No one who lights a lamp conceals it with a vessel
or sets it under a bed;
rather, he places it on a lampstand
so that those who enter may see the light.
It is the Gospel itself that is the shining light which we must not conceal. Rather thank blocking the light we ourselves can act more as lampshades, translucent, and attenuating the light we ourselves first receive. If we try to insist on making ourselves center point or the main display piece we only succeed in dimming the light, causing others who were meant to walk by it to stumble. Instead, we can become less and less focused on ourselves and in this way become the lights to the world that we are called to be.
For there is nothing hidden that will not become visible,
and nothing secret that will not be known and come to light.
What was the point of initial hiddenness of the Gospel message? There is a complex answer to that question, but part of it was that the initial hidden stages were a period of preparation before the light could fully shine. The disciples were being filled, as it were, with spiritual oil, so that they could burn as brightly and for as long as their individual callings would require. Even after going out into the world healing and driving out demons they always remembered to return to their hidden source in Christ to be filled anew. This sort of balance between a hidden infilling that comes from a life of prayer and an active life that reveals him to the world is very much the nature of life in the Church. We may specialize more in one or the other, but even the very hidden life of cloistered orders like Carmelites still contributes to making the genuine light of the Gospel visible. Like them, we may specialize more in the hidden part or in the active part, but there is a way in which we all participate in both.
The more we invest in the central reality of the Gospel light we have been given the more that investment will pay dividends for us and the world. If we neglect it we risk losing it.
Take care, then, how you hear.
To anyone who has, more will be given,
and from the one who has not,
even what he seems to have will be taken away.
We may not feel equipped to be a part of building God's Kingdom on earth, or to reveal his presence to the world. But to do so is precisely the reason why the light has been entrusted to us.
Therefore, whoever among you belongs to any part of his people,
let him go up, and may his God be with him!
The blueprints have already been made, and the materials provided. All we need to do is to choose to cooperate. We can choose to let his light shine, to join in his building project rather than sabotaging the grand project with our our problematic designs. Jesus will indeed work with our unique giftedness he uses us to build the Kingdom. For our part, we need to get out of his way, and let him be the origin, to let him be the light that shines, uniquely, prismatically, through our lives,
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