Let there be night

Have you noticed the darkness lately? For those of us living in the northern hemisphere, today is the first day of winter and the darkest day of the year. Today, the daylight is shorter than the darkness; and depending on how far north you are it is more profound.

For most of us, we don't really like this. Most of us are desirous of daylight savings time and like the 8 or 9 p.m. before the sun fully sets. But these days it's more like 5 p.m. or maybe even earlier. Darkness reminds us that we are entering these long, cold days of winter.

And yet it will be in this darkest of weeks that we celebrate light. The light that entered the world as a newborn we commemorate in just a few short nights. A few years ago my wife and I went to the movies to see the Nativity. I was reminded of this just yesterday in a homily by Archbishop Hughes, retired from New Orleans. In his recollection of this beautiful movie, the Archbishop recounted the effective use of light, against the backdrop of a very dark night, to announce the joy of the arrival of the newborn King.

In the liturgy for Christmas day, one of our Gospel's is from St. John that speaks of the light that has come to the world. That light of course is Jesus Christ.

As we venture through the coming days, and even weeks of early darkness, can we focus on the true light of our lives? Can we see the brightness of the Father's glory? May we never be fearful of the darkness for the true light is always with us. So we can say, let there be night for Christ is our light!