Today is officially the end of the Christmas season. We have welcomed the coming of the Child who has brought us goodness and light. Wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid down in a manger. The Word made flesh. The same Word that was in the beginning. The same beginning when God said the words: “Let there be light!” And there was light. We rejoiced at the birth of a child; because the people living in darkness have seen a great light. And on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
In a few weeks, we shall be entering the Lenten season. We shall be reminded once more that we are the people living in darkness, in the shadow of death. And the Light, the Word made flesh, will once again vanquish death when he sheds the “swaddling clothes” in which they wrapped him and rises from the dead on Easter morning.
Life is not a journey from birth to age nor from the past to the future, but from surface to depth, from darkness to light, from death (or non-existence) to life. A baby in the womb may seem to be in darkness. But it is in fact aglow with the light from whence it came. In the same manner, the Risen Christ is not enveloped by an aura of light; instead, each cell in his risen body is shimmering in light. Light is being emitted by every pore in his body.
And so it is and will be with us. In the end will be a new beginning when we shall also be shimmering in that primeval light when God said, “Let there be light.”