| The anxiety and consternation that the present pandemic has caused across our land is palpable. We see, or we “want” to see, glimmers of brightness in the re-opening of some businesses, public facilities, recreational establishments, restaurants, and our own front doors!. Likewise, we see the “shadows” in the current financial and economic conditions as well as in the talk about a return of the virus. Our situation has been described by news commentators, politicians and others as “dark.” One news analyst actually used the image of “switching on the light” to describe the day when COVID-19 disappears and America can go back to “normal.” Such sentiments are reminiscent of words written by the medieval humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam: “Give light, and the darkness will disappear of itself.” Unfortunately, viruses don’t work that way!
Darkness and light are not opposites. They are equally parts of life, rising and falling like waves from the same ocean. St. John the Evangelist writes so beautifully that “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) Light shines in darkness and is not overcome? St. John is speaking of the human experience. Darkness is as much a part of life as light is and just as the light shines in the darkness, the darkness shimmers in the light. All of life, even in its darkest moments, is shot through with the luminous presence of God. This inspired the poet and priest Gerard Manley Hopkins, to write: “The world is charged with the grandeur of God, like shining through shook foil.” Light and darkness exist as though one substance, they do not cancel each other out – they simply move in the course of a day. St. John of Kronstadt addresses this puzzle: “Human nature is deified (theosis) for the sake of the boundless compassion of the Son of God; and its sins are purified; the defiled are sanctified. The ailing are healed. Upon those in dishonor are boundless honor and glory bestowed. Those in darkness are enlightened by the Divine light of grace and reason.” Light allows us to see through the darkness. It makes the darkness plain. The only way we can truly appreciate the light is because we know the darkness. The only way we can appreciate the darkness is because we know the light. The American speaker and spiritual author, Barbara Brown Taylor, agrees and explains that in her experience “dark and light, faith and doubt, divine absence and presence, do not exist at opposite poles. Instead, they exist with and within each other…” The Christian way is not the way of avoidance or denial, but of acceptance. We understand that all things that come in life are tools for our deification, (theosis) not to be avoided, but embraced. So in the present day, we must learn how to walk in the “dark.” Acceptance includes endurance. There is no more poignant sign of that than the Cross of the Lord Jesus. He entered His own darkness and never fled from it. That darkness was in the middle of the day! C.S. Lewis, writer and philosopher, framed it eloquently: “God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain” As difficult as that message may be to hear and to live, it is the Christian way of acceptance and endurance – in “dark” days such as ours. All of human life is touched by God and is salvific. We are not “dualists.” For example, we do not believe in the division or split between spirit and flesh, or matter and spirit. This is a dualist perspective on the human person, having its origins in ancient Hellenic thought. Rather, we follow the Hebraic understanding—man is a wholistic unity, one unified entity created that way by God. He is not body AND soul. He is body-soul. He is not divisible into parts, he lives as a whole person. His soul does not seek to escape the body to the world of “perfect forms” (Plato). Believe that in the Lord’s incarnation all of matter, all of human life, all that is visible and invisible, is even now participating in a divine movement towards fullness and completion., towards acceptance and endurance. Jesus entered into this beautiful and fallen world preaching the Gospel, raising the dead, casting out demons and healing the sick. The darkness of this world did not hinder or restrain him, did not force Him to give up, never sunk his spirits, but it provided a contrast that made the power of God shine even more brightly. It was in the darkness that the light shone most brightly. Jesus knew His own power, as St. Gregory Palamas writes: “The Light of Christ illumined all that is.” Light and darkness are not contradictory, they are but contrasts. Of course, there is a darkness that is natural, part of the order of creation itself, and there is also a darkness we human beings create in the world. This second kind of darkness is the product of our wandering, fearful minds., of our sense of doom, and of the timidity of our faith. This darkness has no existence in and of itself. It cannot stand before the searing light!. It will eventually fade like morning fog when the true light and the quieted mind descends by holy silence into the storehouse of grace that lies in the human heart. It is this that “dispels” our fear of this pandemic, puts it in perspective, and tames its hard and oppressive effects upon us. It is the inner withdrawal to that place where darkness IS light. Make no mistake, being afraid is natural but giving in to this fear, seeing things as hopeless, surrendering our belief that God will take care of us was not Jesus’ path nor can it be our own. In the conflux of light and darkness, hope is born. What then do we ask of God? We ask not that he take this biological scourge away, for He is in no sense its source nor its maker. Such a notion is purely medieval. Rather, we ask for the strength to accept and endure what it is we must, knowing that He will walk our way with us, knowing that He Himself was called to accept and endure what was His eternal lot. It was then that God His Father spoke with a clarity that literally changed Heaven and earth. As C.S. Lewis again reminds us: “……He shouts to us in our pain!” – not in our pleasures, nor in our conscience, but in our pains. The mercy of God is like flowing water. When it meets an obstacle, it flows around it or under it or over it. Mercy is flexible. It understands and does not force itself. Sometimes it is fierce, sometimes it is gentle. Whatever the case, God’s mercy recognizes that there is not one answer to every problem. There are different needs and different medicines. There is a saying from the Evergentinos, a compendium of sayings of the Church Fathers: An Elder is teaching a novice monk about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the young monk “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and above all, ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, endurance, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.” The young monk thought about it for a minute and then asked the Elder, “Which wolf will win?” The old, spiritually wise monk, simply replied, “The one you feed.” To pass through the present darkness, we, you and I, must make sure we feed the right wolf! In that way the light will, as ever it does, ultimately prevail. Unto God who Himself is One revealing Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, wisdom and might, this day and forevermore! Amen. Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen! Faithfully in the Lord’s Resurrection, |
