Holy Wisdom Church
There are so many valuable lessons from the Scripture
readings today, but one of the first sayings from the gospel stood out for me.
It has many translations. Here is one: “If your eye is
pure, there will be sunshine in your soul. But if your eye is clouded with evil
thoughts and desires, you are in deep spiritual darkness.” Other translations are: “The eye is the lamp
of the body [or, The lamp of the body is the eye]. If your eye is healthy or
sound, your whole body will be full of light. If your eye is unhealthy or diseased,
your whole body will be full of darkness or in darkness, If then the light in
you is darkness, how great is the darkness!”
What is this spiritual vision that enables our eye to
be pure, healthy, or sound? It is our capacity to see clearly what God wants us
to do with our lives. This insight can be clouded by our many thoughts,
desires, interests, and goals that are self-serving.
In this gospel,
Jesus then refers to things within the reach of our senses- like the lilies of
the field and birds of the air- that we might more easily grasp His teaching.
We understand the value of light in our lives. The mind (nous) is our spiritual
eye. Keeping our spiritual eyes good or wholesome is fundamental to our
Christian life. Planting ourselves squarely in the present moment is a
condition for being fully alive and happy. Our personal rebirth or
enlightenment begins here and now! Today, let us take time to notice. We can go
through life on automatic pilot, or we can discipline ourselves to pay
attention to each moment with openness and gratitude. Moments of beauty easily
lead us to pray when we are awake to their presence, when we see with our
spiritual eye. The mystic theologian St. Gregory of Nyssa indicated in his
writing: “The whole of creation is but one single temple of the God who created
it.”
We have the opportunity to look again at who we are,
at where we want to go in life, at how we are getting to where we want to go.
We need to know that we are living for something of value. Will we leave this
world better than when we found it? We need to carry a light into the darkness
of the world so that others too, may follow and find the way.
Mary Magdalene can be our model. The Magdalen had
banked her whole life on the fact that the vision of Jesus would come to
fullness. She believed in him and believed in everything he taught. She
followed him to the end, even when others fled. She followed him in the light
and finally, like the rest of us, she followed him through the darkness. She continued
in the faith that what had come to life in her, even if suppressed in the world
around her, could not die.
The message is clear. When we follow Jesus, the path
is often through darkness to what looks like failure and defeat. But when we
ourselves carry the message of Jesus here and now, we carry within ourselves
the promise of new life. We live the ongoing message of the Resurrection
itself: What comes in the name of Jesus will not die. Darkness will be overcome
as long as we ourselves never let the light of Truth be blown out in our own
hearts.
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