’s first reading, the apostles encountered the darkness of the world. Those who hated the light that the apostles were proclaiming had them arrested and thrown into prison. Yet, with the Lord’s help, the apostles continued to preach the gospel of light to all. They could be imprisoned but the light they carried in their hearts could not be imprisoned. Those first believers can be an inspiration to us all to keep proclaiming in word and deed the gospel of the light of God’s love, no matter how dark the times in which we live.