RBWords

     Light and darkness (and blindness/sight) are a common analogy in the Word of God.  The Letter to the Ephesians and the Gospel According to John which provide the second scripture and gospel for this Sunday focus on light and darkness.  Indeed, with our nation struggling to deal with the "darkness" of the coronavirus and all its impact on our daily lives, we are very much looking for not only a light at the end of this dark tunnel, but for light switches IN the tunnel!  The great English spiritual writer/mystic, Evelyn Underhill, once wrote (I am quoting from memory, so I may not have it exactly):  Faith is like going into a dark tunnel when you don't know where the light switches are.

     The man born blind in the Gospel According to John comes step by step from the darkness of physical blindness and the absence of Christ into the light of day and of Christ, who proclaims in the same gospel, "I am the light of the world."  The Letter to the Ephesians points to the faith and to Christ as a light to the world.

     The fourth Sunday of Lent is traditionally called LAETARE SUNDAY,  a word that means "rejoice," but the current viral crisis makes it hard to rejoice under the circumstances.  I suggest that the Lord is offering light in the practical suggestions for avoiding the illness and standing ready for us to put our hands in his to walk toward an inevitable light at the end of the tunnel of this crisis.  Our own example in doing this can be a light to others.  The apostle Peter could walk on water as long as he didn't focus on the storm [Matt. 14:28-31}, but Jesus was also there to pull him up from his anxious sinking.  Other lights like devotions and spiritual communion and online celebrations of the Eucharist are also there for us.  We can rejoice in all these lights as we move step by step toward recovery.  AMEN